Oooh! I see what you did there.

By the way it only works at the beginning of a post. Not so much on the second to last sentence.

Anyways, lets see how they are in a few days. A team that has been inconsistent tends to go back to being inconsistent at a certain point, especially against a balanced team. They haven't faced a team yet that's quite as good as the Magic are.

Denver doesn't have Howard

Magic are actually better suited to stop Kobe than Lebron. Courtney Lee and Mikael Pietrus are their best wing defenders and both are SGs. With Howard in the back and the fact that they play really really smart team defense, I think they'll give Kobe troubles.

I'm taking the Magic in 6, I think they've been underestimated all year and will prove it again. Basically every title the last 30 years has had a defensively dominant big man. I think the trend will hold true again.



uhhhh no. It'll cement him as a solid #3.

You need a dominant big man to win

Orlando. Even though they just beat my team, I love Dwight Howard. He's the man.

Plus Kobe's a douche nozzle.

I know. Deep, right?

Shaq and Duncan have 3 titles each as the best player this decade. Kobe has 0 and counting. Even if Kobe wins this year, the 99 + 2000s/post MJ period will always be the Shaq and Duncan era

I'm rooting for Orlando to beat the Lakers, but I still don't know what to make of Orlando.

They played iffy against a poor 76ers team. They beat a Garnet-less Boston, but it wasn't exactly smooth sailing in that series. They beat a very good Cavs team 5 times (not counting Lebron's miracle 3), but I think it had more to do with the fact they just match up against the Cavs well, and not that they are a great team.

They live and die by that 3 too much, and too much depends on how much foul trouble Dwight gets into. I don't like those odds for the long term, and think they'll have it tougher against the Lakers. I don't see them winning, so if I had to bet on it, I'd say Lakers in 6.

The thing is Harden fits just as perfectly as a SG beside Westbrook and is definitely better than Curry... he's as good a prospect as Mayo was last year. If OKC wisely passes on Thabust, it'll be to take him for sure.

Rings is such a poor justification for greatest players of all time lists. Last time I checked basketball was a team game. Single players can't win a championship all by themselves, they need help around them.

Who was the last team to win the championship without a dominating big man?

Lakers have Gasol,Odom and Bynum upfront. They just have to make Dwight take jump shots and he sucks at it.

If magic crowds kobe he will play the facilitator and lakers will still win. Just look at lakers win in game 5. Kobe did not score that much and still they won. Cavs just do not have that.

Regular season wins dont mean anything. I remember few years back grizzlies won 3-0 against spurs only to be blown away in the 1st round.

Lakers are playing the best now and they are FAR better team than magic. Magic aren't even as good as nuggets IMO.

Detroit Pistons, before that it was only MJ who could do it.

Finally getting over that Denver loss. Horrible way to go out. I hope we'll be back next year, but we'll see. Hopefully Melo will continue to mature and buy-in to the team defense. And hopefully we'll actually practice out of bounds plays.

The two teams I wanted to see in the finals (Cavs vs. Nuggets) didn't happen. I would kind of like to see Orlando beat the Lakers just because the Lakers beat the Nuggets, but I don't really have too much going in either direction. However, if Bynum can do what Perkins did to Howard I think the Lakers take it.

Sheed was/is better than Bynum/Odum/Gasol.

Ben Wallace was dominant defensively at least, too. Well as much as Rodman

Indeed. Unless the Lakers magically turn Bynum/Odum into dominant centers, they have no chance.

Looks like Jameer Nelson will be playing after all. Another plus for the Magic.

huge plus if he keeps playing this well. but they need to start making threes : (

After playing tough WC opponents magic are like breath of fresh air for the lakers. I dont see magic even competing in this series. As I said earlier lakers should be able to defend 3-point shooters and making Dwight a jump shooter would render magic ineffective.

Lakers in 5.

Rafer Alston sucks

Kobe. Ring. Shaqless.

That's not really what happened tonight though. The jump shooters weren't really defended. The Lakers clogged up the lane and turned the Magic into a jump shooting team. The Magic had their shots (the one's the Lakers gave them / the one's they're able to hit) and they just flat out missed them. 29% from the field? Shit.

Nothing was going in. A lot of that was due to the Lakers, but holy hell. I've been wrong before, but I don't see the Magic shooting 29% again during this series. But once they do that they also have to worry about their defense which was also horrible tonight.

But also the lakers do have some other great players besides koke. Which everyone forgot about when most picked the magic.

I guess the Magic got tired of making open jumpers after they hit all of them against the Cavs.

this happens to a shooting team like the magic. they're a very streaky shooting team and when they're on, they're very good but when they're off, then they're not good