LeBron James and the Miami Heat head to Los Angeles for a Christmas Day showdown with the Lakers.

The NBA has five games scheduled for Christmas Day with the big one being the Miami Heat taking on the L.A. Lakers in Los Angeles.

You’ve got Miami’s Big 3 going up against the two-time NBA champions with all the celebrities sitting courtside.

By the time that game comes on, I’m might be snoozing after eating my mom’s turkey and dressing, but as long as I wake up by the fourth quarter, I’m good to go.

Anyway, the other four games aren’t too shabby either, but is each one worth missing out on a meal or gift giving? Will you fall asleep on them or fight fatigue to tune in? Here’s how I see the appeal of the five games on a scale from 1-10.

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Doc Rivers has now lead the Boston Celtics to the NBA Finals twice in the last three years. Boston won it in 2008.

Up 3-0, the Boston Celtics had the brooms in  hand and were ready to sweep the Orlando Magic.

Then the Magic got tough and took two games to make it a series.

But on Friday night, the Celtics took care of business at home and beat Orlando, 96-84, in Game 6 to advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons. In 2008, they won it all and last season, they lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to who else, the Magic.

Boston will play the winner of the Western Conference Finals series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns.

With a 3-2 lead, the Lakers will try to close out that series in tonight’s Game 6 in Phoenix. If the Suns win, there will be a Game 7 Memorial Day in Los Angeles.

Don’t bank on eating hot dogs and watching a Game 7 Monday. Lakers should take care of business to set up a date with the Celtics.

Now back to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Here are three things we learned from this series.

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Courtney Lee knew it. He missed a chance to win Game 2 for the Orlando Magic.

Orlando had a chance.

A great chance.

Rookie guard Courtney Lee’s missed lay in off an alley-oop play could have given the Magic a Game 2 win at the buzzer Sunday night

Instead the Los Angeles Lakers were able to pull out the win in overtime, 101-96, to take a 2-0 series lead in the NBA Finals in Los Angeles. The Lakers made their final 14 free throws en route to winning Game 2.

With .06 seconds left in regulation, Orlando forward Hedo Turkoglu inbounded the ball to Lee on a perfect play call. Rashard Lewis freed up Lee by settting a screen on Kobe Bryant at the foul line.

Lee rolled to the basket and Turkoglu found him at the rim with a lob pass. The pass was slightly off as Lee caught it closer to the backboard than he’d like, but still Lee had a chance to lay the ball in off the glass even with Pau Gasol challenging the shot at the rim.

Game 3 is Tuesday night in Orlando.

Bryant went for 40 in tonight's win.

Led by Kobe Bryant’s 40 points, the Los Angeles Lakers opened the NBA Finals with a 100-75 Game 1 win on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

With Dwight Howard shooting just 1-of-6 from the field, the Magic didn’t get any inside scoring to force the Lakers to double down on him. So Los Angeles was able to play tighter defense on Orlando’s 3-point shooters.

Game 2 is Sunday night in Los Angeles.

The 75 points is the lowest point total for the Magic in the playoffs. I wouldn’t attribute it to the return of Jameer Nelson, but the Magic had developed a formula without him due to the shoulder injury.

Nelson took nine shots tonight. That’s taking shots away from Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu or even Howard.

So although the Magic shot a tragic 23-0f-77 from the field, maybe one of those shots Nelson missed might have been the shot Lewis or Turkoglu knocked down to get going offensively.

As for the Lakers, Bryant was magnificent, but the Lakers were the more aggressive team and took advantage of the matchups they have in their favor.

The NBA Finals is here.

So to help preview the 7-game series (2-3-2 format) between the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic beginning tonight at 9 p.m. on ABC in Los Angeles, I talked with Erie BayHawks coach Ben McDonald about it. Check it McDonald’s series prediction and more. It was fun.

Kobe Bryant is ready to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a world title.

1-for-2

That’s how I fared in predicting the Eastern Conference and Western Conference finals.

Darn Cleveland.

Like most people, I figured NBA MVP LeBron James and the Cavaliers would face the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals, but Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic defeated Cleveland in six games to come out of the East.

Denver gave the Lakers a tough series, but L.A. has too much talent, skill and Kobe Bryant is just too good to let his team fall to the Nuggets.

So here we are.

Lakers vs. Magic. Superman vs. the Black Mamba.

Not Kobe vs. LeBron, but it’s not chump change either.

Orlando has versatile big men Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu that can shoot the 3 while L.A. has a Hall of Fame coach in Phil Jackson and the best closer in Bryant.

In the end, Kobe will finally win a title without Shaquille O’Neal against the franchise that drafted O’Neal when he came out of college in 1992.

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Rashard Lewis, here with teammate Hedo Turkoglu (left), is selling his Washington state home for $4.9 mil.

Orlando star Rashard Lewis is selling his 8,000 square-foot home equipped with five bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths, swimming pool and more in the state of Washington for $4.9 million.

State of Washington?

Yeah, Lewis used to play for the Seattle Supersonics.

Wonder if he ‘s keeping tabs with the bidders as he tries to help Orlando win tonight’s Game 6 at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers and advance to the NBA Finals.

Better not because the Magic are going to need Lewis on his ‘A’ game if they’re going to defeat the Cavaliers tonight.

Lewis, who hit the game-winning shot in Game 1 and a big 3 in a Game 4 win for the Magic, had just 15 points on 4-of-13 shooting in Orlando’s Game 5 loss at Cleveland. Lewis was just 1-of-5 from 3-point range.

One thing I did notice in Game 5 is Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy had Lewis checking 7-foot-3 Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Although Z shoots mostly Js, he does lean on you and that may have sapped the legs of Lewis, who stands 6-10. He’s a jump shooter so having fresh legs is imperative for him.

LeBron James either scored or had an assist on 29 consecutive points for the Cavs in the fourth quarter.

In winning Game 5 to stay alive in this Eastern Conference finals series, 112-102, Thursday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers made three key adjustments.

1. Put LeBron James on Hedo Turkoglu in the fourth quarter. The strategy TNT NBA analyst Kenny Smith has been calling for disrupted the pick-n-roll Orlando loves to use a bit.

2. Posted up James, who finished with a triple double (37 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists), at the free throw line and surrounded him with three shooters -  Wally Szczerbiak, Daniel Gibson and Mo Williams – and the hustling Anderson Varejao. Not having to drive from the top of the key, James didn’t need to dribble much to either score or find Varejao cutting to the basket.

3. Made the cold shooter for Orlando keep shooting by defending everyone else. This time, it was Rafer Alston, who shot 1-of-10 from the field. He was 1-of-7 from 3-point range and Cleveland funneled its defense to leave Alston open.

Can this work in Game 6 for the Cavaliers?

We’ll find out Saturday when the series switches to Orlando with the Magic leading 3-2.

The Cleveland Cavaliers do.

Shannon Brown has never lacked the ability to play the game. He's just found a home in Los Angeles.

They drafted Shannon Brown in the first round of the 2006 NBA Draft out of Michigan State.

He was supposed to be the big, off guard to complement LeBron James. I really thought Brown had star potential in the NBA because he’s athletic, can shoot the three and came from a college program that stresses defense.

Cleveland ended up trading him to Chicago last season. After the Bulls released Brown, he signed with Charlotte, which traded him to Los Angeles where he has become key reserve.

His second-half dunk over Chris “Birdman” Andersen gave the Lakers an emotional jolt in their Game 5 win Wednesday night.

I look at Brown’s size (6-foot-4, 211 pounds) and wonder how much he could help Cleveland against Orlando. Brown could guard Mickael Pietrus and would do a better job in defending Hedo Turkoglu than Delonte West is doing.

Just food for thought.

LeBron James' only 3-point basket won the game for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Wow.

That was the word LeBron James used in describing his buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Cleveland a dramatic 96-95 win against the Orlando Magic in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

James said more than that, though.

On how the fans reaction to the shot…
“Wow. I mean, the reaction from the fans and my teammates. It was; the loudest it has ever been in this building was the first time I made the playoffs my third year and we faced Washington (in the first round). When we won that game, the towels was out. It was unbelievable. I lost my wind soon as I ran out on the court. Tonight surpassed that by 10 times. It was unbelievable. You couldn’t hear anything except the roar of those 20,000-plus fans, man. They deserved it. They deserved it.”

On the final shot…
“Well, the first option was for me to fake up and go for the lob. Two things happened. We had 6-10 Rashard Lewis on Mo so it was going to be a difficult pass. When I went to go for the lob, Hedo (Turkoglu) never bit on it. I told Mo, whatever it was going to take from me, I was going to get the ball. No matter what happened. If the first, third, second, all the options run out, I’m coming to get the ball. I knocked down the shot. Biggest shot I’ve made in my career.”

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