The Lakers are winning their series against the Hornets 3-2. It's following a known pattern as the Lakers first lost home court and then seized it back. Then the home teams have won 2 "must-win" games. CP3 was awesome in game 4. This playoff series has been a comeback tour for CP3. The last couple of years, he has taken a step back for some unexplainable reason - both him and the Hornets after looking like the team of the future in 2008 when they extended the Spurs to 7 games. He was not super-dominant through the regular season either and the season of course started with him demanding a trade. He should have been the consistent league leader in assists the last couple of seasons, taking over from MP3 Steve Nash, but Nash is still the top dime-dropper. Paul is a distant 4-Th. But this playoffs have given him the stage to excel and boy did he do that in game 4! Of course the series came back to LA and Kobe dropped a couple of rim-rattling dunks. Now the Hornets may win game 6 and lose in 7 or I would not be surprised if the Lakers finish things off in 6 as well. Thats typically how the NBA cookie crumbles.
There has been a couple of odd cookies in this playoffs so far as well. While I expected the Celts to win, the sweep was surprising even with the Knicks injuries. Of course the Bulls win should have surprised nobody. The Heat and the Thunder are doing good as well while the Mavs and the Blazers are involved in a street fight. The odd-ball surprise is the continued trouble the Spurs are in against the upstart Grizzlies. While the Spurs have been fading fast late in the season, home cooking during the playoffs is supposed to cure a lot of ills. But it seems like they are going to suffer the ignominy of losing to the 8-Th seed in the first round. Those upsets are few and far between and the Spurs are the last team I would expect to suffer through that. They still have 2 home games, but they have to win all 3 games to avoid the upset. Looks like Zach Randolph is going to have the last laugh and may be come up with a Dikembe Mutombo type moment after the upset. Or may be he may just light up a joint right there on the court after the win!
The other upset could be the Hawks over the Magic. This is another series where the real winners might actually be the LA Lakers! In the rich get richer World that the Lakers typically live in, there is already rampant speculation that Dwight Howard will bolt the Magic and end up with the Lakers. That would be the perfect, late-career side-kick for Kobe and possibly a great future focal point for the Lakers once Kobe fades away, though I am still not entirely sold on Howard. A defeat in this series will only push Dwight Howard away from the Magic in a hurry, if not towards the Lakers. Of course, my favorite coach Stan Van Gundy will probably lose his job too, but Howard is clearly the bigger piece here. The Hawks are honestly going nowhere, but they may take the Magic down with them. The Magic fans would be really disappointed if they lose Howard to the Lakers after losing Shaq to them many moons ago. But thats exactly how the media is drawing this up. Not sure if the Lakers want him that bad or if thats what Dwight Howard is dreaming about, but the media is actively brokering this marriage. And a first round playoff exit for the Magic will be the perfect engagement gift.
No comments:
Post a Comment