(Photo courtesy of DGA Productions)
By: Greg Payne
As much as this is a pro-Boston Celtics blog, it is just as much an anti-Los Angeles Lakers blog. Let's be honest, if the Lakers win the championship, this 2008-2009 NBA season would be a complete failure. To an extent, we head into each and every season with two goals: For us to win the NBA Title and for the Lakers NOT to win it. SO, in Orlando we trust. I caught up with Mike, key contributor to Orlando Magic Blog, for a little Q and A to get his take on this year's Finals and what the Magic need to do to raise the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
Greg Payne: We always talk about "keys to the series", so what are the keys for the Magic in this specific matchup?
Mike: Keys for the Magic to win the series (there are many keys, let me just mention a couple of the prominent ones):
1) The Magic's inside/outside game (Howard and the perimeter players) needs to be as strong against the Lakers as it was against Cleveland; 2) The Magic's bench must continue to play as well as they did against Cleveland; Mickael Pietrus was huge off the bench with his versatility, playing tough defense and draining three-pointers; Marcin Gortat, Anthony Johnson, Tony Battie, and J.J. Redick all figure to see time off the bench; 3) Rafer Alston needs to be steady at the point as he was through most of the Cleveland series, run the offense well, and hit the open jumper; 4) Try and keep the supporting cast of Bryant (Gasol, Odom, Fisher, Ariza, Bynum) to a reasonable amount of points; Bryant will get his, and if the Magic can't reasonably hold down his supporting cast, they'll be in trouble.
GP: So who has the bigger advantage: Kobe Bryant outside or Dwight Howard inside?
M: I expect Dwight Howard to have a big series, as Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum are not physical enough to stop him. The Lakers may decide to double him to limit his effectiveness; if that's the case, Howard has to find the open man, which he did a very good job of against the Cavaliers.
Kobe Bryant is who he is and will have a big series also, but Courtney Lee and Mickael Pietrus are very good defenders who will make Bryant work for his points.
Bryant may outscore Howard in this series, but Howard will get his points and should be a beast defensively, grabbing rebounds and blocking shots.
GP: The Cavaliers really struggled when it came to guarding both Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. Will the Lakers have similar issues? Who do you think will get the assignment on Lewis, specifically?
M: The Lakers should have a little more success guarding Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu than the Cavaliers did. Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza are both very good defenders. However, when Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol are in the game together, Rashard Lewis can exploit his matchup with Gasol offensively, but Gasol can do the same to Lewis when the Lakers have the ball, as Gasol will have the advantage in the post.
Assuming Bynum starts like he did against Denver, Odom will continue to see more minutes off the bench than Bynum's minutes starting.
GP: What are the chances Jameer Nelson makes a return for the Magic in this series and what kind of impact do you see him having? If he does return, is there any chance at all that he starts over Rafer Alston?
M: The Magic players, after practicing and scrimmaging with Jameer Nelson for a couple of days, are now saying that they think there is a 50/50 chance Nelson will play in the finals. As long as Nelson can pass a litany of tests before Game 1, he will be activated. If he is activated, under no circumstances will he start because it's been four months since he last played in a game and he's not going to be in game shape; he would probably play 15-18 minutes in reserve off the bench.
GP: In the Cleveland series, the Magic seemed to allow LeBron to run loose and do what he wanted, while focusing more on shutting down his supporting cast (a strategy that worked beautifully in the end). Was this in fact the strategy and do you see Orlando employing a similar one on Kobe and the Lakers in this series?
M: It's really hard for anyone to stop LeBron James; after the Game 1 Magic victory, Stan Van Gundy said he still had no idea how to stop LeBron. James came up huge in the first five games, averaging over 40 points per game, before scoring "only" 25 points in Game 6. Only in Game 5 did James' supporting cast have a good game; in the other games, they were not effective and James had to do it all.
I don't think the Magic will mind if Bryant does something similar, as long as the Magic can prevent his supporting cast from having a good series. Problem is, the Lakers have a stronger overall team that surrounds Bryant than the Cavaliers had surrounding James. Gasol has done a nice job in the post scoring and rebounding, Lamar Odom was outstanding against Denver, and Trevor Ariza has played well in the playoffs.
GP: Who wins this series, and in how many games?
M: I feel like I'm going to jinx the Magic if I pick them to win, so I will pick the Lakers in seven games.
So there you have it, a nice preview of these NBA Finals, which are set to tip off tomorrow night. Don't worry, Mike only picked the Lakers so he wouldn't jinx the Magic. We all know who he's really rooting for.
Let's. Go. Magic.
Stay Tuned.
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