Inquiring Minds Want To Know: The Finals
June 3, 2009 by Ryan Pravato
Filed under Basketball
Who will guard Kobe?
Rookie Courtney Lee will likely get his shot at the Black Mamba in the beginning, provided Lee is in the starting lineup. Otherwise, when Mickael Pietrus is in the game, he will no doubt be regarded as the ‘Kobe Stopper’. How well he can stop Kobe is debatable, but my guess is Pietrus will do a better job than Ruben Patterson ever did.
Wouldn’t surprise me to see Hedo Turkoglu or J.J. Redick get some cracks at Kobe here and there, but it probably won’t end well for them.
Can Andrew Bynum step up his game against Superman?
If Bynum can, it could very well be a short series. An aggressive and interested Bynum could spell foul trouble for Dwight, and we all know while backup center Marcin Gortat can be decent in spurts, the Magic don’t have a prayer in the series unless Dwight is playing darn near 40-42 minutes a game.
LA’s offensive game plan?
Drive the ball to the hoop as much as possible. Instead of settling for jumpshots, post Pau and Andrew. Make Rashard and Dwight work on the defensive end. Get them out of the game and the Laker’s chances drastically improve.

Dwight wants some payback (Image: readmoretalkless.wordpress)
Orlando’s offensive game plan?
Besides shooting the three unconsciously? Force feed Dwight, keep him involved. If he gets doubled, that all the better because Turk, Lewis, Alston, Pietrus, Lee, and maybe Redick will be open to knock down their shots. The Magic must be cognizant of the abilities of Pietrus and Lewis to create on their own. Settling down the offense and running some isolations or post up sets for these two could prove to be a more dynamic and wiser attact than just the perimeter shot. But this is the Orlando Magic I’m talking about, so the three ball might be just fine.
Oh, I almost forgot: get outta the way of Hedo in the fourth.
Who has the best closer?
Might not be as simple of an answer as you think.
Especially if Turk gets his proper pizza fix before the game.
Wildcards
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Lamar Odom
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Shannon Brown/ SashaVujacic/ Jordan Farmar
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Jameer Nelson (Is a rusty Jameer Nelson better than a healthy Anthony Johnson?)
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J.J. Redick, will he play, and if he does, can he find his stroke?














