Yeah, I know we’ve only been waiting since last Saturday for the NBA Finals to begin, but I’m simply tired of waiting. Thank god that wait comes to an end tonight. You know the match ups, you know the players, you know the storylines — the question is, who wins? Superman or Mamba? Phil or Ron Jeremy’s twin? For those that love foreign basketball players, is it Gasol or Pietrus? What else can we look forward to? Defensive match ups for one. Can Bynum and Gasol contain Howard? Some say yes, I think not and Phil isn’t too high on the idea either.
It was another stellar performance from the King of Cleveland as he finished the job his teammates — *gasp* — started in the earlier quarters of Game 5. While he didn’t score over 40 for the first time since Game 2, Cleveland’s only other win in the series so far. Is this what we call a trend? Furthermore, is this a defensive strategy the Magic can employ in Game 6, that is, let LeBron score and defend the rest of his running mates? As you can see in the lead graphic, James had an impressive triple-dip, his fourth of his playoff career.
It’s a must-win for Orlando tonight and one of the storylines to watch is how many shots will Dwight Howard get against Boston tonight? Will folks like Rafer Alston out-shoot him again or will Orlando run their offense through their franchise player? By now, most have heard about Howard criticizing his coach for not putting the Magic in the best position to win. Naturally, such revelations — especially during the Playoffs — put Orlando in an uncomfortable position, much like imminent death syndrome. When the franchise player publicly criticizes his coach in the middle of a heated playoff battle, it’s hard to have confidence his team will be able to bounce back from a heartbreaking loss.
Furthermore, some folks think the apology is actually worse and jeopardizes the team’s chances. The thinking is they’d rather see mad Dwight than the “I’m sorry” Dwight.
With all of this in mind, how many shots will Howard get tonight?
Will the Magic make a concerted effort to get him the ball in a position to do something with it? Conversely, does Howard have the post moves to reward those that pass him the ball? To date, the most Howard has shoot the ball in the Playoffs is 16 times, and that was against Philadelphia. Can he exceed that against Boston? Will he get the touches to do so? If not and the Magic lose, did they choke or get beat by the better team?
Ah, the YouTube video post. It makes a blogger’s life so much easier — if by easy, I mean lazy (I do). Thanks to Dwight Howard’s relatively benign double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds and a ton of foul trouble) and to Courtney Lee’s impressive 24-point outing, the Orlando Magic find themselves tied with Philadelphia 76ers at one game each.
The highlight(s) of the game came courtesy of Howard and his astounding athleticism, which allowed him to throw down two nasty dunks, one of which is in the lead video. The second is after the jump:
