Blew another one

I picked Denver to play Orlando in the NBA finals and by now all NBA fans know that's not going to happen. Everyone is crediting the Laker's new-found intensity for their dismantling of the Nuggets last night. I'm not to sure that's the case. To me, the Nuggets looked tired, as though the strain of the 82-game season and the playoffs finally got to them. Many of the players on this team weren't even born the last time the Nuggets made it to the Western Conference finals so playing this many games in a single season was a new experience for them. All you have to do is look at the Denver-Dallas series to realize the Nuggets, at their peak, play with an energy level that's difficult to match. Last night (and the night before as well) they seemed to have simply run out of energy.

But I'm still going with Orlando to win the East and I'm picking them to wrap it up tonight. Orlando just looks better than Cleveland. Look, if it wasn't for that dramatic LaBron James three-pointer with a second left, Orlando would have swept this series. And James is not going to continue to get the favorable calls from the refs he has been getting (i.e., when James stumbled over his own two feet in Game 4 and, instead of calling him for traveling, the ref called a foul on Orlando that resulted in James hitting a pair of free throws that sent the game into overtime). Of course, Michael Jordan proved that refs usually will give star players more leeway.

The only thing Cleveland really has going for it is the fact I'm picking Orlando.