orlando is a great team. ive yet to see any real weakness in them. they shoot alot of threes, but dwight is their 1st option. no different from when shaq was with the lakers. orlando had a chance to win game 1 but you cant put it all on courtney lee, orlando had 20 turnover that game that led to alot of laker points. howard is showing great patience in the post with his good passing. however i do think he needs to reduce his dribbling. if they are going to win this series they have to slow down lamar odom. his cherry picking is killing them. rafer alston has to play better. i think he's 3-22 this series. OUCH OUCH OUCH.
[ORL/LAL] 2009 NBA Champions - Magic or Lakers?
- Thread starter Warhawk
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Er...they have some rather glaring ones.
They are basically a poor man's version of the '95 Rockets -- one big man, bunch of perimter players to surround him with and bomb threes. Even have some of that same clutchness. Its a good gimmick -- those '95 Rockets obviously won a title with it. But there are numerous weaknesses, some of which have been put on display here. Dwight is not nearly the offensive force, or passer for that matter, that Hakeem was, so the whole "inside" of the inside/outside can be taken away a lot easier than it could with the Rockets. And when that happens they are quickly reduced to a perimeter oriented team that goes hot or cold. Because they play a SF at PF they are always in danger on the glass and extremely dependent on Dwight taking care of all of the business in there. And for the same reason they also have real matchup problems with the Lakers big frontline inside. Lewis is a match for neither Pau nor Odom in there.
They are basically a poor man's version of the '95 Rockets -- one big man, bunch of perimter players to surround him with and bomb threes. Even have some of that same clutchness. Its a good gimmick -- those '95 Rockets obviously won a title with it. But there are numerous weaknesses, some of which have been put on display here. Dwight is not nearly the offensive force, or passer for that matter, that Hakeem was, so the whole "inside" of the inside/outside can be taken away a lot easier than it could with the Rockets. And when that happens they are quickly reduced to a perimeter oriented team that goes hot or cold. Because they play a SF at PF they are always in danger on the glass and extremely dependent on Dwight taking care of all of the business in there. And for the same reason they also have real matchup problems with the Lakers big frontline inside. Lewis is a match for neither Pau nor Odom in there.
im the first to say that dwight howard isnt very polished down there in the post. thats why he has to limit his dribbling and get in the air with an agenda. he's shown great maturity with his passing. he had 4 assist last game and several more came from him kicking it out/ swinging the ball and knocking down the shot. they are not a poor version of the rockets. in my opinion there is alot more talent on this team. and they're in the finals. beating two powerhouses in boston and cleveland. obviously theyve done something right.
1. continue to control the boards
2. limit odoms rebounds and putbacks
3. make open shots. this isnt about "living and dying by the 3", making threes is what they do. everyone has their calling card. i think orlando can still win this series
1. continue to control the boards
2. limit odoms rebounds and putbacks
3. make open shots. this isnt about "living and dying by the 3", making threes is what they do. everyone has their calling card. i think orlando can still win this series
theyre not as good without garnett. he was the anchor to their defense, but if it wasnt for that game winner by big baby davis we're talking about an orlando team that couldve beat boston in 6 games. likewise with that lebron game winner. wouldve been a 5 game series in the ECF. alot of people have underestimated this team. its possible they may lose this series against the lakers, but they've gotten my respect. go hedo.
Orlando isn't that much better or worse than the 1993-1994 Rockets who won 58 games during the regular season. They took a while to get to the finals themselves and in the finals it was an epic battle with the Knicks. Obviously Hakeem at 31 is better than Dwight at 23, but after that the Magic may have a better team. Kenny is better than Rafer but definitely not better than a healthy Jameer They had Sam I am, Otis Thorpe, Vernon Maxwell.....not exactly the most imposing team in NBA finals history. They are similar though. I think the NBA should be fearful of the Magic. Dwight is only 23 and getting better. If he develops a post game, he and LBJ might be the best 2 players in the game. He might also be the most dominant. The rest of his team is young and they've already made it to the finals. They are committed to their style of play as well and have pretty good cap flexibility. They could dominate the next couple of years if injuries go well.
Boston has age issues. Lakers look like they may have huge cap issues. Cleveland needs to rebuild around Lebron, atleast a little bit. Portland and some other teams might get better but the Magic could be a powerhouse for years to come.
Boston has age issues. Lakers look like they may have huge cap issues. Cleveland needs to rebuild around Lebron, atleast a little bit. Portland and some other teams might get better but the Magic could be a powerhouse for years to come.
I expect tonight's game to go the Magic's way. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a fairly easy win. Lakers have shown a tendency to "relax" when they feel they're in the drivers seat and they have to believe they are. Game 4 will be the deciding factor of whether this series goes far or not. As much as I am trying to see it, I just can't see the Magic winning 4 out of 5 games against the Lakers.
A missed call is a missed call. Doesn't matter if its at the beginning or the end. It doesn't matter if making the call would mean the lakers lose. If its the right call it should be made. Kobe was also holding/pulling Lee's arm after he got beat & picked off. That could've been the split second that he needed for a cleaner look before pau recovered. Whatever it is, the lakers won the game. I'm just stating the obvious.
It was very obvious the refs made sure the lakers can catch up by giving kobe 6 free throws towards the end that even abc commentators pointed out were not fouls by the Magic players. 1 blown foul I can understand. But 3 in a row so kobe can shoot free throws? That more than made up for howard's block. Hedu was getting bumped, pushed, held by Ariza all game long. On several plays Hedu was hopping on 1 leg to regain his balance after obvious pushes and bumps by Ariza. No calls.
There was at least one phantom call in there on Gasol as well -- it wasn't bias, it was incompetence -- a major problem in the NBA is that they simpyl call too many fouls. Guy falls on floor, it must be a foul. Guy runs into other guy's chest, foul on the guy run into. Etc. And it happened half a dozen times in the 4th, to both teams.
Well, Phil Jackson agrees with you.
True to his reputation, Joey Crawford keeps making bogus calls against the home team for the lakers.
That was a clear jump ball with Howard and Hedu clearly did not foul Ariza. If anything, ariza pushed off with his forearm and carried the ball.
kobe "the best closer" lost the ball down the stretch twice and missed free throws and threes. Its a team game but man, he made sure Crawford's help went to waste.
True to his reputation, Joey Crawford keeps making bogus calls against the home team for the lakers.
That was a clear jump ball with Howard and Hedu clearly did not foul Ariza. If anything, ariza pushed off with his forearm and carried the ball.
kobe "the best closer" lost the ball down the stretch twice and missed free throws and threes. Its a team game but man, he made sure Crawford's help went to waste.
That was a clear jump ball with Howard and Hedu clearly did not foul Ariza. If anything, ariza pushed off with his forearm and carried the ball.
kobe "the best closer" lost the ball down the stretch twice and missed free throws and threes. Its a team game but man, he made sure Crawford's help went to waste.
that one call when kobe went towards the baseline for the jumper was bad. that was supposed to be a jump ball. inconsisten officiating all around. but you gota take your hat off to orlando. they got alot of defensive stops. lee did a terrific job on kobe in the 2nd half. forcing at least 3 turnovers. they did a wonderful job of keeping odom off the glass and cherry picking. they just have to prevent odom and gasol from catching the ball so deep in the post. i gota tell ya, after seeing what this team can do you gota be impressed
i agree that some of the calls he gets in the 4th are ridiculous. you cant lay a finger on him. orlando did a great job of keeping a body on him and not let him just catch the ball with 5 or 6 feet of free space. orlando has to take this serious out of the officials hands. you do that by forcing kobe to make tough jumpers. you put a body on him, dont reach, and STAY ON THE GROUND unless he leaves his feet. quit bailing out the lakers and refs by sending him to the charity stripe
I think the announcers already pointed out at that moment that they blew 2 calls on that play. Farmar intentionally fouled Pietrus first on that play but the refs didn't call it. So Pietrus was "forced" to double dribble from the foul. Since he made the shot there should be no arguement there.
I agree with you guys that kobe gets way too many calls in the 4th. If the lakers are down, you can count on kobe just taking the ball inside and initiate contact himself and guarantee to get free throws.
Thats exactly what happend in GM2 when they game kobe 6 straight free throws in the last 2 mins or so so they can catch up.
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