Dave McMenamin of NBA.com: “In order to use the size surplus that the Lakers have with the 7-foot, 250-pound Gasol and the 7-foot, 285-pound Andrew Bynum, the two will have to avoid foul trouble. Gasol averaged four fouls in the two regular season matchups with Orlando, both L.A. losses, which was more than he averaged against any other team during the season. Bynum got saddled with five fouls when the teams played on Dec. 20 and was limited to just three points and one rebound in 12 minutes on the court. More Gasol and Bynum could mean less Howard as the Magic center averaged an alarming 5.3 fouls per game against the Cavs’ frontline. Phil Jackson called Howard a ‘powerhouse’ and questioned whether the Lakers could ‘guard this big kid’, but the Lakers’ coach will elect to guard the reigning Defensive Player of the Year with single coverage. ‘It’s to your advantage not to double against this team,’ Jackson said. ‘They have four three-point shooters arrayed around the corners of the court and they really spread you out, their spacing is good so it puts a lot of priority of being able to defend in the post.’”
Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times: “So often you hear NBA coaches say matchups make a series. Well, in the NBA Finals between the Lakers and Orlando Magic, it is a most intriguing matchup between teams with different personalities. Game 1 is Thursday night at Staples Center. The Lakers run the triangle offense, relying on moving bodies and the ball, as well as on spacing. When that doesn’t work, the Lakers go to Kobe Bryant, who often delivers like no one else in the NBA. The Magic has a dominant presence inside with center Dwight Howard, but Orlando also lives by the jumper, particularly the three-pointer. ‘It’s a team that presents a lot of tough matchups,’ Lakers forward Pau Gasol said. ‘They have a lot of guys that are just very talented offensively. You have to be aware of them obviously, know your personnel but also try to take advantage of your strengths, of our strengths and attack them.’ The Lakers want to use all their weapons, getting the ball down low to Gasol and Andrew Bynum, knocking down outside shots, cutting to the basket.”
George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel: “Let’s be honest: We’re not a big-time professional sports town. We can cheer for teams outside our borders — the Bucs, Jaguars, Dolphins, Marlins and Rays — but they aren’t really ours. We’ve got the Magic. Other than that, it’s been a flurry of other pro franchises, mostly distant cousins to the NFL. Arena Football, take a bow. Many of the memories just reinforce the small-town stereotype, like Shaquille O’Neal calling Orlando a ‘dried up little pond’ after bolting to Los Angeles. The Lakers got three championships with Shaq. The Magic got Rony Seikaly, Ike Austin and an ‘Hasta La Vista’ letter from Fran Vazquez. It is why the rest of the sports nation dismisses Orlando and its signature sports franchise as a bunch of small-time country bumpkins, only with Mickey Mouse ears instead of straw hats. Now look. The Magic are heading to The Big City with the cement ponds, movie stars and everything.”
Mike Wise of the Washington Post: “The Magic dethroned the defending world champions and then parlayed a Game 7 win in Boston into dumping LeBron and his 66-win team in six games of the Eastern Conference finals. The coach doesn’t get there without 40 points and 14 rebounds from the player he made sure received the basketball in the right places on the floor Saturday night in Orlando. But let’s be clear: Howard doesn’t get there without Van Gundy, either. ‘He pushes us to the limits,’ Howard said nearing midnight in Orlando after Game 6. ‘Me and Stan have had our ups and downs, but for the most part, he’s always, you know, always did a great job of motivating me and my teammates. He is a great motivator.’ Said Hubie Brown, the ESPN analyst: ‘Why this worked out? Because Stan hasn’t let him off the hook for anything. If he would have had a weaker coach, who’s to say Dwight Howard is the player he is today.’”
Mike Baldwin of The Oklahoman: “Some call it grit. During this year’s NBA playoffs, ‘nastiness’ was a term used to describe the Houston Rockets’ and Denver Nuggets’ ability to go toe-to-toe with the highly favored Los Angeles Lakers. Call it what you want, but Rose, who won two NBA titles with the San Antonio Spurs, said developing toughness is essential. ‘He’s a vet,’ said Oklahoma City forward D.J. White, who made his debut late in his rookie season after jaw surgery. ‘He knows what it takes to win championships. You have to listen to him. He knows what he’s talking about.’ The primary reason Boston manhandled the Lakers in last year’s NBA Finals was Kevin Garnett and his Celtics teammates’ edginess, a toughness that proved to be the difference in the series. A young Thunder team doesn’t need to turn into the modern-day version of the Detroit Pistons’ ‘Bad Boys.’ But championship-caliber teams often have a little nastiness.”
Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: “Orlando president Bob Vander Weide asked Grousbeck if Garnett would be available for the conference semifinals between their teams, and the Celtics co-owner left the door of possibility wide open, even if the chances virtually were nil. ‘That way they didn’t know what to expect,’ he said. The truth, according to Grousbeck, is the team’s medical staff knew exactly what it would find during the operation on Garnett’s knee last week. Though Danny Ainge, the executive director of basketball operations, said last week that surgeons ‘did not have to touch’ the tendon during arthroscopic surgery, the inflamed muscle indeed was caused by the bone spur, according to Grousbeck. Though everyone from Ainge to Doc Rivers intimated during the playoffs that the two knee issues may not be related – that the inflamed tendon somehow was independent of the bone spur – the Celtics managing partner said everyone knew the truth. ‘There was no mystery about the problem,’ he said. ‘The only mystery was how (Garnett) was going to be able to do something on it. We just didn’t feel like sharing that with the media at the time.’”
Jim Litke of the Associated Press: “James left without saying a word and his explanation a day later was more awkward still. ‘It’s hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them. I mean, I’m a winner. That’s not being a poor sport or anything like that,’ he told reporters back at the team’s facility Sunday in Cleveland. ‘Somebody beat you up, you’re not going to congratulate them on beating you up. ‘I’m a competitor,’ he added. ‘That’s what I do. It don’t make sense to me to go up and shake somebody’s hand.’ It has, though, for generations of ballplayers, including a lucky few who were every bit as gifted as James, and dozens more whose trophy collections James will need plenty of luck to match. Jordan, to name one, made a point of shaking the hands of the Pistons’ self-styled ‘Bad Boys’ every time they knocked his less-talented Bulls out of the Eastern Conference playoffs early in his pro career, in much the same situation James finds himself now.”
Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports: “Derrick Rose is the American dream. Rising from humble South Side roots, at age 20 he’s already a self-made millionaire with the Bulls. Barring injury he should make more than $100 million by the time he’s 35. He’s building a reputation for charity back in his neighborhood. Derrick Rose isn’t much of a student. This is what the NCAA alleges. It claims he had someone stand in for him on his SAT because he couldn’t manage to make the relatively meager score he needed to play college ball at Memphis (his qualifying test was a ‘740 or 750,’ according to a source with knowledge of the situation). Then, as the Chicago Sun-Times reported, one of his high school grades was changed from a ‘D’ to a ‘C’ in order to help his college eligibility chances. For the record, Rose denied all of this to the NCAA although he hasn’t spoken publicly since the allegations broke last week. The fact we know his score, the fact that Rose is dealing with embarrassing questions, the fact that the NBA has another young star wrapped in scandal and two universities are fretting about Saturday’s NCAA infractions hearing, is the latest testament to the NBA’s wrong and ridiculous 19-year-old age limit.”
