The focus of the entire series and the NBA championship for the Lakers must be on game one. Should we make it to game one in our thinking, we must further focus down to the first quarter of game 1–and the Lakers need to be ahead.

Orlando tends to start a game with emphasis on the inside game, mixing in more and more three point shooting as the game goes on. They are surging forward the most by the fourth quarter. They can come back down 20 points–as we’ve seen against the Cavs.

When the Lakers fail to score, Orlando has opportunities for unguarded 3 point plays and Howard may be able to beat his defender down court and set up deep. This can build on itself, and Orlando can score in cycles.

When Orlando fails to score, especially from 3 point attempts, they are vulnerable to scoring bursts against them.

Scoring runs are to be expected both ways. The Lakers obviously need to find ways to minimize such runs by scoring themselves. Executing the triangle and not falling into the three point shot mentality is critical for the Lakers.

Winning this first game is key. We really don’t need to talk about anything else.

I kind of miss Walton and Jones. They’re entertaining in their hyperbolic/deflating way (“_____ is absolutely magnificient, what can _____ do? what CAN they do?” Bill, they’re up by 5!)

Burke has a tendency to be overly verbose (similar to Doug Collins), but her commentary is miles more insightful than many of the guys who normally occupy the booth. She’s probably the only sideline reporter who doesn’t make me cringe during those annoying end-of-quarter interviews.

Any game that Hubie calls is a game I’ll watch – he’s the best color in the game. I enjoyed Doris on color as well most of the few games I saw her – unfortunately it looks like most of the audience aren’t really up for a woman analyst. She is by far the best sideline reporter of course, but I think she’s sold a bit short there. Though I think the fact that Phil gives fairly straight answers to her questions shows that she has respect.

Great analysis from Kwame and Darius in the OP. My feeling is that most of the Laker nation are overrating Drew’s ability to guard Howard and underrating his offense which has picked up substantially. I like the idea of staying home on the shooters but it may not be possible all the time. And both Kobe and LO can be ill disciplined on the defensive end. I think the key factor is Howard’s mind set – he is still young and often makes poor decisions when he gets the ball in the post. The lakers could force some issues here if he gets some pressure on a late double after he has started his dribble. I am also OK to live or die with Alston shooting jump shots. Maybe Fish can sneak in to draw some charges on Howard’s roll to the hoop sometimes? DH’s body control could be a key factor.

- Nelsons health (He was a huge reason the Magic won those games)
- No Shannon
- No Farmar

And this is all at the pg position.
Not to mention the lakers were slumping going into the 2nd game of a back to back.

This has been said many times but I believe to be true. The lakers have won all their “must-win” games. They didnt respect the magic the way they did cleveland and boston but they wont overlook them now. That being said the magic do give the lakers legitimate mismatch problems but I dont think they can exploit them well enough to win 4 games

I just hope both teams show up as if they do, this will be a terrific series!

The Lakers have broken big streaks all season– this would be a nice one for them to break as well…

(That said, other than the possible absence of Nelson and the emergence of Ariza and Brown, I’m grasping for reasons why the Lakers are fundamentally better than they were the first time around… I must add that it’s hard for me to forget last year’s horror when we were manhandled by Bos in the regular season, then were heavy favorites in the playoffs, only to….)

18 1/2 hours to go!