The Magic outscored the Celtics by ten in the first quarter, and closed the game out with a 35-21 edge in the final period. Ray Allen had a team-high 23 points on 9-for-18 shooting, Rajon Rondo tallied 10 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds, and Paul Pierce contributed 16 points in the season-ending loss. Pierce was held scoreless for a period of thirty minutes, and struggled from the field (4-for-13) once again.
The Magic's reward for defeating the Boston Celtics? an Eastern Conference finals match up with the undefeated (in the playoffs anyway) Cleveland Cavaliers and 2009 season MVP LeBron James. Superman versus the Chosen One should be an interesting battle but look for LeBron to take over if his teammates can't get the job done 'cause unlike Dwight Howard, LeBron is very adeft at creating his own shot and taking control.
The Lakers earlier in the day, defeated the Houston Rockets 89-70 on Sunday afternoon in Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinal series. Pau Gasol starred with 21 points and 18 rebounds, Trevor Ariza posted 15 points and 5 boards, and Kobe "La Bamba" Bryant added 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. The Lakers won the rebounding battle by 22, and attempted four more foul shots in the deciding game.
Aaron Brooks scored a team-high 13 points on 4-for-13 shooting, Luis Scola tallied 11 points and 6 rebounds, and Ron Artest contributed 7 points, 8 boards and 5 assists in the loss. The Rockets forced 19 turnovers, but were outplayed thoroughly in all other aspects against the Lakers.
At the start of the postseason everyone believed that the Lakers were heads above all the other teams in the Western Conference would cruise to the finals much like the Cavaliers have been doing in the east. However, the Lakers were taken to game 7 by a Rockets team far inferior in talent (they were missing their top 2 scorers in Yao and T-Mac) but heaps ahead in terms of heart.
The Lakers will face the, number 2 seed in the West, Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. Denver has gone under the radar during the playoffs but they are a dangerous team offensively that will be able to keep up with the Lakers plus their interior defence is rugged and tough. Kenyon Martin, Nene, and Chris Anderson (or K-Mart, Nene, and Birdman to Nuggets fans) are tough in every sense of the word and won't back down from the Lakers. Seriously the Nuggets look more like thuggish gang, with everybody adorning tattoos and a street-like demeanour, than a basketball team. If the Nuggets win I won't be surprised because they are a team that plays on both sides of the ball and once their offence gets going their defence gets better too, plus they have the best PG left in the playoffs, and 2004 Final's MVP, in Chauncey "Mr. Big Shot" Billups.
Peace and Much Love To Ya :)
*Note: Kobe's real nickname is the Black Mamba the above is a play on words of his nickname and how many shots he takes
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