2008-09 NBA Finals

Result

Games

Finals MVP

Kobe Bryant. Bryant averaged 32.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game and was named Finals MVP, his first title and Finals MVP award earned without Shaquille O'Neal as a teammate.

Series context

The Lakers entered the 2009 Finals as heavy favorites, having gone 65-17 in the regular season to claim the top seed in the West, and having survived tough playoff series against Utah, Houston, and Denver. Orlando, led by Dwight Howard, was something of a surprise finalist: overshadowed all season by the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and the defending-champion Boston Celtics, the Magic nonetheless beat Philadelphia, stunned Boston in a Game 7 road win, and then eliminated LeBron James's Cavaliers in six games to reach their first Finals since being swept in 1995. The series opened with the Lakers dominant in Game 1, a 100-75 rout in Los Angeles. Games 2 and 4 both went to overtime, with Los Angeles escaping each time to push toward a commanding lead. Orlando's lone win came in Game 3, giving the Magic their first Finals win in franchise history. But Los Angeles closed the series in Game 5, winning 99-86 to clinch the title 4-1 and secure the franchise's 15th championship. The matchup was nicknamed the 'Disney Series' since both teams were represented by Disney-owned broadcast partners and both metro areas hosted a Disney theme park. Individually, Howard set an NBA Finals single-game record with nine blocked shots in Game 4, underscoring his dominance as a young defensive force even in defeat. Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, who had been Olympic teammates on the gold-medal 2008 U.S. 'Redeem Team' in Beijing, faced off as opposing captains. For the Lakers, the title was also a milestone for head coach Phil Jackson, who won his 10th championship as a head coach, surpassing Boston legend Red Auerbach for the most titles by any coach in NBA history. This series capped the transitional post-Shaq era for the Lakers, cementing a core built around Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom that would return to the Finals the following two seasons, while for Orlando it represented the high-water mark of the Dwight Howard era before the franchise's gradual decline. Orlando's Game 3 win was itself a record-setting performance, as the Magic shot 63 percent from the field for the game and an even more remarkable 75 percent in the first quarter, both Finals records, though it remained the franchise's only victory in what had been an 0-6 all-time record in Finals games before that night. The series was also notable for its pace of overtime drama, marking the first Finals since 1984 to feature two overtime games. Individually, Bryant was named Finals MVP after averaging 32.4 points, 7.4 assists, and 5.6 rebounds across the five games, a scoring-and-playmaking combination that observers compared to Jerry West's 37.9 points and 7.4 assists in the 1969 Finals. The championship also carried international significance, as Pau Gasol became the first Spanish-born player to win an NBA title, while reserve center D.J. Mbenga became the first player of Belgian-Congolese background to do so. Los Angeles's title additionally made Bill and Luke Walton just the third father-and-son pair in NBA history to each win a championship. Jackson's playoff teams had, to that point, gone 44-0 in series after winning Game 1, a streak the Lakers extended by taking the opener in Orlando.

Sources

• Wikipedia - 2009 NBA Finals
• Basketball-Reference - 2009 NBA Finals