“Every game we play is going to be the biggest game of the year…it’s in our hands.”

A few weeks ago, it was thought that Lamar Odom had seen the last of the Lakers. Candy Man fans feared that they would have to go out and buy Miami Heat gear and study up on Dwayne Wade, but luckily he’s been resigned to LAL. With the addition of Ron Artest this summer, it is likely that Odom will serve as the team’s sixth man back court. The starting line-up includes Artest, Bryant, Bynum, Fisher, and Gasol. The season doesn’t start till the end of October, but with Shaq on track to play with Lebron and the Celtics back in contention, it’s shaping up to be a good year.

“Suddenly, it seems as though all the world’s a-Twitter.”

The dust has settled in the wake of Magic’s defeat by the Lakers in Game 5 of the series on Sunday night. I can’t say that it was a shocker – Bryant, Gasol and Fisher were solid throughout the game and Odom showed up in a big way – but it was nonetheless disappointing. The Magic didn’t have a chance once the second half hit. It was the kind of close out game that I had no desire to finish watching; the last 5 minutes were just too painful. The finals are made for 1 2 3 point games, not 13 point deficits. Bitching aside, there are plenty of reasons why the Lakers won. The Lakers were the better team, and I must admit that I’m glad Kobe was crowned a champion without Shaq. Shaq manned up on his Twitter and gave credit where credit is due, saying

Congratualtions kobe, u deserve it. You played great . Enjoy it my man enjoy it. And I know what yur sayin rt now “Shaq how my ass taste ”

Howard has also been attentive to his Twitter, sending out updates all day yesterday about Magic’s defeat

i wanna thank all our true fans for believing in our team. and havin faith in us. we didnt reach our goal. but GOD is still good. love yall

im lookin forward to next season. and this summer to get better. we was so close. but sometimes u gotta learn how to lose to be a winner

and for everyone my head is not down. im ready to get better for next year. never hold ya head down. never. life is too short for that

Candy man Lamar Odom (who shot more threes in the last game than in the rest of the series it would seem), left his Twitter on a lighter and brighter note

Still can’t believe it! I’m in a daze. Going to celebrate all week!

I have a feeling Howard will be feeling the post-season blues for a long time to come. 2009 was a miss for both Howard and Lebron…but there’s always 2010.

“Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone.”

It’s as good as over. ORL lost Game 4 in overtime. How did it happen? I thought it was a sure thing! They came in with a great attitude, gunning to tie up the series, but lost it in a Failblog.org worthy overtime. Pietrus looked like he was hurting all night, and Howard just wasn’t on his game, but between Turkoglu, Lewis, Alston, and fresh-faced JJ, I really believed that we’d pull through. Enter Derek Fisher. How old is he, 40? The vet dominated and stole the game away from the Magic. Forget Kobe, Lebron…whoever the hell else. Last night, Fisher was King. I had to grin and bear it, sitting at a bar staring stupidly at the oversized flatscreen too shocked to drink my beer as Fisher scored that 3 to tie it up at 87, and Gasol DUNKed (that brace faced son of a…), and the crowd around me erupted into a grab bag of delighted screams and cheers, and belligerent drink induced boos. I weakly picked up my phone post game and tapped my Twitterfon app only to be informed by The_Real_Shaq that the winner of Game 4 has won the finals the last 9 of 11 times. So where do we go from here? ORL will no doubt regroup for Sunday night and come back with a vengeance, but so will LAL…they’ll be going into Game 5 with a 2 game advantage and the knowledge that they could close it out tonight. We’ll have to wait and see. Regardless, I’ll be back at a bar drinking $3 pitchers, watching the game, and cheering for Magic.