I was badly mistaken by thinking the Magic would fall to Cavaliers in the East. I originally had the Lakers losing to the Cavs in the Finals, so those plans have changed. Instead, I'm going to take the Lakers and Kobe Bryant to get the ring this time around. Shaquille O'Neal tweeted today that he wants Kobe to get his fourth ring, and I am on that same bandwagon.

The series will probably come down to how well the Magic shoot it from downtown, with guys like Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher, Hedo Turkoglu, Rafer Alston and Mickael Pietrus holding the keys in the match up. That said, Kobe is still the best player in this series, and while I believe the teams to be evenly matched, Kobe should end up being the difference maker. If the Magic are hitting their threes, they're going to be very hard to beat. But teams who typically live and die with the long ball usually end up dying in the long run. The Lakers haven't exactly been dominant in the playoffs, but this is the Finals and they have two things working in their favor: Kobe and home court advantage. I wouldn't put it past Stan Van Gundy to outcoach Phil Jackson in this one, but I still think Kobe and L.A. will pull it out in Game 7 at L.A. We shall see.