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.