More action from the NBA off-season

There have been some more big name movements in the NBA over the last few days. I mentioned it in my post last week and it was confirmed yesterday the Boston Celtics got their man signing Rasheed Wallace to a two-year deal. Talk is now wondering whether he will start or come off the bench and which 'Sheed will indeed turn up this season.

One of the top free-agents this summer has been Hedo Turkoglu (pictured right) from the Orlando Magic. Rumour had him going to Portland which I don't think would have been great for him or them but thankfully at the last minute he instead signed with the Toronto Raptors. The deal is reportedly for 5 years around $56 - 60 million and goes to show you what well-timed form can do for you. Having big expectations for Hedo this season I drafted in the early rounds of my fantasy league and he under-performed for much of the year. In the play-offs he had some great games, hit a few clutch shots and hello pay-day!!

All hail the champs!

Yesterday the LA Lakers won the NBA title defeating the Orlando Magic 99 - 86.

Full credit to the Lakers for doing what needed to be done to win the Championship Series. Orlando had their chances losing two overtime games but they just weren't good enough.

Some of the numbers from game 5:

Lakers

Kobe Bryant 30 points, 6 boards, 5 assists, 4 blocks, 8 of 8 from the free-throw line
Lamar Odom 17 points, 10 boards, 3 of 3 from downtown (off the bench)
Pau Gasol 14 points, 15 boards, 4 blocks

Magic

Rashard Lewis 18 points, 10 boards, 4 assists (just 6 of 19 from the field)
Dwight Howard 11 points, 10 boards, 3 blocks

I'm heading home shortly in time to catch the second half on OneHD. I'll give a more complete wrap of my thought on the Lakers' title win tomorrow.

In the meantime, if you haven't seen the highlights yet:

Orlando Magic ... home cooking

There's nothing like playing at home!

After stinking up game 1, narrowly losing in overtime in game 2, the Orlando Magic had to be looking forward to playing at home in game 3. Sleeping in your own bed, not having to travel, playing on your own court, in front of your own fans, on your own rings ... hopefully it would all add up to a much needed win.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, if the Magic are to win, they need their shooters to fire ... and FIRE they did in game 3. The inconsistent Rafer Alston found his range hitting 8 of 12 from the field, Hedo Turkoglu was 7 of 12, Rashard Lewis was 8 of 14 (including 3 triples) and Mickael Pietrus came off the bench shooting 7 of 11 from the field.

Dwight Howard continued to spend more time at the free-throw line than anywhere else as the Lakers again played their version of Hack-a-Shaq with him. He was 5 of 6 from the field and 11 of 16 from the line.

The Magic shot a ridiculously good overall clip of 62.5% for the game ... but still only won by 4 points.

The Lakers shot 51% but managed to hang with the red-hot Magic behind 31 points, 8 boards from Kobe Bryant (although he made just 5 of 10 from the line) and 23 points on 9 of 11 shooting from Pau Gasol.

Lamar Odom, who had been massive in the first 2 games was held to just 11 points, 2 boards due to foul trouble.

Due to One HD showing replays the day after, I haven't watched game 3 yet but will do so tonight. From a basketball shooting perspective, it should be great checking out the Magic shooters on fire and LA still managing to keep it close.

Here are the highlights of the game (I am avoiding watching them):

NBA Championship Series - Lakers vs Magic Game 2

We've just had the Queen's birthday long weekend here in Australia so its been a few days since I last blogged. The upside of the long weekend tho, was that I got to watch game 2 of the NBA Championship Series between the Orlando Magic and the LA Lakers.

I got a call from some friends and we had an afternoon feast of sport. First there was the AFL game between Melbourne and Collingwood, then it was the NBA and the night wrapped up with Titans against the Dragons in the NRL.

After the disaster that was game 1 for the Orlando Magic, I was hoping they would bounce back in game 2. The game was again in LA so the Lakers were certainly the favourites and their confidence was riding high.

The first quarter was a dour, low-scoring affair with the scores tied at 15 at the first break. The Lakers pushed ahead in the second quarter before Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu found their shooting rhythms and the Magic came back.

The last quarter was back and forth and Orlando looked like they could steal it but two costly misses from Magic rookie Courtney Lee in the final minute meant we were headed to OT.

Orlando continued to turn the ball over in the extra period and LA hit their free-throws down the stretch and secured the win.

For the Magic, the good news was the form of their big 3, Shard, Hedo and Dwight. The bad news was the rest of their team shot just 8 of 30 from the field and had 20 turnovers to just 12 for LA. The Magic need better production from the likes of Alston, Lee and Pietrus.

For the Lakers, Kobe was good (29 points, 8 assists but 7 turnovers) without completely dominating like he did in game 1. The Lakers have to be delighted with what they're getting from Lamar Odom (19 points, 8 of 9 from the field, 8 boards off the bench) and Pau Gasol (24 points, 10 boards).

Here are the highlights from Game 2:

Orlando Magic shock the Cavs ... and the world!

Yesterday the Orlando Magic pulled off a come from behind win on the road in Cleveland to win the first game of their NBA Eastern Conference Finals match-up with LeBron James and the Cavaliers.

I followed the yahoo scoreboard at work yesterday and when I got home I was pumped to find the replay of the game on One HD (I love you).

While John Rillie chose to focus on Dwight Howard's dunk that stopped the game, for me it was all about basketball shooting.

The knock on LeBron James has been his poor jump shooting (and free-throw shooting) but that was evidenced last night. I got home in time for the second quarter and LBJ was on a role sticking jumper after jumper. When his shot is on he is virtually impossible to guard. Despite missing his first four field goal attempts, LeBron finished an impressive 20 of 30 from the field including 3 triples.

The real hero of the night tho was Rashard Lewis of the Orlando Magic. Shard also started the game slowly but after half-time could not miss. It took a while for the Cavs to adjust and by the time they did, it was too late, he was on fire. He scored 17 points in the second half, 11 in the final quarter and was 7 of 7 from the field after the main break.

The final quarter was great to watch with the lead going back and forth between the two times. In the final minutes it was big shot after big shot being hit which is great to see from a shooting perspective. Unfortunately for Delonte West, it was his shot from the corner in the final few seconds that proved the difference and the Magic hung on for the win.

The crew at Dime have a good breakdown of the game itself and Rashard's shooting performance.

Here are the highlights from the game if you didn't catch it: