NBA Finals Predictions

The NBA Finals are finally here, after a long, grueling run through the first three rounds of the playoffs. A lot of people will say the NBA playoffs are too long, and I would agree with them, but since I’m such a big basketball fan I say they aren’t long enough. We’re left with two standing – Orlando and Los Angeles.

There wasn’t a lot of talk about the Magic before the season with Boston and Cleveland taking up most of the storylines throughout the season. But unbelievably hot 3-point shooting and the dominance of Dwight Howard has led them to a somewhat improbable finals run. The Lakers have been consistent all season, and although they went through a few hiccups in the playoffs (see: Houston series), they have found a way to step up when they ultimately needed to.

Can Kobe finally win one without playing second-fiddle to Shaq? Does Dwight Howard enter the upper echelon of mega-stars with his first title? Here’s how we see the NBA Finals going down.

Andrew: I pick the Lakers in 5 games. Kobe will continue to be himself, leading the Lakers their first Championship since Shaq left. Dwight will cause some problems for Pau Gasol, but he can’t guard Gasol, Bynum, and Odom. Look for Odom to have a solid series and Ariza to continue playing well as the Lakers maintain control for the entire series and cruise to a Championship in 5 games.

Rikki: Give me the Lakers in six. Make no mistake, this will be a highly competitive series much like the past two for the Lakers. But like the past two series, the Lakers should be able to move on. This is their second go around with the new core and they should be ready this time around. My hat goes off to the Magic for the way they handled the Cavs but I don’t think they are ready quite yet for the biggest stage. Dwight should have a little more trouble against the Laker’s bigs than he did against the of Anderson Varejaos and Ben Wallaces of the world. The Lakers are too long, too deep and simply too talented to not win this year. Kobe wins finals MVP and Odom and Ariza become hot commodities as free agents this summer.

Jake: I pick the Magic in 6. I will buck the trend and be the first to pick Orlando. Turkoglu and Lewis are really coming into their own and if they continue to shoot the three phenomenally then they are ridiculously hard to beat. The possibility of Jameer Nelson returning is a big boost. Nelson and Rafer Alston together overmatch the weakest part of the LA roster in Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar. LA will not be able to defend the point guard position and Howard will give them trouble down low. One major concern I have for Orlando is the amount of big men that LA can throw at Howard and if Dwight gets in foul trouble it will spell big trouble for the Magic. Dwight will win Finals MVP and the legacy of Kobe Bryant will still be in question.

Danny: I’m gonna go head and pick the Magic and my man STAN VAN in 6 games.

Tyler: I’m picking the Lakers in 7. I went back and forth with this for a while, and I just can’t see it any other way than a 7-game series. The Magic will stay hot from behind the arc and steal one of the first two games in LA, then the Lakers will take one more back in Orlando. I expect the Magic to be up 3-2 going into the final two games in LA, but I just can’t see Kobe letting his team lose either of them, especially with all the things he has to play for. There are matchup problems for both teams – it’s going to be tough to guard against Orlando’s 3-point shooting, but the combination of Gasol, Odom and Bryant (with Ariza thrown in as a wild-card) is tough to stop if (strong emphasis on IF) they are all on their game. Throw in the inevitability that Bynum will most likely have one good game (while being a non-factor in the others) and it gives the Lakers a lot of weapons. And you can never discount Kobe – the Magic really don’t have someone who can shut him down (then again, no one really can). I think this will be a competitive and entertaining finals to watch, with tons of storylines and playmakers on both sides.

(Side note: Another reason why I ended up picking the Lakers? This article. That just reeks of bad karma waiting to come back and bite the Magic.)