Orlando's in trouble.
The best thing they had going for them last night was Jameer Nelson.
Seriously. They need to start him and he has to become a factor for them because, bad shooting night aside, as a team they don't have the bodies in the paint to compete on either end of the floor.
This already reminds me of last years Boston series when the Celtics drove the lane at will and had the bodies to throw into the interior of the Laker D.
Regardless of how much better Orlando can shoot from the outside, the Lakers are probably going to own the glass and the paint in this series because even when Dwight figures out a way to get more room inside (when their shooters do heat up) he's still only one guy, and the Lakers have 3 big guys (2 of which they can keep on the floor at any given time), and several long armed defenders they can use to crowd him.
Plus, he's not a good "back to the basket" center and he doesn't have an array of moves. He's got that drive right through the lane baby hook and if you give him space, obviously look out because he's dunking on you, but the Lakers crowded him and made his life hell last night.
Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom have both shown up, in particular defensively since game 5 of the Denver series (12 blocks in game 5?) and Andrew, at the very least, has 6 fouls he can use.
Now we all know Orlando is going to shoot better at some point and that's the only way they have a chance in this series - to somehow control the tempo by doing their outside-in thing and simply outscore the Lakers, because I just don't see them stopping LA from scoring themselves throughout the course of this series.
And meanwhile, they have absolutely
nobody who can check Kobe Bryant right now, so you might as well go ahead and unload your account on the Kobe finals MVP prop, because he's getting it.
No one is going to stop him from getting it.
And I'm sure Orlando's accepted the fact that he's going to go off, so they'll do their best and figure out where else they can defend. My contention is still that the Laker size, depth and range and honestly, desire to win this thing is all too much for the Magic.
I know it was only one game but right now, I tell you what, Denver looked better than Orlando. Again, bad shooting aside, they had the bodies and the scorers. They could attack the basket as well as shoot from the outside.
I know we've got a long way to go, but even if the Magic play considerably better on Sunday, from what I saw, LA still takes game 2.
We've got a long way to go