Yes, Our Prediction Is In Flames

No, we were not cowering, hiding out, or otherwise avoiding our public, with the lack of posting yesterday (another homefront situation to be dealt with, another hospital run), over our bold, brazen prediction of the Orlando Magic whipping the Los Angeles Lakers in six games

How could we be so stupid, right?

It would be one thing to say it, talk about it with friends, but to post it up on the World Wide Web?

What can we say? ... Perhaps, award ourselves an Ignorant Dolt citation?

You have to admit, heading into the finals, Orlando was looking mighty shiny, dusting off the defending champs, the Boston Celtics, and then, needing only six games to blow away LeGone James and the Cleveland Cadavierliers.

Yet in this NBA Finals series, Orlando has been hampered most by ... Themselves!

You can profess that the Lakers are doing what they need to do, what a good team does, what a championship team does, to win games.

However, I am not quick to fit that particular crown on them.

Essentially, the Lakers have, simply, made less errors than Orlando.

In the past two games (Games 3 and 4), Orlando is up in the neighborhood of 40+ turnovers (including the win in Game 3), and in Game 4, missed 16 free throws (with Dwight Howard missing two, with 11-seconds left, and Orlando with a three-point lead; Had he hit, even, just one of them, it's a two-possession game for the Lakers, and even if they hit a three-pointer, it would come down in the last 5-or-6-seconds, the "foul game", and I would presume Orlando would be inbounding the ball, not to Howard, but either Turkelo or Lewis, the better free throw shooters).

So, just as you could say the Lakers are doing what they should be doing, you can also offer that, but for a missed lay-up, at very end (last second) of Game 2, and the missed Howard free throw, it is Orlando who could, just as easily, be up 3-games-to-1.

As one of the Talking Heads said after the game the other night, how Orlando plays in Game 5 tonight will be an indication if they believe they could still win this series, or if they go out, and just pack it in for the year.

It would be nice for Orlando to show some grit, and, perhaps, extend the series back to LA, for a Game 6, then, if they can keep their game together, bring it to a Game 7.

Anything to avoid the beatification of the rumored-rapist, Kobe Bryant, or their former-hatchet-man-as-a-player coach, Phil Jackson (he can win double, triple the amount of championships as Red Auerbach, and still only be a mere iota of a coach - Red built his championship line-ups, he didn't inherit them).

If that were to happen, put the pressure on the Lakers, who would be on the doorstep of blowing a 3-1 lead, and facing the prospects of losing the championship on their home court (let's not forget, Orlando beat the Celtics in a Game 7, in Boston).

Quite a few stars (both literally and figuratively) have to align for that to happen, however, as the old saying goes, "Never Say Never" ...

For now, we just want to see a good Game 5 tonight.

Putting A Marker Down ... Orlando In Six

Well, we had success last year, in calling the NBA Finals, so, what the heck, why not go for two ...

For one, the Orlando Magic appear to have some momentum going, having beaten the defending NBA Champs Celtics (in seven games), and, then, dethroning the throne-less King James LeGone, and his Cleveland Cadaverliers, in only six games.

Kobe will be Kobe in this series, however, the Lakers will be asking too many others (Fisher, Odom, Bynum) to play at high level, consistently, of up to seven games, when there hasn't been any evidence, this year, that they can ... Casol can be neutralized, and his overall play will depend on who he guards defensively - Howard, Lewis, or Turkoglu ...

And, lets not forget that Orlando hails from the Eastern Division, and can (and will) play physical, while the Lakers showed last year, when they got crushed by the Boston Celtics, that they would prefer not to play physical.

Orlando showed in this years' playoffs, that they can play focused and close the deal.

So, we go with the Orlando Magic, winning the crown, and needing only six (6) games to do it.

And, it will be rather fitting, should he have a monster series, that Dwight Howard win the first Bill Russell MVP-of-the-Finals award...

Let's hope so ...


Bonus Riffs

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Reason LeGone James Blew Off Media After Losing To Orlando Magic

New Bill Russell Book!

Bob Ryan's "Greatest of the green"

Celtics-Lakers ... Not Quite The Old Days, But It Will Do

An indulgence is asked of you today.

The NBA Finals kick-off this evening, pitting the leagues two most-storied franchises, and one of professional sports' greatest rivalries, against each other.

The Los Angles Lakers versus the Boston Celtics.

I spent a better part of my youth at the old Boston Garden, attending my first Celtic game on December 12, 1964 (they played the Baltimore Bullets, on what was also "JFK Night", a tribute to the fallen, local President).
















Each game we attended was like magic.

I knew the entire Celtic history, and every player in the league (there were only 9 teams back then).

By the 1966 season, my older sister and I had season tickets, and we sat through many a Celtic-Laker game, always gleeful that the Lakers went home losers, be it in-season, or the playoffs (including one, regular season game, when Laker guard Walt Hazzard either forgot or lost his uniform, and had to play the game wearing a Celtic away uniform (green), with the jersey turned inside-out).
















The favorite, though, was 1969.

The Celtics were supposed to be "dead", getting old and coming in fourth place that year, just making the playoffs.

The year before, 1968, they were the first team in professional sports to come from a 3-1 deficit to win a series (Eastern Division Finals, versus the Wilt Chamberlain-led Philadelphia 76ers; Later that summer, baseballs' Detroit Tigers would also accomplish the feat).

However, in the off-season, between the '68' and '69' seasons, Chamberlain had been traded to the Lakers.

The Celtics dusted off the 76ers (without Wilt-the-Stilt) and the New York Knicks, setting up the titanic match with the Lakers, who now had Chamberlain, to go along with Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, and were the definitive favorites to dethrone the Celts.

The Lakers had the best record, therefore, home court advantage and they wiped the Celtics out in Games 1 and 2 (with West going for 53 and 41) and it looking very gloomy for the Celtics.

Back home, they took Game 3 and, in Game 4, with 7-seconds left they were down by a point, and, just got the ball back via a steal by Emmette Bryant.

The legendary Bill Russell, in his second season as player coach (first black professional sports coach in the country) asked his players for help.

John Havlicek and Larry Siegfried offered up an old Ohio State play, that would end up setting a pick near the foul line for a clean jumper.

They ran the play, with Sam Jones firing up an off-balance jumper from around the foul line, with about 2-seconds left.

Swish, Celtics win 89-88, and the following day, the Boston Globe ran two photos, from the vantage point of under the basket.

In Photo #1, you had a mass of bodies and you could see the ball leaving Jones' hand.

In Photo #2, you had Wilt Chamberlain catching the ball, just as it was coming through the net, with a grimace on his face.

It came down to Game 7, in Los Angeles and owner Jack Kent Cooke had stuffed the Forum's ceiling with balloons, and had the USC band on hand, fully expecting to celebrate a championship.

Good, tough game, what you would expect in a Game 7, but the Celtics knew they were going to win (Bill Russell, running back up court, gave a shout-out to courtside celebrity fan, actress Doris Day and told her, "Not tonight, Baby").

Wilt took himself out of the game with about five-minutes left, claiming a knee injury (it also coincided with Wilt picking up his 5th foul, and, another record Chamberlain owns is never fouling out of a game - you decide), and it took a shot by Don Nelson (who the Celtics picked up from the Lakers, on waivers, three-year earlier), that hit the rim, bounced straight up, and then came straight down, through the net, to secure the win, 108-106.

The Sports Illustrated issue that came out following the series started off with;

"The band never played, the balloons never fell ..."

It was the Boston Celtics 11th championship in 13-years

The 1980's version of Bird, Magic, et. all was good, heated, but not quite the same.

And, unheard of, and completely unacceptable, they lost to the Lakers in the finals, twice.

I was older, in my mid-to-late 20's, so it didn't have that same, awe-inspiring, mystical quality the Bill Russell-led Celtics had.

So, all you 9-12-years-olds watching this revival of the Celtics and Lakers, suck it all in, it's big time!

Go Celts!

Oh yeah, as to predictions ... Celts in six!


Bonus Links

Celtics-Lakers Finals history

Bob Ryan's Top 10 games from the Celtics-Lakers rivalry

A Personal Note: The End For A True, True, Icon - Red Auerbach