Lakers Beat Magic in 5; Win 2009 NBA Championship

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers beat Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic in five games to win their 15th championship in franchise history and first since 2002. Bryant was named finals MVP averaging 32.4 PPG.

This is the first championship for Kobe Bryant without Shaquille O'Neal, the sweetest one of them all, and fourth one overall. With the win over the Magic, many of the Lakers players will be getting their first ring but head coach Phil Jackson now has a total of 10 rings combined as a player and a coach.

Game 1 in Los Angeles was a blowout for the Lakers as they won by 25 points, 100-75, as Bryant scored a game-high 40 points. Game 2 was also in L.A., but this game was a lot closer than the first one. The Lakers jumped out to a five point lead at the half but the Magic came back to tie the game at the end of regulation. Courtney Lee missed a tough layup with a second left and the game was sent into overtime. Pau Gasol scored seven big points in the OT period, as Los Angeles took Game 2 by the score of 101-96, and a 2-0 series lead in the NBA Finals.

Down 0-2 in the series, the Magic had to be happy to be back home in Orlando. It showed, as the Magic took their first lead at halftime, but only by two points. Game 3 was close throughout with lead changes late in the game. Orlando made their free throws late and hung on for a 108-104 win to cut the series lead in half. Game 4 was in Orlando again and started out very well for the Magic, as they built a comfortable 12-point lead at halftime. But that lead was gone in the third quarter when L.A. outscored Orlando by 16 points. Orlando regained the lead late in the fourth quarter and even had Dwight Howard at the free throw line with 11 seconds to go and the Magic up by three points. Howard missed both free throws and the Lakers got the ball. Instead of fouling and putting the Lakers at the line to shoot two, Orlando opted to let the Lakers shoot and Derek Fisher made the 3-pointer with four seconds left to put the game into overtime. Fisher made another big 3-pointer in OT, and Pau Gasol put the game out of reach as the Lakers won 99-91 in OT to take a 3-1 series lead.

The Lakers closed out the series in Game 5 at Orlando when they jumped out to a quick ten-point lead at halftime and led the whole way, winning 99-86 and capturing the NBA title.

The Magic are now 0-2 all-time in NBA Finals series. Their only other appearance in the NBA Finals was in 1995 when they were swept by the Houston Rockets. Dwight Howard and coach Stan Van Gundy may be criticized for some of the plays they made throughout the Finals, but they deserve recognition for making it to the NBA Finals and beating the defending champions Boston Celtics and #1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers.

This was the second straight season that the Los Angeles Lakers made it all the way to the NBA Finals. They improved on last season's result, a 4-2 series loss to the Boston Celtics.