3 votes – Dwight Howard. After waiting 8 days for their second round opponent, you could have forgiven the Magic for being a little rusty. Right? Wrong. Not only did they convincingly win, it was one of those flat-out embarrassing wins that has the potential to destroy the soul of your opponent, with lingering effects. Leading that destroyation was Mighty Dwight, who barely played two-thirds (29 minutes) of this game but clocked up 21 points (on 8-10 shooting), 12 rebounds and 5 blocks. Mega. He made an absolute mockery of “All-Star” center Al Horford who registered a paltry 4 points and 6 rebounds, or in other words, about half what I average in my Thursday night B-Grade team. “All-Star” my ass.

2 votes – Kobe Bryant. In many ways better than his effort in Game 1 that earned him 3 votes. The reason being that Kobe really moved in this game. He was driving and twisting and hanging and dunking like we haven’t seen Kobe do for quite some time. It was ominous. After the game Kobe simply put it down to getting healthier, which amazes me – how do you “get healthier” after a long season when you’ve got a handful of injuries and you now need to start playing longer and harder? If it’s true, and from watching Kobe on this day it seems to be, then the Lakers might be on the verge of playing their best ball of the season.

1 vote – Lamar Odom. Only Lamar could turn in a game like this but still be talked about as the 3rd or 4th best player on the day. Check this stat line for just 29 minutes: 11 points (on 4-4 shooting), 15 boards, 4 assists and 3 blocks. Odom, along with Gasol and Bynum helped the Lakers enjoy a massive advantage on the boards (58 rebounds to 40) and blocked 13 shots in total. Again, the word to describe it is ominous. The advantage the Lakers have over this Utah Jazz team is the same advantage they’ll have over the Spurs/Suns and Celtics/Cavs/Magic, and that is size. Last year it was Gasol and Odom shouldering the interior load, with Bynum just a shadow of his current self. This year that frontline is 150% times better. Scary thought.

1. Catching up in Singapore
2. Handing out the Hardware in 2010-2011
3. Gasol to the Lakers
4. Bloggin the Mavs vs Lakers
5. Day 10 - Judgement Day

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