Including King James. They proved all their doubters (including me) wrong by EASILY dispensing the Cleveland Cavaliers. They outplayed the Cavs in every way imaginable and you could make a case they could’ve won six straight. Even with the refs seemingly on the side of the MVP and his mates, the Magic came back from double-digit deficits, won close games and blow outs, won games Mo Williams guaranteed the Cavs would win, and endured the tidal wave of emotion and momentum (for Cleveland) that came from the biggest shot of LeBron James’s career.
It was a shot that signaled the beginning of LeBron’s reign over the NBA. A championship seemed like it was destiny and he would finally live up to his Chosen One moniker. Even after losing Game 3, it still seemed like LeBron would carry his team to victory and to the NBA Finals. He was, after all, having arguably the greatest individual playoff series in NBA history. But after Orlando won a dramatic Game 4 in overtime, any hope for a Cleveland championship faded and the Magic finally eliminated the Cavs in Game 6 in blow-out fashion.
With its series victory, Orlando showed its regular season supremacy over Cleveland was no fluke (they won the season series 2-1). I remember after the Magic destroyed the Cavs by 29 back in April, everyone was saying it was no biggie and that Cleveland wasn’t really trying all that hard. Or that it was the second game of back-to-back road games and they had tired legs. Everyone made excuses for Cleveland back then and I’m sure many will make them now but like I said before, Orlando DOMINATED the Cavs. It was surprising though, considering how unimpressive the Magic looked in two previous series against Philadelphia and Boston and how Cleveland was steamrolling through their side. But the Coach of the Year and the MVP had no answer for anything the Magic did on offense and certainly had no answer for Dwight Howard, who took his game to whole new level. But not just Dwight. They had no answer for Rafer Alston, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, Mickael Pietrus, and Courtney Lee.
So as the Orlando Magic now face the Los Angeles Lakers for the Larry O’Brien trophy, we’ll see if Kobe Bryant and company will be bowing down to them along with the rest of the league. I wouldn’t doubt them. Not anymore.
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