[Inspired]

I don't think it will be a sweep since Lewis had to make 2 clutch shots. Lewis had clutch 3 point in game 1 and clutch 3 pointer in game 4 to put it in overtime. Without Lewis, they will be in big trouble...

[SpecC]

magic are legit

lakers-magic

lakers take it

[MrHarris]

Originally Posted by SpecC

magic are legit

lakers-magic

lakers take it

That would be beautiful.

[marty_mcfly]

kobe vs lebron would be even more beautiful

[Sneeze]

Cleveland hit a freaking brick wall this time. Lebron cant do it all by himself. Same thing what happen to the Lakers last year. May the best team win tho.

[ChaneRZ]

nuggets and magics!

[darkcloud]

Magic are legit to a point. They are also pulling a lot of "magic" out of their asses. Making 15 3's is just insane. Problem is that's all they do is shoot 3's, 4 guys behind the arc and Howard alone in the paint.

Big Z is the Cav's Achilles heel on defense. He can't defend quick power big men. That's not just Howard, that's 60% of the NBA centers now. Wallace basically shut Howard down offensively when he was in but for whatever reason they keep going back to Z like he's going to figure out how to guard Howard.

The Cavs have had their chances in game 1 and last night. The series could just as easily be 3-1 in the Cavs favor. But they've been blowing it. They've responded to being down in a series before I just don't know if they'll be able to do it this time.

[MMMazing07]

nuggets and magic!!!

[FOXYCaymanS]

Originally Posted by ChaneRZ

nuggets and magics!

+1, sorry I'm not into the mediabuzz of lakers vs cav's...

....but I'm only hating

[TheAcAvenger]

I tried to not get involved in the playoff thread this year, since I spend more time on NBA forums than e90post (and I tend to get carried away)...

but seriously, the Magic making 3s like this isn't surprising. I know a lot of you are west coast Laker fans that are used to losing in the playoffs when all the Lakers when Kobe isn't dominating is shoot buckets loads of 3s... But the Magic have multiple 38+% career 3pt shooters in the starting lineup. No other team has anything remotely close to a 6'9 39% 3pt shooter (Turk) paired with a 6'10 40% career 3pt shooter (Rashard).

This isn't a fluke. They have a superstar post player who is clearly the best defender/paint protector in the last 6-7 years. They have a pg who knows how to run an offense. And they surround the perimeter with the BEST 3 point shooters in the game. And unlike the Lakers' Ariza, Orlando's defensive sacrificial lamb of sorts still puts up 36% from downtown.

The Lakers and Cavs without question, have the two best players in the league by a pretty big margin, but the rest of the guys just aren't that great, with the exclusion of Gasol. But when Gasol left Memphis and wasn't THE guy anymore, it became clear that he's a great player, not an elite player. He's not a defensive stopper against anything other than the weak bigs that play in the west or opposing guards going for layups (We saw what KG did to the guy)..

Then you have vujabitch, ariza, and fisher... glorified role players thta would never crack more than 15 minutes a game if they weren't amplified by Kobe.

The Cavs have delonte west and mo williams (who needs to shut his mouth. No one knew who he was last year, and what kind of all star point guard averages 4 assists in a season). Big Z and Ben are old as dirt, and Varejao is ridiculously soft.

Then there's this ex factor Bynum, but I don't even need to speak about him.

Regardless, the Nuggets and the Magic are solid well-rounded teams, and time and time again, we've seen how elite TEAMS that play defense always seem to beat Players and their motley crews. The Spurs, the Pistons, the Celtics, all showed the importance of defense, post play, perimeter shooting, and accountability that the Cavs and the Lakers on occassion during these playoffs have clearly lacked.

So, with that I say. Nuggets and Magic. Leave the fairytail matchups for playstation.

[Sal@AUTOcouture]

Originally Posted by TheAcAvenger

I tried to not get involved in the playoff thread this year, since I spend more time on NBA forums than e90post (and I tend to get carried away)...

but seriously, the Magic making 3s like this isn't surprising. I know a lot of you are west coast Laker fans that are used to losing in the playoffs when all the Lakers when Kobe isn't dominating is shoot buckets loads of 3s... But the Magic have multiple 38+% career 3pt shooters in the starting lineup. No other team has anything remotely close to a 6'9 39% 3pt shooter (Turk) paired with a 6'10 40% career 3pt shooter (Rashard).

This isn't a fluke. They have a superstar post player who is clearly the best defender/paint protector in the last 6-7 years. They have a pg who knows how to run an offense. And they surround the perimeter with the BEST 3 point shooters in the game. And unlike the Lakers' Ariza, Orlando's defensive sacrificial lamb of sorts still puts up 36% from downtown.

The Lakers and Cavs without question, have the two best players in the league by a pretty big margin, but the rest of the guys just aren't that great, with the exclusion of Gasol. But when Gasol left Memphis and wasn't THE guy anymore, it became clear that he's a great player, not an elite player. He's not a defensive stopper against anything other than the weak bigs that play in the west or opposing guards going for layups (We saw what KG did to the guy)..

Then you have vujabitch, ariza, and fisher... glorified role players thta would never crack more than 15 minutes a game if they weren't amplified by Kobe.

The Cavs have delonte west and mo williams (who needs to shut his mouth. No one knew who he was last year, and what kind of all star point guard averages 4 assists in a season). Big Z and Ben are old as dirt, and Varejao is ridiculously soft.

Then there's this ex factor Bynum, but I don't even need to speak about him.

Regardless, the Nuggets and the Magic are solid well-rounded teams, and time and time again, we've seen how elite TEAMS that play defense always seem to beat Players and their motley crews. The Spurs, the Pistons, the Celtics, all showed the importance of defense, post play, perimeter shooting, and accountability that the Cavs and the Lakers on occassion during these playoffs have clearly lacked.

So, with that I say. Nuggets and Magic. Leave the fairytail matchups for playstation.

+1. VERY well said!

[Kensta335]

Originally Posted by TheAcAvenger

I tried to not get involved in the playoff thread this year, since I spend more time on NBA forums than e90post (and I tend to get carried away)...

but seriously, the Magic making 3s like this isn't surprising. I know a lot of you are west coast Laker fans that are used to losing in the playoffs when all the Lakers when Kobe isn't dominating is shoot buckets loads of 3s... But the Magic have multiple 38+% career 3pt shooters in the starting lineup. No other team has anything remotely close to a 6'9 39% 3pt shooter (Turk) paired with a 6'10 40% career 3pt shooter (Rashard).

This isn't a fluke. They have a superstar post player who is clearly the best defender/paint protector in the last 6-7 years. They have a pg who knows how to run an offense. And they surround the perimeter with the BEST 3 point shooters in the game. And unlike the Lakers' Ariza, Orlando's defensive sacrificial lamb of sorts still puts up 36% from downtown.

The Lakers and Cavs without question, have the two best players in the league by a pretty big margin, but the rest of the guys just aren't that great, with the exclusion of Gasol. But when Gasol left Memphis and wasn't THE guy anymore, it became clear that he's a great player, not an elite player. He's not a defensive stopper against anything other than the weak bigs that play in the west or opposing guards going for layups (We saw what KG did to the guy)..

Then you have vujabitch, ariza, and fisher... glorified role players thta would never crack more than 15 minutes a game if they weren't amplified by Kobe.
The Cavs have delonte west and mo williams (who needs to shut his mouth. No one knew who he was last year, and what kind of all star point guard averages 4 assists in a season). Big Z and Ben are old as dirt, and Varejao is ridiculously soft.

Then there's this ex factor Bynum, but I don't even need to speak about him.

Regardless, the Nuggets and the Magic are solid well-rounded teams, and time and time again, we've seen how elite TEAMS that play defense always seem to beat Players and their motley crews. The Spurs, the Pistons, the Celtics, all showed the importance of defense, post play, perimeter shooting, and accountability that the Cavs and the Lakers on occassion during these playoffs have clearly lacked.

So, with that I say. Nuggets and Magic. Leave the fairytail matchups for playstation.

lol Ariza's defense is doing the walking. That has nothing to do with Kobe.

[TheAcAvenger]

But ariza's offense is absolutely nothing but a byproduct of kobe bryant.

[Couch]

Originally Posted by ChaneRZ

nuggets and magics!

Originally Posted by FOXYone

+1, sorry I'm not into the mediabuzz of lakers vs cav's...

....but I'm only hating

+2
It would be perfect because it would really upset the NBA.

I actually believe it it were a Kobe/Lebron final, it wouldn't be as exciting as everyone is predicting.

[Bimmerboy87]

You guys do realize that this entire NBA playoffs really isnt the truth in my opinion. Boston took the magic to 7 games....WITHOUT GARNETT! That's crazy in my opinion. If Boston had Garnett back, I truly believe that Boston would win it all again. What do you guys think?

P.S. I'm not a Boston Celtic fan either.

[808six]

UMMMM its not true? its so true, the best four teams are in the playoffs right now...YES boston is a lesser team without garnett which is why they arent in right now, so that holds true...this could have easily happenned to any team, its the grim reality of sports...im an underdog guy so im rooting for a nuggets-magic finals...from there id be rooting for the nuggets

[Kensta335]

Originally Posted by TheAcAvenger

But ariza's offense is absolutely nothing but a byproduct of kobe bryant.

The offense is just an added bonus. Lakers really use him for his D and hustle.

[darkphantom]

east is going to take it no matter what. Whoever wins out of the cavs/magic series, their Defense is unstoppable....even if kobe is so called "unstoppable" his team isn't doing shit right now.

The way they're playing, they will lose in a heart beat. Unless his team helps him out, I don't see them winning.

[Kensta335]

Originally Posted by darkphantom

east is going to take it no matter what. Whoever wins out of the cavs/magic series, their Defense is unstoppable....even if kobe is so called "unstoppable" his team isn't doing shit right now.

The way they're playing, they will lose in a heart beat. Unless his team helps him out, I don't see them winning.

Magic beating the Lakers I can see but not Cleveland. There is no way Lebron is beating the Lakers by himself.

[InsaneSkippy]

Originally Posted by marty_mcfly

kobe vs lebron would be even more beautiful

Better go bust out NBA '09 then

[wj4]

Originally Posted by fobunited

Mike Brown coach of the year? hahahahaha

I don't think it's even fair that he got it. When you have a player like James..what do you tell him during time outs? "Fellas, ball goes to Lebron"? LOL.

You can see through him and how nervous he was when he shot those 2 freethrows last night. But the kid is very young still and easily can do 10 more years in the league.

Odom is doing work right now!

[darkphantom]

lakers got this.