Basketball 4 Life

So everybody thought the Cavs is going to sweep this one again? Maybe not. If anything, the Orlando Magic coming from a victory against the Boston Celtics have matured.

Trailing by as much as 16 points in the first half, they came back in the 3rd quarter. The Magic got back the lead at 85-84 with 10 minutes to go.

If anything I think the Magic got some good lessons learned from the previous series against Boston. But if stats is going to be considered, the Magic has won against the Cavs 9 out of 12 and they are 3:1 during the regular season. If the Portland Trailblazers are Lakers contra pelo, maybe with the Cavs, it’s the Orlando Magic.

The Lakers after trailing by as much as 13 points in the first half, willed this game and beat the Denver Nuggets to take Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, 105-103 Tuesday night at the Staples Center.

Kobe Bryant made two clutch free throws after a defensive play of Trevor Ariza to steal the ball from an inbound pass from Anthony Carter.  Ariza read the play very well as Carmelo Anthony was covered by Kobe Bryant and Ariza knew that the ball would go to Billups.  And that is the Play of the Game.

Denver have themselves to blame for this lost.  They were miserable in the free throw line.  Could be that there was an earthquake everytime the Denver is shooting the free throws?  Who knows?  For all the free throws that they missed, if they were only able to convert 3 of those, it could have been different.

Expect a more physical game from an emotional Denver Thursday night.

It’s an Orlando magical moment.  They ousted the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics in game 7 for a score of 101-82 and earned the right to face the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Eastern Conference finals.

Dwight Howard had 12 points, five blocked shots and 16 rebounds.  While Turkoglu had 25 points and 12 assists. 

After taking a 3-2 series lead,  Boston was beaten on game 6 after having a lead of 10 to force a game 7 with the Magic today. 

Actually Boston was able to cut the lead to around 45-42 in the 3rd period after the Magic led by around 14 in the second quarter.  However, Orlando scored 8 points to open up the 4th quarter.

This is how the Lakers should play every game.  With the exceptional talent that they have on the club, there’s no way they could have been beaten by the Rockets on game 6.

The Lakers was clearly the passionate one today by charging out of the gate like rampaging bulls to lead 8-0 the first few minutes of the first quarter with no less than Trevor Ariza (who scored 14 points for the game).  The Rockets called timeout to regroup but eventually the Lakers cannot be out-hustled this time around. 

Andrew Bynum was active on the boards, and you have Pau Gasol playing with such emotional intensity.  It just proved that height is might in basketball.  The Lakers dominated the boards and with no true center in the middle to contest for rebounds, the Rockets clearly missed Yao Ming.

To their credit, the Rockets should have been out by as early as game 5 but they forced it through a 7 game series and had the Laker fans antsy with their beloved team. 

With so much talent on the team, the Lakers were clearly favored to win this series but they were tested.  I think that even though they lost game 6, they carried the momentum that they had from the last quarter to this game and it clearly showed a different team.

It takes some failures to see what you’re made of.  Today, the Lakers proved that they still are a team to be reckoned with. 

Next stop, the Denver Nuggets.  This will be an interesting series.  I think it will be a physical series.

Boston Celtics was scraping one basket at a time and recovered from a 14 point deficit to win 92-88 at Orlando.  Glen Davis, who was instrumental for winning their last game by drilling the last shot, sealed the victory with 2 free throws with 4.5 seconds left in the game.

It was a tactical move for Doc Rivers.  With Orlando up by 10, he went back to his main 5 starters that clamped down the Orlando Magic.  Orlando played very well offensively from the beginning.  But like what they say, the game is 48 minutes and the Celtics had their practice with the Chicago Bulls coming to this series.

This is a good learning experience for the Orlando Magic.  They need to add some more if they want to make it to the next round.  The series is not over yet.

Look, if I told you that the Lakers was leading during the game last night by 42 points, you might say that I might be drinking some stale wine or something.  The Lakers showed up to play, demonstrated their strength, and played defense.

Yup, it takes them a humbling loss to give the Rockets a dose of their own medicine.  The Lakers showed up with more urgency and best of all, with might.  They crashed the boards and pass the ball more fluidly this time.

So how come the Lakers does not play like this all the time?  Beats me.

In what seemed like a one sided series, Cleveland finished the Atlanta 84-74 in a low scoring game last night for an undefeated 1st and 2nd round series.  The Cavaliers are 8-0 after the post season and they’re just waiting for the winner of the Boston – Orlando series now which stands at 2-2 with a game tonight at Boston.

The Mavericks in the meantime snapped a win 119-117 in a high scoring game that prevent them from getting eliminated on the second round of the playoffs.  After trailing the first half by as much as 14 points, and down by 8 in the 4th quarter, they managed to sneaked in to make it 112-110 with 2 minutes to go.  The Mavericks smashed the boards with a 50 rebounds against 34 by the Nuggets.

Celtics – Magic series just got exciting with Boston making the series 2-2 with Glen Davis finishing up with a buzzer beating shot to win by one 95-94.  You’d expect maybe Ray Allen to take the shot but it was Big Baby Glen Davis on a roll with a pass from Paul Pierce to even up the series.  It would have been devastating for the Celtics if he had not made that shot.  It will be time to sing ‘Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye’.  But I guess Celtics still have something left on them playing without their ‘emotional leader’ KG.

Cleveland is just waiting for the winner of this series.  Atlanta does not have a chance at all with Cleveland.

Like I said on my last post, Houston without Yao Ming in the middle can make this a fast temp game.  And with Lakers short span attention, thinking that they could just roll out the heads of the Houston players, they got CRUSHED!

Yup, that’s what most people think of Californians.  Laid back, cool dude that does not seem to care what the world thinks.  The Lakers just rubbed it in.  No defense, they did not rotate well.  And with the undermanned Rockets and not to mention undersized squad, they were down by as much as 29 points before they made a mini run which by that time, was well too late.

I think Farmar’s game on game 3 was more effective than having Fisher start this game.  But nevertheless, that’s no excuse if all the Lakers did not contribute.  I’m sure they will be coming out gun-a-blazin tomorrow night.  They have to show a killer instinct which they did not demonstrate.  Instead they gave this Rockets team something to hope for. 

I don’t mind seeing 1 or 2 players having an off night, but to see them play with no heart is unacceptable.  An inbound play from Artest, which was a lob, was caught by Brooks just as the clock was about to expire.  Are they just lucky?

Lakers, if you want to call yourself worthy of being an NBA champion, show up.  This is ridiculous.

With the clock winding down, Antoine Wright tried to foul Carmelo Anthony before he took the 3 point shot which was counted in.  The NBA league operation officials had issued an statement about the mistake.

Dallas had a foul to give with 8 seconds to go on a Denver possession.  Antoine Wright hounded Carmelo and intentionally fouled him knowing that they have a foul to give.  The referee did not make the call and Anthony made the 3 point game winning basket which was counted.

Maybe it’s a little bit of inexperience or ‘at the moment’ judgment, but Antoine should have prevented Carmelo to make the shot even though there was a no call in the earlier attempt.  Mark Cuban was visibly upset and shoved a camera man on his way to the locker room after the game.

Down 3 games, although not necessarily out, it is an uphill battle for the underdog Mavericks to get back in the series.  Knowing Rick Carlisle, he probably would use this as a motivation for the next game.  Expect more than 61 fouls the next game around.