LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are two of the most prominent names in the history of the NBA. Evidently, fans always loved to see matchups between them in the regular season.
With that being said, fans also wanted to one day see a LeBron James vs. Kobe Bryant final. The closest that fans ever got to seeing that matchup was back in 2009. But that dream matchup was ruined by the Orlando Magic by eliminating LeBron and the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Hedo Turkoglu, who was a member of the 2009 Orlando Magic, recently shared his thoughts on how it felt to ruin that once-in-a-lifetime matchup.
“Man, it was weird in the beginning. We were underdogs, and nobody was expecting us to win,” Turkoglu revealed in a recent episode of ‘The Knucklehead Podcast.'”It happened so fast, like by the time you get there, you meet LeBron and the number one team in the league. The way we won it and the way we played – we pretty much came with that mentality like, ‘Okay we’re better than them, we deserve to be here and we have a chance to be in L.A.’”
Turkoglu further explained how defeating the LeBron James-led Cavaliers made the Magic a championship contender.
“The thing is, it happened so quickly that it didn’t change the way we played. That’s how it helped our motivation, our focus and by the time we won after six games, we were kind of accepting who we are. Then okay, we are who we are. But at the beginning, nobody was expecting us.”
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Turkoglu and the Orlando Magic may have advanced to the 2009 NBA Finals, but their journey ended with losing in five games to Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers.
How Was Hedo Turkoglu’s Experience Of Facing The Kobe Bryant-Led Los Angeles Lakers?
In the 2000s, the Los Angeles Lakers were one of the top teams in the Western Conference. So playing against the Lakers in the NBA Finals was a dream come true for many teams during that era.
In the same podcast episode, Turkoglu shared his experience of facing the Lakers in the 2009 NBA Finals.
“Being in that NBA Finals, you’re pretty much one of the most famous guys in the whole world. Everybody’s looking at you. When you play against the Lakers versus Kobe, Pau and those guys, there’s even more interesting. Even against the Cavs it was against LeBron so there’s even more attention. People will look and ask, ‘Who is this team?’ Who are these guys?’ You would see celebrities and you’ll get starstruck. So, it was different man, it was different.”
All things considered, the 2009 Orlando Magic was a special team, but they will always be remembered more for ruining the chances of fans seeing a LeBron vs. Kobe Finals, rather than what they achieved that season.
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