2009 NBA Finals: The (t5!) Cap Off

So we didn't get Lebron vs. Kobe in 2009. Shucks.

I know I strongly guaranteed it in the beginning of the playoffs. Nike even jumped the gun on purpose with puppet commercials. But could you blame us? The way the season was progressing, it just seemed like all the stars were aligned for a King James-Black Mamba duel. That's why, after an NBA playoffs where a handful of interesting storylines transpired (Boston-Chicago insta-classic series and Carmelo Anthony's rise to prominence, to name a couple), a Lakers-Magic Finals seemed anti-climactic.

To be fair to Magic fans reading (t5!), Orlando really is the Eastern conference's best representative. But it worked out that the NBA in 2009 consisted of teams that are flawed, and there are two or three teams that can magnify each team's flaws. I blame the recession. I know it seems like a convenient go-to scapegoat, but no one wanted to roll a dice with a contract during trade deadline and, thus, only one trade was executed with an objective to obtain players that can immediately help the teams who are about to make a playoff run. The team involved? Orlando, bringing in veteran Rafer Alston to take over point guard duties while Jameer Nelson was injured with a shoulder. Fortunately for Orlando, they were paired against teams with flaws they can exploit. Orlando was lucky that they were a matchup problem for a Cleveland team that featured slow bigs that can't guard the perimeter. Orlando was lucky that Boston lost Kevin Garnett to a knee because if healthy, he would've destroyed them.

Orlando was unlucky though that the Lakers match up beautifully with them. Rashard Lewis was a punishing puzzle for Cleveland coach Mike Brown to solve; however, it's a puzzle that Lakers coach, Phil Jackson can handle without difficulty, mainly due to Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol's quickness and ability to close out the three point shot. Dwight Howard was perplexed by Jackson's double-teaming tactic and defensive rotation; Brown's playbook didn't include a double-teaming tactic or a defensive rotation. If Orlando faced Denver in the finals, Kenyon Martin would've been baffled by the Magic's small lineup. Orlando was unlucky enough that the Nuggets didn't win that Western conference finals series and the Lakers did.

However, even if lady luck was constantly donning purple and gold, they didn't help their cause much with their inexperienced play. I don't want to diminish the Lakers' efforts, but Orlando lost the championship more than the Lakers won it, if that made sense at all. I know hindsight is always 20-20 but let's say rookie Courtney Lee converted that last second alley-oop play in Game 2, we would've had a a 1-1 tie heading into Orlando's home court. They won Game 3 so it would've been 2-1. And if they won Game 4--that Stan Van Gundy anti-coaching clinic where he constantly had the wrong guys in, where he didn't instruct his players to foul the Lakers to make them shoot two free throws while they were up three with seconds to go, and so on, and so forth--they would've been up 3-1. If they didn't choke in Game 4, their spirits wouldn't have been shooked heading into Game 5. Incorporate that with the Magic's inability to make clutch free throws and Dwight Howard's lack of offense, and you're probably a frustrated Orlando fan after watching the last five games of the NBA season.

Again, I don't want to diminish the Lakers' accomplishments because plenty stepped up. Give credit to Lamar Odom who accepted abbreviated playing team on a contract year, only a handful of NBA players would've done that nowadays. Give credit to Derek Fisher who had the cojones to knock down two clutch 3's in Game 4. Give credit to Trevor Ariza who knocked down 47.4% of his 3's in the playoffs, not bad for someone that you're supposed to leave open if you're the other team. Give credit to Pau Gasol who should've won the Finals MVP. No one in Orlando can handle his eclectic collection of post moves. Also, for someone who's labeled soft a year ago, he sure was a kryptonite to superman Howard in this series. Give credit to Phil Jackson. Van Gundy was so outmatched, he was more bewildered than Heidi during an Al Roker interview in the Today Show. One can argue that he is lucky enough to be able to hitch his wagon to superduperstars (Michael Jordan to get his first six, Shaq and Kobe to get the next three) but he earned this record-breaking tenth championship.

Oh yeah, and there's this Kobe dude, the MVP of the 2009 Finals, the most polarizing player in the history of the NBA. We were forcefed myths about how Kobe has changed, how Kobe figured out how to use his teammates to win. None of it is true. He's still a horrible teammate, he still takes way too many shots, he still guns for individual merits. In the last two series, Gasol, their second best player only took 120 shots in 11 games. You can sift through all-star bigs in the league, especially as offensively gifted as Gasol, and you wouldn't find one that would be happy to only take 11 shots a game. You can even say that the Lakers won this despite of Kobe.

But of course, the Lakers wouldn't have gotten this far without him. He's an irrefutable professional. He plays with the same intensity whether he's playing Orlando in the Finals or he's playing Sacramento in mid-January. In case you've missed it, Kobe played in the Finals last year as well. In case you've missed it, he didn't have a summer break because he was busy piggybacking the Redeem Team to a gold medal. In case you've missed it, he didn't miss a single game this season. In case you've missed it, Game 5 of the NBA Finals was his 208th game in a row in 20 months. That's simply phenomenal. With this ring, his first one without Shaq, he moved himself up in the "NBA best player evar" list (top ten for sure, arguably fifth behind MJ, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Bill Russell). Surrounded by his employees...erm..teammates while being presented the Finals MVP trophy, it looks as if there's no denying his greatness anymore. And you can guarantee that he knows it.

As for Kobe vs. Lebron, I'm not as brave to guarantee it next year. Boston will get KG back, albeit with more mileage. Carmelo knows now that he belongs in the upper echelons. This Orlando team will be a year older, a year wiser. Chicago, Portland, Miami, New Orleans, Houston, Atlanta will all be better next year. So getting to the pinnacle will obviously be a daunting task. The Cavs will need to sign a scoring big during the offseason and Kobe's cronies needs to be inspired once again for a repeat. But if Lakers vs. Cavaliers do happen, it'll be one hell of a showdown.