The Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Lakers sqaure off in the 2009 NBA Finals. Not exactly the Finals anyone thought they would see. The Los Angeles Lakers return to the Finals after losing last season to the Boston Celtics. The Orlando Magic haven’t been to the Finals since being swept in 95′ by the Houston Rockets. The city of Orlando had to be the ONLYpeople that could have fathomed this outcome. But the Orlando Magic are quite worthy of representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. The Magic finished the season with the fourth best record, and during the postseason eliminated two of the teams that had better records, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. The defeat of the Boston Celtics in Game7 in Boston was a huge moment in Orlando Magic history. The Cavaliers never had a chance, too little and too much Dwight Howard spelled disaster. The only team left with a better record is the Los Angeles Lakers, who the Magic swept this season for the first time in franchise history. In both games Jameer Nelson was the leading scorer for the Magic, Dwight Howard had double-doubles in both games. Kobe Bryant had a triple-double in their first meeting and 41 points in the second game. The Magic are definitely the underdogs in the series but their recent play would say otherwise. The Lakers 
beta the Utah jazz in six games, then were put on the brink of elimination by Houston Rockets. The Rockets series taught the Lakers a lesson they carried into the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets, close out teams when you have a chance. That’s just what the Lakers did in Game6 in Denver, crushing the Nuggets the entire game en route to the NBA Finals. The live by the 3, die by the 3 nature of Orlando could be its downfall in this series. Dwight Howard should have his way in the post, but Hedo Turkoglu, and Rashard Lewis will have to continue their excellent play to win in LA and steal home-court. The Magic bench will be a liability in this series, Anthony Johnson, and Gortat, are no match for Jordan Farmer, Odom, and Shannon Brown. The Lakers have lost their last two Finals appearances, losing in six to the Detroit Pistons, and to Boston. Phil Jackson wants that 10th championship putting him pass the late Red Aurbach for most championships. Kobe Bryant would love to erase the statement, “You only have 3 Rings because of Shaq”. This series is the Lakers to lose, but Orlando has accomplished more so far this postseason than anyone could have imagined. On Thursday we will see which team wants it more.
After a six day rest the Denver Nuggets prepare to fly to Los Angeles and take on the Lakers in Game1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday. The Nuggets were a bump in the road of the Lakers march to the Finals last season, losing in the first round. But this years Nuggets is a far cry from the team the Lakers saw last season. The addition of playoff veteran Chancey Billups and uber hype man Chris “Birdman” Anderson have changed the demeanor of the team. The Nuggets have steam-rolled through the playoffs, embarrassing the New Orleans Hornets and over playing the Dallas Mavericks. The Nuggets are the the most impressive team this post-season next to the Cleveland Cavaliers who have yet to lose. The Los Angeles Lakers enter this series unsure of who they are. After losing big leads in Round1 to the Utah Jazz, it appeared the mighty Lakers had chinks in their armor. In Round2 the Houston Rockets put a serious dent in that armor pushing the Lakers to the brink of elimination, without Tracy McGrady or Yao Ming. Kobe Bryant said on Sunday following their Game7 victory over the Houston Rockets “We are bipolar”. The Lakers clearly showed a tendency to play at a higher more determined level at home. This would be a problem if they didn’t posses home-court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs. But their “bipolar tendencies” will come back to bite them come Tuesday when the Nuggets roll into town. Chauncey Billups is the key that Denver has needed for years and has the Nuggets poised to make it to beyond this match up. The key for the Lakerswill be using their length to their advantage once again. Andrew Bynums howed up in the playoffs for the first time in Game7, Sunday with 14 points on 6-7 shooting, and Pau Gasol was huge with 21 points and 18 boards.The Nuggets are a much smaller team, but can match the Lakers offensively. Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony in the Western Conference Finals is a must-see, but they will be out shined by the performance of Billups, super sixth-man JR Smith, and the post players of the Lakers. This series looks to go the distance with the winner being bruised and exhausted at the end.
Let me start by saying that The Truth Sports is a fan of NBA players. first..Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Tayshaun Prince, Tim Duncan, Shaq to name a few. We try to watch each NBA game without bias towards one team, but during the Western Conference semifinals matchup between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers we are having a hard time not rooting for the Rockets. The Houston Rockets are the absolute definition of an underdog. Rooting for underdogs is something that is done with ultimate sensitivity. The majority of the public is rooting for the Lakers, even native Houstonians that haven’t ever been to Los Angeles. They are fans of winning, and the Rockets haven’t won it all in nearly 15 years. Or they just chose to root for a team that is consistent. 15 years is a small amount of time when it comes to the Chicago Cubs, or the Milwaukee Bucks, but even when Houston was winning back-to-back titles no one outside of Houston cared. Hakeem Olajuwon is a top ten all-time NBA player but the world could care less. Sports Illustrated didn’t even put the Rockets on the cover after they beat the Knicks in the 94′ Finals. The city had to beg for a cover and SI delivered a “special SI” for the city. If the Knicks had won that series SI would have run commercials for championship merchandise around the clock. The Rockets are a team that seem to start off each season with a solid roster “on paper” , but it never ends that way. Rocket uniforms have been donned by Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, James Posey, Stromile Swift, Bobby Jackson, and Walt Williams. All of these players had impacts but none of them could get Houston over that hump. The Rockets traded for Steve “Franchise” Francis and paired him with a 7’6″ Asian-born player Yao Ming, but still remained underdogs. Then the unthinkable happened and the “Francise” was traded for a scoring champ, an all-star, the person that would erase the underdog tag from the Rockets. But Tracy McGrady could not fight off the injury bug, and seasons were lost to back, shoulder and knee problems. The Rockets continued to add role players that would help to erase the underdog tag. Shane Battier, and Luis Scola, were all pieces of the puzzle needed to erase the underdog tag. The signing of Ron Artest before this season spelled the end of losing and a return to the mountaintop. The Rockets fought to the 5 seed in the playoffs and after 12 years got out of the first round. This seemed like the ticket to a different level of respect from the NBA, but the Rockets were far from gaining any real respect. The series with the Lakers has seen Shane Battiers face bloodied, Ron Artest elbowed(and called for a foul) and officials that keep their whistles in their pockets when Yao has the ball. Of course a fan of any team feels his/her team is treated unfairly from time to time, but no team is more disrespected, underrated, or simply passed on then the Houston Rockets. Hopefully one day they can again prove the world wrong! GO ROCKETS!
Isaac Burns Murphy (April 16, 1861 – February 12, 1896)
