Jayhawk-on-Jayhawk crime

There are no words.

A reflection of the 15th title.

I found it ominous that my local cable provider showed the run to the 1985 Laker title. Reading about the story and how things went for that team, who lost to Boston in the Finals the year before, was focused on one thing, to win the title.

It is odd considering that the faced the Celtics in the Finals last year, losing to them in what some say as a "so-called" 6-game sweep. Embarrassed, they dedicated themselves to go all out this year. On the way to both titles, they faced off against a game Nuggets team.

Maybe someone could shed light on this comparison: a guy named Mitch Kupchak, who played in the 85 team and now is the GM of the 09 team.

LA wins 15th title.

Congratulations to the Lakers for winning the title. I will get the post-script done probably by tomorrow.

Congrats to Kobe. You earned it.

Game 4 Live Blog

Will Orlando tie? Or will it be 3-1?

Game 3 Live Blog

It's that time again... Hope you enjoy the madness.

Game 3 preview

Live blog will commence tomorrow.

5 points to ponder for the Magic, because LA's doing alright (almost).

1. How does Courtney Lee respond after two key misses?

2. How will the crowd impact the game?

3. Will a PG rise up in Orlando?

4. Can Dwight make an impact offensively?

5. For LA, can the supporting cast help Kobe, Pau and Lamar?

Game 2 Live Blog

Here is the Game 2 Live Blog. Let's Rock

The Game 1 Live Blog

This is the Live blog of Game 1. Hope you like it.

Reading through the stat line

I have a copy of the stats of the two games the Lakers and the Magic played this season.

Both games were won by the Magic (1st meeting 106-103 @ Orlando, 2nd meeting 109-103 @ LA). Here is what we can pick up from it:

1. Jameer is huge. Both games featured awesome performances from the All-Star. He got hurt on February, so what we get from him will be a huge question mark. He was 11/16 for 27 pts @ Orlando and 9/18 for 28 pts @ LA.

2. Derek Fisher was logging very heavy minutes (41 minutes in both games). Jordan Farmar was unavailable in both games and Shannon Brown was still a Bobcat.

3. Kobe was not exactly stellar shooting the ball both games (45 and 38 percent shooting). He took 26 and 31 shots in both games.

4. Dwight will go to the line. 15 and 16 FT attempts both games. Bynum only managed around 12 minutes in their first meeting.

5. Magic had 12 3-pt conversions in both games. Both games shooting over 40 percent. Need to address Laker perimeter defense.

You want to analyze it on your own?

This is their first meeting, and this is their second meeting.

Best Laker team of all-time?

I had a brief conversation with Rico Robles last night. He is a huge Laker fan, pleased that the Lakers are in the Finals. He says that the best Laker team was the Kobe-Shaq team when they had Glen Rice, which I presume is the 2000 team. If you recall, the signature moment of that team was that comeback against the Blazers. I digress.

Let's see who was on that roster:

Their Starting Line-up for most of that season was Shaq, Kobe, AC Green, Ron Harper and Glen Rice.

Their key reserves were Rick Fox, Brian Shaw, Robert Horry and a young Derek Fisher.

Their roster fillers were Tyronn Lue, Devean George, Travis Knight, John Salley, Sam Jacobson and John Celestand

They won 67 games and beat the Pacers for the title.

I digress, because this smacks instant history. I contend that two eras are better than the Shaq-Kobe Era. I am speaking of the Showtime era and the 71-72 Lakers.

the 71-72 Lakers still have that ridiculous 33-game streak that no one could come close, and this team lost Elgin Baylor to retirement 9 games into the season.

Lineup consists of: Gail Goodrich, Jerry West, Jim McMillan, Happy Hairston, Pat Riley, Wilt Chamberlain, Flynn Robinson, Leroy Ellis, Jim Cleamons, Keith Erickson and John Trapp.

They won 69 games and beat the Knicks for the title.

Thanks to basketball-reference for the stats.