Lakers Reach NBA Finals for Record 30^th Time; Magic Arrive for 2^nd Time

June 4, 2009

By Anthony Carter

HGSTAR1NEWS

Sports Editor

LOS ANGELES – June 4, 2009 is finally upon us. And that means the NBA Finals are here. The third seed from the East – the Orlando Magic – are squaring off against the first see from the West – the Los Angeles Lakers.

While this is the 30^th appearance for the Lakers organization, it is only the second for the Magic. And while Lakers stalwarts Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher are making their sixth appearance together, Magic standouts Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis are making their debut.

“Well, we want to come out and play,” the Defensive Player of the Year, Howard, said. “This is the chance of a lifetime to be playing for the championship, and this is the furthest that a lot of us have gotten in our career. Our motivation is greatness. We want to be a great team. This is a great opportunity for us.”

Los Angeles is looking for its 15 title, which would bring them back within two of Boston’s 17. Last year, the Lakers had a chance to close the gap to 15-16, but lost to the Celtics in the Finals, 4-2.

“We’re determined to come up with a better result,” Bryant said. “The last few times we’ve been there [to the NBA Finals], it’s been the short end of the stick. Hopefully this time around will be better.”

Howard, after his Magic have eliminated the Defending Champion Celtics and the top seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, each on the road, is looking to continue the trend. He also plays on the “Us Against the World” theme the media have created.

“We’ve always been overlooked,” Howard added. “…We were overlooked against Boston, we were overlooked against the Cavs, and we’re still overlooked. So we understand that. So for us, everything we see, everybody picking against us, it motivates us. It drives us to do something greater.”

The debate goes on about who’s greater between LeBron and Kobe. Another debate rages about who will win more championships between Dwight Howard and LeBron James.  But, rest assured that everyone involved in the 2009 NBA Finals is focusing on the task at hand.

Courtney Lee, Magic shooting guard reflected, “Coach [Stan Van Gundy] had a quote form [Pro Football Hall of Famer] Dan Marino where when he first got there [to the Super Bowl] he enjoyed it, and he made a quote afterwards saying if he got back again he would change everything that he did. He never made it back. So we’re definitely looking at it like that.”

The last time the Magic made the Finals, in 1995, the Houston Rockets swept them. The last two times the Lakers were in the Finals – last year and in 2004 against the underdog Detroit Pistons – they won a grand total of three games. Of course, none of the current Magic players were in place 14 years ago, and only Bryant and Fisher remain from the ’04 Lakers.

Nonetheless, there are Lakers that want a do-over of last year and are happy to have the series open in Los Angeles.

Reserve forward Luke Walton summarizes, “We learned the hard way last year, home-court advantage, how important that is. Ultimately it’s not going to come down to that. It’s going to be whoever is playing better basketball. But in a tough series it’s proved throughout the whole playoffs that home court definitely helps.”

Van Gundy did his best to explain that this is not about a coaching matchup; that it’s about the teams. “If Coach Jackson and I were out there one-on-one,” he said, “he was an NBA player and I was a below-average Division III player in college, so my guess is the advantage would go to him… The guy has won more playoff series than I have playoff games… We’re both trying to do the same thing, get our teams to play at the highest level possible, and we’ll see what happens.”

Jackson went on to counter with an explanation of what it meant to the Lakers to be swept by this Magic team this year. “It means we have a great deal of respect for them as far as a team,” he said. “They played very well down the stretch in both the games to win the two games they played against us… It was four months ago, but it certainly gives us a great deal of respect for them.”

Game 1 is tonight at 6PM PST at STAPLES Center. Game 2 will be Sunday at 5PM PST. 3 and 4 will be Tuesday and Thursday at 9PM EST at Amway Arena, and 5 (if necessary) will be at Amway on Sunday, the 14^th at 8PM EST. Games 6 and 7 (both if necessary) will be back at STAPLES on June 16t and 18^th at 6PM PST.

Both teams feel like the series will come down to who executes better. Look for the tone of the Series to be established in Game 1. The loser will have to make adjustments or risk drowning.

***Series Notes***

Since the 2-3-2 format was adopted in 1985, only two teams have won the middle three games at home – Detroit in 2004 and Miami in 2006. They both won the title. 12 teams have swept at home in the first two and have all gone on to win the title.

Phil Jackson (currently tied at 9 with Red Auerbach) is going for his 10^th title. This is his third try at breaking the all-time record.

Magic All-Star PG Jameer Nelson has been practicing with team and could return after missing half of the season and all of the playoffs thus far.