Los Angeles Lakers Win the 2009 NBA Finals

The final buzzer is always a seen of jubilation and of disappointment. Kobe Bryant is leaping, pumping his fists in the air, being mobbed by a crowd of ecstatic teammates. The arena is quiet, fans filing out, Magic players watching the spectacle with empty expressions. As is always the case with sports, it’s the numbers that will be talked about, remembered. And there are plenty of those to go around today, to be discussed, compared, stacked up.

For the Lakers, there’s no doubting how real the joy was. A lot of people in basketball will throw around the word “redemption” to describe this team, their championship effort. I don’t know how well that fits. I would call it silencing. Coach Phil Jackson silenced the murmurs that his nine championships were because of Jordan and the Shaq/Kobe combination. Now he has ten rings, one more than Red Auerbach, the most of all time. You’ll hear little from the critics now; you’ll hear a lot about how Phil Jackson is the greatest coach the game has ever seen. Kobe’s critics were louder and bolder. From Shaq’s raps to less conspicuous doubters around the league, many questioned his ability to lead a team to a championship. Now he has four rings, but this one meant the most to him for sure. All I have to say is, enjoy the silence Phil and Kobe, you deserve it.

The Magic players and coaching staff are disappointed. But they’re going to wake up tomorrow and feel a little less disappointed and a little more proud. They made it further than anyone predicted, and they’re a young team with a bright future (Hedo’s impending free agency is the only major hiccup). They’ll never admit it, but a lot of players on that team were happy just to be there, and when you compare that mindset with Kobe’s unadulterated determination, the result is not that surprising. Not that there’s any shame in Orlando’s defeat. They faced a team that was better on paper and on the court. A team more talented, more experienced, more focused. They’ll learn a lot from the experience. Howard said as much after the game, “It hurts. It hurts a lot. But you can learn a lot from losing. Sometimes you’ve got to lose to win.”

The game itself, Game 5, wasn’t great. The final score was 99-86. The Magic looked good for the first quarter and a half, but when the Lakers started to make their run, the Magic really fell apart. As the Lakers made a 16-0 run the Magic looked lost and discombobulated. At the half it was 56-46 for the Lakers. It was more of the same in the second half. Orlando made one run in the 3rd to cut the lead down to five, but Lamar Odom, who continued to prove that the Lakers are unstoppable when he plays well, made two three pointers. Kobe was incredible again. He was dishing, scoring off of 2 and 3pt jumpers, he threw down a vicious baseline dunk and made an amazing layup around the outstretched arms of Howard. He scored 30 points to go with 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals. He averaged an incredible 32.4 points and 7.4 assists per game in the Finals and was named the Finals MVP (an award that this year was named after the great Bill Russell).

No one had a standout game for the Magic, and losing that badly at home to end the series has to leave a bitter taste in their mouths. However, much like L.A. after last year’s Finals disappointment, the Magic now have a clear idea of where they need to improve. The biggest thing is going to be Howard’s development. They need him to be able to control the game more on offense. They could also use a big, physical presence at power forward as a backup to Rashard Lewis.

As soon as one season ends, the next begins, and Lakers fans, while enjoying the moment, are already looking forward to a repeat next year. The chances seem pretty good, although both Odom and Ariza will be free agents that will get a lot of attention. The Lakers may only be able to resign one, unless owner Jerry Buss really opens up the checkbook. Even with only Ariza back (I believe he’s the top priority) the Lakers will be dangerous again next year.

The Lakers have now won their 15th title in franchise history. After winning the Western Conference in fine style during the regular season, they looked beatable in the first couple rounds of the playoffs. The took down the Jazz in five, but had a couple bad nights. The Houston Rockets took them the full seven games, even after Yao Ming went down with an injury. That’s when the doubters really started up, and that’s when L.A. began to silence them. The Denver Nuggets were a tough, deep team that had as good a shot as anyone at taking down the Lakers. After playing each other pretty even over the first four games, the Lakers took it to another level for Games 5 and 6. They maintained that level in the Finals and were able to take the title in only five games.

By Sasha Tregebov of BetUS.