postmortem

The LA Lakers did not win the NBA Finals.

That is not a bitter statement coming from a self-confessed Kobe-hater (for at least 70% of his basketball-following existence) who incidentally has lost all four bets he made against the Lake Show throughout these Playoffs.

The Lakers did not win the NBA Finals because the Orlando Magic lost it.

The latter had all the chances in the world to turn it into their fairytale. You know, the one with an unlikely character facing multiple stumbling blocks then defying the odds and singing happy songs at the end.

This one had the unlikely character and the multiple stumbling blocks, just not the rest. And the Magic have no one to blame but themselves.

Sure, the Lakers were good. I do understand that they have the best scorer on earth today, an offensively gifted center, two versatile inside-out forwards, and a veteran sweet-shooting court general.

And then they also have Sasha Vujacic. (The last one was sarcastic, in case you didn't notice).

But you would be foolish to think that Dwight Howard and his crew did not have enough in them to stay competitive and shock the Purple and Gold. They did. They just weren't able to show it when it mattered the most.

And for this debacle, most pundits are putting the blame on Stan Van Gundy. The Ron Jeremy-clone turned from being touted as a miracle worker (after they disposed of the top-seeded Cavs) to being labeled as "Stan Van Goofy." His personnel and play-by-play decisions have been questioned by even the little known taho vendors on the streets.

But now that it's done and over with, do I really think that he made stupid decisions? No, I don't. I stand by my belief that those are not stupid decisions, just ineffective ones. Unfortunately for him, the repercussions of his strategies (or non-strategies as some may point out) were huge. And he ended up as the biggest goat out there.

Now where do they go from here? Can they make the big leap next year or is this the Dallas Mavericks circa 2006 all over again?

Well, first things first, they need to retain the core of this team and allow the youngsters to polish up on their individual talents. If they can also add a low-post scoring power forward who fits into their offensive system and can defend taller 4's or 5's, I think they'll have another good shot.

After all, these kids have shown that they can learn. And then maybe, when they find themselves in a similar stage anytime soon, the happy songs will finally be there.