NBA Championship: Lakers Vs. Magic
 

It will be interesting to see who wins the front line battle here. Although Orlando is a tough match up for any team, the lakers won't have nearly as much difficulty as the cavs just did. I pointed out in another thread that Cleveland had serious interior defense issues and that bore out. The lakers have viable big men that are in their respective primes that can actually defend the pick and roll.

If the lakers go small, odom matches up with lewis and ariza matches up with turk and bryant is allowed to rest by covering Lee or Pietrus. Gasol obviously won't be able to handle howard, but he will be a much better defender than Illgauskus was.

On the other end, things will be more difficult. Howard will take away a lot of the post offense the lakers used late in the denver series. I would bring Gasol to the high post and send odom to the low block against turk or lewis where he would have an advantage.

Unless bynum plays better than he did throughout the rest of the playoffs, he will be completely useless here. Perhaps he will see this as a challenge and try to step up his game against the best post player around. If that happens and we get the bynum that has flashed talent, the lakers will be impossible to beat. If not, he will be merely 6 fouls and 20 minutes and will be a massive liability on the defensive end.

I think the Lakers learned a lot from last year. Lakers in a 7 game epic.

Lakers Vs Magic
 

Good Points Kansas. It will be interesting to see if Orlando can consistently hit the 3 point shot throughout the series. Bynum was challenged alot last series and played a little better. I wouldn't call him a waste though, he's still long and can be a body pest to "mini" shaq Dwight Howard. Phil is 43-0 when he wins Game 1 in a 7 game series. La needs to get Game 1 and try to break Orlando's back in Game 2. Jeff Van Gundy has been right on with breaking down the Lakers all year. He's so honest and tells the truth. I'm sure he will be sending some hints and tips to his bro on how to defend LA. Gasol really is the key, Howard is obviously the better star with jumping ability and power that is unreal. But can he stay out of of foul trouble? Can he defend the crafty Gasol? Can Dwight make free throws down the stretch? I think the Lakers caught a break with Nelson being out or a least not 100%. He would cut Derek Fisher up. I challenged Bynum 2 weeks ago, and now more than ever they need something from him in this series. If Ariza and Odom play energizied ball and make plays, I think La quest keeps marching. Phil and Kobe get thier 4 together and Kobe & Gasol imprint thier only legacy. Lakers in 5.

EPIC

–adjective Also, ep⋅i⋅cal. 1. noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer's Iliad is an epic poem.
2. resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country.
3. heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.
4. of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions.

Epic is hardly a word I would use to describe anything pertaining to the NBA.

SO true!

Lets see.... LA Lakers = Disneyland
The Magic = Disneyworld
Tv coverage = ABC
ABC = owned by Disney...
**the winning player will say .....""" Im going to ________ """

this sounds like a made for Disney Event. !!

Kobe is good.

Man he is on his game tonight!

For every brilliant move that Van Gundy makes, he makes another that is completely foolish. Last night, he comes up with the brilliant scheme of running the offense through turkoglu but follows it up by giving JJ redick big minutes in the stretch. Yes, he hit two 3's but had a couple of critical turnovers and missed one wide open back breaking three from the top of the arc. He shouldnt be in the game with two minutes left in a championship game. He looked scared.

He designs a beautiful side out of bounds play...one of the best i have seen...but can't find a way to isolate jameer nelson against derek fisher in an obvious mismatch. Anthony Johnson hasnt played a single minute in two games although he can hit the open jumper.

All that being said, the lakers interior size is giving howard major problems. The bottom line is that Orlando isnt penetrating and are basically relegated to shooting from long distance. There are very few easy shots as opposed to the lakers who are getting a good many shots from the lane.

Basketball is not a complex sport. If one team is shooting open shots from 15 ft and in and the other team is shooting contested shots from 20 ft and out...its not difficult to figure who is going to win.

Orlando is a gritty team and you have to love the way they play. I have to check cap room, but they are in desperate need of another guard.

I couldn't believe that they had Redick in there during crunch time. I mean, seriously, there are guys in the CBA that are more useful. He went 1-6 from 3 last night and every one was a wide open inexcusable for an NBA guard to miss sort of look. To say they desperately need another guard is an understatement.

It is amazing the lack of respect that Howard gets from the officials. He gets pounded on all game and can't get a call and then gets called a couple times for loose ball fouls while going for a rebound. I guess NBA refs have determined he's not at that star level where he gets the respect of getting the calls.

Classic Kobe moment at the end of regulation. I said to my friend "so the smart move would be for Kobe to drive and kick but he's Kobe so he'll never do it like Jordan would of". Sure enough Kobe drives and four guys collapse on him. He has three wide open teammates at this point and Pau Gasol covered by Courtney Lee. But of course Kobe still tries to play hero all by himself and Hedo has a perfect block from behind. Then he almost got toasted by Lee for the winning layup on the ensuing possession.

That was one hell of a moving pick to get Lee free to the hoop it looked like. Beautifully drawn up play, just not executed by Lee. They'll be smarting over that one for a while.

Alston is making Fisher look fast.
Something is horribly wrong with this.

I keep thinking Turkoglu is Vlade Divac.

Words to live by


BEAT LA

It's always fun to see Kobe struggle. Congrats to The Magic for their first ever finals victory. 62% wow.

It's not even just fun. It's exhilarating. It can totally brighten up an otherwise bad day.

What has been interesting to me is that the Lakers still don't play really good defense. They have the athletes and for stretches, they play it as well as anyone. But they seem to get bored with it and don't know how to commit on that end of the floor. Everyone thinks that the Laker defense broke down in game three and that's why the Magic shot so well. I don't agree. The defense was the same as it was in game one. The Magic get whatever shot they want to get out on the perimeter. They were as wide open in game three as they had been in games one and two. They just made the shots this time. That's what game four will come down to. Will they make the shots or miss them. They will get them though. The Magic that is. He's got to make quicker moves once he gets the ball. He can't keep putting it on the floor and allowing the double team to get there because once he commits to a move, he's predictable. He has no counter moves. He has been effective at kicking it out to his shooters though so I give him credit there. That's the way this team has to play; inside-out. Not the other way around. They can't get too enamored with the three and forget to go inside because that's what opens up their perimeter game. I think the Lakers would be better served putting Bryant on Turkoglu and Ariza on Alston. I'd start Odom and put him on Lewis. Gasol is going to have guard Howard and that could get him in foul trouble but the same works on the other end. The reasoning is because I think you want to cut a team off at the head and having your two best defenders on their two primary ballhandlers would completely disrupt their offense. On the other end, the Laker offense has to be more diverse. I understand that Kobe Bryant is one of the great players in the history of the game. I understand that he has an ability to score that is second to none. But he's got to recognize when his teammates have it going and he doesn't HAVE to take over. It's one thing when those guys aren't on their game and Kobe has to bail them out. But that wasn't the case in the last game. Kobe took 25 shots last game. He was 8-11 at one point and finished 11-25 so he went 3 of his last 14. Meanwhile, Gasol was 9-11 and Odom was 4-6. They were a combined 13-17. Gasol is shooting 62% in this series. Odom is shooting 65%. You've got to use those guys. Gasol is a guy that should have been second-team all league and arguably could have been first team and he's getting 11 shots and only averaging 12.3 shots in the finals? That's just not enough. Kobe's had 81 shots in the series (27 a game) while those two guys have 63 (21 a game). When you have an obvious advantage and don't use it, what's the point? One thing that the Lakers are doing that I really love is getting the ball into the post on the strong side with Kobe on that side. That keeps his man from being able to drop off and double-team cause you aren't going to double off of Kobe. By doing this, you are getting great looks for Gasol down low. Use him. Make Howard work on the defensive end. Run some more isolation for Odom. Nobody on that team can come close to guarding him. The Lakers are the superior team but the way they are playing is keeping Orlando in it.

Maybe , just maybe Phil Jackson will read this and make the adjustments , i sure hope he does

Did people see these numbers for game winning or tying shots?

http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm

In the last 6 years Kobe is 14 for 56 with 5 turnovers and 1 assist.

The clutch stats are pretty interesting too, Lebron's production per 48 minutes in clutch time is 55.9 points, 14.3 rebounds, and 12.6 assists.

http://www.82games.com/0809/CSORT11.HTM

Interesting stuff

http://www.82games.com/0809/ROLRTG8.HTM

I like this rating system where Delonte west is rated the 35th best player in the NBA and Trevo Ariza is ranked 89th. That should rev Dala up into insult mode.

As far as this "ratings" system, its hard for me to give credibility to any "system" that rates Andre Kirilenko or Ray Allen higher than Chris Bosh, Carmello Anthony or Tim Duncan...to name a few.

Yeah, A little hole in the credibility department with me.

All i know is that Trevor Ariza has been written about in almost every major publication in the country. Delonte? Well...he didnt even make the TNT gone fishin picture. A shame...i would have loved to have gotten your check in the mail. :)

By the way Chuck, I miss you on here with the hoops thing. If i promise to simply agree with everything you say, will you post more?

Magic won't shoot 62% again, so Lakers will get the title.

I'm interested in when their real numbers come out. They say in the description that this is just a filler until they publish their more complex formula.

And your last paragraph may be the worst reasoning ever offered in the history of internet forums.

And if you took that last paragraph as anything besides me having a ltitle fun with Chuck then I would recommend a drink (goose and tonic).:)

At least you would be right more often...

If Trevor Ariza were a baseball player or a horse there would be multiple columns about how a bum suddenly became an decent player seemingly overnight.

Certainly about horses.

Sports? Bring the donuts and the coffee...:)

People are talking like he will be an all star. I can provide a link for you to one of those.

me? I think he is a very average role player that fills the lane well on the break, at times hits the open jumper and can play decent to good perimeter defense.

There are lots of "bums" that take a while to find their way. Look at chauncey Billups or ben wallace. Look at boris diaw who went from bum to decent player back to bum again. All about the team and the role for guys with middle of the road talent.

I agree with you! How about that. He is a good athlete that plays long and has suddenly found out how to hit an open jumper.

They also won't shoot 30% again like in game one. The point is that they are getting the same shots each game. The Laker defense is doing nothing to challenge them. It's simply a matter of make them and stay in the game or miss them and fall out of it. They won't 62% again but they won't do 30% again either.

i never said he was good. The disagreement was whether he was much different than delonte west. And my opinion remains that they are about the same level of player. Both of them get to feed off of playing with a great player and both were bums before they got in the right spot.

West's numbers in his second year in the league were better than this year in every possible way (PPG, RPG, APG, FG%) and that was from virtually identical minutes.

No they won't shoot 30% but the fact remains that even shooting 62% they were life and death to beat the lakers at home down 2-0. Regardless of the perimeter defense, the magic still can't get easy shots and i mean shots in the paint. You can't win a series like that.

the NBA kills the Finals by stretching the games out over such a long period of time. I understand the delay in starting the Finals when one series goes longer than the other but when you get action night after night for a month and a half it is hard to take two and three days in between games. Completely kills the momentum.

In Game 2, they shot terribly, played terribly, had every call go against them, and still were a missed layup from winning the game in regulation.

He was playing on a bad team that year with lots of garbage time where he was fifth on the team in average behind such luminaries as mark blount and ricky davis.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2006.html

I still cant believe they missed those two layups at the end... and especially the one with less than a second on the clock.

Orlando would be up 2-1 and the whole SERIES would be different.

agreed and i had a money line bet on them at +280.:(

Game 2 was a weird game.

So playing on a bad team helped him shoot a higher percentage, dish out more assists, and grab more rebounds? Interesting logic, seems having Lebron as a teammate would help you shoot a higher percentage and dish out more assists for sure. So you could almost make the argument that his game has actually dropped off since his numbers have dropped in those categories despite the attention that opposing defenses pay to Lebron.

Or you could say he was on a team with 33 wins and there was lots of garbage time against bad players? Hmmmmm.