My 2009 NBA Finals Pick

It's finally time for the NBA Finals. After a year of waiting, the Lakers are back for unfinished business. I hope they remember last year's loss to the Celtics as distinctly as I do. I'm anxiously awaiting the tip of the '09 Finals, even though I'm disappointed we will not be getting the heavily anticipated showdown between Lebron and Kobe.

Instead, the Lakers are faced with the Orlando Magic, led by the league's best big man and reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Dwight Howard. It's hard to dislike Orlando. Howard is a fun-loving, Dunk Contest-winning, Shaq Junior. Meanwhile their coach looks like porn star Ron Jeremy, they shoot 3s like a rec league team, and they come from Disney World.

Still, the Lakers have experience on their side. Only two Magic players have ever played in the NBA Finals, and both are backup point guards. Anthony Johnson played for the New Jersey Nets in 2002 and 2003, and Tyronn Lue played for the Lakers in 2001. Most of the Lakers roster played in the Finals last year. Additionally, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher each has 3 rings, and coach Phil Jackson is aiming for his NBA record 10th title.

The key to the series, in my opinion, will be the frontcourt battle. I expect Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol to more or less cancel each other out. Both are all-star and All-NBA talents. The difference will be the other frontcourt players. If the Lakers' Andre Bynum/Lamar Odom/Trevor Ariza can outplay Orlando's Rashard Lewis/Hedo Turkoglu/Marcin Gortat, L.A. will win. If Orlando's bigs make a bigger impact, they may pull the upset.

In the end, though, I think L.A. simply has too much firepower. They learned their lesson from last year's championship, and they finally came together in Game 6 against Denver. Lakers in 6 is my pick.

My Picks
To recap, I'm using the scoring system from TrueHoop blogger Henry Abbott's Stat Geek Smackdown. The scoring system is 5 points for each correct series winner, plus 2 points if you get the number of games correct.

1st round = 36 points
2nd round = 15 points
3rd round = 7 points
Total = 58 points

NBA Finals
Los Angeles over Orlando in 6