NBA Finals Showdown: Lakers Vs. Magic

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Since 1990, the Los Angeles Lakers have won seven conference titles, including their current victory over the Denver Nuggets.  Three of the six completed seasons brought an NBA championship to their franchise, all three coming in consecutive seasons.

The Orlando Magic were nothing more than an expansion team in 1990.  This would mark only their second appearance in the NBA Finals, their first coming in 1995, when Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee Hardaway led a 57-win Magic team to the promised land, only to fall to Hakeem Olajuwon's Houston Rockets in four games.

Things haven't changed too much since then.  Teams dominated by a superstar, an all-star teammate and solid role players are likely to play up until, or into, the month of June, defense still gets the job done, and playoff upsets are always waiting in the wings.

Enter the 2009 Lakers and Magic.

Nearly one year removed from their upsetting loss to the Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals, Kobe Bryant and coach Phil Jackson are preparing for what could be their most important games of their careers. 

Bryant, who has yet to win a title without O'Neal, and Jackson, chasing his record-setting 10th NBA championship as a head coach, have a lot to prove this time around, while the franchise is looking for redemption after losing their last two NBA Finals matchups, against the Celtics in 2008 and the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

Offensively, these Lakers are extremely dangerous from all spots on the court.  They have three-point sharpshooters, slashing guards and forwards, post players, solid role and bench players, and both youth and experience. 

Combined with quite possibly the most skillful basketball superstar since Michael Jordan, an excellent power forward and center combo in Pau Gasol, and arguably the best coach in NBA history, it's difficult to predict a loss for such a well-defined team.

Defensively, you have to look at the Lakers at how well they perform aside from the complacency they continue to show every once in a while.  They have two exceptional perimeter defenders in Bryant and Trevor Ariza, and a good defensive guard by the name of Shannon Brown. 

Outside of those three, the Lakers have Andrew Bynum, who struggles to play a significant amount of minutes due to foul trouble, and Pau Gasol, who has shown his strength rebounding the ball and blocking shots, but seems to have trouble playing physical defense against the stronger, larger forwards and centers. 

This season, the Lakers were ranked sixth in opponent field goal percentage (44.7 percent), third in opponent three-point percentage (34.5 percent), first in rebounds per game (43.92), 10th in blocks per game (5.12), and second in steals per game (8.75).

The Magic may not be running a two-man system like they were with O'Neal and Hardaway in 1995, but their combination of Dwight Howard and their shooters seem to give even the best defensive team fits, as we all "witnessed" versus the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

One odd thing to note about Orlando is that they look to Howard not as a passing big man, but strictly a scorer and a decoy.  Throughout the season, it was evident that Jameer Nelson, who may not be available for the Magic in the NBA Finals, and Hedo Turkoglu were able to run the offense literally through their shooters, penetrating and dishing to the open man, something most of their players can do. 

Fortunately for the Magic, if their shooters were cold, Howard had no problem taking the game over as he did in his final game against the Cavaliers, scoring 40 points and forcing the ball through the hoop.

The best thing about Howard, though, would have to be his defense.  The Boston Celtics were praised for bringing in a defensive anchor, Kevin Garnett, to help keep slashing guards and small forwards out of the paint, while keeping a thumb on his own assignment and preaching defense to the team during timeouts, in the locker room, and even on the court. 

Dwight Howard has embraced this role for the Magic, and it has been one of the biggest factors in bringing them to contention this season.

In comparison to the Lakers, the Magic were third in the NBA's regular season in opponent field goal percentage (43.3 percentage), second in opponent three-point percentage (34.2 percentage), third in rebounds per game (43.25), sixth in blocks per game (5.35), and 22nd in steals per game (6.95).

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