The celebration began for the Los Angeles Lakers during a timeout with 40 seconds to go on Sunday night, but their 15th NBA title had already been wrapped up long before that though. It didn’t take much from there to make it official either, by way of a 99-86 Game 5 decision over the Orlando Magic at Amway Arena.

Despite the efforts of the Magic, who got off to a furious start in the opening quarter of the deciding game but deteriorated in the second half, the Lakers methodically dismantled Orlando on their home court to cap off a 4-1 series win. It was 11 points from Kobe Bryant in the first quarter, a go-ahead three-pointer from Trevor Ariza in the second quarter, big three-pointers drained by Lamar Odom in the third quarter, and the efforts of L.A.’s supporting cast down the stretch that ensured the closeout. Handshakes and hugs were then passed around as civilians from the dejected city of Orlando could only look on. Or away.

And with that, Bryant and Derek Fisher earn their fourth NBA titles and head coach Phil Jackson officially goes down as the greatest coach in NBA history. Or is it the greatest in sports history? Jackson now owns every possible career playoff coaching record and finally stands alone atop the championship mountain after having now won 10 titles in 12 trips. As amazing as it was for spectators to be a part of what Red Auerbach had accomplished, back when he guided the Boston Celtics to nine titles over 10 years, two decades worth of basketball fans from each coast have bared witness to the greatness that is the Zen Master.

Quote of the Night – ”I really don’t think people appreciate how great this guy is,” said Mark Jackson about Kobe Bryant after watching him knock down a tough shot. “I learned early on as a broadcaster that you don’t want to throw around the word “great.” Well, I’m going to go out on a limb and say this guy is great.”

Best Advertisement –  The lonely-LeBron puppet commercials, where he says “good luck buddy” while watching Kobe on TV and then counts down to next season while doing curls in Kobe’s gym, shows that Nike knows no limit to how far they’ll take their superstar marketing campaign. Check out more puppetry at Nike Basketball. And prepare for more, more, more Kobe and LeBron for years to come.

Makes Me Wonder – How many roster changes will take place between these two teams before the start of next season. If these teams can’t find a way to keep key ingredients such as Turkoglu, Gortat, Ariza and Odom, will they be able to replace them with the kind of talent that helps basketball teams advance to the Finals?

For Stats Sake – Bryant wrapped up this series by earning the NBA Finals MVP Trophy after going for 30 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals in Game 5. Lamar Odom recorded 17 points, 10 rebounds and hit 3 three’s, Pau Gasol had 14 points, 15 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 assists, and Trevor Ariza had 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 three-pointers for the champs. The Magic went 8-for-27 from long distance, were outrebounded by 11, and had 8 shots blocked by L.A.

Free Throws – Not counting foreign-born players, four players who entered the NBA straight out of high school were starters in the 2009 NBA Finals. Among them were Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard for Orlando and Bryant and Andrew Bynum for Los Angeles… What would have become of the Magic if Billy Donovan had not run back to the University of Florida a couple years ago and Stan Van Gundy had instead taken over as head coach of the Sacramento Kings?… Anybody know where I can get a highlight tape of NBA player Rafer Alston imitating those AND1 guys I see on TV, like when he passed the ball between his legs to Lewis as he trailed from behind in the first quarter or went behind-the-back in the post to avoid a defender a couple games ago? Oh wait, never mind…

 –– Further Analysis from the Joint Contrast Crew ––

== Says J.C. – As lopsided as a 4-1 series sounds, it looked much closer than that in the grand scheme of things. Not to say that the Lakers weren’t the better team, but think about it. Going into Game 5, this series easily could have been 3-1 the other way around had those two overtime games ended as planned for the Magic. But they didn’t. And just as what happened in Detroit two days earlier when Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup on the road, Orlando fans had to watch the visiting team celebrate during the trophy presentation on their home floor. Again. The same sort of thing took place back in 1995 after the Houston Rockets swept through town. The one glaring similarity between this Magic team and the one that advanced to the Finals all those years ago is that a franchise-caliber center led the charge each time. It was Shaquille O’Neal back then. It’s Dwight Howard now. But will this version crumble from the inside out like that team did more than a decade ago? This summer will be an interesting one in Orlando.

== Says Ray-Ray – First off, I’d like to congratulate the Orlando Magic on a great season and an amazing playoff run that carried them to the Finals. On that note, hell of a job Lakers! That was a damn good closeout game. Defensive tenacity, attacking the rim, rebounding, shot blocking, steals and hitting the big shots. But, that double clutch pump-fake fadeaway shot, and the floater over Howard, were astounding plays by Finals MVP Kobe Bryant, aka The Black Mamba. This effort showed the work he has put in, and just how hard he played in this series to win it all and finally get out of Shaq’s shadow (whether he will admit it or not). The defense by Ariza (thanks for the trade, Orlando), the big three-pointers by Odom, an all-around great series for Gasol (thanks again, Memphis), combined with the leadership and some huge shots from Fisher, showed the all-around team effort it takes to win in the Finals. This series showed how size truly does matter, in the NBA that is. We saw how it worked for both teams. How having some of the best and most agile big men in the league being able to control the inside, as well as guard the outside, and how both teams utilized their size in each matchup on their way to this point were needed. And speaking of the Finals, do you realize that each time Phil Jackson has started a championship run he has three-peated? So lets see how L.A. does next year. In closing this series of thoughts, I would like to send a shout out to Jackson for getting No. 10 and becoming the winningest coach in NBA history. And by the way, badass hat he was wearing afterwards.

== Says TimS – The NBA Playoffs. Where amazing happens. Except in the Finals. The epic Bulls-Celtics series. The back and forth heroics in the Boston-Orlando series. Denver manhandling their way to the Conference Finals. Cleveland embarrassing the Pistons and the Hawks, then getting embarrassed by the Magic. It was all so exciting. And then we get this horseshit series. Even when it was close it was never competitive. Dwight’s underdeveloped post game was exposed. Pau Gasol got uglier with every possession and Kobe often displayed his Thug Poet face (seriously, am I the only one that remembers that shit?). After watching him make that ridiculous face over and over I’m wondering if he learned it from that Mormon girl he ass-raped a few years ago (she might not have said “no”, but I bet she said “no, not there”). They we may never know, we did find out that Odom loves Sour Patch Kids more than basketball and that Trevor Ariza is, well, we found out that Trevor Ariza is going to be a rich man. So as the season comes to a close I anticipate one thing happening next year at this same time. The greatest rap duet ever: “Kobe, Tell Us How Our Asses Taste“ by King James and Shaqfu.

–– Further Coverage from the Joint Contrast Crew ––

Check out our exclusive NBA Finals coverage of Game 1, Game 2, Game 3, and Game 4.

= June 6, 2009

== John Q. Public ==

What do you get when a Bostonain writes about sports from New York? A sports blogger with a pretty high opinion of himself. And a hula hoop, of course. whether shittin’ on the Braves, big-uppin’ Trevor Hoffman or selecting which song lyrics might fit nicely as an opener, John Q provides an amusing read.

== Potholes In My Blog ==

Two individuals that originally connected through OkayPlayer.com launched this site a year ago. Among the recent album reviews were write-ups on Cage (3.5 out of 5), The Regiment (4 out of 5), Busta Rhymes (2 out of 5) and J Dilla (3 out of 5). Don’t miss out on the “Capuletgo, Please!” track by Objektiv One while you’re there.

== The Urban Daily ==

A chance to listen to Jay-Z’s “Death of Autotune” track is reason enough to pay a visit. Other than that you’ve got loads of hip-hop gossip and roundups to read through. But it you haven’t seen it yet, look out for the link from Rolling Stone that provides a breakdown of The Making Of De La Soul’s 3 Ft High And Rising.

= June 3, 2009

== Culture Bully ==

This Minneapolis-based music blog has provided daily news updates, band features, album reviews and interviews since April 2005. Recent additions are a new Soul Assassins video, Blueprint album review and footage of several live performances such as Pearl Jam‘s recent appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brian.

== Fanhouse ==

If wasting hours upon hours each week watching and reading about sports is considered a good time in your world, then this Website may be of interest to you. Recent posts include one aimed at David Stern, a not-so-tough decision for Stan Van Gundy, funny NBA press conferences and the crazy Kimbo Slice. Bonus points are given, from my point of view, for being able to continue reading Tim Povtak after his untimley departure from the Orlando Sentinel.

== Golden State of Mind ==

This Golden State Warriors fan site continues to keep up with the NBA postseason despite the home team watching from the sofa. The site features poll questions (such as “Would Stephen Curry be a good pick for the Warriors at the #7 spot?”) and a number of opinions. My favorite post came on Monday, entitled “Which Team and Former Golden State Warriors are you rooting for in the 2009 NBA Finals? + The Disney Finals.” Pretty interesting to get an outsiders take on some of this stuff.

== MFJoe ==

Two-thirds of the pro sports teams in Pittsburgh have had plenty to brag about over the last several years. Though the only thing I think is cool about sports in that place is the way they all share the same color scheme, which to honest is pretty damn cool. Joe reminded me of this with a recent post about a sneaker collection sporting the yellow and black of the Steel City. Of other interest though is a book suggestion and a link to get a caricature created of yourself.

== North American Allied Fight Series ==

Remember back in March when we featured Mixed Martial Artist Ryan “The Lion” Madigan? Well, he’s competing this Saturday at Fight Nite in the Flats V in Cleveland at the Nautica Pavillion. Madigan is gunning for the first championship of his career against Brendan “The Devastation” Seguin, as the winner earns the Pro Series Welterweight Title.

Saturday began the fest of college football bowl games to be played over the next three weeks, leading up to the National Championship showdown between No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Florida.

Included is a breakdown of how 14 unofficial Joint Contrast contributors view the outcome of all 34 bowl games for the 2008-09 season. We’ll return after it’s all said and done to review the outcome of our panel.

-- Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Tim Tebow of Florida gets twisted by two Michigan defenders in last year's Capital One Bowl in Orlando. This year the Wolverines are stuck watching the College Football Bowl season from their dorm rooms while the Gators play for their second title in three years. (Photo by Scott McCall) --

The Details: Though the committee is deadlooked on matchups involving Boise State/TCU, Hawaii/Notre Dame and Kentucky/East Carolina, they are in total aggreance that Texas Tech will defeat Ole Miss and Missouri will handle Northwestern.

Just as lopsided are predictions of South Florida over Memphis (13-1), Georgia over Michigan State (13-1), USC over Penn State (13-1), Maryland over Nevada (12-2), Kansas over Minnesota (12-2), Texas over Ohio State (12-2), BYU over Arizona (11-3) and Alabama over Utah (11-3). By a 10-4 margin Wake Forest was selected to get the win over Navy, Fresno State over Colorado State, Central Michigan over Florida Atlantic, Florida State over Wisconsin, Oklahoma State over Oregon, Houston over Air Force, Boston College over Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech over LSU.

Closer though are 13 games that may help decide bragging rights, at least until the March Madness Tournament gets underway in a few months. Among those predictions are Southern Miss over Troy (8-6), California over Miami (8-6), NC State over Rutgers (8-6), Rice over Western Michigan (8-6), Oregon State over Pittsburgh (8-6), South Carolina over Iowa (8-6), Clemson over Nebraska (8-6), Buffalo over Connecticut (8-6) and Ball State over Tulsa (8-6).

North Carolina is favored over West Virginia (9-5), Louisiana Tech over Northern Illinois (9-5), Virginia Tech over Cincinnati (9-5) and Florida over Oklahoma in the title game with an average overall combined score of 60 points.

What This All Means: Actually, nothing really. Especially when you consider the rooting interest that each of the 14 panelists have in such a contest. There are fans of the Fighting Irish, Seminoles, Buckeyes, and of course Gators, that made these picks. And you best believe that of this collective are selectees who have quite the dislike for many of the qualifying teams. So if your stuck on who you might pick in some of these matchups I encourage you to proceed with caution. Or just pick the team that suites up in your favorite colors if you can’t decide.