Lakers Magic Preview

My 3/5 method used to preview the Finals:

Point Guard:  Alston slightly better (approx. tie?)

Shooting Guard:  Kobe better than Courtney Lee

Shooting Forward: Turkoglu better than Ariza

Power Forward: Gasol better than Rashard Lewis

Center: Howard better than Bynum

6th Man: Odom better than Pietrus

So Lakers win 3-2 with one tie.  Coach?  Van Gundy better than Jackson.

I think whoever wins the first game will win the series.  It will force the other team to adjust.  

There are a bunch of mismatches on the offensive/defensive ends.  Its about who can force the other team to adjust.  I.e. who can outscore the other and force the other team to make adjustments and get out of their preferred set.  

Could the Magic beat the C's?

Could the Magic beat the Celtics...and the Cavaliers?

The Celtics, without Garnett, are basically a 50-win team.  Thats too bad because with Garnett they were one of the best teams around in a long time.  Or were they?  I don't know!  

Anyways, I think Orlando will beat the Celtics, Cavs will beat the Hawks, Lakers beat the Rockets, and Denver beat Dallas.  

In the next round though?  Orlando could very well beat the Cavs.  They beat them twice in Orlando (both times pretty badly) and almost won in Cleveland.  The Magic are a good team.  They have power forwards of height 6-10 and 6-10, and a 6-11 center.  And one of their forwards is a great three point shooter.  

Cleveland is good and plays very hard; but their undersized guards will be a liability in challenging their perimenter players.  And if the guards penetrate they will have to deal with the Defensive Player of Year Dwight Howard, who is quite good at blocking shots (lead the league this year).  

But they still have to get past the Celtics.  

Thoughts on Spurs-Cavs game

The Cavs dominated the whole game today.  From start to finish it was never close and never really out of control.  I read in the game notes that LeBron arrived to the stadium three hours ahead of tip-off to prepare, which is what he does to prepare for big games.  He scored 28 in the first half and 38 overall.  Interestingly this is coming after a close loss to the Wizards (a rivalry game) and a blow-out loss at the Orlando Magic (playoff competitor).  

So the team came out focused, fired-up, etc.  The spread was six points and they won by twenty.  Easily won by twenty.  They are also the best home team in the league at this point.  Games like this are definitely predictable.  

It would be great to get information about if/when LeBron shows up three hours early to games.  What their winning percentage is?