more nba stuff

so explain this to me: The Lakers won game 1 and lost game 2 because Phil Jackson drew up a last second play for Derek Fisher instead of Kobe Bryant, and all of the sudden the consensus is that the Lakers are in a lot of trouble and probably won't win the West (see ESPN's SportsNation poll for more). Yet the Cavs, having only beaten weak teams in the playoffs so far, drop game 1 and come within a LeBron James semi-miracle, totally amazing 3 pointer from being down 2-0 to the Magic, and yet, no one seems to be writing their obituary. You know what we've learned so far in that series? LeBron is better than advertised and the rest of his team grossly overachieved in the regular season and seem lost in the playoffs. Mo Williams has been bad. The Big Z is slow and ineffective against Dwight Howard, even though Howard has no post game whatsoever.

Speaking of Howard, if Dwight had just one move in the post, just one, the Magic would be up 2-0 and we might be talking about them as the heavy favorites to win the whole thing. Watch him. He's awful on one-on-one offense. He's the best, most athletic energy player in the NBA, maybe ever, but he can't post anyone up. He has this weird running hook that he flings hard at the basket and he can dunk if he's right underneath the basket. He can't drive and doesn't have any touch around the rim. No layups, no jumpers, and no range. That said, what he does is amazing and that he can get 20 points a night is incredible. He scores entirely on effort: alley-oops fed to him, putbacks, and pick-and-roll dunks. And that's it. He's a beast on the boards, but he can be really thin-skinned and if the Cavs are smart, they get Ben Wallace or someone to get really physical with him. "Superman" gets a bit snippy when he gets pushed around. He took a few cheap shots at Kendrick Perkins last round because Perkins could push him around.

Back to the Cavs, they're in a lot of trouble if they can't figure out a way to guard Rashard Lewis and Hedo. The Cavs should go small, put James at the 4 and have him guard Lewis. Put Varajeo on Howard to take away the really easy dunks on deep post passes. Stick Delonte on Hedo, where despite the height difference, Delonte can effectively harass Hedo into turnovers. Make guys like Rafer Alston beat them. Meanwhile, Orlando's going back home where in the regular season, they absolutely destroyed the Cavs. It could be that this Magic team is just a matchup nightmare for the Cavs for whatever reason. Houston was a matchup problem for the Lakers last round despite missing Yao Ming and maybe because they were missing Tracy McGrady. By the way, I love how the same writers who were saying that Houston was better off without McGrady were then giving the Lakers shit for not being able to beat a Houston team without McGrady. Consistency, please.