It’s been nearly a year since the Lakers suffered a 39-point defeat at the hands of the Celtics. With that loss fresh in their memory, the Lakers entered this season with one goal: Win the NBA championship. Anything less and the season will be considered a failure.
No one expected the Orlando Magic to be here. The Magic won 59 games during the regular season, but were seeded behind both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics to start the playoffs, and were categorized by many as a soft, perimeter oriented team that lived and died by the 3-ball.
This may not be Lakers-Celtics, or Kobe-LeBron, but this year’s NBA Final features two evenly matched teams that are playing their best basketball at the exact same time.
L.A. is averaging 108.6 points per 100 possessions during the playoffs, while giving up 101.8 points per 100 possessions on the defensive end (plus-6.8 point differential). Orlando is scoring 107.5 points per 100 possessions, while surrendering 100.5 points per 100 possessions defensively (plus-7 point differential).
Both the Lakers and Magic run inside-out, motion-oriented offenses that are predicated on ball movement.
Orlando’s first option is to get the ball to Dwight Howard on the low block, where he can go to work on his defender, or draw a double-team and pass out to one of his sharp-shooting teammates. If Howard is unavailable, Orlando will go to high screen-and-rolls with Hedo Turkoglu as the ball-handler, and Howard or Rashard Lewis setting the screen.
Double Howard, and he’ll kick it out to Lewis, Turkoglu, Mickael Pietrus, Courtney Lee, or Rafer Alston for an open three. Leave Howard or Lewis on the screen-and-roll and Howard will cut to the basket for a dunk or Lewis will slip out behind the arc for an open triple. Let Turkoglu turn the corner and he’ll take advantage of a 4-on-3 situation by scoring the ball or creating for one of his teammates. Get the picture? Orlando is a matchup nightmare.
It’s possible to limit Orlando’s three-point attempts by staying home on their shooters, playing Howard one-on-one, and defending the screen-and-roll with only two players, but very few teams have the personnel to execute that strategy.
The Lakers are one of those teams.
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June 4th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
[...] Ballerblogger previews the NBA Finals. [...]
June 4th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
[...] NBA Finals Preview (Baller Blogger) [...]
June 4th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
LA is too deep and provides too many match-up problems. They also have the best scorer in basketball. I had LA in 6 but after watching tonight it’ll be LA in 5.