NBA Finals Preview - Lakers vs. Magic

The 2008-09 season started out with LeBron James, the "king" being presented as the next face of the NBA. The Cavaliers were "rudely" dumped by the Celtics last season and they were expected to complete the playoff run they started last season.

Someone forgot to tell the Magic! With Dwight Howard embarassing the very thin front line of the Cavaliers with help from Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu, this Magic team overcame awful officiating, beat the Celtics and a very young and talented 76ers team to get to the finals.

Here is how I see the fight for the Larry O'Brian trophy going this year.

The Lakers bring a deep team to the floor, one that is much deeper than last season. With Kobe Bryant at the top of his game and one of the top players, if not the best overall player in the game, they have a solid scorer and leader. What was missing last year, will be tested to the max this year. When Andrew Bynum went down with that devastating knee injury last season, many thought his career was done. He was not ready for the playoffs last year, but is healthy this season. However, he will be outmatched by Dwight Howard if they expect him to play "Superman" man up! That means that either Pau Gasol or Kobe or Trevor Ariza will spend a lot of the night doubling low on Howard. IF that happens, the Magic perimeter game with Lewis and Turkoglu and Courtney Lee and Rafer Alston will have a free hand to continue to reign 3's on the Lakers. I think this weak front court will ultimately carry the day for the Magic!

The back court is where this series will be the most unpredictable. Kobe Bryant will probably spend a lot of time posting up Courtney Lee to put more pressure on Howard to cover a larger area with Gasol and Bynum moving in and out of the key. IF Bynum can develop a mid - range jumper, it could help the Lakers move Howard off the glass. Derick Fisher is hoping that Jameer Nelson is not ready to come back as he was embarassed in the 2 games that they played to the tune of 27.5 ppg for Nelson. Alston will not be expected to drop 20+ on this Lakers team, but he will be expected to play turnover free. Ball control will be critical as the Lakers play an excellent transition game.

To me, the key factor in this series will be team defense. Overall, I believe that the Magic have a better system to handle guys like Bryant and LeBron as they are very good at shutting down 2nd and 3rd options for teams they play. Rotations will be key and the Lakers have not shown me a heart to shut teams down consistently, yet.

Overall, it should be some of the best basketball in a long long time in the NBA. I can't wait for Thursday night!

Magic in 6 games