Boston-Orlando Game 7

The following are the keys to victory for each team:

Boston wins if:

1) Ray Allen has a big time shooting night. This guy has struggled mightily in this series and yet the Celts still made it this far. If he goes off, then look for Stan Van Gundy to go into panic mode.

2) Kendrick Perkins stays out of foul trouble. He is the only guy who can capably guard Dwight Howard.

3) Glen "Big Baby" Davis can consistenly hit that 15-18 foot jumper. This will force Orlando to guard him honestly, which allows Paul Pierce more room to operate.

4) Rajon Rondo gets to the basket

Orlando wins if:

1) Hedo Turkoglu shows up. Similar to Ray, Hedo has had a sub-par series. Unlike Ray, Hedo does not solely rely on his jump-shooting abilility. When the 6-10 ball handler penetrates, there are a variety of good things that can happen: a) he is able to get a lay in or bank-shot close to the basket; b) he sucks in the defense which enables him to kick out to wide-open shooters; or c) he misses the shot, but nobody is boxing out Dwight Howard, which usually allows "Superman" to dunk it back in.

Simply put, if Hedo plays well, there is no way that Orlando loses.

2) They allow Rashard Lewis to go at Baby and Brian "Jackie Moon" Scalabrine. They simply cannot check him.

3) Dwight Howard exploits his advantages (defensive rebounding, being an all-around force on defense, staying active inside the paint, and wreaking havoc on the offensive glass) and stays away from his weaknesses (his post game).

The following are things that the opposing team is hoping for:

Orlando hopes that:

1) Rajon settles for the jump shot

2) Stephon Marbury passes up wide open shots. Steph is a scorer at heart and his primary function off the bench is to spark the offense when Piere and/or Allen are on the bench, so when he's not taking being agressive, it ruins the flow of the Boston offense.

3) Ray Allen continues to miss

Boston hopes that:

1) Dwight Howard posts up Kendrick Perkins. Not only does this force Orlanndo into the stagnant "stand around and hope that Dwight can at least put up a lefty-running hook shot from inside the free throw line" offense, it also contains the sizable possibility that Dwight commits a turnover.

2) Hedo settles for step back, fadeaway jumpers.

Prediction:

Orlando wins. They simply are the more talented team and I think that their recovery in Game 6 proves that Orlando is ready to move on to the next series. By my count, Orlando should have won 5 out of the 6 games already. Granted, should have is different than what actually happened, but I still think that the Magic have (has?..whatever) learned from those experiences. If Orlando sticks to their game, they should win.