Werd. evryone is talking about lakers are unstoppable blah blah blah. kobe is unstoppable. the lakers on the other hand. are fallible. i wasnt sure if the cavs could beat the lakers but i was sure it would go 7 games. but now that you have a dominant big man going against the lakers?? lets not forget that this would be a rockets/magic finals if not for yao's injury and all the bullsh!t calls the lakers got with all the games "joey crawford was called in" for. i still cannot believe that after almost every lakers loss where they face elimination or on the brink of eliminating the other team, there is a "joey crawford will be called to officiate the next game". anyway, go magic. go Rafer. go Rashard. go Dwight. go Hedo. go Van Gundy. ur team has elements of houston and RAs old sacramento team. lets rip PJ and Kobe a new one. PLEASE.
Well.. the Lakers have Bynum, Gasol, and Mbenga to throw at Howard... I know they want to conserve Gasol's fouls so they'll try to double with guards and try to strip the ball from Dwight (sorta like what Cleveland was trying to do with Mo and LeBron coming over and also what the Lakers partially did with Yao). The PF matchup should be interesting though.... Gasol vs. Lewis... They are in some sort of a dilemma here.. because it's going to be a mismatch. Should they start Odom instead to match up with Lewis? But then do you bring Gasol off the bench or use him on Howard and risk foul trouble (when he's your second leading scorer)? I think all the other matchups are pretty fair. Obviously the Lakers have an advantage at the SG position with Bryant guarded by Lee (with Pietrus coming off the bench backing him up). Hedo vs. Ariza should be interesting also... Hedo is mainly an outside shooter, while Ariza is sorta both, an set up outside shooter and a slasher. Rafer vs. Fisher will be a key match up for Orlando, Rafer has to out duel Fisher/Brown/Farmar... he can't let any of those 3 out play him if the Magic want to win.
ESPN Expert Picks http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/matchup/_/teams/magic-lakers reminds me of 2008 Finals. They already jinx the Fakers. Magic in 6.
Hmmm....interesting take. I'm almost a bit frightened here because I actually disagree with the majority of your post. For one, I think it's definitely a stretch to say "everything depends on Bynum". He's exactly like Odom in my book: if one or both show up the Lakers are nearly unbeatable, otherwise they're both wildcards that the Lakers have won in spite of. And lastly, with the way Howard is playing I highly doubt anybody can slow him down at this point. I have a feeling (much like you seem to suspect) that Bynum will be in foul trouble the entire series. Should be interesting, though. I'm very curious to see how PJ matches up defensively due to the aforementioned match up issues with having two 7-footers yet trying to defend a perimeter-oriented PF.
I live in O-town soooooo im cheering with all the magic fans cuz its been 14 years since we been to the finals and THEY ARE DETERMINED to win another 4 games!!!! I can't wait for this series to begin...way more interesting than cavs/lakers
My thoughts: This matchup could go either way, though I'm sure I'm subconsciously giving the Magic too much credit because I don't want to see the Lakers win. Everyone's been expecting to see the Magic collapse because we've never taken them more seriously than a paper tiger all year. But they just whacked off both of the "real" Eastern Conference (and NBA title) contenders back to back, and it really wasn't all that close. Boston went 7, but the final game in Boston was resounding. Everyone looks at the Lakers as experienced and hardened contenders, but they just struggled in a big way to get past two seemingly outmatched opponents. If you were to tell us in November that the Lakers would face us without Yao or McGrady and then Denver to make the Finals, I don't think anyone would expect more than a total of 9 or 10 games. So what if the Lakers remain discombobulated and the Magic have found themselves? If the Lakers aren't who we thought they were and Orlando is peaking? Matchups: Phil Jackson should pretty much own SVG, I think we can agree on that. Lakers have the choice of going Bynum-Gasol-Ariza-Bryant-Fisher or Gasol-Odom-Ariza-Bryant-Fisher or Bynum-Gasol-Odom-Bryant-Fisher to counter Howard-Lewis-Turkoglu-Lee-Alston Against Houston and Denver, all that mattered was whether Gasol, Odom, or Bynum would care enough to dominate in a game. If at least two of those three played like they gave a crap, it was over. Sadly, Gasol only had 6 good efforts over 13 games (only once scoring 20+ back-to-back), Bynum reached his season average all of three times (never exceeding it) and couldn't secure 8 rebounds once, and Odom was averaging 8 ppg until the final two games against Denver. Against Orlando, the bar isn't set as low. Howard is far better than anyone in LA's frontcourt, regardless of his dunk-only game. Gasol shrivels against opposing centers that bang - KG made him his boytoy in last year's finals and he averaged a weak 12-8 in the two games against Orlando this year. Bynum got 8 and 2 against Orlando and no one wants to bank their chances on him anyway. Odom doesn't enjoy a great advantage against either Lewis (size and length) or Turkoglu (quickness and ball handling). LA does of course enjoy a massive advantage at SG, moreso than Orlando does at center. The only possible break you give Orlando here is that Kobe isn't attacking the rim as often and that Lee & Pietrus are young, athletic, and hungry enough to chase him all out in a tag team effort. Also, is Kobe really going to best LeBron's ridiculous series against the Magic? The Lakers don't look like they would care much if a teammate got hit by a bus. They don't have much of a fire at all. I honestly wonder if Gasol is annoyed that he isn't already back in Spain enjoying his summer. But they are playing hard when they need to. Being honest, I could easily see the Magic nosedive. If they can't take an early game in LA, they're finished. Magic in 6 or Lakers in 5. I honestly don't know which. But I highly doubt this goes 7.
i just ran across this article that compares the 1994 Rockets with today's Magic. wasn't about to search through the 115 page Cavs/Magic thread, so it may be a repost. Everything you’ve heard about the Orlando Magic is wrong click on the link to read the rest of the article
I agree with the article... they have a lot of 3 point shooter like we did back in the day... Dwight may not be Hakeem... but Dwight is still the biggest force in the series... I don't think Orlando can win this series though... the Lakers just have too much to throw at the Magic.
I also say who is their Vernon Maxwell, who is their Kenny Smith, and who is their Sam Cassell and Otis Thorpe? I guess I can put Hedo in the Robert Horry class in a sense.
well i was finally going to get around to posting my thoughts on the series, but emjohn practically posted what i was going to word for word (seriously, it was almost point for point the same). i'll just add that it really comes down to about 4 things: 1. are the magic going to revert to the mental midgets they were in rounds 1 and 2 or play like the battle-hardened, nothing fazes us group they were in the ECF? 2. can the magic hit their 3's (highly related to #1). 3. can kobe hit his jumpers. he won't drive like lebron so he needs to be shooting like he has all playoffs. 4. how well whichever of bynum/odom/gasol is guarded by lewis/turkoglu scores in the post on them (or even gets the ball in the post against them). magic in 6.
yet another comparison of orlando with the 95 rockets.... '09 Orlando Magic Draw On '94-'95 Houston Rockets Blueprint for Success i was going to quote the article and pick it apart, but it became clear the guy's analysis is just crap, so enjoy...
I really hate rooting for any other team than the Rockets, unless of course the Rockets success depended on other teams, but I just want Orlando to win this series and win it big.
Go magic! Even if it will lead to 10000 threads on dwight is better than yao. I just don't want the very mature kobe to win a title. The way I see it, Orlando will play a similar game to what the rockets played in game one. I'm even sure that Stan has twittered Jeff to twitter shane, to get those spread sheets on kobe.
Im shocked that people actually think that the Magic will take this series. If they force it to 7- then theres a slight chance. Otherwise? "Superman" will be held in check by Pau and Bynum (at the very worst, bynum can just use his 6 fouls to slow howard down while Pau is either at the 4 of taking a rest. The Lakers have the bodies to stop dwight because howard isnt a good offensive player, just an active one. Size and athletic ability will negate that. Once the inside game is taken away, it will be harder for a 3-pt shooting team to get good looks. People make a big deal about dwight, but if you have the length to challenge him, the magic are an average team. Thats why the rockets have success against them, and the Cavs didn't.
