Cavs Blast the Lakers

This one was ugly.The Lakers picked a bad time for their worst performance of the season losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Christmas day 102-87. The Lakers had one of those worst shooting nights and trailed the entire game. L.A. shot under 37% from the field and shot 27% from the 3 point line. Kobe had a terrible game hoisting up 32 shots to score 35 points and he received no help from his teammates. Derrick Fisher and Lamar Odom played poorly. Andrew Bynum was invisible and Pau Gasol was not a factor. Meanwhile the Cavs shot over 54% from the field and almost 40% from 3 point land. In a rare occasion LeBron James scored 26 but did not lead the Cavs in scoring. Mo Williams led the Cavs with 28 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. The Cavs got solid contributions from bench players Anderson Varejao, Jamario Moon and Delonte West. The game got so out of hand that the Lakers received 5 technical fouls and the crowd threw foam fingers onto the court in the 4th quarter. Hopefully things will improve when the Lakers face the Kings tomorrow on Saturday night.

NBA Surprises

NBA Scoring Leader
Carmelo Anthony leads the NBA in scoring. I assumed that Kobe, LeBron or D-wade were leading the league in scoring. Carmelo is quietly having a great season.

NBA Rebounding Leader
Gerald Wallace leads the NBA in rebounding. There is no way that I would have guessed that one without looking at the league leaders. Wallace has more rebounds then Marcus Camby, Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh.

NBA Blocked Shots Leader
Josh Smith leads the NBA in blocks. Smith is living up to his billing and has become a much more polished player this season.

Lakers 16-3

The Lakers have picked up where they left off after their championship season and are off to a 16-3 start. The Lakers won their 16th game of the season after a 101-88 win over the Phoenix Suns. The Lakers lead the Pacific division by 2 games and are posied to defend their title.

Lakers Add Artest To the Roster

The Lakers improved their team this offseason by adding Ron Artest to the roster. Artest will take Trevor Ariza's spot. He adds much needed toughness and scoring ability from the perimeter. Artest is an upgrade over Ariza and should provide the Lakers with a great defender to guard Carmelo Anthony, Richard Jefferson and Brandon Roy during the playoffs. Kobe can now focus solely on being the offensive spark of the Lakers.

Lakers Cruise to 15th Title

The Los Angeles Lakers won their 15th NBA Championship tonight by defeating the Orlando Magic in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. The Lakers seized control of the series with a dominating performance by Kobe Bryant and great shooting by Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom. The Lakers had a balanced team effort throughout all five games with contributions by Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum, and even Luke Walton. The X factor throughout the entire series was the play of Odom and Ariza. They hit big baskets and made life difficult for Turkoglu and Lewis all series long. Fisher found his shooting stroke late in the series and his heroics in Game 4 all but sealed the title. This series was never in doubt and the Lakers should have swept the series. It became obvious that the Magic were overmatched when they shot 63% in Game 3 and still only held on for a four point win. This series exposed Dwight Howard and his limited offensive arsenal. If the Magic are to take the next step to being a championship team Dwight Howard has to become a more complete player.

LeBron James: A Chicago Bull?

After watching the Cavs fall short in the playoffs yet again, I begin to wonder should LeBron James leave Cleveland? Even though Cleveland had the best record in the NBA; it was clear that the Cavs were impostors all season long. The Cavs were at best the 4th best team in the NBA. I rank the 4 best teams in the NBA as follows: (1) Los Angeles Lakers (2) Denver Nuggets (3) Orlando Magic (4) Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs are the only team with a superstar who has no help. Kobe has Pau. Melo has Chauncey. Dwight Howard has Rashard Lewis. LeBron has an undersized Mo Williams. While Mo Williams is a nice player, he is not a number 2 on a championship team. So LeBron faces a tough decision; what team could he win a championship with the quickest?

The two most talked about suitors for his services are the Knicks and Nets. Pros: He would be the biggest star in New York and treated as basketball royalty in the largest market in the US. If he resurrected either franchise he would be the man in NY. Cons: He would make less money in annual salary and be further from winning a championship. The Knicks have no legitimate superstar on their roster and are overriden with undersized guards with bad contracts. The Nets do have young talent in Devin Harris and Brook Lopez along with his good friend co-owner Jay-Z. If he joins either team LeBron makes them an instant playoff contender but not a championship team.

I personally think the team that makes the most sense for LeBron would be the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls have a young roster loaded with talent. LeBron could lead MJ's old franchise back to championship greatness. Derrick Rose and Luol Deng have All Star potential that would complement LeBron's game. The Bulls also have John Salmons and the enigmatic Tyrus Thomas. Plus the Bulls will have the salary cap space to sign LeBron in 2010.

Lakers vs. Magic

The Finals matchup is set. The Lakers will play the Cleveland Cavaliers for the NBA Championship. LeBron vs Kobe. Correction. The Lakers will be playing the Orlando Magic for the NBA Championship. The team that no one expected to be here is in the Finals. This should be a very intriguing series and both teams have interesting matchups at key positions.

Point Guard
Rafer Alston vs. Derek Fisher
Rafer Alston is much quicker then Derek Fisher and should be able to penetrate at will against the aging Fisher. Fisher has shown his age during these playoffs and has struggled to find his outside stroke during the playoffs.
Advantage: Magic

Shooting Guard
Courtney Lee vs. Kobe Bryant
This one goes without saying. The Lakers have a huge advantage at this position and the Magic have no one on their roster with the size and quickness to stop Kobe. Expect to see a lot of Michael Pietrus guarding Kobe as he did LeBron in the previous series.
Advantage: Lakers

Small Forward
Hedo Turkoglu vs. Trevor Ariza
Turkoglu is the primary ball handler in tight situations and is responsible for facilitating the Magic's offense. Ariza has the length and quickness to pose problems for Turkoglu. If he can keep up with Melo then he can guard Turk.
Advantage; Magic

Power Forward
Rashard Lewis vs. Pau Gasol
This is an interesting matchup if it ever materializes. Lewis is too quick for Gasol to guard on the defensive end of the court and Gasol is too big for Lewis to defend in the post. I expect Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza to each spend major minutes defending Odom. If Bynum doesn't play much as he hasn't in previous series, expect Dwight Howard to defend Gasol.
Advantage: Even

Center
Dwight Howard vs. Andrew Bynum
On paper Bynum has the size and skill to defend Howard. But in reality Bynum will spend most of the series in foul trouble and Howard will have his way against the Lakers disappointing big man.
Advantage: Magic

I think that the Lakers will put Bynum on the bench and go small. This means:

1. Putting Lamar Odom on Rashard Lewis.
2. Putting Pau Gasol on Dwight Howard.
3. Having Kobe guard Turkoglu in crunch time.
4. Having Jordan Farmar play major minutes to keep up with Alston.