The dream matchup of a perfect, epic final is slowly fading away for the NBA. What was once thought to be a lock is now slowly disappearing. If I were the gambling type I would have put some serious cash on LeBron James and his Cavs completely annihilating the Magic. I would have thought Kobe Bryant would have torn through the Nuggets. But then again sports and their athletes are fickle and anything can happen to change what had all but been assured.

Now don’t get me wrong, a Cavaliers-Lakers matchup could shake out to be the final, but all signs point to at least a few games of the championship being played in Orlando (not Cleveland). The Lakers are heading back to the finals after destroying Denver in game six, but people weren’t exactly thinking about a Kobe/Dwight Howard dream final—no offense to Howard, but this is the MVP’s team he could possibly oust.

So without a dream final what do fans have to look out for? Well, luckily just because sports are unpredictable does not mean that they are lifeless. Yes, a series minus LeBron would be a surprise to fans a few weeks ago (especially those in Cleveland who believed LeBron when he said his range was “unlimited”) but this does lead to the underdog storyline that audiences crave. Orlando fought their way through the playoffs with seven torrential games against Boston, eventually taking the series in the Celtics’ house. This is now the team that is likely to win against the Cavs—a team led by the league’s MVP who is putting up 30 plus points a game. This Orlando team is just the little engine that could. So why not root for the little guy, why not hope for a series that includes the underdog?

So Orlando wasn’t the dream we all thought about. No we didn’t play scenarios in our heads about Dwight battling Kobe and the Lakers. But sports are a world of unpredictability, where every team can have its night and turn their season around. While David Stern and networks may worry over this series not being as hyped as a Cavs-Lakers final, it’s still something to get excited about. Whether it’s the Cavs or Orlando, who take on L.A. this is still the NBA Playoffs and like the commercials say this is “where amazing happens.” So even if King James doesn’t end up facing KB24 we should just sit back, watch and enjoy it anyway because sports, like life, are unpredictable.

Photo: AP

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