It would have been nice to see Kobe Vs Lebron for the title, oh well. Bryant and the lakers are destined for another title. :smt023
I'm always willing to admit when and where I was wrong. So I'm eating a big plate of crow as we speak. I stand corrected.:smt102
I thought the Lakers-Nuggets series drove me crazy, the Lakers-Magic series is going to drive me Bonkers
Cleveland will have at least $20 mil to work with in the offseason. Eric Snow was medically retired and Wally Szczerbiak's expiring contract should allow for them pursue free agents. The problem is that the better unrestricted free agents (Wade, Bosh, Amare) won't become available until 2010, the same time Lebron becomes an unrestricted free agent. Cleveland is weak in the lowpost and Rasheed is available this season, but also 35 :|. There just aren't that many solid options for free agency this year as opposed to next. The Knicks will have ridiculous amounts of cash to throw at Lebron next year, but he'd also have to leave heaps on money on the table to walk away from Cleveland. I also don't see him winning a title in New York under D 'Antoni's system, which is more for show than delivering meaningful results. Luckily for the Cavs, Lebron is a hometown product and seems to want to do for Cleveland what no one has been able to do since Jim Brown in 1964, lead a professional sports team to a championship.
The managers of LeBron James are in crisis mode now. After all the games they won in Cleveland this year, plus the smooth ride in the first two rounds they must think about his time in Cleveland: if not now, when? If he leaves Cleveland then that means he failed at perhaps the greatest test: building a championship team around you and carrying them on your shoulders all the way to the championship. If it were me I would keep him there. He is still young. Try again. And again. After all is said and done it would be better if he won even only one ring at Cleveland, than turn into a high-priced journeyman in search of the elusive championship.
Not upset at all. A little disappointed, but what are you gonna do? You pick up the pieces and you move on.:smt023
It's time for the Lakers to go hard or go home. Enough of the nursery school bullshit. It's the Finals, and its time to step up. I know the Magic are no slouch and will be a hell of a challenge but if L.A. do what they do on offense, and goddamn it, play some defense, they can win this thing. I'm not making any predictions, but my verdict remains the same. If Los Angeles play defense, their bench produces and they find a way to close in on Orlando's snipers, they walk away World Champions. If they don't do all that and get pushed around again, it'll be a very long summer again for Kobe.
Obama picks Lakers to win pro basketball title WASHINGTON (AP)—OK, Mr. President, let’s see how you do picking the pro game. Barack Obama thinks the Los Angeles Lakers are going to win the NBA crown. The president was on his way to the Marine One helicopter on the South Lawn on Tuesday when a reporter shouted a question. The topic: Who is going to win the NBA championship, the Lakers or the Orlando Magic? http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...YF?slug=ap-obama-basketball&prov=ap&type=lgns
Kobe Bryant Is Still Searching for a Rival By HOWARD BECK The puppets are still prattling away, carrying on like a modern-day, foam-and-wires odd couple. The presumptuously named Great Debate is still thriving, too. The rivalry between Kobe Bryant and LeBron James has never been more heated, at least in the alternate universe created by advertisers who were banking on a certain N.B.A. finals showdown. Except that the real-life LeBron and his Cleveland Cavaliers just got bounced from the playoffs, and it will be the Orlando Magic that faces Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers for the championship. The real-life Kobe stands alone, where he has always been. A rival? In 13 seasons, Bryant has never had one. A few audacious souls have tried to claim the title. Some players with comparable star power have traveled in a parallel orbit. But if a rivalry is defined by similar talents going head to head and competing at the highest level over several years, then the role remains vacant. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/sports/basketball/03kobe.html
I think Wade comes pretty darn close, he too has a ring and has all of the physical gifts that Kobe has with the exception of being slightly shorter thus not as effective in guarding the 3 spot if necessary.
Game 1 tips off tonight. I have to say I'm awfully nervous as hell. The prognosticator in me is telling me to go with the conventional wisdom but as we know an awful lot, sometimes - actually a lot of times - the conventional wisdom could turn out to be an isotope of stupidity. No one outside of Jimmy Carter's family would have believed that he would be the Democratic nominee for President in 1976, or better yet win the election. 50 Cent was supposed to dominate the 2004 Grammys due to the epic charting of his 2003 classic Get Rich or Die Tryin. And who can forget all the talking heads and "pundits" in the world of sports entertainment declaring Tom Brady and the New England Patriots the next coming of Jesus Christ and the 12 Disciples. As it turned out, none of these events came to pass in the affirmative. The point is that we should never be rubber-stampers. The Magic have defeated the #1 and #2 seeds in the Eastern Conference in the playoffs, in a year where said teams had the privilege of home court and the NBA Finals was supposed to be a pre-destined rendezvous between the king and the python. But the Magic has made us (well, most of us) eat our words. They can take on the best teams, and that includes the Lakers. We all know they're the most dangerous team from behind the arch, and stopping, or trying to stop, Dwight Howard in the paint can often cost you playing time and games. The Magic should not be slept on under any circumstances. Having said al of that, this Los Angeles team isn't the same one that was pushed around last year like the skinny, nerdy kid in 5th grade. I sense a lot more hunger, zeal, determination and most importantly, modesty. There was something about last year's run that seemed a little presumptuous and perhaps they've paid the price for not taking Boston seriously. The same cannot be said this year. They pay due respect to every opponent, play every game like it's their last including when they lose and most importantly, do the things they didn't do last year. It certainly doesn't hurt that many of the players have improved like Ariza, Farmar and Bynum. If the Lakers come out slumping like they often have throughout the playoffs this year and don't execute defensive plays, Howard and the Magic will hoist the gold but if the Lakers find a way to put bodies on Orlando's shooters, get Howard into foul trouble and most importantly, execute on offense, Big Phil will win his 10th trophy as a coach. They cannot depend entirely on Kobe to do things like last year. When they all put in a collective effort, they mostly win. Here's hoping they do that.
Wade is an outstanding player, the second best player at his position, and perhaps the 5th best player in the league behind Kobe, Lebron, Duncan and Howard. If we go by the conventional definition of a "rival", however, we see that Kobe has not had anyone mount a recurring challenge to him as long as he has been in the NBA. At various times it's been T-Mac, Vince, Iverson, Wade and maybe some other guys. The latest incarnation is Kobe/Lebron but a true rivalry doesn't hold water until they meet in the Finals.
We're standing. This series is a wrap. I'll be surprised if it gets past 5 games. [HDYT]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QT7q9kCJ8pQ&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QT7q9kCJ8pQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/HDYT]
