i dont think the magic would "destroy" the lakers but they do play well against them as evidenced by a 2-0 series sweep in the reg season. Howard would destroy bynum or gasol offensively. He is too quick for either of them, too strong for gasol and bynum is very foul prone. Lewis would pull Gasol or odom out to the perimeter where they are both poor defenders and can exploit his speed on them. they have some defenders in ariza or kobe to put on turk but he is too big for either of them and they will have some trouble against him for that reason though he should struggle the most against the lakers. Lee is a wash i say ariza/kobe should keep him in check easy rafer and fisher is a toss up though rafer i would say has played better than fisher has in these playoffs. i can see a lakers/magic series going 6-7 games I give the lakers the advantage winning since having home court, the magic would have to win 2 games in LA to have a shot at winning since of the extremely home slanted 2-3-2 format the finals have
Easy, I hear what you are saying, but I cannot bring myself wanting to see the Magic make the NBA Finals. Also, you have to remember that the Cavs have been around a lot longer than the Magic (anyone remember their early teams when they had Austin Carr?). The Magic have had times when they were awful but they have had more good seasons than awful, I would guess. I would venture that their all-time winning percentage is better than Cleveland's. Another thing I forgot to mention in my original post about it was that if Orlando does make the Finals and beats the Lakers, we will never hear the end of how the Rockets had swept Orlando this season and that we could have been the NBA champs. Just get ready to hear that one over and over and over..
Mike brown has finally been exposed for the coach he is and that's average at best. There is only so much lebron can do and this series is indicative of mike browns average coaching ability. Let's face it he is no adelman, Jackson even vangundy for that matter.
Of all the four teams remaining, Magic is the most likable team to me. Lakers have too much arrogance from the players to coaches. Gasol is the reason I hug my Gillette razor every morning. Odom is a dumbass, which makes me glad, because Odom with his head straight would mean Lakers would hardly ever lose. Fisher is a punk and is still getting playing time due to what he did 20 years ago. Kobe is a great player but quiet possibly the worst personality the sport has seen. If he didnt have the basketball talent that he has, he would die the loneliest man on earth. He still might, after he retires. Only Sasha might attend his funeral and that is only because he might shoot himself to be in the same coffin as Kobe. Nuggets are another punk team with a different kind of flavor. The only person who can root for K-Mart is his mother, and that too probably because of his money. JR Smith yaps too much and shoots just as much. Melo will shoot, from anywhere, against anyone and anyall. Chauncey struts and walks like he is walking on water and curing everyone in the arena by his mere presence. I like Lebron on the Cavaliers and.....yeah thats about it. Mo Williams is working at 7/11 late night to post his picture on the milk carton but he is still running his mouth. Ben Wallace competes with Verajao to be the best flopper on the team. Sucks to be him because Verajao is the best flopper in the NBA. I am afraid to adjust my volume on my TV thinking Verajao might flop. And how could anyone root for a guy named Wally??? "Wally steps up to get his championship ring" - a phrase only suitable to be used on the Disney channel. As for Magic.... I like Hedo and Rashard on the Magic. Hedo does so many things for the Magic and is always chill. Rashard is way overpaid but he is earning part of paycheck this playoffs. I like Dwight as well. Pietrus has been a surprise. I like that young kid Gortat. Now that Rafer is gone from Rockets, I have no problem rooting for him. SVG looks like he is the most miserable person on earth. Let him win one. Maybe that will cure his voice. Yeah, I hope Magic win it all this year.
A lot of great things in this post but I will focus only on: Thank you! I have always said the same thing about him. Something about him that makes me think he has an IQ around 70. Reminds me of a skinny version of John Coffey from "The Green Mile". lmao, it's funny because it is true. Brilliance - almost moestavern19like. That and he looks just like Alfred E Neumann from Mad Magazine! True dat. Not me!
Props to the Magic for destroying the Cavs last night but a lot of it has to do with Cleveland playing bad defense. By now Mike Brown should have the brain to figure the Magic live and die by their outside shooting. So he needs to put a zone defense that takes away those oppurtunity. Instead of shifting players every time Orlando run a pick and roll, tell players to play 1-2-2 zone. Don't try trap Hedo at the top of the circle. He wants to shoot a 3? Let him, but don't allow him to penetrate and break down your defense only to dish it out to another player wide open for the same 3 point shot.
True True. Offseason really kills doesn't it. By watching the p/o's, you can just see how Orlando is a really great team. Remember January of this year where Orlando went on a kill where they went #1 on many power rankings. Critics suddenly put them on the Lakers, Cavs, Celtics tier. Come playoffs, critics washed them out and was just another team waiting to be stomped by the Cav's But look how things have changed. The Magic has beaten the Celtics in the 2nd round. It looks like the Magic will do the same to the Cavs . What's left is for the Lakers to advance and if the Magic does beat them, what team can say they've beaten three 60 wins teams, three rounds straight. If that happens, no one, absolutely no one can say Magic are a fluke championship team. Look at their season record against the other 3 teams. Celtics. 2-2 Cavs. 2-1 Lakers. 4-0 This Magic is for real.
i didn't even think about that and now i'm hoping they don't win just because of that. we beat 2 60 win teams in 1995 (and 4 57 win teams overall) and i doubt anyone has beaten more than 2. it's hard enough to even have 3 60 win teams in the nba, much less face them all and beat them all. of course the celtics weren't really a 60 win team by the time they faced them and it seems fairly certain that they would have lost to the 60 win version of the celtics. but that would still be a crazy stat. almost makes me want denver to win the west now.
Hampering the Rockets? This was the ONLY season T-Mac hampered the Rockets in any way, he actually carried the team the past three years, in case you somehow forgot. But yeah, whatever, hatin' on the dude is cool around here, so let's just pretend T-mac has always been playing poorly the past years he's been here. Revisionist history ftw! And Btw, the Magic had two humongous contracts at the time, one for T-mac and one for Grant Hill. If they resigned T-mac, they would still have space to sign DH, Turkoglu and Nelson. Lewis was the only person who wouldn't be there right now, as his contract is nearly identitical to what Tmac has.
Guys seriously.... this isn't a T-Mac thread.... THIS IS A MAGIC-CAVS thread... Can we just discuss game 5? I'd like to see how many people think the Cavs will win game 5.
ESPN experts and the Truehoop: Geek Smackdown 2009 unanimously pick the Cavs to win this series. Total failure. ESPN: where failure happens!
EXACTLY! If Magic does this, then WOW The Magic winning the chip will change the position domination landscape in the NBA. Because lately it seems like the NBA is pushing towards a PG-oriented system or a wing scorer to control and take over games. You need a Lebron or CP3 to be a legitimate contender. Plus, centers do not get the same treatment as wing players Centers are really becoming extinct. If Howard wins, GM's are going to relinquish the doubt that superstar centers are not important anymore. To be honest with you, out of the four teams remaining, the most likable are the Magic.
