Lakers Seize Momentum With Game-One Blowout

[duncan228]

Today's national stuff.

Lakers seize momentum with game-one blowout (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=afp-basketnbafinals&prov=afp&type=lgns)
by Greg Heakes

Kobe Bryant scored 40 points for the first time in 28 finals games as Los Angeles delivered an assertive blow to the Orlando Magic in game one of the NBA finals.

The challenge now is for Bryant and his Laker teammates to not get complacent for Sunday's game two at Staples Center arena.

"For what it is worth I told these guys it doesn't matter whether we win by 60 or six," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson who watched his team level the Magic 100-25 on Thursday. "It is just one win."

This is the second year in a row the Lakers are favoured to win the NBA finals. Last year they lost to the Boston Celtics.

"The last two times we have been to the finals we came up short," Bryant said after Friday's practice at Staples Center arena. "This time around we are just really locked in.

"I am focussed and ready to go."

There is plenty on the line for Bryant who is not only trying to win his first title without Shaquille O'Neal but also wants to collect his first finals MVP award.

Bryant and O'Neal were the dynamic duo for three NBA titles but each time, O'Neal took home the playoff MVP trophy.

Bryant had his playoff game face on Thursday, snarling his way to the basket as Magic defenders Mickael Pietrus and Courtney Lee appeared helpless to stop him.

"I try to do my best. But he's a legend, so what can you do," Pietrus said.

Asked what the Magic must do to stop Bryant in game two, Orlando all-star centre Dwight Howard said, "Pray that he does miss."

Howard recalled his rookie season and his first game against the Lakers when he unsuccessfully tried to contest one of Bryant's dunks.

"Don't remind me," he said after practice on Friday. "He baptized me, brought me into the NBA and back to reality with one play."

Bryant gained momentum as the Thursday's game went on, scoring six points, 12 points and 18 points in the first three quarters as the Lakers turned a 10-point halftime lead into a rout.

Bryant drove hard to the basket all night, busting through double teams and toying with Magic defenders Lee and Pietrus.

It has been a long buildup for Bryant to get to the peak of his game and now that he's here he says he doesn't want to squander another finals opportunity.

"I've been pacing myself all year waiting for these playoffs to come around. The table is set," said Bryant who had his 10th career 40-point game in the playoffs.

Jackson said Bryant's focus on winning is rubbing off on his teammates.

"He's been very quiet (in the dressing room) and focused," said Jackson, whose teams are 43-0 when they win game one of a series. "You have to stay driven and motivated and I think it's really important that he takes that leadership role for this team."

A multi-sport athlete as a child growing up in Europe, Bryant says that helped him develop into a world class athlete.

"I have always worked on my footwork," Bryant said. "I watched different players, (Hakeem) Olajuwon, Michael (Jordan), Charles (Barkley) and just all kinds of foot works and just tried to emulate them. Playing soccer I think had a lot to do with it as well.

"I mean, it is just growing up overseas."

Orlando shot just 29.9 percent in game one and appeared to have difficulty with coach Stan Van Gundy's game time decision to play guard Jameer Nelson who had missed four months following shoulder surgery.

"We obviously had a bad offensive night," Magic's Rashard Lewis said. "Shots weren't falling for nobody, especially from the perimeters."

[duncan228]

Howard, Magic not shaken by opening loss (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=txnbafinals&prov=st&type=lgns)
By Tom Withers

Back in his Clark Kent days, when he was an 18-year-old rookie, Dwight Howard was welcomed to the league by Kobe Bryant.

It wasn’t with a fist bump or handshake.

It wasn’t friendly at all.

In his first game against Howard, Bryant drove the lane and delivered a ferocious dunk that still haunts Orlando’s center five years later.

“Don’t remind me,” Howard said, playfully covering his eyes. “He baptized me, brought me into the NBA and back to reality with one play.”

On Thursday night, Bryant initiated Howard again - this time into the NBA finals.

Looking much more like The Man of Steel than Howard, Bryant scored 40 points - his most in a finals game - and the Lakers steamrolled to a 100-75 win in Game 1 over the Magic, who watched tape of the rout at their hotel before heading to Staples Center on Friday for practice.

Orlando, back in the finals for the first time since 1995, was way out of its league.

Bryant scored almost at will, punctuating each bucket by extending his lower jaw to show his lower teeth - a menacing look underscoring the self-proclaimed Black Mamba’s intensity. The Magic hurt themselves by shooting 30 percent and missing open shots, and Howard was a non-factor on offense with 12 points and only one field goal, a 7-foot hook shot in the game’s first two minutes.

Howard understands he and his teammates have to do much more in Game 2 on Sunday night.

“We just didn’t have any energy or effort,” Howard said. “We didn’t box out, all the little things. We can’t control Kobe scoring 40 points, but we can control boxing out, getting loose balls, stuff like that, and we didn’t do that. We have to come out with a better effort.”

The Magic are no strangers to adversity.

They made it to the finals despite losing All-Star guard Jameer Nelson for 42 games because of a shoulder injury, and they came from behind against Philadelphia and Boston to win previous series this postseason. Against Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals, the Magic shot their way back from impossible deficits.

They’re in another hole. It’s not deep. Not yet.

“It’s just one game,” said forward Hedo Turkoglu, who went just 3-of-11 from the floor. “It’s a long series. We’ve got a couple days to work on some things. We know how good we are, and we know what we need to do to win.”

A good place to start would be getting Howard more involved on offense.

Nothing came easy for him in Game 1. Like paparazzi swarming outside a nightclub for a magazine cover photo, the Lakers’ forwards and centers were everywhere he turned. Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom pushed him, prodded him, poked him.

Superman’s cape got torn to shreds. The league’s dunk leader couldn’t get close to the rim.

And when Howard got the ball deep in the lane, one of Los Angeles’ guards would dive down on a double team and force him to pick it up. By the time he passed out from inside to an open teammate on the perimeter, the lengthy Lakers were able to recover and contest.

“They’re going to make it tough to get Dwight rolling,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We got him the ball a lot, but they’re always coming with another guy. I thought he forced a couple plays and he made some good passes out, where we couldn’t make shots. And when you’re not making shots, then obviously the team is coming more and more and more.

“If you make some shots, you force teams to adjust and give you a little more room.”

The ever critical Van Gundy’s biggest beef was with his team’s inability to rebound. The Lakers dominated the boards 55-41, a differential Orlando’s coach chalked up to lack of effort.

“I’ll blame myself for a lot of things,” Van Gundy said. “But I don’t really have an adjustment for when the ball goes up on the rim and everybody is going after it. I can’t really X and O that. You’re either going to put a body on somebody and go get the ball or you’re not. And last night, not.”

The Lakers aren’t taking anything for granted. They may have won Game 1 without breaking a sweat, but their demeanor remained very businesslike during Friday’s workout.

Bryant, whose kids have been calling him “Grumpy” because of his sour mood of late, remained stoic during media availability. He answered questions with short, measured responses and only cracked a smile once.

Bryant didn’t remember many details about his nasty dunk of yore on Howard, and he expects Orlando to regroup in two days.

“They just had an off game,” he said. “They didn’t shoot the ball particularly well and they’ll shoot better in Game 2. We’ll face a different Magic team.”

As for that dunking moment back in 2004, Howard says he can still feel it.

“Ever since then, I’ve had the flash of him dunking and hearing the crowd,” he said. “It was like ‘Boom,’ that’s all I heard. I’ll make sure that won’t happen again.”

[duncan228]

Teeth-baring Kobe Bryant is defiant one (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-nbafinals-lakers&prov=ap&type=lgns)
By Beth Harris

Magic Johnson had his magnetic smile. Michael Jordan soared to the basket with his tongue hanging out. Kobe Bryant is baring his teeth and scowling in these NBA finals.

His young daughters don’t think much of Daddy’s attitude around the house, calling him Grumpy, as in the Seven Dwarfs. His media sessions aren’t exactly packing in the crowds, either.

Bryant makes no apologies for his no-fun demeanor.

“I just think it’s been building,” he said Friday. “I’ve been pacing myself all year waiting for these playoffs to come around. The table is set.”

Bryant and Derek Fisher, the Los Angeles Lakers’ co-captains, talked on the bench during practice while their teammates enjoyed themselves on the floor.

The Lakers exhaled a day after routing the Orlando Magic 100-75 in Game 1 of the NBA finals. Game 2 is Sunday at Staples Center.

Even their step back Friday was carefully choreographed, though.

“Today we did feel like it was important to have that space where our guys that are 20 can be 20,” Fisher said. “But when we see everybody at 10 o’clock in the morning (Saturday), that space will be closed off and we’ll be back to work preparing for Game 2.”

Much of Bryant’s laser focus is the result of the Lakers losing to Detroit and Boston in their previous finals appearances in 2004 and last year. He detests losing, and at 30, he is more conscious that winning championships is the bedrock in building the legacy of a player who wants to be among the greatest.

“I just want it so bad,” he said. “This time around we’re just really locked in.”

Coach Phil Jackson said that behind closed doors Bryant is just as quiet and focused.

“You have to stay driven and motivated, and I think it’s really important that he takes that leadership role for this team,” he said.

Bryant joined an exclusive club with 40 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in Game 1. Only Shaquille O’Neal, Jordan and Jerry West before him posted those numbers in a finals game. His points were a career-high in the finals, bettering the 36 he scored against Boston last year.

Of the 46 players scoring at least 40 points in the finals, 26 of them have played for the Lakers. West did it 10 times and O’Neal five, leaving plenty of room for Bryant to catch up.

Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy has seen Bryant’s willful side emerge before. He believes it has as much effect on the rest of the Lakers as Bryant’s offensive outburst in Game 1.

“When he’s playing as well as he did last night, there’s really no pressure on anybody else. You shoot the ball freely, you play freely because if you hit a bad stretch, you’ll just go back to him and he’ll take care of everything,” Van Gundy said. “What the great players do to make their teammates better is they take the pressure off of them.”

Bryant’s clipped responses and nearly permanent poker face emerged early this week in a sure sign that the finals were near. But his grimace and jutting jaw were new for Game 1.

“This is the first year it’s been prominent, extremely noticeable,’ Fisher said.

Not that Bryant’s facial expression compares to the famously maniacal look of Jack Nicholson, the Lakers’ No. 1 fan, in “The Shining.”

“I don’t know if anything can compare to that one,” Fisher said. “Even for me as a kid that was a pretty scary moment.”

[duncan228]

Double Bryant? Magic won’t tell (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=txnbafinalsnotebook&prov=st&type=lgns)
By Solange Reyner

The Orlando Magic couldn’t stop Kobe Bryant, who scored 40 points, his high in an NBA finals game, in a dominant Game 1 performance.

So how about putting another body on him?

That question certainly made the rounds Friday before Orlando had its practice session at Staples Center. Don’t expect the Magic to give away any strategies, though.

“We’re going to make sure we make an adjustment on everybody,” said Mickael Pietrus, who split time with rookie Courtney Lee guarding Bryant. “The thing we’re going to try to do is make sure he doesn’t move freely. Hopefully we’re going to come out hard on him.”

So is that a yes on doubling the Lakers’ star?

“I’m not going to give you my game plan. People read the news, so it’s all about team,” Pietrus said. “Sometimes you have to say stuff and sometimes you have to keep stuff for yourself. (But) we’re going to make some changes, so hopefully you guys are going to see it.”

—-=

GRUMPY AND GRUMPIER: Kobe Bryant hasn’t been smiling in the NBA finals and said even his kids call him Grumpy.

How about Lakers coach Phil Jackson?

“I call him Mr. Grumpy,” said Lakers executive vice president Jeanie Buss, also Jackson’s girlfriend. “It’s just the pain they went through from losing last season. I saw how long it took Phil to get out of that depression. Kobe was able to go right into Olympic mode, so he just focused all his energy on that. I look at this as a continuation of last season because they never let that go.”

Buss was at the unveiling of the Reading and Learning Center at the Salesian Family Youth Center in Los Angeles on Friday after the Lakers practiced. Commissioner David Stern, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lakers players Derek Fisher and Sasha Vujacic were also there to unveil the room, which included a library stocked with new books, new laptop computers, furniture and presentation equipment.

—-=

AND1 OR FINALS: Rafer Alston was a streetball star, but that doesn’t compare to playing in the NBA finals.

Alston, formerly known as “Skip to my Lou” on the famous AND1 Mixtape tour, is happy to be on this stage.

“This is the best. By far, it’s the best time in my life,” said Alston, Orlando’s starting point guard. “You have to understand the difference. In streetball the fans come to see the individual player and in the NBA they want to see their team, and that’s the biggest adjustment you have to make.”

Looks like he’s adjusted just fine.

—-=

SCRUFFY SASHA: Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic says his scruffy beard isn’t coming off until the finals are finished. He and teammate Pau Gasol are the hairiest bunch on the team, with overflowing locks and facial hair.

“I shaved a couple of times, but I said I wasn’t going to shave in the playoffs. Not until we get that,” said Vujacic, pointing to the trophy drawing on the media banners.

“I don’t think it’s superstition. The best excuse for me is that I say that I’m just lazy and I don’t want to shave but it looks really good for me. It makes me look older because I really have a babyface.”

And Gasol’s looks?

Well, “I think he looks better like that,” Vujacic said.

—-=

DISNEY DUDS: In this Disneyland vs. Disney World NBA finals, Mickey Mouse likes both teams.

The NBA and Disney Consumer Products unveiled a pair of T-shirts Friday, each with the famous character showing support of his neighboring team.

He’s dressed in Magic blue and white in one of them, standing above “The Finals 2009” logo. He’s joined by some friends in the Lakers version of the shirt, where he’s wearing Kobe Bryant’s No. 24 jersey and spinning a basketball on his finger. Disney characters Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck are also on that shirt.

Disneyland is in nearby Anaheim, while Disney World is located in Orlando. The presidents of the resorts already weighed in with a friendly wager.

The shirts are available at both team’s arenas and Web sites, both resorts, and nbastore.com.

[duncan228]

Haven't seen the Magic one yet.


DISNEY DUDS

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x282/duncan228/temp/disneylakers.gif

[Allanon]

Haven't seen the Magic one yet.



http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x282/duncan228/temp/disneylakers.gif

Hahahah, that's pretty cool, I wouldn't get caught wearing one but it's cool.

[Ghazi]

21_Blessings takes offense to your signature ALLANON

[duncan228]

Magic hope to prevent another disappearing act (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=afp-basketnbafinalsmagic&prov=afp&type=lgns)
by Greg Heakes

Stan Van Gundy and Dwight Howard think they know what can cure the ailing Orlando Magic.

Orlando was outplayed in every category in a 100-75 blowout loss to Los Angeles in the opening game of the 2009 NBA finals and now it is back to the drawing board for Sunday's game two at the Staples Centre arena.

"Their size bothered us last night," Magic coach Van Gundy said after practice on Friday. "They deflected a lot of passes and we threw a lot of passes off target.

"They contested shots at the rim. I think we showed our guys film today and when we got by their first line of defence on several occasions and drove the ball we ended up taking very difficult shots against their size in situations where we probably should have made an extra pass."

The Magic shot just 29.9 percent from the field in game one, marking the lowest shooting game in the NBA finals since San Antonio shot 28.9 percent against the Nets in June 2003.

Orlando's giant centre Howard said they came out flat. Howard, Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu shot a combined six-for-27 from the field.

"Our effort and energy wasn't there," said Howard. "We know how to play basketball. It doesn't matter who is playing against us.

"We can do a lot of different things."

Howard said the Lakers did a good job of preventing him from getting to the basket. Like a good team leader, Howard was willing to take the blame for the loss.

"I should have passed it out to my teammates for shots," he said. "They really clogged the paint up. They made it tough for me to really try to get into my moves.

"But it is only one game. I'm not really concerned about the offensive end. That stuff will come."

Orlando appeared to have difficulty with Van Gundy's game time decision to play guard Jameer Nelson who had missed four months following shoulder surgery.

Van Gundy said Friday that if he could go back in time he wouldn't have played Nelson as much as he did.

In his first game back since missing the second half of the regular season, Nelson played 23 minutes, scoring just six points.

"I had Jameer out there too long a stretch in the second quarter," Van Gundy said. "I thought he played really well early in the second quarter and so I continued to go with him.

"First game back in four months it was too long."

Van Gundy expects a different Magic team to show up on Sunday.

"The effort we made on rebounding part of things was embarrassing," he said.

"I will blame myself for a lot of things but I don't really have an adjustment for when the ball goes up on the rim and everybody is going after it. I can't really X and O that.

"You are either going to put a body on somebody and get the ball or you are not. And last night, not.

"There are some game plan things and adjustments we need to make."

[KSeal]

Articles up the azzz.

[Armando]

Is just 1 Game people! For all we know the Lakers can pull a 2006. Lets just wait and see before we crown the Lakers.