The Finals Have Finally Arrived

After watching Game 3 of the NBA Finals last night, I finally got the sense that the championship series has finally began.
Orlando's thrilling 108-104 victory over Los Angeles was the type of game I was expecting from the beginning. It took us a few nights, but we finally got type of basketball that we were all hoping to see from the outset.
These are two finesse teams that can really put the ball in the basket. The goon tactics that sometimes dominate the playoffs was finally going to take a back seat to the great skill and shooting of the Magic and Lakers players. That's what we saw last night.
Both teams were on fire throughout the evening. Orlando shot a NBA Finals record 62.5 percent and shot a sizzling 75 percent from the field in the first half.
Despite that white-hot shooting, they barely held off the the Lakers because they shot 51 percent themselves and hit their first seven shots in the fourth quarter.
The stars performed and everyone else got to eat at the trough. That is the way it is supposed to be. Dwight Howard led his charges with 21 points and 14 rebounds and general inside dominance while Kobe Bryant had 31 points, most coming in a scintillating second-quarter barrage of 17 points.
The end of the game was not classic Kobe with the missed free throws and turnover, but that happens to the best of them once in a while.
Both teams had five players score in double figures while topping the 100-point mark. That ball movement was great, the tempo was fast and the shooting was spectacular.
It looks like it took the Magic a couple of games to get their championship sea-legs. They were way out of synch in LA. They scored only 75 points in Game 1 and committed 20 turnovers in Game 2. In Game 3, we saw the team that is almost impossible to match up against with its young beast in the middle and 6'10" jump shooting forwards making plays.
Even with a flawness night of basketball by the Magic, the Lakers still had a chance to pull it out in the end. The main culprit was free throws. They hit only 16 of 26 (61 percent) while the Magic were 23 of 30 (76 percent).
it was a great evening of entertaining basketball to watch if you are a fan of seeing the game played the right way.
Hopefully, this will continue for the rest of the series. If it does, it can be one of the most entertaining in recent memory.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Captain Beal

After conquering the state of Missouri as a sophomore, Chaminade College Prep basketball star Bradley Beal is now taking his game to the world stage.
Beal was one of 12 players selected to the inaugural USA Basketball Men's Developmental National Team, which is comprised of players who are 16 years old and younger. Beal was not only chosen for the USA team, but he was selected as the team captain.
The team will compete in the FIBA Americas U16 Championships, which will be held from June 17-21 in Mendoza, Argentina.
The top three teams will qualify for the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championships next summer in Germany.
After leading Chaminade to the Missouri Class 5 state championship, the 6'3" Beal has continued to enhance his standing as one of the nation's top players in the Class of 2011 while playing for the St. Louis Eagles. Beal has led the Eagles to three tournament championships already during the spring and early summer. He is being recruited from coast to coast with offers from many of the nation's top collegiate programs.
There has been much speculation in recent weeks on where Beal may be playing the rest of his high school career. The rumors of a family move to Texas were rampant, but it looks like Beal will be staying put at Chaminade.
That's good news for us basketball fans who enjoyed watching great talent develop and blossom into something special.
It's not so good news for opposing coaches in the Show-Me State who must devise ways to control this special young talent for the next two years.

Getting Big

I know how much the NBA wanted to have their Kobe Bryant-LeBron James showdown in the Finals this year.
Everyone got a little carried away with the Nike puppet commericals and one-hour specials on ESPN.
I for one, am glad to see the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals because of the presence of Dwight Howard, the man in the middle.
We're in an age where big men are becoming more and more like small forwards and shooting guards. While I like seeing the versatility of our young bigs, I'm still an old stick-in-the-mud when it comes to watching big men play.
I still like my bigs to play like bigs. I still enjoy watching a big man play the post position like it is meant to be played. He scores down low, rebounds, blocks shots and draws automatic double teams. Old-school big men are somewhat like dinasaurs, but when you have one who can get it done, it's like having gold these days.
That is why it is important to see the young up and coming giant Dwight Howard get a chance to show his stuff in the Finals for the first time. Young big men, there is hope out there.
I grew up in an era when the center was the focal point of the team. Not only did he stuff the stat sheet, but he was the leader of the team. I came up when Wilt and Bill Russell were late in their careers, but they were followed by such greats as Lew Alcindor, Willis Reed, my uncle Wes Unseld, Bill Walton, Dave Cowens and many others.
These all-time greats led their teams to NBA championships in the 1970s.
Along came the likes of Robert Parish, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, the great Hakeem Olajuwan and current greats Shaquille O'Neal and my man Tim Duncan.
These were all great centers. Not wannabe shooting guards who loved to play the skilled game, but waffled under the heat of physical championship basketball. These men laid it on the line every night. (Remember Willis Reed's historic walk out of the locker room before Game 7 on the 1970 NBA Finals against Wilt and the Lakers)?
With Shaq and Tim Duncan now in the twighlight of their Hall of Fame careers, it was looking like the classic NBA big man was becoming an endangered species. It should be no surprise that teams featuring Duncan and Shaq won the world title eight of the nine years between 1999 and 2007. In 2008, the Celtics won with versatile, yet dominant big man Kevin Garnett leading the way. All of these men are 30-something with injuries creeping in. We need some young blood.
Yao Ming looks the part, but injuries are curtailing what could be an even more dominant career.
Who do you call when the league needs a young dominant center to carry on the tradition.
Superman, or course. Enter Dwight Howard.
Howard's game is still a work in progress. At 23, he still has a long ways to go to master the fine art of low-post basketball. But what he does now is still pretty remarkable for someone at 6'11" and 265 pounds.
He is big, physical, strong, yet he can run the floor like a smaller player. He loves to rebound and block shots as evidenced by his Defensive Player of the Year award. The Magic are full of 3-point shooters, but make no mistake, the first option is to get the ball inside to their young beast. Wait until he hits his peak as a player. Look out.
The Lakers may not have a young stallion like Howard in the middle, but what they do have is plenty good. Pao Gasol is 7'1" 250 pounds and skilled while Andrew Bynum is still a pup at 21, but can be a factor at 7'1" and 280.
Obviously, neither one is replace Shaq, Wilt or Kareem in the Laker pantheon of great centers, but those are two excellent bigs to bring to the championship party. Both are different. Gasol is skilled, versatile, can score with either hands and can pass. He is also blocking some shots. Bynum is a big young moose in the middle right now.
Together, they make quite a tandem, than can be together for several more years. Gasol is just 28 and in the prime of his career while Bynum is just 21 with a lot more room to growth.
Yes, Kobe will garner most of the spotlight with his showstopping talent, but it will be fun to watch some honest-to-goodness bigs get down in the post with the championship on the line.