addendum to more nba stuff

a day later, and look at what we have here. The Cavs are down 2-1 to the Magic, and really, they would be down 3-0 and on the verge of getting swept if LeBron hadn't made a borderline miracle shot at the end of game 2. I've heard people compare the Denver-LA series to the LA-Detroit Finals series from '04, but I think this Cavs-Magic series is more like that one. In that series, the Lakers won one game on a miracle 3 pointer from Kobe that sent the game to OT. The Magic destroyed, repeat DESTROYED, the Cavs at home in the regular season. Now they beat them by 10 in the playoffs. The Cavs are in a lot of trouble. LeBron put in another 40+ point game, but didn't shoot particularly well, and his teammates have yet to show up for this series. He's been great, but without Mo, Wally, Delonte, Z, Varajeo, Big Ben, Boobie and the rest, he won't make it past the Magic. Even if they do, I don't see how this team defends the Lakers. Gasol will run circles around their big men. They have no one who can guard Odom, and they won't want to stick LeBron on Kobe and risk losing some of LeBron's energy on the offensive end.

In the West, the Lakers are back in control after (depending on who you believe) stealing Game 3 or showing their veteran prowess in the Game 3. I prefer the latter. Forever underappreciated Kobe scored 41 points on pretty effective shooting and dished out 5 assists and basically carried the team in the 4th quarter. Yeah, he's not averaging a 35/9/7 like LeBron is in the post-season, but he's still the best player on arguably the most talented team in the postseason and he's been playing like this while having been basically playing ball for 2 years straight including two postseasons and one trip to the Olympics. And oh yeah, he's had a broken pinkie finger this entire time that would have sidelined almost any other player. Can we appreciate him for being one of the best NBA players of all time? That's definitely not in dispute. Kobe is a top 20 player and an absolute assassin with two minutes left in the game. He's one of the greatest clutch players ever and one of the most intense competitors the league has ever had. Is he Jordan? No. He's not as competitive, not as smart and not as complete of a player, but it's close. Kobe's got better range on his shot and he has the same ice running in veins. Kobe's big deficiency is that he can't consistently get his teammates involved like MJ did.

And don't the people who basically wrote the Lakers obituary after Game 2 feel real dumb now. The Lakers are up 2-1 with a chance to put the series out of reach on Monday. The lesson: if a series is 1-1, then it's even. This seems really obvious. I mean painfully obvious, but never underestimate the vapidity of the sportswriting consensus.