NBA Finals Preview

WHOA! Sorry guys, wrong poster. How many of these do you think Lebron has had to walk by in the last week? There goes my prediction of the Cavs taking the title. Its a good thing I stopped betting on basketball.

Thats better. Sorry Nike, sorry David Stern, sorry Cleveland.

So I think that this Lakers-Magic series is going to be sick. The matchups are really intriguing. So it will be Gasol / Bynum on Dwight Howard. Kobe, Ariza, and Odom are gonna have to team up on Rashard Lewis & Hedo Turkoglu. Shannon Brown, D-Fish, Vujacic, & Farmar are gonna have to take care of the rest of the guards. The whole Jameer Nelson thing coming back is a bit overrated I think. The guy hasn't played in months and he still isn't 100% recovered from shoulder surgery. The team also hasn't played with him so there could be chemistry issues. If his shoulder still isn't good, I don't see how he can be an effective shooter. Boy would he be a huge upgrade over Rafer Alson though if he can play up to even 80% of his pre-injury form. If I'm the Lakers, I want Alston shooting as much as possible. He is the black sheep on a team of excellent perimeter shooters.

Every analyst out there is talking about how Lamar Odom is the "X-factor" for the Lakers. It's an easy thing to say, seeing as how Odom's performance fluctuates from game to game. I think a huge X-factor will be Derek Fisher. In the playoffs this year he has 35% field goal shooting and 23.5% 3-point shooting. This is a guy who's career playoff shooting numbers have been 42% & 40.7%. He is going through his worst playoffs since his second year in the NBA ('97-'98). When he starts pouring in threes, the Lakers are unstoppable. It stretches opposing defenses way out and allow Kobe & Gasol to start going to work inside. Also, what happened to Sasha Vujacic? He's only averaging 12 minutes a game, and he is shooting way worse than Fisher (28% FG). Last year he was a real spark plug off the bench and he is completely useless this year. Its all about Shannon Brown now. Credit Phil Jackson and GM Mitch Kupchak for trading for him in February, when it was obvious that Fisher and Vujacic were not playing to their normal level. Fisher and Vujacic are defensive liabilities, and now Brown can step in, make jump shots, and press opposing guards on the perimeter.

The Lakers match up with the Magic way better than Cleveland does. The Lakers actually have big guys that can score in the post, something the Cavs sorely missed. They have multiple options on offense besides Lebron. The Lakers also have way more players with size and length. Odom and Ariza are gonna have to close out on the perimeter shooters, and they should be able to. I wonder if we're going to see more of Marcin Gortat in this series in order to match up to the size of the Lakers. I like Gortat, he played really well in replacement of Dwight Howard during the regular season. He is physical and feisty and will battle, which they will need as the Lakers appear determined to bring a tough attitude throughout this playoffs. Also, his nickname is "The Polish Hammer" which sounds like a punchline to a joke but I thinks its awesome. If you don't think this dude gets raw then watch this clip of him posterizing Samuel Dalembert in round 1 this year. I want to see more of this guy.

Orlando needs to give the ball to Dwight Howard...a lot. He can impose his will on Gasol and Bynum with his balky knee. I can see some serious man-game 20-20s in this series. This is his time to establish himself as a superstar, and he seems ready to rise to the occasion. If they get the Lakers to start collapsing in on him, then everyone else gets open shots, which is what the Magic have done all year. Don't F this up Stan van Jeremy, give the ball to your big dog. And Dwight! You might not want this to happen to you again. How do those nuts taste? Probably like shame.

I like how the Lakers match up with Orlando. I also worry about how Jameer Nelson will affect the team Part of me almost thinks its better if he doesn't play, but then I remember that Rafer Alson is their starting PG. I've got the Lakers in 6, and I wouldn't be surprised if they won in 5. I hope it goes 7 though.