Magic Choke Away Another One Late

Somehow the Orlando Magic find themselves done, down 3 games to 1. The Magic could easily be up 3-1. After being blown out in Game 1, Orlando has actually outplayed the Los Angeles Lakers the last 3 games.

Boy, does experience matter. Orlando was a missed layup away from winning Game 2. They had no chance in OT. And last night, they controlled the entire first half, blew the game in the third quarter, and then came back and had the game wrapped up in the 4th.

But honestly! Do basketball players not watch other basketball games? Do they not learn from experience? Do they not understand Basketball 101?

With Orlando in control in the final minute of Game 4, up 3 points, Dwight Howard bricked two crucial free throws. Howard only needed one to basically seal the deal. And even missing both shots from the charity stripe, the Magic were still up 3 with less than 10 seconds remaining.

All they had to do was defend the three point shot, something you would think Orlando knows a lot about. And if LA doesn't drive the ball for an easy two, FOUL the guy before he has a chance to shoot a 3! Like I said before, Basketball 101!

Not only did Orlando fail to foul Derek Fisher, Jameer Nelson failed to get up in Fisher's grill and contest the shot.

Did we not learn anything from Memphis and the 2008 NCAA Championship Game? No, not cheating on your SAT's.

I know you can't put the total blame on the players. A lot has to fall on Stan Van Gundy who very much played the role of the Master Of Panic last night. I don't know what he told his team on that possession, but I hoped he told them to foul once the Lakers moved the ball past half court.

By not fouling Fisher, Van Gundy gave Phil Jackson, one of the most overrated coaches in NBA history, his record 10th Finals ring. I will write an article on why Jackson is one of the most overrated coaches in all sports in some other time. Really not much explaining to do there.

Orlando should have won last night's game by double digits. The reason they lost, free throws! Larry Bird used to call them "free points." The Magic were 22-37 from the "free point" line, just under 60%.

And with the game tied 91-91 with just over a minute to go in OT, it seemed like the Lakers had the ball an eternity. How many chances did Orlando give them before Fisher hit the game clinching 3? Like the whole second half, Orlando failed to crash the boards as a team.

And Kobe got away with a huge no call on Fisher's trey. Kobe hit Jameer hard with an elbow to a face that should have been an easy offensive foul. But at the same time, what's been fun about the last few games is the fact that the refs have been letting the teams play.

Kobe Bryant is the epitome of a street baller. You know, whenever he misses a shot, his hands immediately go up in the air and he has that astonished look on his face. "What! No Foul?!" Whenever he loses the ball, the same surprised expression. Everyone's played a pick up game with a guy similar to this. And how fun is that?

We've always heard about how important experience is when it comes to the NBA Finals. There was the Piston's trying to get over the hump in the late '80s. Even Jordan had his learning experience before polishing off 6 rings.

This same Lakers' team couldn't get over the hump last year against Boston, but are now proving last year's Finals lost has been a major stepping stone. But hey, you wouldn't think that with guys like Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher would need a learning experience.

The last three games of the NBA Finals have been great with two overtime games. But you could just feel Orlando not having the magic to finish a game off. (I know, good one.) If Kobe and the Lakers hadn't struggled from the line in Game 3, this very well could have been a sweep.

And speaking of Magic, one final note (since this will probably be my final post for a couple of weeks, I'm moving and will actually be going back to work for a week.)

I miss Charles Barkley and TNT's NBA coverage. I've heard that TNT's crew is covering the Finals on the NBA Channel. That must be on the same satellite feed as Versus, I don't get it but wish I did. I can't stand ESPN's studio crew and don't care to watch it. Really no personality there. Stuart Scott is stuck in 1997 and thinks he is still cool. Was he ever? I don't even know what Barry that is on the show. And Mike Wilbon, well, since the popularity of PTI, Wilbon has grown a huge head and is so stuck on himself that he's more worried about going out and being seen at the big city clubs. Like he's some big time celebrity.

And Magic Johnson? Yeah, Magic is one of the best players to ever dribble a basketball. But last night during ESPN's halftime "show," I heard Magic say, "Like I said before the game, if Odom, Gasol, Ariza and Fisher don't shoot well, the Lakers won't win."

Really Magic!!! That's the best your basketball mind can come up with? Duh! That's like saying the team that scores the most points will win the basketball game.

What's even worse, I'm sure on the postgame show, Magic said something like this, "I told you before the game those four players need to shoot the ball for Lakers to win. And the second half they came through." Note: I have yet to see the postgame "show."

How right you are Magic.

As for Orlando, do they really want to win Game 5 and have to travel back to LA and get blown out.

Kobe Leads Lakers As Magic Disappear

When Kobe gets that look in his eye, Mamba's zoned in and there's no stopping him. Kobe single handily took over Game 1 of the NBA Finals as the Lakers routed Orlando.

LA basically only needed the 2nd and 3rd quarters to seal Game 1. Orlando actually had the lead after the first and were even up 33-28 in the second quarter when Mamba stole the show. Bryant had 30 points in a 16 minute span from the second quarter into the the third. The game was well over by the start of the 4th quarter.

In 38 minutes, Kobe had 40 points, 8 boards, 8 dimes, 2 steals and 2 blocks while hitting some ridiculous shots.

As for the Magic, call it stage fright. They just couldn't hit anything. You know the old saying, "Live by the 3, die by the 3. After putting on a 3 point clinic against Cleveland, Orlando shot just 8-23 from downtown in Game 1. The Magic shot 30% overall.

And it's not like the Lakers were playing great defense. Orlando had their shots, but they just couldn't hit anything from wide open 3's to missed layups. A lot of their shots weren't even close.

How does Dwight Howard only attempt 6 shots, making just 1! Howard did get to the line 16 times but finished with only 12 points. The Lakers outscored Orlando 56-22 in the paint.

Mickael Pietrus was the Magic's leading scorer coming off the bench with 14.

The entire starters for Orlando had a combined 46 points, shooting 11-46. That's 24%! Kobe had 40 by himself!

The good news for Orlando, it's just one game. We've seen this team catch fire and when they do, the best player on the planet can't stop them. They've dug themselves deep a couple of times in the playoffs. They were down 2-1 in the first round to Philadelphia. In the Conference Semifinals, they were blown out in Game 2 at Boston. They were down 3-2 to the Celtics.

The bad news? Phil Jackson coached teams are 43-0 when they win Game 1 of a playoff series.

One other note. The Conference Finals wrapped up last Saturday night. That's a 4 day layoff. And now Game 2 of the Finals isn't until Sunday night, at 9pm EST. That's one! playoff game in a week! What the hell are you thinking David Stern. Especially after last night's blowout Game 1, this great post season has quickly lost momentum. Why not Game 2 Saturday night prime time. Do you realize how many people will be turned off by the Game 2 late start on a Sunday night. Did you look at the World Series ratings in the last few years?

And it's between Games 1 and 2! It's not like there's travel involved between the games.

Big Trouble In LA LA Land

With around 3 minutes left in the first half of Game 2, I was committed to the Lakers winning the series in 5 games. Denver had their best chance of stealing home court in Game 1 but blew it. Now they were down 13 nearing halftime in Game 2. But then Carmelo Anthony showed why he's one of the least talked about star players.

Denver went on a 14-2 run to close the first half and went into the locker room down just one point. Denver's final bucket of the half epitomized this LA Lakers team. Chauncey Billups was inbounding the ball under Denver's basket when he caught Kobe Bryant off guard with his back to the ball. Billups in bounded the ball off Kobe's back to himself for an easy layup.

The Lakers turned their backs on the Nuggets at the end of the half and know will have to win a game in Denver to survive this series.

After two games in LA, it's the Nuggets who look like the superior team. Denver is more physical, more aggressive. They're driving the ball to the basket, they're playing exceptional defense. Denver's front line is killing LA's.

Kenyon Martin is looking like he's back dominating college ball like he did at Cincinnati.

For the last year we've heard how Andrew Bynum was the missing piece of the puzzle. In two games, Bynum has 15 points and 8 rebounds. He's disappeared in the second half. Pau Gasol may be grabbing rebounds, but like we saw against Boston last year, he seems too intimidated to take it to the rack.

And Carmelo Anthony has brought himself to the upper echelon of the NBA. By the time this series is over, his name will have to be up there with Lebron, Kobe, D-Wade and....Melo. Heck, by the time the Playoffs are over, it very well could be Melo with the ring.

Through two games, Melo has scored 73, Kobe 72.

Sasha Vujacic has yet to show up in the entire playoffs. He's usually good for a couple of three's off the bench. Vujacic failed to get in the scoring column last night.

And Derek Fisher is on his last leg. Last night he had only 3 points on 1-9 shooting! What are you doing giving this guy the last shot of the game?

Linas Kleiza's performance was outstanding. Kleiza had 16 points off the bench. He was 4-7 from downtown and a hit a couple of 3's towards the end of the first half which got Denver back in the game.

And last year, everyone was talking about the Pau Gasol trade and how it was a steal for the Lakers and would put this team over the top. Well, this year Chauncey Billups has had a tremendous impact on this Denver team. They went from borderline playoff team to potential NBA Champs. You just can't say enough about the influence Billups has on a team.

I thought I would never say this, but the NBA Playoffs are better than the NCAA Tournament. The Tourney is basically two full days of basketball. The NBA you get pretty much two months. And don't trying comparing the Final Four's. In the NCAA, you get 3 games in the Final Four. The NBA we can possibly get 14 games. And this year's playoffs are fantastic. We truly have the 4 best teams left standing.

I'm totally changing my pick in the Western Conference. I think Denver wins this series in 6. There is no way LA wins a game in Denver. Especially not Game 3 which will be the biggest game in their franchise history. And I'm still waiting for J.R. Smith to explode, and he will. This guy has been a huge boost for Denver off the bench. His range is anywhere 5 feet or more behind the 3 point line. He will get hot and it will kill the Lakers.

And when the Lakers lose this series, not only will Kobe's career be questioned, but also Phil Jackson's. The Zen Master won 6 titles with the greatest player of all time and then won 3 with a dominant Shaq at the peak of his career and when Kobe was just getting started.

48 hours ago it still looked like a lock for the dream Finals matchup of Kobe/Lebron. Boy how that quickly changed.

Kobe And Lakers Bow Down, Hard! Lebron The Best On The Planet

No more Kobe/Michael comparisons!

No more Kobe/greatest player on the planet comparisons.

If anything, this roll over and drop dead choke job by the LA Lakers signified is this:

Phil Jackson is probably not the great coach everyone suspected, and,

Kobe Bryant is not the best player in the game, and,

Lebron James is the best player on the planet.

This was a totally uncharacteristic Phil Jackson coached team. No real surprise that a Kobe team would play this way.

Now it's obvious. Phil Jackson only benefited from having the greatest player ever in Michael Jordan, winning 6 of his titles. Jackson won three more by having a dominant 1-2 punch of Shaq and Kobe, notice how Shaq comes first. And now maybe Jax won those titles with the help of the NBA and the referees.

I've said all along that I thought Chris Paul should have been the MVP. Being repetitive, but Paul did not have the supporting cast and coach Kobe did. Paul always made his team better.

Enough of CP3. Lets go to another forgotten best player on the planet, Lebron James.

Going into the Finals, it was all Lakers in 5 or 6. Kobe's the MVP, best player on the Planet. The West is more dominant, Kobe has the better supporting cast.

But how can you forget Lebron James? 90% of the nation could not name one other player on Lebron's team. Yet this was the same Lebron led Cavaliers team that came within one game of knocking off the now 2008 World Champion Celtics.




Back to Lebron. No one will ever argue the fact that Kobe had a far greater supporting cast than James did this year. The Cavaliers were horrible. You talk about 4 players standing around waiting and watching one guy run the show. Similar like the Lakers, except Lebron had far much greater success.

Lebron (I will only refer to Lebron, not the Cleveland Cavaliers) could have stolen Game 1 in Boston, if he had not missed so many "bunnies" and the best cheerleader and taunter in the NBA, Sam Cassell would have played his usual role and not showed up on the court. Cassell scored 13 points in Game 1 of the second round series, arguably the difference.

Lebron had no problem and showed no fear driving the ball through Boston's tough defense and getting to the rim. Maybe it was Lebron's youth that caught up to him, because he missed a lot of easy layups throughout the series.




Lebron has always had his outside jump shot questioned, but we all know Kobe is the most dangerous shooter in the game, able to turn around from either shoulder. In the Finals, Kobe failed to be lethal and lacked the determination to drive the ball to the basket and create more open shots for his teammates.

And don't forget, Lebron lost his best scoring threat, "Boobie" Gibson (yeah, what a threat) in Game 5. The same Game 5 Lebron had a 14 point lead at Boston with under 4 to play in the second quarter. Had Lebron not lost Gibson, Lebron wins the series in 6 games.

Lebron was even competitive in Game 7 at Boston, a 3 point miss away from winning the series, with absolutely no supporting cast, continually getting beat down and ruffed up every game.

So now, no way can you compare Kobe to Jordan. A Michael Jordan team would have never folded like Kobe's Lakers team. We all know a Jordan team never would have let a 24 point lead slip away.

And no way! does a Jordan team do whatever the hell Kobe's team did last...you know what? Forget about the Jordan/Kobe comparisons. Forever!



With 6 titles, look at Jordan's supporting cast, basically consisted of only role players. Scottie Pippen, ended up being an average player without Jordan; Dennis Rodman was there for 3 of the titles, but the Worm was never a scoring threat, only a solid defender and rebounding machine, sometimes more of a distraction than anything else. That's pretty much the only All Star's Jordan played with.

Boston Celtics, 2008 World Champions. That still hurts to say, and I wonder how the fair weather Celtics' fans feel about Doc Rivers now. They all wanted this guy's head on a pole last year. I wonder what the Beantown fans response will be now when they hear, "You bought this team and the star players." "They all came from the outside."

I'm already sick of hearing Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen proclaim how much this means to them and the history and legacy of the Boston Celtics. Come on, Allen and Garnett haven't even been in town for a year!

Originally, none of the "Big 3" could carry their own team to a championship. Pierce with his whole career in Boston, could not carry "his" team to the Finals in a post Jordan, weak Eastern Conference era. And yet now, according to Bob Ryan, we're suppose to consider Paul Pierce one of the greatest scoring threats in NBA history!

Jordan kept titles away from Hall of Fame players like Barkely, Ewing, Drexler Miller, Stockton and Malone.

KG failed to ever take "his" Minnesota Timberwolves to the Finals, and of course Ray Allen with "his" team, never made it to the Conference Finals.

KG, Pierce and Allen may now have their rings. But one thing's for sure, they failed to establish their "own" dominant legacy. They showed each could not win with their "own" team. They proved they could only win by joining forces.

And Paul Pierce thanking the "faithful" Celtics fans for sticking with him? Yeah right. Hey Paul, where were these "faithful" fans your whole Boston career? Where were they when you were stabbed 9 or 11 times in a Boston club. Doesn't really sound like you were such a fan favorite then. Heck, weren't they willing to trade you last year for the possibility of having Kevin Durant?




Give Boston and their team executives credit, they learned from their conqueror's. They're franchises have basically become everything they so passionately hated. Can you say New York Yankees?

Who's the happiest guy in the world? Paul Pierce? KG? Ray Allen? Curt Schilling?
No. No. No. And No!
Shaquille O'Neal.
He still has you Kobe, 4-3.
Can you dig it!!!!!!!

And can somebody please give Lebron just one other All Star caliber player!



Since the post Jordan era, I've failed to see anyone dominate the court like MJ. I've failed to see anyone bring as much excitement, passion and consistency to the game. I've failed to witness an NBA Finals that's lived up to its potential.
God I miss watching Michael Jordan. I seemed to take it for granted at the time, not realizing he'd have to hang it up sooner or later and we'd never see another like him.
One thing's for certain. As time goes by, more and more we'll begin to realize just how great Michael Jordan was.

NBA Finals Game 4: Choke Job City!!!

Wow!

This series is over. Crown the Celtics. Get those rings fitted.

The Los Angeles Lakers blew a 24 point first half lead.
They were up 18 at half and 20 points at one time in third quarter. The Lakers blew the biggest lead after half in NBA Finals history during the shot clock era.

The Lakers scored 35 points in the first quarter alone. They scored 33 in the entire second half!




Yeah, the Celtics defense was tough.
But LA choked this one away. The Lakers had an 18 point lead at half, all this while Kobe Bryant did not have one field goal!

The Lakers looked too relax and careless in the third quarter. Then they looked nervous. The whole series they tend to take dumb and careless shots, shooting the ball just inside the 3 point line. That's not a high percentage shot, and if you make it, it's not a 3.

Talk about closing out quarters, Boston closed out the third quarter on a 21-3 run!

The reemergence of Ray Allen as an All Star again has been the biggest shot in the arm for Boston. Allen scored 19 points and pulled down 9 boards! while playing the entire game!




Let's face it. Boston wants it so much more. Other than Bryant, the Lakers have no heart, no kill mentality.

If anyone should know about blowing a 24 point lead, it should be the Lakers. They nearly came back from 24 down with less than 8 to play in Game 2 at Boston.

LA went away from everything that made them so dominant in the first half. The Lakers had really been missing Lamar Odom the first 3 games, he came out in Game 4 attacking the basket, opening up the Lakers' offense. Odom had 15 points in the first half, 7-7 from the field. Odom had 4 points in the second half.

But of course you can't solely blame Odom.

With your best Bill Walton impression, "Where was Lamar Odom in the second half? Where was the entire Lakers' team?"

This type of play is surprising coming from a Phil Jackson coached team. And keep in mind that the Celtics comeback came without Rajon Rondo, without Kendrick Perkins.

Maybe the injuries helped the Celtics. Eddie House has played huge, and he has such a better jump shot than Rondo. The Lakers give Rondo any open jump shot he wants, but with House, you have to defend.



The X factor for Boston, James Posey coming off the bench with 18 points.

No team has ever come back down 3-1 to win the finals. The Lakers need to play the rest of the series one game at a time. But how do you respond in Game 5 after such a dismal performance. You're depressed. Your confidence is shot.

If LA plans to win this series, they need to stage a bigger comeback the next three games then the one Boston pulled off tonight.

Good Luck. Maybe the Lakers win Game 5 at home, but two in a row at Boston?

Hey, we've seen crazier things. And can you really count out a Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant team?

Once again, Kobe Bryant had another great press conference. If you haven't seen this yet, it's definitely worth a look and a good laugh. When did Kobe become so real? A short time ago, he was one of the most hated players in the game. Now, you can't help but root for the Black Mamba.

NBA Finals Game 2

This was supposed to be must see TV. This was the most hyped NBA Finals since the Jordan era. But come on! The first half of Game 2 was very hard to swallow. The officiating was flat out horrendous! Like most of the country, you probably missed the second half and the near historic collapse by the Celtics because, well um, it was almost midnight on a Sunday night!

I know officiating is always a question in the NBA. You can't always cry about the refs. Usually when the refs make a horrible call, they make up for it later on the other end.

I am neither a Lakers or Celtics fan. But how the hell does Leon Powe have 9 free throw attempts to the entire Lakers' team total of 1 with 6:11 left in the first half!

At halftime, Boston had a 19-2 free throw advantage! This never happens in the NBA. You could argue that Boston attacked the rim more than the Lakers, but don't tell me that Bryant, Odom and Gasol weren't aggressive.

Boston had 38 free throws to the Lakers's 10! That doesn't happen in any basketball game no matter what level. Sure it was going to be a route.

Props to the Celtics' defense? The Lakers still shot over 50% from the field and almost came back from 24 down with under 8 minutes left in the game. All that while Boston shooting 38-10 from the line!

Of course Phil Jackson played his usual mind tricks and didn't shy away from the one sided officiating.

"I'm more struck at the fact that Leon Powe gets more foul shots than our whole team does in 14 minutes of play. That's ridiculous."
He added: "I've never seen a game like that in all these years I've coached in the Finals. Unbelievable."

Every game is officiated differently and players and coaches feel out how the refs are calling the game and adjust their play accordingly.

"It was a foul every single time down. We never were able to get into that flow, at that pace that we like to play at."-Luke Walton.



How does Kobe get called for 3 fouls in the first half! I mean he's the best player in the game and the MVP! Two of the three fouls were complete touch fouls with very little contact. So Mamba's PT was limited in the first half.

You would have never of seen Jordan treated this way. Could you imagine how Jordan would have reacted with such treatment?

What happened to the notion of "letting them play the game?"

I love how during some timeouts ABC tries to pull a "Lakers celebrities in the crowd" stunt. Last night in Boston we saw Antoine Walker (yeah, you probably don't even know who he is), Jon Lester, Curt Schilling, Magic Johnson and David Stern.



Speaking of Schilling, enough of the Paul Pierce drama. The guy is not hurt! Quit comparing Pierce to Willis Reed, Kirk Gibson or "ketchup packet in the sock" Schilling.

The second time around was a bunch of Patriots' players and Leonardo Dicaprio.

This series will more than likely go seven games. Let's hope the better team wins.
If not, dome shots all around for the Celtics courtesy of Rachel Nichols.