The Lakers edged the Nuggets yesterday in Game 1 of their Western Conference finals; the Cavaliers will play the Magic as I write this column.
Both the Lakers and Cavaliers may encounter some bumps in the games ahead but these two teams will eventually meet in this year’s finals.
Many are talking about these finals - LeBron (this year’s MVP) going up against Kobe (last year’s MVP).
People I have spoken to are favoring the Lakers. They say that the Lakers know how to play LeBron and the Cavaliers.
They refer to the two regular season games that the Lakers won. In those games, the Lakers made LeBron bleed for his points and his supporting cast was unable to deliver.
I say that was a long time ago.
Cleveland has improved since then, breezing through the first two rounds of the playoffs. Not the case with the Lakers, a depleted Houston bench almost put an end to their season.
Let’s look at the match-up first, then I give my prediction.
Mo Williams versus Derek Fisher. Williams has the edge in scoring clip 14.8 and 4.5 assists compared to Fisher’s 7.7 and 2.3 respectively. I give this one to Williams not only because of the numbers but also because of his speed and 3-point shooting.
Kobe Bryant against Delonte West. There’s no question who has the upperhand in this match-up. Kobe has 28.4 and 5.1 rebounds while West’s numbers are 13.3 and 4.4.
LeBron James with averages of 32.9 points and 9.8 rebounds just lord it over Trevor Ariza’s 10.5 and 3.9.
In the power forward position, Paul Gasol, however, with 18.1 points and 11 rebounds is superior to that of Anderson Varejao’s 5.6 and 7.3.
At center, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is better than Andrew Bynum. The Big Z has 10.8 and 6.6 while Bynum has 5.6 and 3.9.
The starting five of Cleveland is statistically better than the Lakers. The bench is a deadlock – Lakers getting more point while the Cavaliers are rebounding better.
How about an x-factor?
Lamar Odom has the better numbers (11.9 points and 9.6 rebounds) compared with Joe Smith (7.0 and 5.1) but Odom is inconsistent. My take is that the chances of the Lakers depend on the kind of game he will bring to the court.
Cleveland in six. That’s how I see the series.
LeBron will be unstoppable in the series. I don’t think even Kobe, who is a noted defender, could stop him. LeBron is too strong, too big, too athletic for the Lakers to handle. Even Jerry West attested to that.
For the Lakers to win, they should try and slowdown LeBron and Company. If they could do this, they could win. If not, then LeBron will win his first finals MVP to go with his regular season MVP trophy.
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This one is for my daughter Kyrene Darby who will be celebrating her 15th birthday on May 28. We call her “Kiyo” in honor of a friend from BYU-Hawaii. My wife was preggy then when she tagged along while I was covering the group Showcase Hawaii in Pampanga. There we met Kiyoshi Yamamoto, the group’s pianist. My wife plays the piano so they became friends instantly.
By then we already have a name for our baby but felt we will give her a moniker in honor of Kiyo, who had kept writing us through the years. Kiyo advanced Happy Birthday!
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