By Ben Zani, www.rotowire.com After nine weeks and about fifteen Jon Loomer Excel spreadsheets, the Drive to the Finals odyssey may come to a close Sunday night. Unlike other odysseys I’ve recently witnessed, this one didn’t even involve CGI monkeys or crystal skulls! I’m sure we can all be thankful for that. Yes, with the Celtics epic win (which may or may not have concluded with me running down my street belting out Howard Dean-esque screams of glee), the end to the Finals is currently in reach, as the C’s are one win away from putting away the Lakers and hanging up Banner 17. Even more importantly however, the end to the Playoffs means that one of you Drive to the Finals players will win a (cue Price is Right announcer voice) Braaand New Car! Oh, and the ten runners-up will get a new Sony PS3. Not too shabby, and winning one of those prizes will at the very least get your mother to stop complaining that you spend so much time on the internet. The leader in the clubhouse (assuming they are eligible under the Official Rules) is user “freshkest,” with an impressive 1,403 points. Users “dmac0022” and “kdvelasco” are both within shouting distance, and could sneak up and win the car under the right circumstances. However, if the Lakers win Sunday’s Game 5, it still could be anyone’s contest, especially as all the leaders look to have used up most of their superstars. Ah, yes, Sunday’s Game 5. The Expert Pick is a relative no-brainer – Boston’s Paul Pierce. Not only is he the best option available, but few players we have left are even close. In fact, the only other player within 15 PRA of Pierce is Kendrick Perkins, who was last seen clutching his oft-injured shoulder in pain while leaving Game 4 early. Meanwhile, Pierce is making a case for Finals MVP (his Finals PRA is actually higher than Ray Allen’s) and has shown no ill effects of the sprained knee that he suffered in Game 1. There’s really no other choice, at least from the Expert perspective. Given that this could be the last game of the playoffs, this is also your chance to utilize whatever big guns you have left in your Drive to the Finals arsenal. We’ve left Pierce for this reason, but some of you may still have been stashing Kobe, Garnett, Ray Allen et al. The time to use them is obviously now, as you don’t want to end this contest not having used up your available stars. Pierce will also hopefully give us Experts a chance to improve our somewhat flagging overall performance, which currently sits somewhere in the 95th percentile. 95 is great for spelling tests, but we’d like to finish up a bit stronger. We’re counting on Pierce to salvage our good names and reputations. In The Truth we trust. Play Drive to the Finals Now!

Paul Pierce, BOSWhen: Sunday, June 15 at 9:00 p.m. ET Opponent: @ LA Lakers Pts: 19.0 Reb: 5.0 Ast: 4.2 Playoffs Average PRA: 28.2 Most Recent Pick: Sasha Vujacic, LAL Expert Pick Playoffs Total: 1,208 Expert Pick Archive 1. Vladimir Radmanovic, LAL vs. BOS (13.4 PRA) 2. James Posey, BOS @ LAL (11.2 PRA) 3. Kendrick Perkins, BOS @ LAL (13.5 PRA) Perkins would be at the top of this list, but his shoulder injury (and history of similar shoulder problems) pushes him down to third, pending medical reports. Radmanovic impressed in Game 2 with a 13-point, 10-rebound performance. Whether he can repeat that however is questionable, as he’s been wildly streaky all year and often splits playing time with Luke Walton at the small forward spot. Posey is coming off an 18-point game, and possesses the capability to get hot from beyond the three-point stripe. Still, he’s only averaging 6.7 points per game in the playoffs, and his role on the Celtics is mostly as a lock-down defender.