Who’s the BEST? Kobe Bryant? Lebron James?
Jerry West’s comments yesterday anointing Lebron James as the best player in the NBA, along with Kobe Bryant’s iconic 40 point performance (18 in the 4th quarter) last night in game 1 of the Western Conference Finals have taken the debate to a fevered pitch… and everybody is anticipating the ultimate showdown in the NBA Finals, where the debate could be settled on the hardwood, and not just in the new Nike Most Valuable Puppets commercials.
There’s just one problem with this scenario… a team called the Orlando Magic. They aren’t getting any respect, yet I think they give the Cleveland Cavaliers a lot of matchup problems. Orlando will beat Cleveland if they can somehow steal one of the first 2 games in Cleveland. YEAH, I SAID IT!!! Cleveland needs to give Orlando more credit than the analysts and sportswriters are. Many of them are actually picking Cleveland to SWEEP!
We all know that Cleveland has Lebron “King” James. Orlando, however, has a much more balanced attack. Orlando has 5 players in the playoffs averaging at least double figures (with a sixth player averaging 8.9 points). Cleveland has 4 players averaging double digits with Lebron averaging more than twice as many points as anyone else on his team.
Orlando presents potential matchup nightmares for Cleveland. As long as Orlando and Stan Van Gundy have learned from the game 5 gaffe where Dwight Howard only touched the ball twice in the 4th quarter (sparking the reserved, soft-spoken Howard to call out his coach), the Cavaliers are in serious trouble. With Howard in the middle, he will command double-teams (unless you think Zydrunas Ilgauskas can actually cover him one on one - LOL).
Howard’s surrounded on the floor at any given time by 4 sharp shooters, who all shoot a decent percentage from the 3-point line. Orlando, in these playoffs, have FIVE players who have made at least 15 3-pointers in these playoffs (by comparison, Cleveland has two at this point). Orlando’s perimeter players are shooting with confidence and are patiently waiting for their opportunities to arise.
Their offensive strategy, and their team as a whole, reminds me a lot of when another dominant big man in the middle was surrounded on the perimeter by lethal 3-point shooting threats.
PICTURED BELOW: 1994 NBA CHAMPIONS - HOUSTON ROCKETS
All of you faithful Lebronians, rest assured, he will have a great series… he will have his share of mutant-like highlights… and, he’ll probably average more than 30 points… but everyone needs to remember that the Magic have a pretty good defensive presence in the middle in Dwight Howard (2009 NBA Defensive Player of the Year). So, in other words, don’t expect the unadulterated trips to the basket for his holiness that became commonplace against the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks.
Hmmm… speaking of defensive player of the year, care to take a guess at who won the defensive player of the year when the team pictured above won their championship? You guessed it, their dominant man in the middle, Hakeem Olajuwon.
Orlando in 6 games, to advance to the NBA Finals against the Lakers.
2 comments:
Man,why did you even have to mention the Pistons in there? We had an off year. You can't get to the Eastern Conference Finals EVERY year, then nobody would watch.
Anyway, very good analysis my brother. I too feel that the Magic can upset the Cavs in this series UNLESS they forget to feed Dwight Howard, like the Lakers forgot to feed Shaq in the '04 Finals when the Pistons beat 'em, but I digress. Comparing the "Dream" to "Superman"? Already??
Thanks for the comment, brother. Rest assured, by no means am I suggesting that Howard is in the same class as the Dream. LOL.
(You had to bring up '04? SHADY. And the only year the Pistons were in the finals and ANYBODY watched it was because they were playing the Lakers)
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