Nba Playoffs - The Finals!

Nba Playoffs - The Finals!

Cleveland knocked out..sry James..not this year..
Defending Champs..out...no back-to-back titles..

Hmm..Who's gonna win? L.A. Lakers or Orlando Magic?

The playoffs has been fun, exciting, shocking and AMAZING..but only 2 will stand in the finals...

Only one will be called the "Champions"..

What team will it be?

Lets watch the finals! June 4..

The Lakers. Lol. Too much depth and talent on that team.
I could elaborate more... But... meh. xD

I really want to pick the Lakers, but the Magic dismantled the Cavs and also went 2-0 against the Lakers in the regular season. But the Lakers also went 2-0 against the Cavs in the regular season...hmmm...

Guess I'll pick the Lakers in 7. :roll:

The Magic have proven they are a really good team. I just think with Gasol and Bynum with 12 fouls to stop Howard and Howard is most likely going to get into foul trouble, it'll be hard to stop the Lakers. With Howard out, Gasol could very well dismantle that defense.

I take the Lakers in 6, although it could very well go to a game 7.

But... If Gasol and Odom disappears like last year's finals... Magic will win.

Orlando can't exploit LA's biggest weakness: inability to defend point guards, because Jameer Nelson is out. That is a big blow for Orlando against LA especially.

Also, I don't think people realize how good Pau Gasol is. He utterly outplayed Howard in the 2008 Olympics. Howard is much bigger and stronger, but Gasol has some of the best offensive post moves of anyone in the league. I don't think Howard will guard him nearly as well as people think if left one on one.

I could see Orlando winning if the Lakers decide to go into one of their extended malaises or if Orlando gets exceptionally lucky behind the arc and shoots hot in almost every game, but I don't think either of those will happen.

I think the Magic's win over Cleveland, which was helped quite a bit by matchup problems they can't exploit versus LA, has led to people starting to overrate them. Lakers in 6.

The Finals is getting closer...Yeah..

I didn't expect that the Orlando Magic could make it to the finals...They have my respect.

I thought the Cavs would finish them at 6..woah!

They are really a good perimeter team with Howard down low to dominate the boards...Can the Lakers stop Superman? Pau or Bynum? hmm..

On the other hand...The Lakers are pretty well-balanced team with a very good supporting cast..Can the Magic stop Kobe from scoring?

Lakers in 6 or Magic in 7...or 6?

Ciao! haha..

\m/

Not a good sign for the Magic tonight. They were thoroughly outplayed in pretty much every aspect of the game and lost in a blowout. Bynum and even Gasol did a pretty good job on Howard, and because of this, they weren't able to get anywhere near the number of open threes they did against the Cavs. Nor were they able to defend Kobe or Gasol effectively. Add in poor shooting, and you have a recipe for a 25 point loss.

The Magic need to regroup and rethink their plan if they want to get past game 5. Even decent shooting wouldn't have bailed them out of this one, and you can't really expect to shoot 60% of your threes in another key playoff game. That was an outlier in game 7 against the Celtics.

Very Good Game 1 for the Lakers! =)

I just think it was a bad game for the Magic. They shot horribly. We'll see if they put up a better fight tonight.

The Magic basically played horribly in ever possible way in game 1. Good shooting might have helped them only lose by 10, but it wasn't just an off night. They got hammered. They will need to come back and not only shoot better, but find a way to defend Gasol and a way to use Howard better, instead of having him brick contested hook shots with Bynum and Gasol all over him.

It looks like the Lakers have taken a 2-0 lead on the Magic. Great game two, but when you're playing Reddick for 25+ minutes... You're... probably going to lose, especially against the Lakers.

The Lakers are just too good. They play in the better Western Conference. Lol.

The Magic have won game three and the Lakers now lead the series 2-1.

I will be rooting for Magic. They have defied the odds to reach the finals and this will be their best shot at the NBA title.

Hopefully, there will be a fairy tale ending.

How do the Magic shoot 63% from the field and only win by 4 points? It's great that they got their first finals win in franchise history, but SVG has to be worried. The game three performance probably isn't repeatable. Shooting 63% takes a combination of good offensive execution, poor defense by the other side, and luck. Pretty much every Magic shooter had a hot hand. And the fact that this game still came down to the wire shows that the Magic, besides their hot shooting, didn't play a great game otherwise. They didn't play good defense, turned it over too often, and rebounded worse than expected, especially considering the Lakers have been opting mostly to run back for defense rather than crash the boards.

The Magic need the next two games, and if they want to win, they are really going to have to step up their defense and avoid dumb turnovers. On some nights, you just have your shot going and can't lose, but on those that you don't, defense, rebounding, and execution are what will keep you around and give you a chance to pull out the tough win.

This guy says it well: http://www.orlandomagicdaily.com/?p=416&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

On another note, Kobe really failed to come through in the 4th quarter, shooting poorly and missing several free throws. I'm sure he is not happy with his performance and that he's going to work his ass off to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

Phil Jackson will also surely prod his team to up their defensive effort.

Encouraging sign for the Magic: Rafer Alston is alive after all!

Encouraging sign for the Lakers: Lamar Odom continues to play well.

Wow... Magic... What a monumental collapse. They choked hardcore. They should have fouled....
Her are the percentages... A good three point shooter will shoot a three at... 40%. There are more than 60 shooters in the league that shoot at that percentage so, each team has like... 2.
If you foul, you send them to the line. Say they're an 80% free throw shooter. The first attempt is 80%, the second you have to miss and get the rebound which happens only 10% of the time and then the putback happens 80% when you actually do get the rebound. Multiply that out, it happens only 6.4% of the time.

Hmm... Let's compare... 40% vs 6.4%... Yeah.

The other argument... Oh we foul them when they shot a three pointer so they get 3 free throws. Again, let's use that same 80% free throw shooter. Multiply 80% three times and you get 51%. They will make all three about half the time.

Really, the odds are better if you foul.


Anyway, Lakers lead the series 3-1 with a win in game 4.

That was just the icing on the cake. Shard was nonexistent. Hedo missed 4 FTs in the 4th quarter. Howard bricked his FTs to pretty much ice the game. The Magic played very well in the first half. They were a little careless with turnovers, but generally, they played solid defense, got ball movement, and took decent shots. In the second half, it just fell apart.

Now they're down 3-1 and don't look like they have what it takes to win the series.

I'm not a fan of either side in this match, but that collapse is just the kind of painful play that you don't want to see, frankly, some depressing stuff.

Lakers win in 5 games.

Kobe Bryant is Finals MVP, as expected...
Phil Jackson has won 10 NBA Finals, more than anyone.
Lakers have a total of 15 championships.

Kobe wins the MVP of course, but how about Pau Gasol? His numbers aren't as gaudy as Kobe's, but with the exception of game 4, he was ridiculously efficient. He isn't a super dominant rebounder or defender(even though he had 5 blocks tonight), but he defended pretty well in the finals, is amazing in the post, has great finesse, doesn't take idiotic shots, and still manages to find enough good scoring chances to put up 20 a game. Kobe racked up the points but came dangerously close to killing his team in a few of games.. 11-31 in game 4 for 32 points is pretty bad actually. Anyways, I'm not denying that Kobe isn't a great player and he is clearly the leader of the Lakers team, just showing some love for Gasol, who I think is majorly underrated(probably the 3rd or 4th best center in the league after Superman, Yao, and maybe Big Al. I classify him as a center because I think he plays like one: always in the post, a lot of back to the basket play, can't guard players like Rashard Lewis). No way the Lakers come anywhere close to the finals without Gasol.

Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza played well all series as well.

It will be interesting to see where the teams go from here, especially Orlando. Hedo is going to opt out of his contract and will want a big payday(he has been really good these playoffs, but he probably is worth more to the Magic than anyone else because he fits their style of play so well), Gortat will want more money and the Knicks are interested in him, the team will have to decide what to do with Jameer Nelson and Rafer Alston(Alston is one of those players who has too much of an ego to be a backup). They already have Howard and Rashard with huge contracts, and I think whether or not they can keep Turkoglu will be key.

The Lakers have Odom and Ariza coming up on free agency, but Odom is kind of crazy, and basically said he doesn't want to leave. I'm not sure how much money is going to be able to lure him away. The team also has to figure out what to do about point guards. Fisher had some clutch plays in the finals, but he had been killing the team most of the year. Brown and Farmar haven't improved as much as hoped. I think Fisher could remain valuable for his experience and leadership coming off the bench, but they could use an upgrade at starter.

I guess Orlando failed to pull off a fairy tale ending. Going by the newspaper reports, they could have won a couple of matches, but failed to do so. Perhaps they were too tired from all their previous games or simply lacked experience as compared to the Lakers?

I thought the lakers would end it on their homecourt..I guess that's just the way it is.