Lakers will be NBA champ in 6 games

By Al S. Mendoza

AS I WRITE this, Game 1 (Friday, June 5) of the 2009 NBA Finals has yet to begin.

The Los Angeles Lakers, the Western Conference champions, and Orlando Magic, the Eastern Conference titlists, are supposed to be playing Game 2 today, Sunday.

Who will it be this year?

There are seven games in the NBA Finals, with the team winning four games clinching the championship.

Did the Lakers win Game 1, as many had predicted?

If so, who will it be in today’s Game 2?

Both the Lakers and Magic are great teams.

The Lakers boast of Kobe Bryant, the MVP last year.

The Magic have Dwight Howard, called the NBA’s Superman for his high-flying antics.

Bryant can shoot from all angles, from both near and far. He can dunk and drive, lay up and reverse shots with ease.

Howard makes a living tipping-in missed shots. And if his tenacity off both boards is his forte, his ability to shoot at point-blank range is the envy of many.

But then, basketball isn’t a one-man game.

Unlike boxing, where it’s basically one-on-one, basketball is still absolutely a team game.

Manny Pacquiao can knock out a foe with a single punch.

But in basketball, teamwork is needed to put away a rival.

Kobe Bryant just can’t win it all by himself. He needs allies to succeed like the Americans needed the Allied Forces to defeat Hitler in WW II.

Same with Howard. He might be the NBA’s version of Superman but, hey, this is reality, not fantasy.

Even if Orlando is known as the NBA’s certified Magic, Howard needs all the help from his teammates to pull off tricks from his sleeves.

The Lakers are definitely the favorites simply because of Bryant, just about the most talented player today in the NBA.

With Pau Gasol, Trevor Ariza, Chris Bynum, Luke Walton, Vujacic, Fisher, Farmar and Lamar Odom giving Bryant all the help he needs, the Lakers are, on paper, a cinch to clinch the crown in their 30th NBA Finals since the league was born in 1947.

To stop Bryant is to stop the Lakers and, if we go by history, the Magic are known for that.

They stopped the Cleveland Express in LeBron James, this year’s NBA MVP, in Game 6 of the Cavaliers-Magic Eastern Conference finals and the Cavs chugged-chugged to a halt.

Firing 37 points in Game 5 for the Cavs’ victory over the Magic, LeBron James was limited to only 25 in Game 6, paving the way for Orlando’s title-clinching victory and a ticket to the NBA Finals for only the first time since 1995.

Howard the Superman was the undisputed hero in the Magic’s Game 6 triumph, firing 40 points in Orlando’s 103-90 victory.

But against the Lakers, Howard will find himself in trouble parrying the defenses of the likes of GOB (Gasol, Odom and Bynum).

As we go to Game 2 today, Sunday, we could have already an inkling of what the NBA Finals is headed to after the Game 1 result last Friday.

But to me, my fearless forecast would be Lakers in 6 games.

If the series goes seven, it’d be a toss-up.

If the Lakers lose, beer’s on me.

Your choice, Raffy Baraan: Inn Asia or Star Plaza, fine with me.

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