...Once again after a prolonged absence, I've broken out of hibernation and decided to throw something on here. Basketball Banter's entering a transition phase, albeit at a really shitty time when almost a year's worth of anticipation's coming to a boiling point and some awe-inspiring basketball's being played. Expansion plans are in the works though; I'm linking up an old associate to collaborate on the blog, so we'll have some different perspectives and more regular updates in weeks to come...The last week of my life has teetered delicately on the precipice of insanity; a combination of some brutally cold poker decks and brutally cold basketball from the delusional Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron n' Friends coasted through the regular season and early rounds of the playoffs with an almighty swagger; demolishing weaker opponents, showcasing their pregame antics, boasting the COY and MVP...and the second they were put in a tough place they crumbled like 'erb. I don't want to take anything away from the Magic; they were a dangerous squad that played extremely well, hitting the 3 with lethal precision and capitalizing on the many mismatches they presented the Cavs with...but I can't help but feel like the supporting cast shat the bed and wasted a boderline historic performance from the King. Nobody was consistent, everybody was a tentative shell of their earlier-season selves. Impressive showing by Delonte, but when he's your second scoring option, you're not winning a Conference Finals. I'm especially disappointed in Mo Williams; dude made such a huge difference this year and was supposedly the missing piece to ths Cavs' title hopes, shoots 30 per-fucking-cent throughout the series, never contributing as a playmaker, all the while his mouth running like Forrest Gump: "I can't see my team losing this series"...I bet he can't see a vacancy in #23's locker space next summer either.
The Cavs were exploited by Orlando: they used Dwight's impositon to open up a floodgate of treys, moving the ball extremely well and wetting and endless array of daggers from long range. Whoever had to double down on D12 (and it was a necessity with Z being too slow, Varejao being too small and Wallace being too useless) left a deadly shooter wide open, and when you give a team like the Magic that many wide open looks, they'll punish you. the Cavs made Rafer Alston look like Mark Price; it was depressing. As much as the rest of the team stepped up (big ups to Pietrus), we witnessed a truly transcendant performance by Dwight Howard. He dominated the boards and caused havoc in the paint on D, even with Lebron's incessant attempts to foul him out, the standard. Howard did everything for the Magic though, scoring at will with a variety of low-post moves and a polished touch, finding open shooters for a Shaq-like amount of hockey assists and even hitting clutch free-throws. It was the kind of showing that truly solidifies a player as a Superstar, and now he has a chance to become a Legend.
He'll only have to dethrone the almighty Lakers though, who despite the Magic's obliteration of my squad, I still think will win the Larry O. The Gasol/Bynum two-headed monster (despite Bynum's poor playoff showing) matches up better with Howard on both ends than the Cavs' bigs, and will surely cause him more foul trouble. They also boast more legnth and better defenders on the perimeter, so Orlando will be more hard-pressed to dump the rock to Dwight then swing to an open man off the double. It'll be a lot harder for players like Alston and Turkoglu (who I vaguely remember being 1-15 before game 2's almost-winner) to find a flow if they don't get so many open looks at the hoop. Meanwhile, they'll have to contend with Bryant, a player who won't attack the hoop and miss foul shots like Lebron did but wet jumpers all day if the Magic's under-rated but over-matched D gives him nearly as much room. Kobe's got more Finals experience than the entire Magic roster and is easily the hungriest guy out there, not to mention the best player. It's hard to bet against the Magic after a convincing East finals victory, but I'm still doing it. They have momentum and optimism for days, but LA's got the better coach, the better bench, the higher expectations, homecourt, a bitter taste still ingering in their mouths from last year, and Kobe. That should be enough. Lakers in 6.
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