GAME 1: And that's why you want home court in the finals.

Enter LA's 100-75 dismantling of the Magic as exhibit #1. Reason why home court in the NBA finals is so critical, particularly with Phil Jackson who is 43-0 when winning the first game of any playoff series. Imagine this game in Boston, Cleveland or Orlando. Could any of those teams shoot that poorly at home? Play such pathetic defense? Show such a lack of energy?

Noteable pregame observations:

When asked what he would bring to game 1, Magic center Dwight Howard said, "I just want to have fun." No offense Dwight, but fans have fun. They drops a few gers on tickets and beers and enjoy all Laker girl sets. Players play. Players bring it. Players have fun from winning, not losing.

Why was Jeff VanGundy announcing this series? His BROTHER coaches the Magic, and Stan, prior to the game noted, "I hope the best for my brother." So much for objectivity in reporting. Notice Jeff will not question his brother's substitution patterns, his reactionary approach to coaching, his decision to bench his starting point guard for a guy that has not played since February and the fact that Dwight Howard only took 6 shots. And that was the story of the game. How the hell do you effectively bench the starting point guard of your team after he is instrumental in beating the Celtics and Cavs? It's unreal.

Game observations:
Lakers shot only 46%, Kobe missed more shots than he made. In reviewing these figures I was somewhat surprised. But while the stats were revealing, that fact remains that the Lakers made baskets when they meant the most. Consider, the Lakers start the 3rd with 2 straight scores. During the 3rd the Lakers pushed the lead to deflate the Magic.

The Magic made only 23 field goals, 8 of which were 3's, with the Lakers OWNING the paint 56-22. Just one of those 22 came from Howard - a 6 foot hook at the end of the first quarter.

The Lakers owned the boards 55-41. Of course you would expect to see this when the opponent is shooting so poorly. But remember the Magic shoot poorly from 20-23 feet out - meaning longer rebounds. The length of the Lakers is a huge problem for the Magic. While Howard presents a major mismatch against any Laker, the combination of a Bryant and any one of the front liners not guarder by Howard is huge and might mean more minutes for that Euro dude. Rashard Lewis, when asked to guard either Odom or Gasol will inevitable use more energy on the defensive end than he would like. The Magic are clearly undersized.

Ref grade: C: Which is actually quite good for any Crawford-led crew. Orlando held the free throw advantage by 11, despite the fact that the Lakers took the ball to the paint far more than the Magic (see 56-22). Remember last year when the Celtics claimed to be the aggressor thereby explaining the HUGE free throw discrepancy (particularly in game 2 - 38-11)??? Well I guess that now means nothing.

Laker execution: B+. Hard to grade given the Lakers strayed from the triangle given the coverage on Bryant. But the fundamentals (ie boxing out, spacing, defensive schemes went well).

The defensive approach to Howard was interesting. They threw different looks at him - a partial double from the strong side guard, and sometimes a full double from the strong side 2-3. The approach seems designed to make Howard make decisions....ie do I take this to the basket, or will the double come over? Or is the partial double enough to open up a shooter? In addition, the partial is typically coming when Howard plays with his back to the basket. When facing, a position he would prefer, a full double is much quicker. Fun stuff to watch. In game 2 I can see Van Gundy running the feeder through the lane, forcing the LA guard (likely Fisher) to make a decision - follow his man (ie Nelson or Alston) or sticking on Howard. In the Shaq days, Phil ran this play constantly-forcing the defense to make that hard decision.

However should this occur the guard would run to the corner spot, pushing Lewis out of his preferred shooters spot. By the way, Lewis from the corner is about as automatic as it comes.

Can't wait until Sunday!!!