Hoops

Lakers @ Magic - Game 3 **Spoilers**

KingJames, looks like we roughly agree about Odom being paid too much, but you are being unfair blaming him for Lewis' open threes. That is going to keep happening because Jackson's game plan calls for Lamar to stay in the paint to help out on Howard. Watch him next game - he knows where Lewis is, but he just lets him go most of the time. Will be interesting to see if Jackson decides to switch that plan up a bit more and play Howard one on one for stretches in the next couple of games.

awwww did your feelings get hurt

LA Boy - I did say if the Lakers are lucky! It would depend on Odom being willing to do it, and he may well not. I'm just saying that the Lakers may not be able to keep both Odom and Ariza if they both want top dollar.

I think Odom does a lot of good things - but I have never seen him show anything that says to me he is good at, or comfortable with, creating his own shot. He doesn't post up well against good players, and he doesn't shoot the mid-range jumper well. The only time I fear his scoring is when he is cutting to the basket, looking for the quick pass for a dunk or layup.

LA - I think Odom has been pretty good in the finals so far. He is playing a lot better than he did against the Celtics last year. His main problem is that he just isn't a naturally offensive player. He is at his best when he can catch the ball on an aggressive cut to the basket - which is why it is so important that Gasol gets lots of touches in the post. He was still very good today with his rebounding and defence though - really pressured a lot of Howard's shots and ran down some key loose balls.

Will be interesting to see how contract negotiations go with him at the end of the season. If the Lakers are lucky, he will agree to sign for around $6 mill so they can also keep Ariza. But a lot will also depend on whether they win the Finals or not. If they were to lose, I think you'd see a lot of changes being made to the roster.

Great game today. Amazing that a team can shoot 75% from the field in the first half and only take the lead in the last few minutes!

Its been awhile since there was an NBA finals where neither team could defend the other.

The Lakers have to like the fact that Orlando shot at over 60% for the game, and they shot poorly from the FT line, but were in it all the way.

On the other hand, Orlando can take a lot of self-belief from that game. They have to know that the Lakers can't stop their pick and roll, and that with Odom double-teaming Howard in the post, Lewis is open for three all game long! So just maybe they can keep shooting near 60% from the field!!!

Hopefully Lee and Pietrus also learnt that if they stop biting on pump fakes, and just contest every shot, Kobe will eventually start missing. A couple of times in this series, I think they got too desperate and started trying to block his shot.

As the Celtics proved last year, you can live with Kobe making a lot of shots, because it means the ball stops moving and his team-mates make less shots and have less confidence down the stretch.

If I am the Lakers, I want to get Gasol more shots in the post - more like 16 a game - because he is deadly with both his shooting and passing - and he is the one who brings Odom into the game offensively too.

Lakers still have the edge, because all they need is one win in Orlando, but the Magic showed that this is still anyones series.

Orlando wins! We still have a series!

but you can't beat LA lol.

so when Boston beat them in the finals last year they didn't loose LA?????? thank you for being another one eyed dreamer LA fan and helping to keep LA as the team i love to hate tool

1.52 left and it's a 3 point game to tha Magic

Magic up 99-97.

BEAT L.A

nbl.com has storied that Stephen Black will not be playing tonight due to a muscle strain.

bad way for them to start the season. wonder how the older legs will hold up if the young ones are hurting already.

Magic up 59-54 at the break...some hot shooting all-round in this game!

Magic were shooting like 76% from the field and were still down.. Crazy stuff

Kobe absolutely dominating and i think Pietrus has been guarding him quite well! This guy is simply unstoppable..