Wayde_316 is back, and demanding the next game thread ASAP. I dunno... last time I caved to his stringent demands, he was never heard from again!
A great first half by the Lakers. Can we all agree now that Trevor Ariza is the Lakers' official third best player? What a first half performance from him! He was everywhere – getting steals, hitting threes, going to the rack, drawing fouls. Perhaps my favorite thing about him is that despite hitting threes at such a high rate, attacking the basket is still (and probably always will be) his favorite thing in the world, so he never falls in love with the three ball.
The Lakers are really rebounding very well. They're on pace for 52 rebounds for the game, and have out-rebounded the Magic by seven. They're also defending the Magic quite well. Orlando has only hit one three-pointer (11.1%), but what I'm liking even more than the percentage is that they have only taken 9 three-point shots. That's on pace for 18 three-point shot attempts overall, which is a very low number for them.
What else? Oh yeah, that Kobe guy... 15 points (on 11 shots → 1.5 points per shots, Doug), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal, and a block (on Howard, I do believe). Pretty not bad.
I leave you with this: Derek Fisher is 3-for-3 on forays into the paint (counting the one on which he drew the foul and hit the free throws). That may not ever happen again.
Here's an extremely bold prediction from yours truly: Keep this up, and the Lakers win the championship tonight.