LINEUP

NBA PREVIEW

58 Dwight Howard

After an ugly exit from Orlando, he's showing his fun-loving side in Los Angeles

BY LEE JENKINS

64 Pick-and-Roll

Teams are relying more than ever on this simple—yet unstoppable—standby

BY LEE JENKINS

78 Predictions

It's LeBron's league, and no team will beat the Heat until it figures out how to stop him

BY IAN THOMSEN

82 Scouting Reports

The skinny on all 30 teams: scout's takes, fast facts, best- and worst-case scenarios

FEATURES

WORLD SERIES PREVIEW

36 Miguel Cabrera

The game's best hitter, the sport's biggest stage: This is what a Fall Classic should be

BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG

MEDIA

44 Joe Buck

In a climactic month when his worlds collide, we are reminded that he's as good as it gets

BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG

PRO FOOTBALL

50 The 63-Yard Kick

Four men share the most mysteriously enduring record in sports—which could fall any day

BY TIM LAYDEN

DEPARTMENTS

4 SI Digital

6 Leading Off

12 The Mail

14 Editor's Letter

17 Scorecard

Doping after Lance's fall

22 Faces in the Crowd

24 Just My Type

Aaron Rodgers, NFL fan

BY DAN PATRICK

26 Inside ...

COLLEGE FOOTBALL NFL | MLS | NASCAR

124 Point After

Oh, woe are the Yankees

BY PHIL TAYLOR

SI HAS REGIONAL COVERS THIS WEEK

ON THE COVERS: Photographs by Peter Read Miller (Lakers Steve Nash and Dwight Howard), Damian Strohmeyer (Tiger Miguel Cabrera).

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PHOTO

MARK J. TERRILL/AP

L.A. STARRY The new constellation of Lakers—(from left) Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Metta World Peace, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol—was built to win now.

TWO PHOTOS