If the Lakers lose today's Game 7 at home against the Rockets, who are without Yao Ming, Kobe Bryant will have a hard time showing his face.
In a few hours today, the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets will play Game 7 (3:30 p.m., ABC) in Hollywood.
In a few more hours after that finale, the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic will play Game 7 (8 p.m., TNT) in Beantown.
The odds aren’t in Houston’s favor for three reasons.
1. People want to see Kobe Bryant play for a world title, again, without Shaquille O’Neal and against LeBron James. 2. As entertaining as Ron Artest is, he’s not as captivating as Bryant and Rockets aren’t as entertaining as the Lakers. 3. The game is at Los Angeles where the Lakers should roll.
The odds aren’t in Orlando’s favor for three reasons.
1. The game is at Boston. 2. The Magic haven’t shown the ability to close out the Celtics throughout the series. 3. Do the Magic really trust their coach, Stan Van Gundy, to make the right decision in crunch time. You know, indecision typically leads to failure.
After all of this is over, the real question I have is can either of these four teams beat Cleveland in the playoffs. I’d say the Lakers because they’ll come out more focused against a team they know that can beat them.
As for Houston, Boston or Orlando, they’d have no shot to stop the Cavaliers.
The Lakers game is all but over. I think that the Magic are still a year away from becoming a Game 7 close-out team. They are still young and going up against a veteran team with Finals experience.
From here on out it’s the Cavs to lose. LeBron has separated himself from the rest of the league in this play-off’s. There has never been a player like him in league history and as the championships pile up he’ll be the greatest of all time. Hands-down.