Thursday, June 11, 2009
Fisher saves Lakers in Game 4
ORLANDO, Fla. — Kobe Bryant is one win from an NBA title to call his own.Derek Fisher got him there.Fisher forced overtime with a 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left in regulation and then drilled another one with 31.3 seconds to go in overtime as the Los Angeles Lakers outlasted the Orlando Magic 99-91 in Game 4 on Thursday night to open a 3-1 lead in the NBA finals.It was the first time since 1984, when Magic Johnson's Lakers and Larry Bird's Celtics hooked up, that two games in a finals have gone to overtime.When the clock expired, Bryant, trying to win his first championship without Shaquille O'Neal, looked at Tiger Woods and wiped sweat from his brow in relief. Fisher, who has bailed out the Lakers in plenty of big games before, thrust both arms in the air in triumph.The Lakers can wrap up their 15th title on Sunday night in Game 5.Bryant finished with 32 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Trevor Ariza and Pau Gasol each had 16 for Los Angeles, which came back from a 12-point halftime deficit. Ariza had 13 of the Lakers' 30 points in the third quarter.The Lakers are 7-0 following a loss in this postseason.Unless they can force a Game 6, the Magic will remember this as another finals game that got away.Dwight Howard was magnificent everywhere but at the free-throw line. Orlando's superman of a center had 16 points, 21 rebounds and a finals-record nine blocks. But he made just 6 of 14 foul shots, and it was his two crucial misses with 11.1 seconds to go in regulation that doomed the Magic.First, Fisher, who has made a career of hitting memorable shots in clutch situations, pulled up and without hesitating dropped a 3-pointer over Orlando's Jameer Nelson with 4.6 seconds left to tie it 87-87. The shot stunned the Magic's maniacal crowd, which was hoping the home team could win its second straight finals game after dropping its first six."I was just going to take over and kind of survey the situation but Nelson was giving me a lot of space and I like to step into those 3s," Fisher said. "Even though I wasn't making them, I felt like I could do that. I felt good to help the team that way."Fisher had missed his first five 3s, but came up with one the little left-hander will cherish forever."My teammates and my coaches kept giving me that confidence to continue to believe in myself," Fisher said. "I wanted to come through for the guys."Just as they did in Game 2, Orlando had one final try, and this time guard Courtney Lee, who misfired on a tougher-than-it-looked layup in that loss, wasn't on the floor. The Magic inbounded the ball to Mickael Pietrus, but his long and contested jumper was off.Bryant scored two quick baskets in the overtime, and Howard tied it when he split two free throws with 1:27 remaining.On L.A.'s next trip, Ariza grabbed his own miss to get another 24 seconds and Fisher lined up and drilled his 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 94-91.As he retreated down court and Orlando called a timeout, the Lakers bench stormed onto the court and surrounded the popular 34-year-old Fisher, who came back to the team after a short stint in Utah.The Lakers spent the first half in foul trouble, complaining to the officials and generally out of sorts. Ariza was given a technical for slamming the ball to the floor and coach Phil Jackson got T'd up for shouting something from his high chair on L.A.'s bench.Appearing in their 30th finals, the Lakers acted more like first-time visitors to a city choked with tourists."Fakers!" yelled one Magic fan."Cry babies!" screamed another.The Los Angeles players and coaching staff slowly left the floor at halftime facing a 12-point deficit and seemingly in trouble.They came back a different team.After going just 1 of 10 on 3-pointers in the opening half, the Lakers made three straight 3s — two by Ariza — to start the second half, and when Bynum made two free throws with 5:58 left in the quarter Los Angeles was up 55-54, its first lead since 8-7.Odom dropped another 3, Orlando's J.J. Redick matched it and the Lakers forward made a layup to give Los Angeles a 63-61 lead.On Orlando's next possession, Howard grabbed a rebound just outside the lane that Bryant wanted more. Reaching in, he tore the ball from Superman's powerful grip and then broke free from his Olympic teammate, who grabbed him around the waist.Bryant, Fisher and the Lakers, shooting for redemption after losing to Boston in last year's finals, wouldn't be denied.Comeback commandos in these playoffs, the Magic now must put together their biggest rally.They've been rallying all spring. They twice trailed Philadelphia in the opening round before sending the 76ers off to summer camp. Then, they fell behind Boston 3-2 but stormed back and dethroned the defending champions in a Game 7 on the road.Given little chance against Cleveland, they toppled King James in six games and wrecked the Kobe-LeBron dream finals.They didn't come close to matching their record 63 percent shooting effort in Game 3 and now have to hope they can come up with something as remarkable before their act vanishes.NOTES: Among the celebrities on hand: Tiger Woods, Dwyane Wade and Hulk Hogan. Hogan came up from behind and scared the unsuspecting Woods. ... Bryant (707) passed Dennis Johnson (676) for 16th place on the finals scoring list. Next up is Bob Pettit (709). ... Gasol laughed when a large group of Lakers fans chanted "We want tacos!" during pregame warmups. In Los Angeles, fans are rewarded with coupons for free tacos when the Lakers hold an opponent under 100 points.
Hot shooting, balanced scoring lift Magic in Game 3
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Missing for two games, Orlando found its Magic touch.
Making easy shots and tough ones from everywhere, the Magic won their first game in two visits to the NBA Finals as Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis scored 21 points apiece in a 108-104 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 on Tuesday night to pull within 2-1.
Orlando shot a finals record 62.5 percent -- including another record 75 percent in the first half -- to snap a six-game Finals losing streak and avoid falling into an 0-3 hole that 88 previous teams in postseason history have been unable to escape.
Fast Facts
• The Magic picked up their first NBA Finals win in franchise history, improving to 1-6 all-time.
• The Magic shot a Finals record 62.5 percent from the floor.
• The Lakers tied an NBA record by losing their seventh straight Finals game on the road. The Fort Wayne Pistons lost seven straight from 1955-56.
-- ESPN Stats & Information
"Well, it was going in the basket. That always works," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "That formula's always tried and true."
In the series opener, the Magic couldn't hit the Pacific Ocean, making only 29.9 percent and were blown out by 25 points. In Game 2, they were only slightly better, shooting 42 percent in an overtime loss. But back on their home court, where the baskets seem wider and more welcoming, the Magic shot their way back into this series.
As Shaquille O'Neal, still a presence long after leaving both franchises, posted on his Twitter page following the game: "By george I think we have a series."
The Magic have a shot. No doubt.
Kobe Bryant, seeking a fourth title and his first since 2002, scored 31 points for the Lakers but the superstar had just 10 points in the second half and went only 4 of 15 from the field after the first quarter. He also missed five free throws, points that could have given the Lakers that 3-0 lead.
Game 4 is Thursday night, and Game 5 -- now necessary -- will be at Amway Arena on Sunday.
The Lakers, going for their 15th title and looking to redeem themselves for losing to Boston last season, have lost their stranglehold over the Magic.
Hot Shots
The Magic set an NBA record for highest field-goal percentage in a Finals game.
Team
Pct.
Opp.
2009 Magic
62.5
Lakers
1991 Bulls
61.7
Lakers
1987 Lakers
61.5
Celtics
1985 Celtics
60.8
Lakers
"This is a tough team, not a cupcake team," Bryant said. "Extremely well coached, execute well and we've got our work cut out."
With their season 48 minutes from all but disappearing, the Magic, hosting their first Finals game since 1995, had five players score at least 18 points. Rafer Alston, who was just 3 of 17 from the field in the first two games, had 20 and Hedo Turkoglu and Mickael Pietrus 18 each.
"We lost two games, but there's no need to roll over," Howard said. "It's a seven-game series. A team has to beat you four times to end the series and we felt good knowing that we had three games at home."
Pau Gasol scored 23 points but had just three rebounds and the Lakers were only 16 of 26 from the line.
For a while, it appeared the Magic, who shot just 36 percent while dropping Games 1 and 2 at Staples Center, couldn't or wouldn't miss.
From 20 feet, swish. From 10 feet, nothing but net. Layups, runners, banks, pull-ups, didn't matter. You name it, if it went up, more times than not it went in.
"We lost this game on the defensive end," Bryant said. "We had been playing very good defense and the team tonight shoots 62 percent from the field."
Orlando made 24 of 32 shots in the first half and only cooled off a little in the third quarter as they entered the fourth at a 65 percent clip and clinging to an 81-75 lead.
Bryant sat out the first 4:47 of the fourth, and when he finally subbed in, the Lakers were still down by five and unable to do anything to stop the Magic's marksmanship.
But then, Orlando began to misfire at the worst time possible.
2009 NBA Finals
Want an in-depth look at the Lakers-Magic series? Check out all the stats, analysis and opinion here:• Lakers-Magic page
After Pietrus was long with a wide-open 3, Gasol was fouled at the other end and made two free throws to make it 99 all with 2:41 remaining. Orlando's rowdy crowd, which waited 14 years for a chance to welcome the Larry O'Brien Trophy to town, grew nervous.
"Oh, boy," muttered one fan near the media section.
But Pietrus calmed fears by dunking in a rare miss to put the Magic up two, and when Lewis hit a jumper -- it was originally called a 3 but replays showed his right foot was on the line -- Orlando was up 104-101.
Howard was called for a questionable foul on a drive by Bryant, who then split his two free throws. When he went to the Lakers bench during a timeout that followed, Bryant hit himself in the head for letting two more valuable points slip away.
Orlando couldn't capitalize, though, and the Lakers got the ball back when Lewis missed a baseline jumper and the rebound went off him and out of bounds.
Bryant, who scored 17 in the first quarter and 21 by halftime, then maybe tried to do too much. He crossed over to get past Pietrus, but Howard, the league's defensive player of the year known mostly for his blocks underneath, made like a point guard and tipped the ball away. Pietrus was fouled and made both to make it 106-102.
The Lakers suddenly became desperate. Instead of working the ball into Gasol or Lamar Odom, they fired away from outside.
They couldn't shoot with the Magic.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson couldn't find any fault with his team's low rebounding total.
"What kind of rebounds are they going to get?" he said. "Making the amount of shots they made, there's not a whole lot of rebounds to be had out there."
Bryant missed a 3, Trevor Ariza misfired on one, Bryant clanged another and Derek Fisher was long as the Lakers went 0 for 4 on a possession where they had to have points. Bryant did score on a putback with .05 seconds left, but it was too late and although there was still time left, confetti began to fall to the court.
Jackson felt Bryant looked tired down the stretch.
"We're all frail as humans," he said. "Sometimes not as much as others."
Orlando, which was swept by the Houston Rockets 14 years ago, could finally celebrate winning one on pro basketball's biggest stage.
Bryant fouled Lewis with 0.2 seconds to go, and as Magic fans hugged and danced at an outcome they longed for, he dropped two more to seal it.
The last time Orlando hosted a finals game, Howard was a 9-year-old kid in Atlanta and O'Neal was the Magic's Superman.
Outside the cramped arena, which had a red Superman cape hanging off one wall, Orlando fans, one of them dressed as Jack Nicholson and carrying a sign that read: "Jack, You Can't Handle The Truth," gathered on the sidewalks hoping this would be a night their team could get back into the series.
They believed.
This was their magic night.
Game notesOrlando's 0-6 start in the Finals was the second longest in league history, surpassed only by the Baltimore Bullets, who dropped their first nine. ... Van Gundy, a college point guard at SUNY-Brockport, still holds the school record for free throw accuracy (154 of 171), a mark he dismisses. "I probably got to the line 120 times in four years," he said, "and I was playing for my father. So that tells you how good I was. I was an awful player."
Making easy shots and tough ones from everywhere, the Magic won their first game in two visits to the NBA Finals as Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis scored 21 points apiece in a 108-104 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 on Tuesday night to pull within 2-1.
Orlando shot a finals record 62.5 percent -- including another record 75 percent in the first half -- to snap a six-game Finals losing streak and avoid falling into an 0-3 hole that 88 previous teams in postseason history have been unable to escape.
Fast Facts
• The Magic picked up their first NBA Finals win in franchise history, improving to 1-6 all-time.
• The Magic shot a Finals record 62.5 percent from the floor.
• The Lakers tied an NBA record by losing their seventh straight Finals game on the road. The Fort Wayne Pistons lost seven straight from 1955-56.
-- ESPN Stats & Information
"Well, it was going in the basket. That always works," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "That formula's always tried and true."
In the series opener, the Magic couldn't hit the Pacific Ocean, making only 29.9 percent and were blown out by 25 points. In Game 2, they were only slightly better, shooting 42 percent in an overtime loss. But back on their home court, where the baskets seem wider and more welcoming, the Magic shot their way back into this series.
As Shaquille O'Neal, still a presence long after leaving both franchises, posted on his Twitter page following the game: "By george I think we have a series."
The Magic have a shot. No doubt.
Kobe Bryant, seeking a fourth title and his first since 2002, scored 31 points for the Lakers but the superstar had just 10 points in the second half and went only 4 of 15 from the field after the first quarter. He also missed five free throws, points that could have given the Lakers that 3-0 lead.
Game 4 is Thursday night, and Game 5 -- now necessary -- will be at Amway Arena on Sunday.
The Lakers, going for their 15th title and looking to redeem themselves for losing to Boston last season, have lost their stranglehold over the Magic.
Hot Shots
The Magic set an NBA record for highest field-goal percentage in a Finals game.
Team
Pct.
Opp.
2009 Magic
62.5
Lakers
1991 Bulls
61.7
Lakers
1987 Lakers
61.5
Celtics
1985 Celtics
60.8
Lakers
"This is a tough team, not a cupcake team," Bryant said. "Extremely well coached, execute well and we've got our work cut out."
With their season 48 minutes from all but disappearing, the Magic, hosting their first Finals game since 1995, had five players score at least 18 points. Rafer Alston, who was just 3 of 17 from the field in the first two games, had 20 and Hedo Turkoglu and Mickael Pietrus 18 each.
"We lost two games, but there's no need to roll over," Howard said. "It's a seven-game series. A team has to beat you four times to end the series and we felt good knowing that we had three games at home."
Pau Gasol scored 23 points but had just three rebounds and the Lakers were only 16 of 26 from the line.
For a while, it appeared the Magic, who shot just 36 percent while dropping Games 1 and 2 at Staples Center, couldn't or wouldn't miss.
From 20 feet, swish. From 10 feet, nothing but net. Layups, runners, banks, pull-ups, didn't matter. You name it, if it went up, more times than not it went in.
"We lost this game on the defensive end," Bryant said. "We had been playing very good defense and the team tonight shoots 62 percent from the field."
Orlando made 24 of 32 shots in the first half and only cooled off a little in the third quarter as they entered the fourth at a 65 percent clip and clinging to an 81-75 lead.
Bryant sat out the first 4:47 of the fourth, and when he finally subbed in, the Lakers were still down by five and unable to do anything to stop the Magic's marksmanship.
But then, Orlando began to misfire at the worst time possible.
2009 NBA Finals
Want an in-depth look at the Lakers-Magic series? Check out all the stats, analysis and opinion here:• Lakers-Magic page
After Pietrus was long with a wide-open 3, Gasol was fouled at the other end and made two free throws to make it 99 all with 2:41 remaining. Orlando's rowdy crowd, which waited 14 years for a chance to welcome the Larry O'Brien Trophy to town, grew nervous.
"Oh, boy," muttered one fan near the media section.
But Pietrus calmed fears by dunking in a rare miss to put the Magic up two, and when Lewis hit a jumper -- it was originally called a 3 but replays showed his right foot was on the line -- Orlando was up 104-101.
Howard was called for a questionable foul on a drive by Bryant, who then split his two free throws. When he went to the Lakers bench during a timeout that followed, Bryant hit himself in the head for letting two more valuable points slip away.
Orlando couldn't capitalize, though, and the Lakers got the ball back when Lewis missed a baseline jumper and the rebound went off him and out of bounds.
Bryant, who scored 17 in the first quarter and 21 by halftime, then maybe tried to do too much. He crossed over to get past Pietrus, but Howard, the league's defensive player of the year known mostly for his blocks underneath, made like a point guard and tipped the ball away. Pietrus was fouled and made both to make it 106-102.
The Lakers suddenly became desperate. Instead of working the ball into Gasol or Lamar Odom, they fired away from outside.
They couldn't shoot with the Magic.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson couldn't find any fault with his team's low rebounding total.
"What kind of rebounds are they going to get?" he said. "Making the amount of shots they made, there's not a whole lot of rebounds to be had out there."
Bryant missed a 3, Trevor Ariza misfired on one, Bryant clanged another and Derek Fisher was long as the Lakers went 0 for 4 on a possession where they had to have points. Bryant did score on a putback with .05 seconds left, but it was too late and although there was still time left, confetti began to fall to the court.
Jackson felt Bryant looked tired down the stretch.
"We're all frail as humans," he said. "Sometimes not as much as others."
Orlando, which was swept by the Houston Rockets 14 years ago, could finally celebrate winning one on pro basketball's biggest stage.
Bryant fouled Lewis with 0.2 seconds to go, and as Magic fans hugged and danced at an outcome they longed for, he dropped two more to seal it.
The last time Orlando hosted a finals game, Howard was a 9-year-old kid in Atlanta and O'Neal was the Magic's Superman.
Outside the cramped arena, which had a red Superman cape hanging off one wall, Orlando fans, one of them dressed as Jack Nicholson and carrying a sign that read: "Jack, You Can't Handle The Truth," gathered on the sidewalks hoping this would be a night their team could get back into the series.
They believed.
This was their magic night.
Game notesOrlando's 0-6 start in the Finals was the second longest in league history, surpassed only by the Baltimore Bullets, who dropped their first nine. ... Van Gundy, a college point guard at SUNY-Brockport, still holds the school record for free throw accuracy (154 of 171), a mark he dismisses. "I probably got to the line 120 times in four years," he said, "and I was playing for my father. So that tells you how good I was. I was an awful player."
Lakers need failed alley-oop, overtime to finish off Magic in Game 2
LOS ANGELES -- Stopped cold by a pick near the free-throw line, Kobe Bryant watched as Orlando's Courtney Lee headed toward the basket and a shot at history.
2009 NBA Finals
Want an in-depth look at the Lakers-Magic series? Check out all the stats, analysis and opinion here:• Lakers-Magic page
Bryant was frozen. Suddenly, the Los Angeles Lakers' march to a 15th NBA title -- and his dream of a fourth -- would be much tougher.
Lee's last-second shot went up, and went out.
Lucky.
The Lakers remain in control of the NBA Finals -- just barely.
Fast Facts
• The Lakers grabbed a 2-0 series lead and their fourth straight playoff win overall.
• In NBA history, when the home team wins the first two games of a best-of-seven series, they've gone on to win that series 94.2 percent of the time. Only three times in NBA Finals history has a team come back to win the series after losing the first two games (most recently the 2006 Heat).
• Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 29 points. Pau Gasol added 24 points and 10 rebounds for his 10th double-double in his last 11 games.
• Rashard Lewis led the Magic with a playoff career-high 34 points (including 18 of the Magic's 20 second quarter points) to go with 10 rebounds and a playoff career-high seven assists. His point total marked the most ever by a Magic player in an NBA Finals game.
• Dwight Howard became just the second player in NBA playoff history to amass at least 15 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocks in a playoff game. The other was Hakeem (Akeem at the time) Olajuwon in 1986.
-- ESPN Stats & Information More coverage:• Daily Dime: Lakers by default• True Hoop: Lee's moment gone bad
Lee missed a potential game-winning alley-oop as regulation ended, giving Los Angeles another shot it didn't waste. Pau Gasol scored seven points in overtime and Bryant finished with 29 as the Lakers, so dominant in the series opener, survived with a 101-96 win over the Magic in Game 2 on Sunday night.
"I was obviously relieved when he missed that shot," Gasol said. "It could have been a heartbreaker and right now we could be in a totally different situation."
If Orlando doesn't come back and win this series, Lee's miss may go down as one of the biggest gaffes in finals history. He had a chance to give the Magic its first finals win.
"We missed it. I don't know what else to say," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We executed well, Hedo [Turkoglu] made a great pass. I'm not trying to be a pain ... Hedo made a great pass and he just missed it."
Orlando may not get a better shot to beat the Lakers.
Alley-oops.
"We blew a lot of assignments tonight -- a lot of assignments -- and we still managed to get a win," Bryant said.
When it was finally over, Bryant, Derek Fisher and the Lakers jogged to the locker room, smiling and high-fiving fans along the way.
Hedo Turkoglu, who threw the perfect lob pass on Lee's ill-fated shot, trudged through the tunnel dejected, a towel hanging from his head.
Gasol added 24 and 10 rebounds and Lamar Odom 19 points for the Lakers, who won Game 1 by 25 but needed 53 minutes to put away the Magic.
Rashard Lewis scored 34 -- 18 in the second quarter alone -- and Dwight Howard had 17 points and 16 rebounds for Orlando.
Game 3 is Tuesday night at Orlando's Amway Arena, which will be hosting a finals game for the first time since June 9, 1995.
With the score tied at 88-88 in regulation, Lee missed the first of two late-game shots when he drove the lane and misfired on a contested layup with 10.5 seconds remaining.
Dodging Bullets
Game 2 marked the Magic franchise's sixth straight defeat in an NBA Finals game, placing Orlando three off the Washington Bullets' (now the Wizards) all-time record for most consecutive finals losses before earning a win.
Most Consecutive NBA Finals Losses By Franchise Before First Win
Team
Streak
Bullets
9
Magic
6
Nets
5
Cavaliers
4
The Lakers called time with 9.1 seconds to play, and after Odom caught the inbounds pass, he quickly gave it to Bryant, who drove into a crowd. Bryant attempted an off-balance 12-footer, but his shot was blocked from behind by Turkoglu with 1.8 seconds left.
The horn sounded, the clock expired to zeros and Jack Nicholson and the star-studded Staples Center crowd braced for overtime.
But the officials huddled at the scorer's table and decided to put 0.6 seconds back on the clock because Turkoglu grabbed the ball and called timeout.
Turkoglu couldn't find anyone open on the inbounds and was forced to call another timeout. On the Magic's second attempt, Lee got free on a perfectly executed play and caught Turkoglu's long lob pass as he neared the left side of the basket. But with 7-foot Gasol closing in on him, Lee's shot caromed off the backboard and front of the rim.
Howard dunked in the miss as Lee put his hands behind his head in disbelief and began a long walk back to the bench as his teammates tried to console him.
So close. So far.
"I caught it and just tried to make a play," Lee said. "We didn't lose the game just because I missed the layup. We could have won the game."
Howard, who had seven of Orlando's 20 turnovers, didn't want to put too much emphasis on Lee's miss.
"We had our chances to win," he said. "We turned the ball over too much. That got them the win."
Bryant, who got caught paying more attention to Orlando's outside shooters than Lee, knew how fortunate the Lakers were to hang on.
"It was just a brilliant play," Bryant said. "It was just a very, very smart play that he [Van Gundy] drew up. He knew my eye was more on the shooters coming up and just a hell of a play by a hell of a coach."
Fourteen years to the day, the Magic have more finals misery.
On June 7, 1995, Orlando had a chance to put Houston away in Game 1, but Magic guard Nick Anderson missed four late free throws in a 120-118 loss to the Rockets, who went on to sweep the series.
The Magic will head home thinking about what might have been. They could be tied 1-1, and with the next three games scheduled in front of their frenzied fans, they could have denied Bryant and the Lakers their first title since 2002.
Now, in a season of comebacks, they'll need their biggest one.
Bryant, who scored 40 in the opener, finished with eight assists and seven turnovers.
Lewis transformed into Orlando's version of Bryant in the second quarter, scoring 18 of the Magic's 20 points to keep them close. The 6-foot-10 forward's size and exceptional range make him an impossible cover for the Lakers.
With Howard unable to get open and Orlando's other shooters still searching for their touch, Lewis carried the load. He made four consecutive 3-pointers to end the half and the Magic, despite shooting just 32 percent, were within 38-35 at the break.
If not for Lewis, Orlando would have been in big trouble because Howard looked hopeless.
For a long stretch, Superman was more like The Invisible Man.
At times, it seemed as if there were six or seven Lakers on the floor as they swarmed Howard, who made just 1 of 4 shots and had four turnovers.
"I was frustrated tonight and in the first game," Howard said. "But being the leader on my team, my teammates cannot see me frustrated. I've got to play through all the different situations and learn from them."
Game notesCelebrities in the house included actors Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Warren Beatty, and Denzel Washington, who visited with former NBA stars Gary Payton, Chris Webber and Steve Smith. "We could compete with his team," Washington cracked to the aging trio. "For about a quarter." ... The Lakers are 12-12 in Game 2s since moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. ... With his Game 1 performance, Bryant became just the fourth player to have at least 40 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in a finals game. Jerry West (1969), Michael Jordan (1993) and Shaquille O'Neal (2002) are the others.
R. LewisPoints: 34Reb: 11Ast: 7Stl: 1Blk: 0
P. GasolPoints: 24Reb: 10Ast: 3Stl: 2Blk: 1
Game Leaders
Points
R. Lewis 34
K. Bryant 29
Rebounds
D. Howard 16
P. Gasol 10
Assists
R. Lewis 7
K. Bryant 8
Steals
D. Howard 4
D. Fisher 3
Blocks
D. Howard 4
L. Odom
2009 NBA Finals
Want an in-depth look at the Lakers-Magic series? Check out all the stats, analysis and opinion here:• Lakers-Magic page
Bryant was frozen. Suddenly, the Los Angeles Lakers' march to a 15th NBA title -- and his dream of a fourth -- would be much tougher.
Lee's last-second shot went up, and went out.
Lucky.
The Lakers remain in control of the NBA Finals -- just barely.
Fast Facts
• The Lakers grabbed a 2-0 series lead and their fourth straight playoff win overall.
• In NBA history, when the home team wins the first two games of a best-of-seven series, they've gone on to win that series 94.2 percent of the time. Only three times in NBA Finals history has a team come back to win the series after losing the first two games (most recently the 2006 Heat).
• Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 29 points. Pau Gasol added 24 points and 10 rebounds for his 10th double-double in his last 11 games.
• Rashard Lewis led the Magic with a playoff career-high 34 points (including 18 of the Magic's 20 second quarter points) to go with 10 rebounds and a playoff career-high seven assists. His point total marked the most ever by a Magic player in an NBA Finals game.
• Dwight Howard became just the second player in NBA playoff history to amass at least 15 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocks in a playoff game. The other was Hakeem (Akeem at the time) Olajuwon in 1986.
-- ESPN Stats & Information More coverage:• Daily Dime: Lakers by default• True Hoop: Lee's moment gone bad
Lee missed a potential game-winning alley-oop as regulation ended, giving Los Angeles another shot it didn't waste. Pau Gasol scored seven points in overtime and Bryant finished with 29 as the Lakers, so dominant in the series opener, survived with a 101-96 win over the Magic in Game 2 on Sunday night.
"I was obviously relieved when he missed that shot," Gasol said. "It could have been a heartbreaker and right now we could be in a totally different situation."
If Orlando doesn't come back and win this series, Lee's miss may go down as one of the biggest gaffes in finals history. He had a chance to give the Magic its first finals win.
"We missed it. I don't know what else to say," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We executed well, Hedo [Turkoglu] made a great pass. I'm not trying to be a pain ... Hedo made a great pass and he just missed it."
Orlando may not get a better shot to beat the Lakers.
Alley-oops.
"We blew a lot of assignments tonight -- a lot of assignments -- and we still managed to get a win," Bryant said.
When it was finally over, Bryant, Derek Fisher and the Lakers jogged to the locker room, smiling and high-fiving fans along the way.
Hedo Turkoglu, who threw the perfect lob pass on Lee's ill-fated shot, trudged through the tunnel dejected, a towel hanging from his head.
Gasol added 24 and 10 rebounds and Lamar Odom 19 points for the Lakers, who won Game 1 by 25 but needed 53 minutes to put away the Magic.
Rashard Lewis scored 34 -- 18 in the second quarter alone -- and Dwight Howard had 17 points and 16 rebounds for Orlando.
Game 3 is Tuesday night at Orlando's Amway Arena, which will be hosting a finals game for the first time since June 9, 1995.
With the score tied at 88-88 in regulation, Lee missed the first of two late-game shots when he drove the lane and misfired on a contested layup with 10.5 seconds remaining.
Dodging Bullets
Game 2 marked the Magic franchise's sixth straight defeat in an NBA Finals game, placing Orlando three off the Washington Bullets' (now the Wizards) all-time record for most consecutive finals losses before earning a win.
Most Consecutive NBA Finals Losses By Franchise Before First Win
Team
Streak
Bullets
9
Magic
6
Nets
5
Cavaliers
4
The Lakers called time with 9.1 seconds to play, and after Odom caught the inbounds pass, he quickly gave it to Bryant, who drove into a crowd. Bryant attempted an off-balance 12-footer, but his shot was blocked from behind by Turkoglu with 1.8 seconds left.
The horn sounded, the clock expired to zeros and Jack Nicholson and the star-studded Staples Center crowd braced for overtime.
But the officials huddled at the scorer's table and decided to put 0.6 seconds back on the clock because Turkoglu grabbed the ball and called timeout.
Turkoglu couldn't find anyone open on the inbounds and was forced to call another timeout. On the Magic's second attempt, Lee got free on a perfectly executed play and caught Turkoglu's long lob pass as he neared the left side of the basket. But with 7-foot Gasol closing in on him, Lee's shot caromed off the backboard and front of the rim.
Howard dunked in the miss as Lee put his hands behind his head in disbelief and began a long walk back to the bench as his teammates tried to console him.
So close. So far.
"I caught it and just tried to make a play," Lee said. "We didn't lose the game just because I missed the layup. We could have won the game."
Howard, who had seven of Orlando's 20 turnovers, didn't want to put too much emphasis on Lee's miss.
"We had our chances to win," he said. "We turned the ball over too much. That got them the win."
Bryant, who got caught paying more attention to Orlando's outside shooters than Lee, knew how fortunate the Lakers were to hang on.
"It was just a brilliant play," Bryant said. "It was just a very, very smart play that he [Van Gundy] drew up. He knew my eye was more on the shooters coming up and just a hell of a play by a hell of a coach."
Fourteen years to the day, the Magic have more finals misery.
On June 7, 1995, Orlando had a chance to put Houston away in Game 1, but Magic guard Nick Anderson missed four late free throws in a 120-118 loss to the Rockets, who went on to sweep the series.
The Magic will head home thinking about what might have been. They could be tied 1-1, and with the next three games scheduled in front of their frenzied fans, they could have denied Bryant and the Lakers their first title since 2002.
Now, in a season of comebacks, they'll need their biggest one.
Bryant, who scored 40 in the opener, finished with eight assists and seven turnovers.
Lewis transformed into Orlando's version of Bryant in the second quarter, scoring 18 of the Magic's 20 points to keep them close. The 6-foot-10 forward's size and exceptional range make him an impossible cover for the Lakers.
With Howard unable to get open and Orlando's other shooters still searching for their touch, Lewis carried the load. He made four consecutive 3-pointers to end the half and the Magic, despite shooting just 32 percent, were within 38-35 at the break.
If not for Lewis, Orlando would have been in big trouble because Howard looked hopeless.
For a long stretch, Superman was more like The Invisible Man.
At times, it seemed as if there were six or seven Lakers on the floor as they swarmed Howard, who made just 1 of 4 shots and had four turnovers.
"I was frustrated tonight and in the first game," Howard said. "But being the leader on my team, my teammates cannot see me frustrated. I've got to play through all the different situations and learn from them."
Game notesCelebrities in the house included actors Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Warren Beatty, and Denzel Washington, who visited with former NBA stars Gary Payton, Chris Webber and Steve Smith. "We could compete with his team," Washington cracked to the aging trio. "For about a quarter." ... The Lakers are 12-12 in Game 2s since moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. ... With his Game 1 performance, Bryant became just the fourth player to have at least 40 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in a finals game. Jerry West (1969), Michael Jordan (1993) and Shaquille O'Neal (2002) are the others.
R. LewisPoints: 34Reb: 11Ast: 7Stl: 1Blk: 0
P. GasolPoints: 24Reb: 10Ast: 3Stl: 2Blk: 1
Game Leaders
Points
R. Lewis 34
K. Bryant 29
Rebounds
D. Howard 16
P. Gasol 10
Assists
R. Lewis 7
K. Bryant 8
Steals
D. Howard 4
D. Fisher 3
Blocks
D. Howard 4
L. Odom
NBA Finals Lakers VS. Magic Game 1
When the Boston Celtics won the NBA title last year, Michelle Tafoya interviewed an insane and euphoric Kevin Garnett at half court and asked him for what he was feeling. He questioned the critics and asked them, "What can you say now?" And after watching Kobe Bryant shred shot after shot with a bevy of helpless Orlando defender on him while still grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out eight assists, I wonder what his critics and naysayers can possibly say about him after his Game One performance. He made tough shot after tough shot. And followed that up with some easy scores. He didn't have to get physical to dominate the game and was able to minimize any punishment that he would normally take by staying out of the lane and away from getting fouled. The result leaves him with a relatively easy 38 minutes on the floor and no nagging bumps and bruises from Game One heading into Game Two. The key stretch in this game was the time from the beginning of the second quarter until the end of the third quarter. Over that 24-minute period, the Orlando Magic shot just 26.3% from the field (10 of 38) and 31.2% from three-point range (5 of 16). This coincided with Kobe Bryant's insane run in which he made 11 of his 19 shot attempts for 30 points. Kobe made more shots during that time than the entire Orlando team! That's absurd. Throw in the fact that Orlando only scored four more points as a team than Kobe did as an individual over the course of the second and third quarters and you see why the game went from a four-point Orlando lead to a 24-point deficit when the final period began. So why did the Magic play so poorly during this time? Well, obviously they shot the ball atrociously and made Mo Williams effort against them in the Eastern Conference Finals look like an Allan Houston shootaround. But there were many problems with the Orlando execution of what they usually do well. They actually played pretty decent defense. Shots simply fell for the Lakers that didn't fall for the Magic. Luke Walton, Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, and Lamar Odom all scored the ball extremely efficiently and did so by attacking the basket (outside of Fisher). But their defense was extremely active and forced the Magic into a lot of bad possessions. Orlando didn't turn the ball over much but they might as well have with some terrible shots and poor passes that were off-target and lead to off-balanced and contested jumpers. Marcin Gortat and JJ Redick were the most efficient scorers for the Magic by going a combined 3 for 6 from the field. After that, Mickael Pietrus was the best shooter at 5 for 13. Other than Pietrus, there wasn't a single Magic player that made more than three shots in the entire game.Orlando had a terribly difficult time getting the ball into Dwight Howard and when they did, Andrew Bynum did a commendable job of keeping him out of position to score. Bynum, Pau, and Odom were active in denying Dwight the ball and fronted him while constantly moving from side to side to make any attempted entry pass a complete risk. It was Post Defense 101 that could only be learned from hours of studying Dennis Rodman game film. And when the ball swung around the perimeter, the defensive rotations were crisp, quick, and ended up forcing the ball to guys like Rafer Alston. When the plays broke down, the Magic found themselves hoping that Rashard Lewis could be effective from the post. He wasn't. He had difficulty getting truly clean and open looks over the long Lakers defenders and when he did get open looks, he just simply couldn't bury them. This was a game that was slowed down tremendously from where Orlando would have liked to play it offensively. They didn't get a single fast break point during this game.Inevitably, the questions around Game One over the next two off days will be the following:1) Is getting Jameer Nelson back into the mix a detriment to the Magic's ebb and flow right now?2) Is this series essentially over? Well, as far as Jameer Nelson is concerned, he was actually pretty good. Sure he was -18 for the game and ended up with only six points on 3/9 shooting and four assists in 22 minutes but he played much better than that. He was fairly misused by Stan Van Gundy throughout this game. Nelson would have been much better off used in short bursts of four to six minutes here and there. Instead, he was left out on the floor far too long, which exhausted him (remember, he hasn't played an actual game in four months). When he first got onto the floor, he was doing a great job of moving the ball and getting some baskets for his teammates inside. He doesn't disrupt anything that Orlando does. He actually helped them out by keeping them somewhat active in the second quarter when things started to turn. It could have been a lot worse for the stagnant Orlando offense if it weren't for his passing. But he shouldn't be approaching 22 minutes while he's out of shape. As far as this series being over, that's kind of a longshot. The Lakers looked impressive in dismantling the Magic. But we've seen this team go into extreme lulls against far less talented teams in the playoffs. If they begin to believe this series and season is over and let up (which they tend to do quite often) then we'll see an Orlando resurgence that could catapult them to hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy in two weeks. One victory in Game One does not equal four victories and a ring and the Lakers should remember that. Why the Lakers Won This GameThe Lakers won this game by denying Dwight Howard any offensive rhythm, rebounding the basketball, and taking care of the ball. This game started out extremely sloppy but it didn't really result in turnovers. The Lakers were able to persevere through that and the Magic wilted. Los Angeles pounded the glass and kept everybody but Dwight Howard and Marcin Gortat off the glass. The Lakers had four guys finish with eight rebounds or more, which added up to just two fewer rebounds than Orlando's entire team. That explains the 55-41 rebounding advantage for LA. And finally, the Lakers held Dwight Howard to 1/6 shooting from the field. Sure, he went to the free throw line 16 times in this game but the fact that Dwight attempted just six shots and made just one showed you the way that they actively defended him and kept him out of his comfort zone. Why the Magic Lost This GameSimply enough, the Magic just shot the ball horribly and when you can't make shots, you can't score enough points to win basketball games. They shot 29.9% from the field and as a team made just seven more shots than Kobe Bryant for the whole contest. The Orlando starting lineup shot 11/46 from the field. They couldn't hit mid-range shots (just five made compared to 17 for LA, which Jared Wade predicted). They couldn't hit their threes either (8/23). And their missed threes often led to Lakers scores. Eight of their 15 missed three-pointers led to 18 points. Factor in the fact that the Magic are losing out on three points and then giving up points on the other end, that comes out to a 42-point swing on missed threes. The Lakers ability to capitalize in that aspect of the game along with Kobe Bryant's brilliance are the two biggest factors for why Orlando lost and lost so badly.
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