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Do you believe in Magic?

Well I do believe that Magic Johnson was one awesome player, but I also believe the Orlando Magic will win this! I do have my doubts though, with the Lakers being more experienced than the Magic at this stage, but every time I doubted the Magic they proved me wrong!
 
Lol... first it was the Denver bandwagon.. now its the Magic bandwagon.. you guys are gonna be disappointed... don't you understand.. KOBE WILL NOT LET THEM LOSE
 
y2zipper said:
I'm gonna take the Magic in 7 because the Lakers don't have an answer for Howard.
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A little fellow named Bynum could help :), also whats the Magic's answer to Pau? Magic won in the season thanks to nelson's awesome play, and now they don't have him, also RL its not bandwagoning. They are just picking who they think will win.
 
RaikouLover said:
Lol... first it was the Denver bandwagon.. now its the Magic bandwagon.. you guys are gonna be disappointed... don't you understand.. KOBE WILL NOT LET THEM LOSE
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Okay so because it's now the Finals and people are rooting for who is considered the underdog(for what reason I have no fucking clue) so you consider it a bandwagon? If anything the bandwagon team this year was the Cavaliers.

Orlando has been dark horse, not just vs LA now, but vs Cavs as well, somewhat vs Boston and hell people even questioned if they'd beat the 76ers.

They've proven everyone wrong. Dwight Howard is THE BEST Center in the NBA. Bynum at this point is not a good answer to Howard. Gasol? Hahahahaha.

Orlando in my opinion has the most complete team out there. Their bench has been excellent and Pietrus knocked down another 15 points today. Dwight played like a super fucking star. 40 pts, 14 rebs, 4 asts, wtf? His free throw shooting has improved from 60% to now being at least 80%, though probably higher.

My predictions for the Conf. Finals were perfect(by who won AND how many games). Chances are the Lakers will be just like the Cavaliers and underestimate how truly good Orlando is and how good of a coach Van Gundy is.

Magic in 6.
 
How the hell do you underestimate someone in the finals, that beat you twice. ._. Also kobe bryant can score in case you didnt know.
 
I know right? I dunno I somehow have a feeling though that the Lakers still will be confident over their victory against the Nuggets but they'll be overconfident. Maybe it's not that they'd underestimate the Magic but be too cocky going in. No team in the West though even compares to the East's best. Boston without Kevin Garnett could take on the Nuggets imo.

And what's the thing about Kobe? o_o. Confusing me here.
 
I'm going with the Lakers in 6, though I could see Orlando winning if they keep shooting their 3's at the ridiculous percentage that it was against Cleveland (I believe their 3-point shooting went from like 37% to 47% or something like that - I mean, Rafer frickin' Alston shooting above 50% is bullshit and will not happen that often)
And I'll admit, the idea of the Rockets doing what they did to the NBA champs would be fun for me.
 
I'm going with Magic in 6.

The Magic have enough weapons to constantly score on the lakers. You saw how J.R Smith got all of those threes well...yeah you have seen what the Magic can do. If that Micheal Pietris (spelling i know) dude can guard Lebron like that he can surely slow down Kobe (saying that because I don't want to argue mainly because I go off of what I see not off of statistics). Also Turk will help them out on the road. I think the Magic are more of a complete team than the Lakers who need Kobe Bryant to get going.
 
For those Laker fans who rooted Magics over Cavaliers, its really more scary. Magics closed this series out, which looked inevitable, Laker fans will get what you wished for. Be careful what you wish for.
  • Lakers suck at defending the pick n roll, the Magic are great at getting open 3 point shots off a high screen
  • Lakers will not have an answer for Dwight Howard
  • Lakers bigs will be neutralized by Dwight
 
franky said:
For those Laker fans who rooted Magics over Cavaliers, its really more scary. Magics closed this series out, which looked inevitable, Laker fans will get what you wished for. Be careful what you wish for.
  • Lakers suck at defending the pick n roll, the Magic are great at getting open 3 point shots off a high screen True
  • Lakers will not have an answer for Dwight Howard Andrew Bynum is decent
  • Lakers bigs will be neutralized by Dwight If bynum is the game dwight has to stick with him, leaving Pau with lewis.
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RaikouLover said:
Lol... first it was the Denver bandwagon.. now its the Magic bandwagon.. you guys are gonna be disappointed... don't you understand.. KOBE WILL NOT LET THEM LOSE
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that's pretty much why i picked lakers in 7 last year; i just went with "the lakers have KOBE" and i kind of got disappointed there, granted it wasn't his fault at all, it was the fact that his bigs got punked by KG/Powe/Perkins

I'll say Lakers in 7 again, just because of the chance Bynum can play well and on the hope Odom and Gasol (who has played well too) can turn in 4 out of 7 good games. And that they have Kobe of course ^_^
 
Bynum is gonna foul out a lot of times in this series. I'll say... 4?
Keep fouling Howard and you got yourself an up-and-coming big man who can't shoot his free throws under the intense boiling pressure of the NBA Finals. As J.A. Adande said, Bynum's weak presence is a blessing in disguise since the Lakers won't lose a beat even if he's been battling foul trouble. So foul Howard and let his shot define how much he wants to play.Who does that remind me of? Oh right, Shaq against the Rockets in the mid-90s. The Magic got swept that year in the finals against a team that had already been in the Finals the previous year.

Don't underestimate the pressure that overloads a group of players who are going to their first trip to the finals. It only takes a really competitive and incredible player to win the championship in a scenario like that. Lebron couldn't get a win against the Spurs, what makes anyone think Dwight will win it this year with no finals experience. You have a Laker team who has been there last year and dealt with the pressure.

Oh and the Magic will now die by the 3-point shot. They cannot go this far shooting the long ball at an alarming percentage. Lakers in 4. Same number of games Bynum will have foul trouble because the Lakers can afford it.
 
omni said:
Oh and the Magic will now die by the 3-point shot. They cannot go this far shooting the long ball at an alarming percentage.
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You can't make an assumption like that. The reason why they have been winning is because they have been doing the same thing over again. If they try something different they will risk their chances. 3-Pt shots are Magic's tool because their game is simple. It's either looking for deep position to give to Dwight and once gets in trouble, almost the entire team can jack up three-point shots. That includes all 4 positions who could shoot the 3 ball. They also utilize the pick and roll really great which can expose Lakers weakness and if they don't rotate fast enough its going to rain threes.
 
Predicting the Lakers to win because they won't have to double team Howard and the Magic won't hit an absurd number of threes like they did against Cleveland. Dwight Howard won't look nearly as good playing against a team with decent big men.
 
Originally Posted by Aeroblacktyl
or he could shoot them out the game, we'll see
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He doesn't. That would be a product of everyone else sucking. But Ariza and Gasol are on fire.

Originally Posted by NightFalcon
Dwight played like a super fucking star. 40 pts, 14 rebs, 4 asts, wtf? His free throw shooting has improved from 60% to now being at least 80%, though probably higher.
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Lol. Who was he playin against? Verajunk and EWWW-galskius. When Wallace was in the game he actually did a decent job on him. I think you forgot just how big the laker front line is... Gasol & Bynum - 7', Odom, 6'10, Ariza and Walton 6'8... Lakers won't have the same mismatch problems like Cleveland did.

And dude... don't act like Dwight suddenly got good at free throws. Its called a streak. "True" free throw percentage is a season long statistic. So if he gets to 65% next year for the season, that means he made a substantial increase... not ~80% for a stretch of 6 games.

Originally Posted by NightFalcon
No team in the West though even compares to the East's best. Boston without Kevin Garnett could take on the Nuggets imo.
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Thats a joke. Boston without Kevin Garnett is San Antonio without Manu

Originally Posted by franky
  • Lakers suck at defending the pick n roll, the Magic are great at getting open 3 point shots off a high screen Live by the three, die by the three... can they do it 4/7 games idk..
  • Lakers will not have an answer for Dwight Howard Cleveland has shit bigs... Boston's main bigs were hurt. Its more like Orlando will not have an answer for Kobe. LeBron gets 40+ just about every game, I don't see how Kobe wouldn't...
  • Lakers bigs will be neutralized by Dwight He can neutralize all of them by himself?
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Idk.. to me the Magic played on the edge against Cleveland with all those slow starts.. Remember the lakers have the best closer on the planet
 
What? Not even close more like. Celtics had a much better general lineup than the Spurs.

Spurs' series was just Tony Parker and Tim Duncan vs the Mavericks. Have you forgotten that Ray Allen and Paul Pierce are also on the Celtics or something? Add in with the fact that Rondo seemed to be averaging 10 rebounds a game(probly more) and 10-11 assists a game.

And okay so it's a streak, who says the streak can't continue? He's been doing the same thing everyday to get prepared for Free Throws and I see no reason he should stop now.
 
lakers in 4? omni stop being a homer.

and kobe shoots them out the game plenty of times. in his 6 playoff losses, he has missed 16, 10, 16, 10, 17, 19 shots. that's definitely shooting them out the game. while in the exact same games, pau was 8-11, 5-8, 7-15, 11-17, 6-14, and 8-15. so no, it isn't a result of gasol sucking, it's a result of kobe taking too many shots when he feels only he can make them win

not to mention, it doesn't matter if lakers are tall. gasol can't stop dwight, he's too soft and too weak. bynum on the other hand could slow him down as long as he isn't in foul trouble, and odom/ariza/luke have no idea how to guard hedo/rashard/dwight anyways so that's irrelevent

plus, if kobe can't score 40 every game against dahntay jones, he's not going to score 40 every against lee+pietrus. lebron only reached those marks (and lost EVERY TIME he did) cause of like 20 fts a game on just wreckless driving into the paint
 
No, he doesn't. Kobe taking and missing so many shots is a result of the rest of the team standing around and watching. Taht is why when Kobe takes less than 21 shots (thats the magic number the commentators rattled of some statistic about it) the lakers are at their best. Why? Odom, Gasol, Ariza, Fisher, and Bynum are all producing solid numbers. Then Kobe doesn't have to carry the scoring load and becomes a facilitator.. its common fact if your watching the game. So this:

it's a result of kobe taking too many shots when he feels only he can make them win
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is a pretty faulty statement. Yes, Kobe has done that in the past when he was averaging 35 ppg and had Kwame Brown and Smush and all them other scrubs. But now they have a complete team, and he has shown time and time again to be a willing passer.

and odom/ariza/luke have no idea how to guard hedo/rashard/dwight anyways so that's irrelevent
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Yes because Ariza didn't spend 80% of last series on Carmelo.. who is a little tougher to guard than Hedo and Rashard I'm afraid...

plus, if kobe can't score 40 every game against dahntay jones, he's not going to score 40 every against lee+pietrus. lebron only reached those marks (and lost EVERY TIME he did) cause of like 20 fts a game on just wreckless driving into the paint
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Wow, are you watching the game? Dahntay Jones was in foul trouble every time he stepped on the floor against Kobe.. thats why you saw Melo and JR Smith sharing the load.. and again.. Kobe could drop 40 points pretty consistently if there was a need too.. (hence, see 2 years ago...) but since they got all the weapons doing so becomes counterproductive to the success of his team.. which statistics will show.

LeBron on the other hand is surrounded by scrubs... which is why he puts up big numbers.
 
Aeroblacktyl said:
lakers in 4? omni stop being a homer.

and kobe shoots them out the game plenty of times. in his 6 playoff losses, he has missed 16, 10, 16, 10, 17, 19 shots. that's definitely shooting them out the game. while in the exact same games, pau was 8-11, 5-8, 7-15, 11-17, 6-14, and 8-15. so no, it isn't a result of gasol sucking, it's a result of kobe taking too many shots when he feels only he can make them win

not to mention, it doesn't matter if lakers are tall. gasol can't stop dwight, he's too soft and too weak. bynum on the other hand could slow him down as long as he isn't in foul trouble, and odom/ariza/luke have no idea how to guard hedo/rashard/dwight anyways so that's irrelevent

plus, if kobe can't score 40 every game against dahntay jones, he's not going to score 40 every against lee+pietrus. lebron only reached those marks (and lost EVERY TIME he did) cause of like 20 fts a game on just wreckless driving into the paint
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This post is pure truth.

Kobe and Lebron are two different players. You can't compare them if you ask me. Still taking the Magic to win.
 
YoshiThePirate said:
This post is pure truth.

Kobe and Lebron are two different players. You can't compare them if you ask me. Still taking the Magic to win.
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2 different players, same mind set and determination is what makes them so fun to compare.
 
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