NBA Finals: A BDL Preview

Don’t know about all that…

I’m feeling much more confident about this series after writing that preview. Things appeared a certain way to me from a more general view, but once I got into it and broke it down, I started seeing things that didn’t stick out so much from an overall, general view of the series. By the time I finished writing that, I felt great about the series.

Here’s one more thing that I didn’t mention: Last year, with the Lakers, you kinda got a sense that all of them except Kobe were happy enough just to get to the Finals. Obviously, it’s not enough for Kobe. And obviously, none of them would actually admit that. They’d say all the right things. But it’s clear that they had accomplished something that already satisfied most of them, whereas Boston was the truly hungry team that would not be denied in the Finals. This year, that is the impression I get, but the other way around. I think that like last year’s Lakers, the Magic weren’t supposed to get this far. They’ll say the right things, but I question whether they really want this as bad as the Lakers, or whether many of them will struggle to overcome their satisfaction at already getting farther than they should have.

The intangibles – Kobe Bryant, and the Lakers’ mentality and mindset as a team – definitely favors the Lakers, I think.