The Orlando Magic never deserved to lose more than they did on Thursday night at Amway Arena.
They lost more than a game. They lost faith, the public’s respect and – more than likely – the championship.
Derek Fisher’s Christmas Day-like postgame smirk said it all (as if the two he had after drilling his last two 3-pointers of game 4 weren’t enough). The Lakers’ 99-91 win over the Magic was a gift. Orlando did everything within its power to throw a season of efforts away in less than a minute.
The Magic led 87-82 with just over 30 seconds to go in regulation when Kobe Bryant got an outlet rebound off an Orlando miss and passed it off to a trailing Pau Gasol, who cut the lead to a three with a dunk. The Lakers’ next task was to play defense and get an opportunity to tie the game. There was a seven-second difference between game and shot clock time.
Los Angeles achieved its goal, but not the way it planned. Its horrid defensive possession allowed Magic center Dwight Howard to get wide open in the paint. Howard caught a pass almost under the basket and all alone, but along came Bryant, who had no choice but to foul him.
Here’s where the Magic started to become the sad joke of Orlando. Howard, not exactly known for his free-throwing prowess, missed both freebies, giving the Lakers life. “Superman” choked, and not exactly on kryptonite. He hadn’t done it alone on this night though. For the game, Orlando went 22-of-37 from the line. Howard accounted for eight of the 15 misses. Orlando’s version of Bryant – Hedo Turkoglu, an 80-percent foul shooter – was responsible for another five (the same number of misses Bryant had during Tuesday’s game 3). Who could win like that?
The Magic’s transformation into comedy continued just a minute after. Following a Lakers’ timeout, Orlando double teamed Bryant aggressively, trying to deny him the ball. Kobe got it anyway, but passed it ahead to Trevor Ariza, who gave it to Fisher. There were only six seconds left in the game and Fisher was dribbling in front of the three-point line with Magic guard Jameer Nelson standing well behind the same line for someone playing on a team that’s defending the most crucial three-point shot of the franchise’s history. Seeing the disrespect from Nelson as his chance to make himself public enemy No. 1 in Orlando, Fisher rose up for the game-tier and evened things at 87-87 with 4.6 seconds to go.
Turkoglu was sent to inbound the ball in the next possession. Why? Besides Rashard Lewis, Turkoglu is about the only player the Magic can count on when it’s crunch time. Turkoglu, who clearly has problems with ball-inbounding - not as bad as the Denver Nuggets though - had to pass it to Mickael Pietrus. The French’s attempt was rushed and off. The Lakers forced overtime.
By this point, it was clear the city’s franchise name shouldn’t be “Magic,” but “Illusion.” Still, Orlando went up by three after Lewis (six points) hit his second shot of the night (after scoring a combined 55 points over the previous two games). That was the last Magic field goal of the night. Orlando misfired on its next six shots, Howard missed one last free throw for good measure, and - moments later - Fisher was throwing in the go-ahead three-point dagger which gave Los Angeles a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
A couple of extra comedy bits as the game wound down in overtime: A Turkoglu miss got tapped all the way out to midcourt to an off-and-running Gasol, who dunked it for a five-point advantage with 21 seconds to play. Tukoglu slipped and fell down on the play. Even a clown had to get a chuckle out of that. Then, with the game all but sealed, Pietrus attempted to catch up to Gasol, who had the ball all alone under the rim. Pietrus tried to prevent the Spaniard from dunking in two easy points and, on the way, tattooed his hands into the back of the forward with a hard smack. Gasol confronted Pietrus, but kindergarten playgrounds have seen tougher scuffles. The game had been decided. Fisher, the hero, walked away with a smile and a fist up; and Howard, Pietrus, Turkoglu, Nelson and all that Magic disappeared – perhaps for good.
Game 5 is Sunday night in Orlando.
5 Comments
Double D
6/11/2009 03:45:03 pm
Good article man!! Pietrus might be suspended for that foul.. and you bring up a good point. If Dwight nails one of those free throws, it would have pretty much been game over. Superman's gotta work on those free throws this summer.
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Alonso Tacanga
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March 2016
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