NBA Finals

LA Lakers vs Orlando Magic.  Lakers in 4.  Why?  Because i’ve always been a Laker fan.  Beyond that they made this their goal all year.  One of the “Most Valuable Puppets” commercials has puppet Kobe looking for his “3 championship rings”.  He tells puppet LeBron that you have to be hungry.  That is what the Lakers are.  Hungry.

After being decimated last year by Boston the Lakers have been on a mission.  Sasha would not wear green.  Kobe no longer had to be the star.  Sure he still wants it.  But the ring is more important.  LA has multiple big men.  None will match up to Howard.  But there are 2 of them.  Who can match the one not guarding Howard.  So Howard has to guard 2 big men.  Denver had trouble in game 5 doubling on Pau.  Howard won’t be able to contain Bynum, Odom, and Gasol by himself.  Orlando has good outside presence.  LA has to keep them from rolling in 3’s to win.

In game 4 of the WCF something turned on for LA.  They could smell the trophy.  They were struggling with Denver until they realized the championship was in their grasp.  If you watched the presentation of the trophy for winning the West; it was a chore.  None of the Lakers cared about that.  Last year they were glad to make it to the Finals.  This year getting to the finals is just another task on their campaign.

Conference Finals

The Conference Final are finally here.  A long way coming.  The Cavs vs the Magic and the Lakers vs the Nuggets.  The Magic are finally coming together.  They had a hard fought series vs the Celtics.  They are better for the battle.  The Cavs have not had any competition in getting here.  They won’t have much competition with the Magic.  They Cavs in 5.  The Magic will not pull a win in Cleveland.  The Cavs will win one in Olrando and finish them off at home.

The Lakers have not shown up to some games vs Houston.  Denver with their big wins will come looking for blood.  The Lakers and Phil Jackson know the importance of the Conference Finals.  Phil has a Conference Finals record of 11-1.  The Lakers will move on after a hard fought semifinal round.  After their last round the Lakers will look to make a statement early.  Lakers in 5 but a much harder 5 games then the Cavs.

Conference Semifinals

Round one is done and round two mach-ups are set.  We have the Los Angeles Lakers vs the Houston Rockets; Dallas Mavericks vs Denver Nuggets; Atlanta Hawks vs Cleveland Cavaliers; and the Orlando Magic vs Boston Celtics.  My predictions are Lakers over Rockets in 5 games; Nuggets over Mavericks in 5 games; Cavaliers over Hawks in 5 games; and Magic over Boston in 6 games.

Boston will be tired after their long battle with the Bulls.  This will give the Magic a win in Boston.  The Cavaliers are too much for Atlanta.  They are rested and were already better than their competition.  Denver is energized off their destruction of New Orleans.  They will come out hot and fast.

This only leaves the Lakers vs Rockets.  The Lakers have 3 match-ups to worry about.  Yao Ming will face Bynum, Odom, and Gasol.  Yao will be too much for Bynum.  The Lakers will switch that matchup to Gasol or Odom.  With 3 defenders to face, You will tire.  Bryant will face Battier or Artest.  In either match-up Bryant is the superior player.  Battier can’t compete with Bryant so Artest will face him.   This will leave Battier to face Fisher / Brown.  Battier will outplay Fisher.  He is skilled and experienced but Battier has the energy and speed to out play him.  As Shannon Brown comes in he will give a new look against Battier.  This will give Brown the advantage until Battier adjusts.  Advantage goes to Battier.  Over all the Lakers are still too much for Houston.

NBA Postseason

The NBA postseason is finally here. This is the real season now. Not to say that the regular season is meaningless. Just that the regular season is now meaningless. The match-ups are set. In the West are the Lakers(1) vs the Jazz(8); Denver(2) vs New Orleans(7); San Antonio(3) vs Dallas(6); Portland(4) vs Houston(5). The East has Cleveland(1) vs Detroit(8); Boston(2) vs Chicago(7); Orlando(3) vs Philadelphia(6); and Atlanta(4) vs Miami(5).

Being a Lakers fan for life (i was born in southern California) i'm taking the Lakers over the Jazz. I've lived in Utah but never cared for the Jazz. I even went to a few Jazz games and like them even less. I heard a great Jazz chant "Boozer is a loser and Kirilenko's gay". To give an objective analysis they have the best player in the game in Kobe Bryant. Andrew Bynum is back. Pau Gasol is better than anyone the Jazz can match against him. Lamar Odom coming off the bench vastly improves the Lakers already good depth chart. And Derek Fisher knows this game extremely well. The Jazz have Williams that will outplay Ariza. Beyond that they are outmatched. Lakers in 4.

So what about the other games. I have Potland in 4, Dallas in 5, and Denver in 6 moving on. In the East i'll be watching the Orlando, Boston, Cleveland series. I'm also taking Atlanta over Miami in 5. I want a short Orlando series and long 7 game Boston and Cleveland series but expect Orlando in 5, Boston in 6 and Cleveland in 4. For the second round series come back later.