Adjustments

Stan Van Gundy made the proper adjustments to keep the Orlando Magic season alive. Lack of penetration from the guards, and defense killed the magic in the first 3 games. Jameer Nelson was getting to the basket with ease in game 4, which finally opened the lane for Dwight Howard to get a few easy baskets. Orlando is not going to win by just throwing the ball into Howard and having him make moves with his back to the basket. He is more affective when he can get some offensive rebounds and easy baskets from other players making moves to the hoop instead of settling for jumpshots. I hope the Magic can make this into a series, because as much as I love the NBA, this years playoffs have been quite uneventfull. Whats going on with Rachard Lewis and Vince Carter?? If they decide to join the game at some point, then maybe the Magic could be the first team to come back from a 3-0 deficit!

The X-Factor

Ever since Lamar Odom became a Laker, he has been considered that player that if he plays well, its hard for the Lakers to lose. When you have a guy coming off the bench that could arguably start on any other roster in the league, I'd say your team is pretty darn good. 6"9 with the game of a point guard from NYC, Lamar is an extremely difficult match-up for almost any team. Proven in game one of the western conference finals, Lamar came off the bench hitting shots and grabbing rebounds all over the court, finishing with 19 points and 19 rebounds. I mean as if Kobe dropping 40 on you wasn't enough, you finally see the Lakers bench stepping their games up. Was it mainly due to the much needed 6 day layoff? I guess we will see when they suit up for game 2 on Wednesday night....Expect to see the Suns give a better effort, but the size and strengh of the Lakers just may be too much to handle.

Rondo

Rajon Rondo has emerged as one of the elite players in the NBA. That's right, I said "Players", not just point guards. When the Celtics made their championship run 2 years ago the talk was all about "the big 3" Allen, Pierce, and Garnett. There were even talks of getting rid of Rondo for a veteran point guard. Well aren't the Celtics glad they didn't act on that intuition. Never would I ever of thought that in a series that featured Lebron James, that I would possibly say that Rondo has outshined the King himself. The Cavs have basically made Rondo look virtually unstoppable through 4 games, and if someone doesn't step up and guard him, the Cavs could be in serious trouble. Rondo is averaging an astonishing 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 13 assists per game this series. OK maybe I went to far by saying one of the best "players" in the NBA, but put into the right situation, he has definitely stepped his game up, and the C's could have been the 4th team to be swept in the second round if it wasn't for Rondo. I'll sign off by saying....is it me or does it seem as though Mo Williams never shows up in the Playoffs....Lets hope the C's win and James gets so frustrated he goes to New York!

Flopping

The fact that people actually flop in the NBA kills me. Derek Fisher is the number 1 culprit...I'm here watching the Lakers game and I just can't take it. It kills me to watch a grown man playing in the greatest game, fake an act to get a call! Damn...In my mind there needs to be something done so this stops. It takes away from the credibility of the game. The refs do there best job to make the right call, but when someone is intentionally flopping to make it seem as though there was a foul, I have a problem with that. T them up....Start giving a technical for flopping. For those of you that do not know what flopping is, it is acting as if you were fouled when you actually were not, to get a call against your opponent.....Derek Fisher......the worst...thats all I have to say......