Magic-Lakers: Orlando Gives What It Can't Get Back
Give it away, give it away, give it away now, I can't tell if I'm a kingpin or a pauper
—Red Hot Chili Peppers
Walt Disney, a noted philanthropist, would love this bunch.
Ever in the giving mood, the Orlando Magic, playing in the franchise's second NBA Finals, decided late Sunday night that the home squad needed this one more.
Oh sure, J.J. Redick scored the five biggest points of his NBA career, Rashard Lewis busted open an overrated Los Angeles Lakers' defense for 31 easy points, and Hedo Turkoglu came up clutch twice in two of the final three possessions.
All that matters for the resilient but overmatched Magic is the final score.
The Lakers won Game Two 101-96 in overtime and now lead the series 2-0.
Out of answers and short on wizardry, the giant slayer has finally met its own terminator.
Is it the Lakers or themselves?
After the favored Lakers piled up 56 points in the paint and dominated the glass in a Game One laugher, the Magic managed to turn the joke and win both battles.
Orlando outboarded Los Angeles 44 to 35 and outscored them inside 30 to 28.
Two Courtney Lee layups away from tying a series most thought was over before it began, the Magic now need a hefty dose of this thing called a miracle.
Does Merlin work on Tuesday nights?
Like a song written by a group full of avid Lakers fans, the Magic gave this one away.
Someone should ask Michael "Flea" Balzary if he knows how to bang out "Taps" on the bass.
It would be an appropriate pre-game addition to the "Star Spangled Banner" when this series resumes in South Florida for Game Three.
More than just the hopes of an improbable run to an NBA title died with this overtime loss.
Lakers fans, and they seem to come out of the woodwork everywhere, should celebrate this one until police kick them out of the bars.
They will never understand why "Beat L.A." means so much, and why would they?
This team has sniffed the championship round more times, 30 to be exact, than Ricky yelled "Lucy, I'm home."
After thwarting a repeat by the Kevin Garnett-less Boston Celtics and sending LeBron James home early, non-existent handshake and all, some wanted to believe that Orlando could make off like the 1994-95 Houston Rockets, which beat the Magic then in a sweep that would make even Nostradamus cry.
Well, if history's favorite prophet needed work today, he could get it. He didn't predict this, but raise your hand if you think his omniscient mind would have allowed Orlando a chance.
"It's fun to do the impossible," Disney once said.
After another tough defeat, Stan Van Gundy looked more Prozac-starved and irritated than jovial and adventurous in the post-game press conference.
If anyone dared read the above quote to the league's best new motivator as circumstantial fuel, Van Gundy might have asked for a Disney executive's whereabouts and socked that poor sap in the mouth.
Don't they make Hallmark cards for this?
Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol should sign one anyway.
"So thankful for that win tonight. Love ya lots. Two guys you can't guard, Kobe and Pau."
And, shoot, I thought I would make it through one Finals column without using Bryant's name.
Bryant produced a more pedestrian 29-point, eight assist, and four rebound effort, but managed to rifle in big buckets and delivered several clutch passes.
The Magic will regret losing to him on this night though, because he also coughed up the ball seven times and had a last-second shot erased by Turkoglu.
Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum each danced the five-foul line. The only Magic player in foul distress late Sunday was Mickael Pietrus, whose sixth personal sent him to the bench with 3:08 remaining.
One late call on Trevor Ariza, where he grazed Dwight Howard's leg after going for the ball on a strip, appeared to be incidental.
A few other late-game calls went the road team's way. Orlando will regret not taking better advantage of referee Steve Javie's known bias against home teams.
In a make-or-miss league, for much of the first half, the shooting Magic could not shoot and finished the contest 10-of-30 from beyond the arc.
All but five of those treys were wide open with the nearest Laker seemingly in another galaxy.
Some of that blame falls on Rafer "4-for-13" Alston, who chucked the ball up eight times but only hit the net once.
Another part of the guilt sits with Redick, who bricked his first five shots before finally swooshing a three-pointer, and driving for a layup in the final minutes and overtime.
Only Lewis came with a stroke suitable for a championship-level contest, pouring in 18 points in the second quarter. His torrid marksmanship kept the Magic alive in a game that threatened to slip away every few minutes.
Lakers defense?
How about making them play some.
The same screen-and-roll deficiencies that left the Lakers vulnerable to three-point barrages in the regular season showed up again.
ABC analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy offered the Lakers too much credit for lackadaisical closeouts.
The Magic just missed shots.
They missed badly.
Not to harp on the inconsistent Alston, but how many times have we heard his name and "off the mark" or "way off" in the same sentence?
"Our guards were 6-for-26," Stan Van Gundy said.
"The Lakers defense was good, but I thought our guards had some great open looks."
Yet again, it feels like the Lakers stole a game on their home court.
When a Lewis banker put the Magic ahead 77-75 midway through the fourth quarter, did you not get the feeling Orlando would pull out a victory?
A Magic win would not have dismissed the historical significance of a Phil Jackson team winning Game One, but it could have boosted the confidence of a team in sore need of it.
This was to be a series between two gritty, capable road teams with mediocre, not-too-hostile home crowds.
Instead, the one that was supposed to win has done it twice, convincingly.
If Orlando is to muster any hope of avoiding a sweep or a five-game ouster, Dwight Howard must connect on more than five field goals, the arctic shooting must heat up, and the careless turnovers must cease.
The Magic gave the ball away 20 times. Each one of those miscues was painful to watch, even for this writer, with no emotional stake in the outcome of the series.
Stan Van Gundy expressed frustration that his team had competed and still left Staples Center empty handed.
Whatever your music of choice, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to military standards, we know what a song written for Game Two would be about.
Donations and death.
Giving it away with no chance of getting it back.
