Lakers Win NBA Title
The Los Angeles Lakers left no doubt they are the best basketball team in the NBA in 2009.
The Lakers won their NBA Finals series against the Orlando Magic last night, opening up a 10 point advantage by halftime and leading comfortably the rest of the game.
The final score was 99-86, giving the Lakers a 4-1 series victory and the 2009 NBA title.
Kobe Bryant corrected the free throw shooting problems that caused critical misses earlier in the series, sinking 8-8 free shots on the way to scoring 30 points for LA. He was also named the Finals MVP.
The Lakers also got 17 points from big sixth man Lamar Odom, 15 from Trevor Ariza, 14 from Pau Gasol and 13 from Derek Fisher. The only Laker starter not in double figures was Andrew Bynum, whose foul problems limited him to six points and five rebounds.
The Magic were ahead early in the final game. They led 19-10 with 5:36 left in the first quarter and held a 40-36 lead with 7:12 left in the second quarter.
But then the Lakers went on a 16-0 run. It took only four minutes and when the run was over, LA led 52-40 with 3:07 until half.
The Magic had four turnovers and missed three shots in this four minute scoreless stretch. The Lakers took advantage with 6-6 field goal shooting.
Ariza had eight of the 16 points in the run, with two 3-pointers and two free throws. Fisher had five in this critical span.
The 3-point shots weren’t falling for the usually strong long ball shooters from Orlando. The Magic went 0-7 from long range to start the game and finished under 30 per cent for the night.
“When we hit the second quarter, we didn’t handle the ball well at all,” said Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy afterwards. “Then we didn’t handle our frustration well. In the second half, they (LA) just had an answer to everything.”
Magic star Dwight Howard said afterwards, the Lakers “made a run and we started to hold our heads down… Tonight we didn’t have the same effort and fight that we did the rest of the playoffs. Congratulations go to the Lakers.”
“We’ve come a long way this year as a unit,” Howard said. “We don’t have to hang our heads.”
The Lakers increased their total number of NBA titles to 15 with the victory. Only the Boston Celtics have more titles with 17.
The win was also historic for Laker Coach Phil Jackson. It was Jackson’s 10th title as a coach, giving him more titles than any other coach in NBA history.
Jackson had been tied with the great Red Auerbach, who won nine titles in a 10 year span for the Boston Celtics, including eight straight from 1958-1966.
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