2009 NBA Finals
	vs.
Los Angeles leads, 3-1
June 14th, 2009
Amway Arena
8:00 PM
ABC
Probable Starters
Derek Fisher	PG	Rafer Alston
Kobe Bryant	SG	Courtney Lee
Trevor Ariza	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Pau Gasol	PF	Rashard Lewis
Andrew Bynum	C	Dwight Howard
Game Officials
Dan Crawford
Joe DeRosa
Ken Mauer
Series Central

Tonight could be the Orlando Magic's last stand of the 2008/2009 NBA season. They need a win against the Los Angeles Lakers tonight if they hope to keep their dim hopes of winning an NBA championship alive. We'll see if they can do it in a little less than an hour on ABC.

2009 NBA Finals
	vs.
Los Angeles leads, 2-1
June 11th, 2009
Amway Arena
9:00 PM
ABC
Probable Starters
Derek Fisher	PG	Rafer Alston
Kobe Bryant	SG	Courtney Lee
Trevor Ariza	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Pau Gasol	PF	Rashard Lewis
Andrew Bynum	C	Dwight Howard
Game Officials
Bennett Salvatore
Mike Callahan
Scott Foster
Series Central

The Orlando Magic will look to even their NBA Finals series with the Los Angeles Lakers at 2 games apiece tonight at Amway Arena. How can they do it? Depends on whom you ask. Robert Horry, the retired NBA player with 7 championships and a former teammate to Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, thinks Orlando needs to double-team Bryant more aggressively, while Magic center Adonal Foyle has prescribed some ways in which Orlando can counter Los Angeles' own swift defense of Dwight Howard.

We'll find out if either of those gents is right at 9, less than 2 hours from now.

2009 NBA Finals
	vs.
Los Angeles leads, 2-0
June 9th, 2009
Amway Arena
9:00 PM
ABC
Probable Starters
Derek Fisher	PG	Rafer Alston
Kobe Bryant	SG	Courtney Lee
Trevor Ariza	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Pau Gasol	PF	Rashard Lewis
Andrew Bynum	C	Dwight Howard
Game Officials
Joe Crawford
Derrick Stafford
Mark Wunderlich
Series Central

Can the Orlando Magic rally from a 2-0 hole to win their first NBA Finals game in 7 tries as a franchise? We'll find out tonight. Orlando overcame a 2-1 deficit in the Quarterfinals against Philadelphia and a 3-2 deficit in the Semifinals against Boston, but it has yet to face a 2-game deficit at any point in these playoffs. A Magic loss assures certain doom, while a win would give them some reason to hope for a championship going forward.

For the conspiracy theorists, note that tonight's officiating crew is composed of 2 of the 3 referees who officiated Game 3 of the Conference Finals against Cleveland, which saw both teams shoot a combined 86 free throws. Yikes.

Tip's at 9, and if the officials are whistle-happy, we might be here until midnight or later.

2009 NBA Finals
	vs.
Series tied, 0-0
June 5th, 2009
Staples Center
9:00 PM
ABC
Probable Starters
Rafer Alston	PG	Derek Fisher
Courtney Lee	SG	Kobe Bryant
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Trevor Ariza
Rashard Lewis	PF	Pau Gasol
Dwight Howard	C	Andrew Bynum
Game Officials
Dan Crawford
Joe DeRosa
Ken Mauer
NBA Finals Central

All this front-page content for the last few days has left us more-or-less tapped out regarding the NBA Finals. You know the keys to victory. You know the stakes. Now try to relax as the Magic play their first NBA Finals game in 14 years tonight.

2009 NBA Eastern Conference Finals
	vs.
Orlando leads, 3-2
May 30th, 2009
Amway Arena
8:30 PM
TNT
Probable Starters
Mo Williams	PG	Rafer Alston
Delonte West	SG	Courtney Lee
LeBron James	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Anderson Varejao	PF	Rashard Lewis
Zydrunas Ilgauskas	C	Dwight Howard
Game Officials
Steve Javie
Bennett Salvatore
Derrick Stafford
Series Central

After wrapping up their last two playoff series on the road, the Orlando Magic will try to end this one on their home floor. They have an excellent opportunity to close out the Cleveland Cavaliers now, rather than Monday evening in Cleveland. Will they make the most of it? Or are we due for yet another game in what's proven to be a classic series?

I can't say for sure. Nobody can. Just sit back and enjoy it.

2009 NBA Eastern Conference Finals
	vs.
Orlando leads, 3-1
May 28th, 2009
Quicken Loans Arena
8:30 PM
TNT
Probable Starters
Rafer Alston	PG	Mo Williams
Courtney Lee	SG	Delonte West
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	LeBron James
Rashard Lewis	PF	Anderson Varejao
Dwight Howard	C	Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Game Officials
Dan Crawford
Marc Davis
Bill Spooner
Series Central

The Orlando Magic clinched their last two playoff series wins on the road, and in unexpected fashion. Nobody expected them to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers without Dwight Howard, who missed the game due to a suspension for elbowing Sixers center Samuel Dalembert in the head in Game 5. Nobody expected them to defeat the Boston Cetics, injury-depleted as they were, in a Game 7 in Boston. And certainly nobody expects them to close out the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team with the NBA's best overall record, best home record, and best player, away from Amway Arena tonight.

So we're about to find out if lightning can strike thrice for Orlando, so to speak. The Magic handled the Cavaliers on Tuesday despite Cleveland's playing its best game of the series. The Cavs' offense kept the ball moving and Orlando's defense guessing in the first half, a large reason for their taking an 8-point lead into the dressing room at the half. Were it not for the curious decision to revert to past iterations of their offense, which involve James over-dribbling before taking a contested jumper as his teammates stand idly by--what is it they say about old habits?--they might just have escaped Orlando with a win and thus a knotted series. And Cleveland, John Hollinger suspects, can live with Rafer Alston and Mickael Pietrus (a combined 11-for-23 on three-pointers in Game 5) lighting them up if it means fewer shots for Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, and Rashard Lewis. A few more post-ups for LeBron James and Delonte West offensively, and the same sound defensive effort that kept the ball out of Howard's sizable hands for most of Game 4, and Cleveland may just live to fight another day. Saturday at "The Am," to be specific.

Then again, there's an old axiom about letting sleeping dogs lie. And the Magic, for the most part, have been sleeping dogs. They have not done much boasting during this series. So, as the Orlando Sentinel reports, when they arrived at Quicken Loans Arena for their shootaround today and saw every clock in the building set to 1.0 seconds--the amount of time left when James hit his game-winning three-ball in Game 2--they were probably woken up a bit. And probably not too happy about that little tweak. But maybe the person responsible for setting the clocks just has a great sense of humor. Maybe he's reminding the Magic of how many times Cleveland has beat them in this series, or how many more wins the Magic need to advance to the Finals, or the number of Cavs players to exceed 18 points per game in this series. You know, that sort of thing.

If you ask Howard his keys to the game, he'll give you the Magic's party line about energy, defense, and rebounding. Thing is, he's right, particularly with respect to the second point. Containing James' supporting cast hasn't been much of a problem in this series, but role-players tend to perform better at home, so the likes of West, Daniel Gibson, and maybe Mo Williams could be in for better games. "The Q" is a notoriously difficult place to play--TNT analyst Kenny Smith told Shannon Owens it's "definitely no. 1" in terms of crowd excitement--but the Magic can handle it. If they've proven anything over the course of these playoffs, it's that they're up to any challenge.

The game tips at 8:30 on TNT.

2009 NBA Eastern Conference Finals
	vs.
Orlando leads, 2-1
May 26th, 2009
Amway Arena
8:30 PM
TNT
Probable Starters
Mo Williams	PG	Rafer Alston
Delonte West	SG	Courtney Lee
LeBron James	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Anderson Varejao	PF	Rashard Lewis
Zydrunas Ilgauskas	C	Dwight Howard
Game Officials
Scott Foster
Mike Callahan
Joe DeRosa
Series Central

The Orlando Magic, in whom almost nobody believed after they fell behind the Boston Celtics, 3-2, in the Conference Semifinals, are poised to take a 3-1 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Conference Finals. The Cavs, apart from league MVP LeBron James, have been unable to establish any sort of offensive rhythm. Meanwhile, the team's defense has mostly failed to take away the Magic's versatile offensive arsenal. In spite of all that, Cavs guard Mo Williams has guaranteed Cleveland will win tonight's game, and eventually the series.

Dwight Howard says he's approaching this game as though it's a Game 7. The Cavaliers might take a similar stance tonight, because if they lose, their season might as well be over. But given the way Williams has run his mouth in this series, he might guarantee the Cavs win the NBA Finals, the World Series, and the next season of Survivor, even after a loss tonight.

As always, the game tips at 8:30.