On the surface, these NBA Finals are all about Kobe Bryant.

It’s his 7th trip to the big stage and he already has four rings. He played out of his mind against the Suns and he looks unstoppable. Surely, he’ll cement his name next to MJ by winning his fifth ring, right?

Not so fast.

The Celtics are coming in with the ultimate team – from the bench to the starters they’ve all chipped in on their playoff run.

Glen Davis and Rasheed Wallace helped neutralize Dwight Howard in the Orlando series, Tony Allen was a scoring machine in the Cavs series and even Nate Robinson stepped up to close out the Magic.

Throw in the experience of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen with the youthful vibrance of Rajon Rando and the Celtics look like champs.

Rondo can’t be guarded by Derek Fisher and if Kobe moves to guard him, that leaves Pierce and Allen to dominate.

Speaking of Pierce, some will say Ron Artest can slow him down. If it was 10 years ago that would be the case. But the way the game is called today, Pierce will probably have Artest in foul trouble more often than not.

Pierce is a master of flopping and crying on the floor while begging for sympathy from the officials. They pretty much buy it every time and feed him a heavy dose a free throws or call a flagrant on his opponent as a response.

He will frustrate Artest and the Lakers and they will lose their cool.

I also noticed that Pau Gasol disappeared at times agains a Suns team that is known for being soft inside. Not a good sign.

And as for Kobe, let’s just say the defense he’ll see over the next week or two will be a lot tougher than the 2-3 zone the Suns threw at him.

Celtics in 6