Similar Road to Championships for Lakers, Penguins

At about this same time last year, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Pittsburgh Penguins' seasons had ended in disappointment as both teams were coming off six-game series losses in the Finals of their leagues, having been defeated by the Boston Celtics and the Detroit Red Wings, respectively. But after having come so close last year, the Lakers and the Penguins were finally able to win this year. Here's how they did it.

REGULAR SEASON

Lakers: The Lakers cruised through the regular season and finished with an NBA-best 65-17 record, clinching a playoff spot long before the season was over. The Lakers play in the Pacific division, which was by far the NBA's worst division this year, with the Lakers being the only team in the Pacific divsion to make the playoffs. They were a combined 14-2 against their inter-divisional rivals (the Suns, Warriors, Clippers and Kings), while losing only 5 games on home court. Reigning MVP Kobe Bryant led the team once again in scoring, averaging 26.8 points and almost 5 assists per game.

Penguins: At the beginning of February, the Penguins were sitting in 10^th place in the Eastern Conference, and it looked unlikely that the team would make the playoffs given their recent play. But the turning point of their season came on February 15, when head coach Michel Therrien was fired and replaced with former NHL player Dan Bylsma, who was coaching the Penguins' AHL affiliate club the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. In 25 games under Bylsma, the team finished the season with an amazing 18-3-4 record, and in the process they not only made the playoffs, but they clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs by finishing in 4^th place. Penguins star center Evgeni Malkin led the team, as well as the league in scoring, finishing with 113 points.

PLAYOFF ROUNDS 1-3

Lakers: The Lakers finished 1^st in their Conference, but faced a tough opponent in their first round series, the Utah Jazz, who had managed to beat the Lakers once during the season and who were the only team to beat the them in the pre-season. Despite not playing their best basketball at the beginning of the series, the Lakers won the series in five games, with efforts of 38 and 31 points by Kobe in games 4 and 5 respectively.

In the second round, the Lakers faced the Houston Rockets, who would ultimately be the their toughest opponents in the 2009 playoffs. The Rockets stunned the basketball world by winning game 1 100-92 on the Lakers' home floor. The Lakers would regroup by winning games 2 and 3, but the Rockets did not give up and won the next game. With the series tied at 2, the teams exchanged wins, and the series would be headed to a 7^th and deciding game in Los Angeles. Unfortunately for Houston, who were already without Tracy McGrady for the whole playoffs due to injury, their other star player Yao Ming sustained a devastating injury during this series, and the Rockets came up short of shocking the basketball world once again, with the Lakers taking game 7.

In the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers went on to face the Denver Nuggets, another difficult test. Led by the likes of Carmello Anthony, Chauncey Billips and Kenyon Martin, the Nuggets had the offence and defence to match up well with the Lakers. Most of the games were very close, with some being decided on free-throws. However, the Lakers proved to be too strong for the Nuggets and won the series in six thanks to the strong play of Kobe Bryant and the likes of Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza.

Penguins: By finishing 4^th, the Penguins benifited from home-ice advantage when they met their inter-state rivals the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the playoffs. These two teams had met the year before in the Eastern Conference finals, with the Penguins coming on top, so surely the Flyers would want to avenge that loss. However, the result would be the same as the Penguins eliminated the Flyers once again. This time the Flyers offered greater opposition, with the series going to six games, and with the Penguins having to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the sixth game to finally win that game 5-3 and moving on to the second round.

Pittsburgh's second round series against the Washington Capitals was one of the most anticipated playoff matchups in recent memory, as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin's Penguins would face off against Alexander Ovechkin's Capitals in the battle of the superstars. The NHL and hockey fans everywhere couldn't have hoped for a better series than this. The Capitals started strong, winning the first two games at home, only to see the Penguins win the next three. The Capitals won game 6 in overtime, sending the series to a 7^th and deciding game, where the Penguins dominated their opponents by winning 6-1. Five of the seven games were decided by one goal, including two games that went to overtime. Game 2 of the series saw both Crosby and Ovechkin score a hat-trick, with Washington winning 4-3 in a thriller. After going through a hard-fought seven game series, would the Penguins be able to keep up their stellar play in the next round?

Fatigue was not even a slight concern for the Penguins, as they would show in the third round by sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes in four one-sided games. The Penguins averaged 5 goals a game during the series and looked dominant all the way through, winning three of the four games by at least three goals.

FINALS

Lakers: In the NBA Finals, the Lakers faced an upstart Orlando Magic squad. The Magic were making their first Finals appearance in 14 years and were the clear underdogs in the Finals despite having already defeated the NBA's best team this year, Lebron James's Cleveland Cavaliers, in the previous round. Additionally, the Magic had beaten the Lakers in the two games that they teams played against each other in the Regular Season.

The Magic started off strong in the first game, taking the lead after the first quarter, but the Lakers came back stronger in the second quarter and never looked back, winning Game 1 by 25 points (100-75), with Kobe putting up an impressive 40 points along with 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Game 2 was a much closer contest, with the teams tied at 88 with 0.6 seconds left in regulation. The Magic had possession of the ball, and they worked their in-bound play to perfection, however Courtney Lee missed a wide-open and potential series-changing lay-up, so the game went to overtime and the Lakers came out on top once again.

The series now shifted to Orlando, with the home team being down 2-0. The Magic came out firing in Game 3 and shot a field goal percentage of 65%, an NBA Finals record. The Lakers played poorly but still kept the game close, ultimately losing by a 108-104 margin. The Lakers' poor play continued in Game 4, but again they were able to keep the game close. Down by 5 with 31 seconds to go, the Lakers forced overtime thanks in part to 2 missed free throws in the dying moments of regulation by Dwight Howard. The Lakers were dominant in the extra period, outscoring the Magic 12-4 and taking a commanding 3-1 series lead into Game 5.

It was more of the same in Game 5, with the Magic playing great in the first quarter and breaking down in the second. The Lakers went on a 16-0 run and never looked back, winning their fourth NBA Championship of the decade. Kobe Bryant was named Finals MVP, averaging a superb 32.4 points along with 7.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game.

Penguins: The Penguins faced the Detroit Red Wings in a rematch of last year's Stanley Cup Finals, with last year's six-game defeat still fresh in their minds. The core players on both teams were still the same, with the difference being that Marian Hossa, who played for Pittsburgh in 2008, was now a Red Wing.

In Game 1, Detroit once again proved that they were an experienced and relaxed team, winning by a score of 3-1 while getting two goals from unlikely sources in defenseman Brad Stuart and rookie Justin Abdelkader. Game 2 was a case of different game, same result as the Red Wings once again won 3-1 and once again recieved goals from unlikely sources in defenseman Jonathan Ericsson and Abdelkader.

Pittsburgh were going back to their home ice, but they faced an almost impossible task: they had to win 4 of the next 5 games against the defending champs, and they needed to win at least once on the road. They got that mission off to a good start as they defeated the Red Wings 4-2 in Game 3, with Maxime Talbot scoring the game's first and last goals. Almost the same scenario repeated itself in Game 4, as the Penguins won by the same score as the previous game, but this time they got goals from their two superstars Crosby and Malkin.

With the series headed back to Joe Louis Arena, the defending champs wanted to make a statement that they were not going to panic despite losing two games in a row, and they did just that by crushing the Penguins in a 5-0 victory.

The same exact scenario as last year was presenting itself again in front of the Penguins, who with a loss were going to see the Red Wings celebrate another championship on Mellon Arena ice. But Pittsburgh played an excellent game, and they were able to squeak out a 2-1 victory, forcing a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final.

Game 7 was one of the most exciting hockey games in recent history with the Penguins doing the unlikely and winning a Game 7 on the road by the tiniest of margins. Maxime Talbot stepped up big time and scored the game's first two goals, the second turning out to be the Cup clincher. The Red Wings got one back late in the third period, and almost forced overtime with two seconds left in the game, but Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made a spectacular diving save on a shot from Nicklas Lidstrom to seal the win for his team. Malkin was named Finals MVP, becoming the first Russian ever to capture the Conn Smythe award given to the Stanley Cup Finals MVP.