LAKERS VS MAGIC - NBA FINALS PREDICTIONS

Well it is finally that time ladies and gentleman, the NBA Finals are here!!! This year's Finals feature the Magic vs the Lake Show. The Magic are playing great ball right now, making it rain 3's, and are anchored by Dwight Howard in the middle. And in case you forgot, they took out Lebron James and the Cavs in the ECF. The Lakers are led by Kobe Bryant, aka The Black Mamba, and have looked like they are on a mission this year since they lost in the NBA Finals last year. They have been one of the best teams in the league all year long, and will be disappointed if they don't win it all this year. It should be a great Finals, so let's see how it goes. Also, I'm sure Commissioner Stern and the NBA aren't very happy with this Finals matchup, especially because the League was so close to having their dream matchup of Kobe vs Lebron!

A quick comment on that. I was really hoping for a Lebron vs Kobe Finals matchup. It would have been amazing and maybe would have put an end to all these Kobe Vs Lebron fights we have via email everyday. But the Magic prevailed, so we got to give them props, especially Dwight Howard.

Anyways, going back to the Cavs losing in the ECF. This quote by Adrian W from Yahoo Sports is exactly why I'm a little happy that the Cavs and King James actually ended up losing to the Magic...

All season, the Cavaliers acted too entitled, too arrogant for a team that’s won nothing. They ran out demanding that Mo Williams(notes) be made an All-Star, when the truth bore itself out in the playoffs: Cleveland has one All-Star. Nevertheless, Williams still embarrassed the Cavs with foolish proclamations and guarantees his middling talent couldn’t deliver.

“If you believe in karma with that nonsense,” one Western Conference executive said, “then Cleveland got what was coming to them.”

All year long I had to hear from Cavs fans how great this squad was, and how they were better than my Bulls Championship teams. How Mo Williams was the second coming of Scottie Pippen. Or how King James was already better than MJ, without even winning a ring, or even winning a game in the NBA Finals. Imagine if you had to hear that 5050 times a day, everyday for a year, you would become a hater too. So yes, I'm kinda glad the Cavs lost. There you go.

And about Lebron not shaking hands with the Magic after the game? To me, that was weak. Lebron James on the court is amazing. There's not much you can say about his game, but what he did after this series really made him lose some of his luster to a lot of fans out there, including myself. What's funny is when he wins, he stands out there like give me dap, give me love, taking photos, throwing chalk, and dancing, but when he loses, he has to run to the locker room? I understand he was frustrated because he did carry those busters on his back for the entire series, but sportsmanship is sportsmanship playa. And this isn't the first time he did that either? This looks to be a recurring theme with him. And if you think about it, Lebron is the face of the League now, so that's pretty inexcusable. Lebron said it was his competitive nature, and that's why he didn't shake anyone's hands, but I really doubt Lebron is more competitive than the G.O.A.T. himself, MJ. MJ you say? MJ always shook his opponents hands when he lost in the playoffs. Remember when the Pistons physically abused Jordan, and the Bulls lost to them year after year? Jordan still shook their hands. He said it gave him the motivation he needed to become great. That is why after the Bulls finally got over the hump and beat the Pistons, that Joe Dumars said he had to go and shake Jordan's hand, even though the rest of his teammates walked off the court, except for John Salley. And till this day, people have not forgotten that Zeke Thomas walk off after that series. He was a sick player, but most people remember Thomas for that walk off, and nothing else. It's sad, but true. What's crazy is that DHo and other NBA ballers also called out Lebron about what he did. Hopefully Lebron learns from this, and grows as a player and a sportsman.

Anyways, back to our featured program. When you ask people who's going to win these Finals, I bet you 9 out of 10 people will say the Lakers. And that 1 person who says the Magic, they don't really believe the Magic can win the series, they just hate Kobe Bryant. That's just the reality of this matchup because the Lakers have Kobe and are experienced, whereas the Magic are young and might just be happy to be here in the Finals. Whatever the case may be, this should definitely be a great matchup, so I'm going to try to break it down to the best of my abilities. One warning though, I'm usually wrong when it comes to these kinda things, so please take this with a grain of salt...

First we will look at the Backcourt:

The PG position has been very inconsistent for the Lakers, but maybe a combination of Farm, Fish, and Chris Breezy can get the job done. At the 2, the Lakers have the games single most deadly player, the Black Mamba himself, Kobe. Hate him or love him, Kobe's game has really changed, and it's fun to watch if you like the game of Basketball. It's pretty scary when you really think about it. He can torch you from the outside, mid range, drive, post up, and rip stick you on defense and get easy buckets that way. Even though the Magic have a nice team defense,Kobe gets the nod on this one. I also think that Kobe faced a tougher defense vs the Rockets, so he should be able to handle the French Jordan and Dwight. Rafer is just crazy and too erratic for me to put my money on, and Jameer is sick, but hasn't played a game in a long time. I'll go with the Lakers here.

Frontcourt:

This one is very, very close, but I got to give this one to the Magic. The Turkish Jordan, RLewis, and Superman have been terrific in these playoffs. Talent wise you can make a big case for the Lakers, but Lamar, Gasol, and Bynum's inconsistencies scare me too much to give them the edge. The Magic front court is going to have to come up HUGGEE if they want to have a shot at winning this series.

Bench:

This is pretty even too, but I'll go with the Lakers in this one. They will have either Bynum or Odom coming off the bench, and that right there is huge. This bench also has experience from last year, so let's see if they can use it in these Finals. The Magic are just too young and inexperienced to give the nod to in this category. Side note, hopefully the Machine doesn't cry on the bench this year.

Coaching:

We don't think this one is even close. Maybe because I'm bias towards Phil Jackson. But to me, the only person who can compare to Phil in my mind is Pop, no one else is really on that level. SVG has done an amazing job all season long, but I got to go with my guy Phil aka the Zen Master here. He is the master of motivating his players, especially his bench and role players, and as usual, he will be on point in The Finals. He is also great at going over film, and fixing weaknesses in follow up games. He will definitely out wit SVG on a few occasions in this series.

X Factors:

The X Factors have to be Odom for the Lakers, and Lewis for the Magic. Odom is Odom. One of the biggest enigmas in the NBA. He frustrates me and others so much because we all know what he is capable of. But we all also know that he'll put up doub doubs and trip doubs one game, but then score 6pts and be ineffective the next. We have to see if he is able to have a big series in these Finals. He needs to elevate his game a little bit more, to get this chip. On the Magic side, Lewis has to step up and bring his A game. He is usually a consistent shooter with one of the smoothest j's in the league, but the Lakers have a ton of length and strength in their defenders, which might give Lewis some problems in this series. We know what they will get from Dwight, but how about from Lewis?

Overall:

I see this being a great series, with some close, even buzzer beater type games, but ultimately I see the Lakers prevailing in 6 after a hard fought series. Look for Kobe to come out and set the tempo tonight in Game 1. The dude is a killer, and he knows he needs to set the tone for his team. The Magic are also young, and inexperienced, and I'm big on having experience to win the Finals. Overall, I just think that the Lakers matchup a lot better vs the Magic than the Cavs did. Their forwards have length and athleticism, and they will be able to defend Hedo, Lewis, and Howard a lot better. I see them wearing those guys out eventually, and Kobe being a killer, and that is why I'm picking the Lakers.

On a side note, I'm sure by now all of you know I am a huge, huge Kobe Bryant fan. I really am not even a Lakers fan, but the Lakers winning, and Kobe's legacy go hand in hand, so yes, I'm rooting for the Lakers to win these Finals. For a long time now, I've had to hear how Kobe Bryant has never won a chip being the number 1 dude on the squad. When the Lakers won their 3 chips, Shaq got all 3 MVP's. Kobe was unreal in those Finals, but the Big man was the number 1. So we all know, the knock on Kobe has always been he has never won a title without Shaq. Well the time has come for him to prove all the haters wrong, and for him to win this Chip with him being the 1 man on the squad. Once he does that, the haters will make excuses and still hate, but they'll know deep down inside that he'll go down as top 10 of all time. And that will be good enough for me. No more email fights, nothing. Because it will just be understood after that, and I'll be happy.

Anyways, hopefully we can watch a great NBA Finals series to top of an awesome NBA playoff year.

Take care, and let me know what you think and what your predictions are for the Finals too.