Basketball Daily

The Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets are now in the books.  Denver who surprised analysts and fans alike really gave L.A. a fight to the end.  What was most surprising is that Denver got blown out at home to send them packing, where finally the Lakers played with the dominance and determination we had come to expect from them.  The Lakers win the series on the road in 6 games.

The Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic ended with the Magic’s center Dwight Howard putting on a clinic down low with 40 points.  To most this was a considered an upset because of Cleveland having the best record in the NBA, but those who follow the game had a strong feeling that Orlando was a better team and the Cavaliers could not match up with Orlando’s forwards.  The Magic win the series at home in 6 games.

The stage is set for a thrilling and exciting NBA Championship Finals with the two superstars on the opposing teams of Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard.  The series is in the 2-3-2 format with the home team Lakers having the advantage.  The series begins on Thursday, June 4th, with all games being nationally televised on ABC.

The New York Knicks having nothing to lose faced off against the Orlando Magic and wiped off the laughter and smiles at the beginning of the game by the Magic ballclub.  NY came out fighting and took it to the number three seed by playing great defense and stopping the onslaught of 3’s Orlando usually makes.  The final score was 105-95.  Although nothing huge was expected out of the Knicks this year, they are starting to gel, but they need a few more pieces next year to improve.

The leading scorers for the Knicks were Al Harrington with 27 points, Wilson Chandler with 22 points and David Lee with 20 points.  The Slam Dunk Champion, Nate Robinson was the high man off the bench with 10 points on 4 for 6 field goal shooting.  The team as a whole shot 44% and only committed 9 turnovers on the night.  New York’s season long record now improves to 31 wins and 49 losses.

Tiger Woods, one of the best golfers ever, appeared court-side in Florida when the Cleveland Cavaliers faced off against the Orlando Magic.  All I can say is WOW, the Magic completely demolished the Cavaliers like no one before.  At one time in the fourth quarter, Orlando was up by more than 40 points.  The Magic have really buckled down on defense and their carefree style offense is refreshing to see.  This is only the second time of the year that the Cavs have lost 2 straight games.  The final score ended at 116-87.

The three leading scorers for the Magic were Rashard Lewis with 22 points, Dwight Howard with 20 points and Hedu Turkoglu with 13 points.  All of starters ended up having double figures in points.  The high scorers off the bench was shared between Anthony Johnson and Tony Battie who both had 10 points each.  Orlando is now tied for second place in the Eastern Conference with the Boston Celtics.  It looks like it will be a fight to the end to see who can maintain that position.