Orlando Magic Vs. LA Lakers Finals? It's starting to look that way. With Orlando up on Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavs 3-1 and the Lakers winning the crucial Game 5, it's looking like the "legendary" Kobe Vs. Lebron Finals matchup will have to wait another year.

That has to be a bummer for Nike considering their brilliant Kobe & Lebron/Burt & Ernie muppet campaign. Oh well, I guess we just have to enjoy what could have been by watching muppet Lebron and Kobe duke it out in these hilarious Nike televisions ads:

KOBE & LEBRON: CHALK

KOBE & LEBRON: THREE RINGS

KOBE & LEBRON: MRS. LEWIS

KOBE & LEBRON: UNSTOPPABLE GAME TAPE

Lakers have been making it tough on fans by being so unpredictable as of late. It's still been a heckuva fun ride! Game 7's win against Houston was impressive. And more than ever, it made it clear to me how important the combination of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum are to the Lakers success in the 2009 Playoffs and immediate future for the organization.

If Lakers end up winning the Championship I expect Pau Gasol to get Playoff MVP honors... but the possibility of both a Championship and Pau as MVP are majorly dependent on Andrew Bynum's play.

As complementary Post Players, Bynum's defensive and offensive presence frees up Pau Gasol to take more risks on Defense and Offense. Bynum's physicality and length forces his defender to play him closer in the post, freeing up Pau to have more space to work his post up magic. If Bynum's man decides to give Pau more attention, Pau can either dish it off to Bynum for the Dunk or take the contested shot which has a reasonable % chance of being grabbed by Bynum as an offensive rebound for a put back dunk or triangle offense reset.

The same goes for the Laker Defense. When Bynum is able to play help defense in the key, Pau can play his man a little closer and take the occasional risky block or steal. If Pau's move leaves his man open, the opponent still has to worry about Bynum.

No other NBA team has a Power Forward/Center combination with the same physicality, height, and post-up presence as Bynum and Gasol. Most other teams have a combination of a scoring Center/Forward and a hustle-play/energy/rebounding Center on the court at all times (the one exception is the fabulous Rocket duo of Ming & Scola). This works to the Lakers advantage because they can have Pau Gasol match up with the more offensive minded post/inside player and have Bynum taking on a more roaming defender role to help when there's any breakdowns on the Lakers team defense.

In order for it to work to it's fullest potential, Lakers have got to consistently feed the post when either Gasol or Bynum is on the block down low. Unlike guards or small forwards (especially excellent ball-handling ones like Odom) post players need to be given the ball in the proper position to work their magic and become a threat to the opposing team. Lakers have been at their worst in the Playoffs when they forget the post and start launching three-pointers and/or attempting to play primarily isolation basketball. In fact, if the Lakers first establish an offensive post presence, both 3-point opportunities and penetration will open up as opposing defenses begin placing more focus on Bynum and Gasol.

Of course, the Lakers are still known for being a high scoring offensive minded team. How's that going to work if they're going to slow things down with all of this post-up play? Well, first off, Lakers should focus on fastbreaks. With the athleticism, length, and high number of good ball handlers on the team, the Lakers need to master the ability to transition steals and missed shots into quick fastbreak points (something that will actually increase if Bynum can establish himself as a defensive threat in the key). Also, post ups should be done in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock and go primarily to Gasol (who's quicker, is a better passer, and has more moves in the post than Bynum). Bynum (when he's fed in the post) should keep his post up moves short and sweet (his drop step and hooks are solid and fast) to ensure the Lakers are still running their offense at a fast pace.

You heard it hear first: Pau Gasol; 2009 Playoff MVP. I just hope he give "thanks" to Bynum when he accepts the reward! :-)

I stumbled across a nicely editted video of the infamous Lebron James Horse Game. Lebron agreed to partake in a game of H.O.R.S.E. with the winning applicant of some online video contest. Participants had to send in videos of their best H.O.R.S.E. shot. The winner won with a ridiculous video that's shown at the very beginning which involves a forklift-spinning basketball hoop. Evidently, the contest winner had many more tricks up his sleeve... leading to 2 dominant H.O.R.S.E. wins against one of the best Basketball players in the world. Mad props.

Despite a shaky offset in the Postseason, Celtics have rightfully become 2008 NBA Champions. So why is it that we've been hearing more about Kobe and the Lakers since the Season's end?

The Inglewood-native Paul Pierce will forever be known as a traitor who went out like a 3 year old baby who acts all tough after a fall and then starts crying hysterically when he sees a little drop of blood come out a scabbed knee (no man would be carried out of a gymnasium like THIS).  Yeah, he came back and knocked a couple of 3's on the Lakes to set the tone of the series... but I'll always remember Pauly as that chump who cried like a baby over a non-injury. Kudos do go to Paul for being such a good sport about the debacle (as can be seen on his hilarious appearance on the Kimmel Show)... but, damn it, if the Celtics are partying for 7 days straight and STILL plan on going to Vegas, it suggests that deep down inside the Celtics know this will be their ONE AND ONLY CHAMPIONSHIP.

If that embarrassing Laker NBA Finals implosion and utter annihilation by the Celtics in Game 6 wasn't enough to teach Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol to grow some bigger huevos... I'm sure Shaq's freestyle rap in which he's got a NY crowd chanting "Kobe couldn't do it without me" and "Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes" (see below) will get Kobe and the rest of the Lakers focused for the next NBA season and the many more to come. If anything, all of this just brings more drama to Los Angeles. We thrive on drama, so keep on bringing it. It'll all help bring the focus necessary to win many Championships in the years to come!

Oh yeah, and Shaq, damn you for bringing that vile image into my head!

Spurs are going to be tough, but I think the Lakers can handle them.

Lamar needs to be huge in this series. He's been the X-factor in every series thus far.

Call me crazy, but I think this'll be the breakout series for Vlad. Laker fans have been way too hard on the guy. The last two games of the Utah series suggest he's finally finding a nice role on the team...

It's about due time for another Championship. :-)

Below's the video of Kobe jumping over a speeding Aston Martin to promote his new Nike Hyperdunk shoe. It's been an effective guerilla marketing tool that's built hype strictly via it's presence on the internet. People still question it's validity (even though Kobe's acknowledged "it's Hollywood").

What's made this decent bit into "Classic" material is the amazing spoof Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson of TNT's "NBA Inside Stuff" did as homage. It's worth watching all the way through for the replays. It gets better with each rewatch!

The first video is the Kobe Original. The second video is Kenny Smith's spoof as it was first shown to Kobe after their Game 2 victory against Denver: