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Orlando Magic 75, Los Angeles Lakers 100

In the granddaddy series in basketball history, the NBA Finals has been giving basketball junkies all around the world with action so intense and rivalries have been built through the Finals. Jordan-Magic? Well, check. Lakers-Celtics? Check as well. The NBA Finals has simply delivered each and every time.

Game 1 is no exception as the Lakers trounced the Magic in the Staples Center with the score of 75-100. The key for me would be Kobe Bryant coming out with a mission and that is to get one step closer in getting that 4th title that has eluded him.

With the Staples Center having Jack Nicholson, Kanye West, and Leonardo DiCaprio around, Kobe Bryant did not get outdone in the battle of glitz and glamour as he scored 40 points, 18 in the 3rd quarter alone.

The Orlando Magic are a shooting team that live and die by the three. I still think that even though they have Dwight Howard manning the middle, they simply shoot more from the perimeter and get more points from the outside rather than the inside.

Collectively, the Magic shot 30% from the field. That won’t do it against a very efficient Laker team which attacks from every angle possible. From the three point land meanwhile, shooting 8 out of 23 won’t do it either. Rafer Alston again shot up some heat check threes though he was not that hot in the first place.

Amidst all the speculations before this game about Jameer Nelson, he did play. But still, he missed some jump shots that he usually makes but still, I laud the guy for being gutsy and fearless in almost 24 minutes of action.

Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu absolutely must step up. Rashard Lewis, it is not about waiting for the game to come to you. Initiate the action. Your frame should have been good enough to drive and let the Laker defense collapse but I guess it just was not meant to happen.

Move the ball. Get it to Dwight Howard if I am Stan Van Gundy. The Man Child has called for you to get the ball to him and give it. He got Andrew Bynum into foul trouble and that speaks volumes in itself. Why? Pau Gasol might just not really be able to defend Dwight without superb help defense.

Superb help defense. This is where the Lakers succeeded in this one. The Lakers limited Dwight to 12 points and 15 rebounds. Yes, 12 points while shooting 1 out of 6 from the field. The length of the Laker front court was outstanding in defending Dwight and gave Dwight a hard time by coming in all angles. At one point, it would be the tandem of Odom and Gasol. If not that, Bynum and Gasol.

Great close outs were done by the Lakers in defending the threes of the Magic. They were committed on this one. Perhaps trying to erase from the fans’ memories those collapses against the Rockets, they were hustling out there just to contest every three point bomb hurled by the Magic. Simply outstanding effort.

Do not forget the fact that the Lakers had a week layoff prior to this one. The coaching staff did a phenomenal job in getting the Lakers into playing a game with great rhythm.

The star of this one would be the Black Mamba though. Describing the questions about winning a title finally without Shaq as nonsense, he simply was in the zone. He tormented Courtney Lee in every possession possible. He made the Magic front court look silly with his array of moves.

Forget about Orlando winning two games against the Lakers during the season. This is a different ball game now and the only thing that the Magic can take as a positive was that Jameer Nelson got some playing time. This can help him get his rhythm back and eventually find himself back into great basketball shape.

And if I am Orlando, I have to make sure that Kobe does not get enough space in shooting his pull-up jumpers. You made the guy work but he simply was better. And yes, make the offense move.

In the end, the Lakers after suffering a devastating defeat to the Men in Green last playoffs, made sure that they are a step closer to redemption and oh boy, they made sure that the critics can shut up for at least two days.