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Bryant leads Lakers to glory

Author: Sir David Smith
Date: 22/06/2009

In many ways the 2009 NBA season finished on a note of predictability when the title was won by sportsbook betting favourites the LA Lakers.

The Lakers were led to success by Finals MVP Kobe Bryant, who himself was pipped to the regular season MVP award by Cleveland's LeBron James.

All three crowns will have pleased the bookies, yet there was enough excitement and interest generated in May and June to give the season its place in history.

That the Cleveland Cavaliers were absent from the Finals was a big enough shock in itself - the Cavs had, after all, finished the season with a home record of 39 wins and just two losses, one loss more than the all-time record. Their season record (66-16) was their greatest ever and the best in the NBA.

Yet beaten they were, in the Eastern Conference Final, much to the dismay of the league's money men and their script writers.

Lest we forget that the season had long promised to provide a Final for the ages - the Lakers' Bryant, freed from the giant shadow of Shaquille O'Neal and, in his prime, against the Cavs' James, a phenomenon since being the number one draft pick in 2003 and a man that Cleveland have built a booming franchise around.

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The play-offs couldn't even give the Lakers a chance to gain some revenge over reigning champions Boston Celtics, after the most dominant team in NBA history were beaten by an inconsistent but promising Orlando Magic side.

The Magic, a 20-year-old franchise that offered the unstoppable Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls some resistance in the 1990s, but had done little since, were led by a prodigy of their own in the shape of centre Dwight Howard.

After ending the season with a 59-23 record, their best since 1996, they beat the Philadelphia 76ers 4-2 before running into the Celtics. 3-2 down and one loss away from elimination, the Magic got a star turn out of Howard - who had been condemned after publicly criticising coach Stan Van Gundy - and came from behind to earn a clash with the Cavs.

Howard again starred, scoring 40 points in the decisive game six, as James' brilliance was not backed up by the rest of the Cavs, with Mo Williams in particular going missing when it mattered.

Meanwhile, the Lakers were blowing away the Denver Nuggets, four games to two, after making heavy work of the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semi-finals when they eventually won in game seven.

Then it all got too predictable. The Lakers played as they could, although it took overtime to seal victories in games two and four, while Bryant netted an average of 32.4 points per game to seal his own personal legend and give the Lakers a 15th NBA title.

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