Well the NBA final is set and we'll take a closer look at the match up before the whole thing kicks off on Thursday in a couple of days. But, for now, let's take a quick look at how both the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic have landed four wins from the ultimate prize.
The Lakers closed out the series against the Denver Nuggets thanks to some solid play from their bench and another concrete game from Lamar Odom. Los Angeles' "X-factor", Odom, was aggressive again in the close out game scoring 20 points and grabbing eight rebounds. The Nuggets fell apart on their home floor and it was their defence that let them down the most when they needed it. Yes some might point to their spotty offence and a quick trigger with no ball movement when they had the ball but Denver does that on occasion. They have shot themselves back into many a game by playing that way this season, when they stop the other team at the other end. But in Game 6, Los Angeles shot 57.3% and without stopping the Lakers from scoring at key times, each Nugget player tried to do far too much in trying to get them back in the game.
Raise your hand if you thought the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to come back and win in seven games? That's what many thought but comebacks from a 3-1 deficit happen about as often as the comet comes by and Orlando did a great job in closing Cleveland out at home.
The Magic used the ultimate inside-outside attack against Cleveland and in Game 6 as it was too much Dwight Howard on the inside. His playoff career high 40 points were reminiscent of the old days when the ball went inside and there was no answer by the defence. The fear of the three-point shot allowed Howard to work one-on-one against lesser athletes on the inside.
So do you think the work put in by assistant coach and NBA great Patrick Ewing is paying off with Howard? I'd say so. How many times did Howard drive to his left beating a Cavs defender down low, or spin back to his right shoulder when positing up on the left block to finish with his left hand. His game, thanks to the work with Ewing, has come a long way.
It was interesting speaking with Ewing at the start of the 07-08 season on his work with Howard. After expressing a slight degree of exasperation through a few humourous comments about Howard, Ewing said he had to get him to develop more parts of his game to have it become more varied.
"This boy just wants to dunk everything," said Ewing with a smile. "We got to work on a little more finesse stuff."
Well I'd say they he's come a long way.
Former Raptor head coach Brendan Malone, now one of Stan Van Gundy's assistants in Orlando and one time coach in Cleveland is credited with designing the defense that kept LeBron James and ultimately the entire Cavaliers team in check.
Some people may have raised an eyebrow at LeBron leaving the court without shaking hands after losing the series to the Magic. I got no problem with that as the competitor in him probably said "hey, I gave everything I had and so did our team. If they want to congratulate me on a good effort, fine. If not no big deal, they won they don't need me to tell them they did a good job."
LeBron did however need to gather himself and fulfil his obligations to the media.
