"He's totally excited," said Ray. "I also talked to his mom and his dad. He's worked hard. I've told him to stay humble. Humility is everything. He deserves this."
If Howard is to get an NBA title at such a young age, the Magic will have to get past the toughest possible roadblock, the Lakers.
They advanced to the championship round by stunning the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games in the Eastern Conference finals. Even with the NBA's best all-around player in LeBron James on Cleveland's roster, the Magic were noticeably better.
The chiseled, powerful, and athletic Howard was too strong and quick for aging Cleveland centers Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace. The Cavs had no one to guard versatile 6-foot-11-inch forward Rashard Lewis and no one Lewis had to guard to keep him honest defensively. Cleveland had no one tall enough to guard 6-10 forward Hedo Turkoglu. Delonte West? Come on, Cleveland. Magic guards Rafer Alston, Mickael Pietrus, and rookie Courtney Lee couldn't have played better, either.
There was no team that mighty Cleveland matched up worse with in the East than Orlando. But the Magic powers that conquered the Cavs won't be as powerful against the athletic, tall, and experienced Lakers.
The Lakers have three 7-footers to toss Howard's way in Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and D.J. Mbenga. None of them will be able to guard Howard as well as Boston's brawny Kendrick Perkins did in the second round, but having three young 7-footers with 18 fouls to give certainly will help. Gasol also has the offensive gifts to make Howard work on the defensive end, as does Bynum at times.
Kobe Bryant is the most explosive scorer in the league and will keep Lee and Pietrus on their toes from tip-off to final buzzer. The slender Lewis will be challenged on both ends on the floor by a similar player in Laker reserve Lamar Odom, as well as Gasol. Lengthy Lakers small forward Trevor Ariza has the talent and size to make it tough on Turkoglu to score.
