Magic Choke Away Another One Late

Somehow the Orlando Magic find themselves done, down 3 games to 1. The Magic could easily be up 3-1. After being blown out in Game 1, Orlando has actually outplayed the Los Angeles Lakers the last 3 games.

Boy, does experience matter. Orlando was a missed layup away from winning Game 2. They had no chance in OT. And last night, they controlled the entire first half, blew the game in the third quarter, and then came back and had the game wrapped up in the 4th.

But honestly! Do basketball players not watch other basketball games? Do they not learn from experience? Do they not understand Basketball 101?

With Orlando in control in the final minute of Game 4, up 3 points, Dwight Howard bricked two crucial free throws. Howard only needed one to basically seal the deal. And even missing both shots from the charity stripe, the Magic were still up 3 with less than 10 seconds remaining.

All they had to do was defend the three point shot, something you would think Orlando knows a lot about. And if LA doesn't drive the ball for an easy two, FOUL the guy before he has a chance to shoot a 3! Like I said before, Basketball 101!

Not only did Orlando fail to foul Derek Fisher, Jameer Nelson failed to get up in Fisher's grill and contest the shot.

Did we not learn anything from Memphis and the 2008 NCAA Championship Game? No, not cheating on your SAT's.

I know you can't put the total blame on the players. A lot has to fall on Stan Van Gundy who very much played the role of the Master Of Panic last night. I don't know what he told his team on that possession, but I hoped he told them to foul once the Lakers moved the ball past half court.

By not fouling Fisher, Van Gundy gave Phil Jackson, one of the most overrated coaches in NBA history, his record 10th Finals ring. I will write an article on why Jackson is one of the most overrated coaches in all sports in some other time. Really not much explaining to do there.

Orlando should have won last night's game by double digits. The reason they lost, free throws! Larry Bird used to call them "free points." The Magic were 22-37 from the "free point" line, just under 60%.

And with the game tied 91-91 with just over a minute to go in OT, it seemed like the Lakers had the ball an eternity. How many chances did Orlando give them before Fisher hit the game clinching 3? Like the whole second half, Orlando failed to crash the boards as a team.

And Kobe got away with a huge no call on Fisher's trey. Kobe hit Jameer hard with an elbow to a face that should have been an easy offensive foul. But at the same time, what's been fun about the last few games is the fact that the refs have been letting the teams play.

Kobe Bryant is the epitome of a street baller. You know, whenever he misses a shot, his hands immediately go up in the air and he has that astonished look on his face. "What! No Foul?!" Whenever he loses the ball, the same surprised expression. Everyone's played a pick up game with a guy similar to this. And how fun is that?

We've always heard about how important experience is when it comes to the NBA Finals. There was the Piston's trying to get over the hump in the late '80s. Even Jordan had his learning experience before polishing off 6 rings.

This same Lakers' team couldn't get over the hump last year against Boston, but are now proving last year's Finals lost has been a major stepping stone. But hey, you wouldn't think that with guys like Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher would need a learning experience.

The last three games of the NBA Finals have been great with two overtime games. But you could just feel Orlando not having the magic to finish a game off. (I know, good one.) If Kobe and the Lakers hadn't struggled from the line in Game 3, this very well could have been a sweep.

And speaking of Magic, one final note (since this will probably be my final post for a couple of weeks, I'm moving and will actually be going back to work for a week.)

I miss Charles Barkley and TNT's NBA coverage. I've heard that TNT's crew is covering the Finals on the NBA Channel. That must be on the same satellite feed as Versus, I don't get it but wish I did. I can't stand ESPN's studio crew and don't care to watch it. Really no personality there. Stuart Scott is stuck in 1997 and thinks he is still cool. Was he ever? I don't even know what Barry that is on the show. And Mike Wilbon, well, since the popularity of PTI, Wilbon has grown a huge head and is so stuck on himself that he's more worried about going out and being seen at the big city clubs. Like he's some big time celebrity.

And Magic Johnson? Yeah, Magic is one of the best players to ever dribble a basketball. But last night during ESPN's halftime "show," I heard Magic say, "Like I said before the game, if Odom, Gasol, Ariza and Fisher don't shoot well, the Lakers won't win."

Really Magic!!! That's the best your basketball mind can come up with? Duh! That's like saying the team that scores the most points will win the basketball game.

What's even worse, I'm sure on the postgame show, Magic said something like this, "I told you before the game those four players need to shoot the ball for Lakers to win. And the second half they came through." Note: I have yet to see the postgame "show."

How right you are Magic.

As for Orlando, do they really want to win Game 5 and have to travel back to LA and get blown out.

Kobe Leads Lakers As Magic Disappear

When Kobe gets that look in his eye, Mamba's zoned in and there's no stopping him. Kobe single handily took over Game 1 of the NBA Finals as the Lakers routed Orlando.

LA basically only needed the 2nd and 3rd quarters to seal Game 1. Orlando actually had the lead after the first and were even up 33-28 in the second quarter when Mamba stole the show. Bryant had 30 points in a 16 minute span from the second quarter into the the third. The game was well over by the start of the 4th quarter.

In 38 minutes, Kobe had 40 points, 8 boards, 8 dimes, 2 steals and 2 blocks while hitting some ridiculous shots.

As for the Magic, call it stage fright. They just couldn't hit anything. You know the old saying, "Live by the 3, die by the 3. After putting on a 3 point clinic against Cleveland, Orlando shot just 8-23 from downtown in Game 1. The Magic shot 30% overall.

And it's not like the Lakers were playing great defense. Orlando had their shots, but they just couldn't hit anything from wide open 3's to missed layups. A lot of their shots weren't even close.

How does Dwight Howard only attempt 6 shots, making just 1! Howard did get to the line 16 times but finished with only 12 points. The Lakers outscored Orlando 56-22 in the paint.

Mickael Pietrus was the Magic's leading scorer coming off the bench with 14.

The entire starters for Orlando had a combined 46 points, shooting 11-46. That's 24%! Kobe had 40 by himself!

The good news for Orlando, it's just one game. We've seen this team catch fire and when they do, the best player on the planet can't stop them. They've dug themselves deep a couple of times in the playoffs. They were down 2-1 in the first round to Philadelphia. In the Conference Semifinals, they were blown out in Game 2 at Boston. They were down 3-2 to the Celtics.

The bad news? Phil Jackson coached teams are 43-0 when they win Game 1 of a playoff series.

One other note. The Conference Finals wrapped up last Saturday night. That's a 4 day layoff. And now Game 2 of the Finals isn't until Sunday night, at 9pm EST. That's one! playoff game in a week! What the hell are you thinking David Stern. Especially after last night's blowout Game 1, this great post season has quickly lost momentum. Why not Game 2 Saturday night prime time. Do you realize how many people will be turned off by the Game 2 late start on a Sunday night. Did you look at the World Series ratings in the last few years?

And it's between Games 1 and 2! It's not like there's travel involved between the games.

Magic Put A Choke Hold On Cavaliers, Go Up 3-1

Hold up on producing more of the Kobe/Lebron puppet commercials, as much as I love them. And the Vitamin Water "Great Debate?" Gatorade might want to go after Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony. So far the winner of the advertising sweepstakes might have to be T-Mobile, although I don't know one person who subscribes to T-Mobile as their carrier.

I'll tell you right now why Orlando is so good and have dominated Cleveland in the last 3 plus years. Orlando's game plan is basically playing 4 guards/small forwards and one dominate big guy. The Magic try to work the inside game with Dwight Howard, if he's double teamed, they can kick the ball out to where they seem to have 2 to 3 guys wide open. If you don't double team Howard, Superman will eat you up. See the overtime period in last night's game.

And with Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao, the Cavaliers basically start two centers. On the defensive end, neither Ilgauskas or Varejao can take on Howard one on one. And with Orlando's other 4 players on the floor being so quick and athletic, Ilgauskas or Varejao will caught inside and never make it out to defend the 3. We've seen Varejao in Game 1 get burned by having to come out and try to guard Rashard Lewis's game winning 3.

And with the smaller lineup, the Magic are able to quickly get back down the court and halt any fast break points for the Cavs.

And speaking of Rashard Lewis. Lewis has turned into Robert Horry in this series with his clutch shooting. It was Lewis who hit the dagger 3 in Game 1. And it was Lewis who hit the biggest shot of the game in last night's Game 4. With Orlando down 98-97, Lewis hit a turn around 3 to put the Magic up 2 with 4 seconds left.

The play of the game occurred right before that shot. Mickael Pietrus missed a 3 and Delonte West failed to secure the rebound as both he and Howard fell to the floor and the ball went outbounds giving Lewis and Orlando one more shot.

And Pietrus has been amazing off the bench. If there was a "6th man of the playoffs," it would have to go to Pietrus who had 17 off the bench.

With Shaquille O'Neal sitting courtside, it has been Stan "Master of Panic" Van Gundy who has done a tremendous coaching job. In overtime last night Mike Brown decided to go small and defend Orlando's outside game leaving Varajao guarding Howard one on one. Howard had his way in the overtime with 10 points, 8 of the 10 coming on dunks or layups.

How was Mike Brown the Coach of the Year? He played Lebron James the entire second half and overtime, giving James no rest. Brown never seemed to call a play on the offensive end, giving the ball to Lebron and basically telling Lebron, "Your the coach, you need to do everything. You see Van Gundy running up and down the sideline motivating his team and Brown just stands there looking lost in space, not even breaking a sweat.

Yeah, Lebron carried the team again with 44, but James also had 3 turnovers in the last 3 minutes of regulation and 3 more turnovers in OT. Some one else needs to step up for Cleveland.

All 4 games have been really competitive with 3 of the 4 games coming down to the last shot. Cleveland has lead at halftime in 3 of the four games, but have crumbled in the second half. The Cavaliers have been known for their defense, but have a hard time getting a stop when they need it.

And we all credited the acquisition of Mo Williams, but he's failed to show up in this series and when Cleveland needs him most. After guaranteeing victory last night, Williams went 5-15 from the field and didn't score after the third quarter.

Williams and Delonte West were a combined 0-6 from downtown.

Hey, let's face it. Maybe Cleveland isn't the team we thought they were. They had a dominate regular season, but they beat up on the inferior competition and won the games they were suppose to win. They were 1-2 against Orlando. 0-2 against the Lakers. 1-1 vs. Houston. 2-2 vs. Boston. There's 7 of their 16 losses. They did go 2-0 against Denver but both those games were earlier in the season when the Nuggets hadn't quite gelled yet.

And Cleveland was 2-2 against the Washington Wizards, a team that only won 19 games.

Now Cleveland has their backs to the wall and now must win 3 straight against a team they've only beaten 4 times in the last 3 years. Orlando is a team that lives and dies by the 3. They've definitely been living so you would think there due to cool off. History and stats are greatly against Cleveland, but you can never count out a Lebron James team.

These playoffs may just be the best ever.

Magic Hand Cavs First Playoff Loss

Wow! What a game! Maybe the best game of the year so far. It's definitely up there with the Lakers overtime win at Boston back in February. And you can pick a few of the games from the epic Chicago/Boston series.

Orlando did something that had only been done twice in 45 games at Quicken Loans Arena, beat Cleveland. The Magic did something which hadn't happened in the postseason, beat Cleveland.

Halfway through the game, it looked like Cleveland was gonna roll to another double digit playoff win. They were having their way with the Magic. Lebron was dominating, the Cavs were hitting their shots and they led by as many as 16. Mo Williams even calmly drained a 67 foot shot to end the half. We've all seen the highlights of the Cavs playing Horse during their time off.

And anyone who questions Lebron's outside jump shot, he was hitting from everywhere on the court, shooting 20-30 from the field and finishing with a career playoff high of 49 points.

But a funny thing happened in the second half. It was Cleveland, not Orlando who blew a double digit lead. And Lebron's supporting cast failed to show up.

After hitting just 2 three pointers in the first half, the Magic went 7-12 from downtown in the second. Orlando outscored the Cavaliers 30-19 in the third quarter to pull within 4. Lebron scored 13 of Cleveland's 19 in that quarter.

The fourth quarter was dramatic basketball. Orlando was able to steal the lead and even led by as many as 4. But Lebron willed his team back in the game. And Mo Williams and Delonte West, who both struggled shooting, each hit a key 3 to keep Cleveland in it.

It looked like Lebron had the dagger when he drove to the basket on Dwight Howard drawing Howard's 6 foul and getting the and 1. The Cavs were up by 2 with about 26 left.

A great call by Steve Van Gundy to go for the 3 and win. Dwight Howard had just fouled out so there was no way Orlando would win in overtime on the road. Rashard Lewis hit his biggest shot of his career with the winning 3 with just 14.7 left.

Cleveland got one more shot and you knew who was getting the ball and taking it to the rack. Orlando closed in hard on Lebron with 3 defenders and Lebron quickly kicked it out to Williams who found a wide open Delonte West. But West couldn't get the shot to drop. Moments ago, West had hit the same shot.

Still, Lebron hustled to wrestle the down the rebound and it turned into a jump ball. Lebron tipped the ball to Williams who nearly made an impossible shot.

Orlando's Big 3 of Howard, Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu were huge down the stretch. Cleveland has no answer for Howard down low. Howard dominated the paint and finished with 30 points and 3 rebounds.

Lewis had just 5 points in the first half but was Mister Clutch. Along with the game winner, Lewis had 15 second half points.

And how about Turkoglu? After inconsistent play for most of the playoffs, Turkoglu has been solid in back to back games. After setting his personal playoff best with 12 assists in Game 7 against Boston, Turkoglu dished out 14 dimes tonight in Game 1.
He finished with 15 points.

For Cleveland, Bron-Bron had one his best all around games ever with 49, but Williams and West shot a dismal 10-32.

The biggest factor of this game, the bench. It's been said that Cleveland has one of the best second 5's in the league. They were outscored by Orlando's bench 25-5! Mickael Pietrus came off the bench with 13 points for Orlando.

And the night before we saw Kobe hit all his free throws down the stretch, Lebron missed 3 crucial foul shots in the fourth quarter.

Game 2, a must win for the Cavaliers, is Friday night. Enjoy the Conference Finals. Both series's should be a real treat.