LAKERS ROUT MAGIC TO CLAIM 15TH NBA CHAMPIONSHIP IN FRANCHISE HISTORY

Dwight Howard boldly proclaimed before the start of the NBA Finals that no less than the Almighty himself would assure an Orlando Magic title victory.  While matters of theology are well beyond the purview of this article, Howard could now be forgiven for thinking that God must be clad in purple and gold.  The Los Angeles Lakers thumped Howard’s Magic in game five of the NBA Finals 99-86 to take the series 4-1 and win the 15^th league championship in the franchise’s storied history.  It was the Lakers’ first title victory in seven years, and served as validation that Kobe Bryant could win a crown without Shaquille O’Neal.

The Lakers also cashed sports bettors’ tickets, winning outright as a +3’ road dog.  Los Angeles ended the season on an ATS tear, winning seven of their last nine against the number.  The Magic failed to cover for the fifth time in seven games after running off seven straight pointspread covers during the Boston and Cleveland series.  Despite the downward adjusted total of 198’, the combined 185 score still went UNDER by a sizable margin.  For the playoffs as a whole, the Lakers demonstrated a strong UNDER bias with 16 of their 23 games failing to exceed the posted total.

Kobe Bryant was named series MVP and demonstrated that form in game five, leading all scorers with 30 points.  Reserve Lamar Odom posted a ‘double/double’ with 17 points and 10 boards, while Trevor Ariza added 15. Pau Gasol was once again an integral part of the Lakers’ victory with another ‘double/double’ consisting of 14 points and 15 rebounds.  Derek Fisher rounded out the Lakers’ double digit scorers with 13 points.  Orlando was paced by 18 points and 10 boards from Rashard Lewis, while Hedo Turkoglu, Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee each added 12 points.  Self proclaimed ‘Superman’ Dwight Howard was held in check, though did manage a ‘double/double’ with 11 points and 10 rebounds.  Los Angeles again suffocated the Magic with their defensive intensity, holding the Magic to 41.5% shooting from the field to improve upon a 41.9% effort in game four.

After the game, Kobe talked about the relief in finally winning a title without Shaq:

"It was like Chinese water torture. I would cringe every time. I was just like, it's a challenge I'm just going to have to accept because there's no way I'm going to argue it. You can say it until you're blue in the face and rationalize it until you're blue in the face, but it's not going anywhere until you do something about it. I think we as a team answered the call because they understood the challenge that I had, and we all embraced it."

"It finally felt like a big old monkey was off my back.  It felt so good to be able to have this moment. For this moment to be here and to reflect back on the season and everything that you've been through, it's top of the list, man."

Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson passed Celtics’ great Red Auerbach with his 10^th NBA championship.  He praised Kobe’s ever improving skills as a team leader in his postgame comments:

"He's learned how to become a leader in a way in which people want to follow him. That's really important for him to have learned that because he knew that he had to give to get back in return, and so he's become a giver rather than just a guy that's a demanding leader. That's been great for him and great to watch."

Jackson’s 10 NBA titles as a coach and Auerbach’s 9 are both well ahead of the pack—Pat Riley and John Kundla have 5 titles apiece (with the exception of 1 that Riley won in Miami, all with the Lakers).  Aside from Jackson, the active coach with the most titles is San Antonio’s Greg Popovich with no one else—active or retired—having more than 2.