What Happened to the Magic in Game One?

The Orlando Magic didn't come to play last Thursday Night. The game wasn't very close and many people in Magic Nation were frustrated by the outcome.

One could say that the Magic had opening game jitters because most of the players on their team haven't played in the NBA Finals. About 90 percent of the players on the Orlando roster had never played in a Finals game.This could be a reason why the Magic looked out of sync and couldn't drain a three pointer if their lives depended on it.

Or the Magic may have been just shut down by the Lakers defense. They shot 29 percent from the field as a team, by far their worst in game during these playoffs. Here is a look at the Magic's starting lineup stat lines from Game One.

Dwight Howard was held to 10 points while shooting one-for-six from the field. PG Rafer Alston had six points and was two-for-9 from the field. Rookie Courtney Lee scored 10 points and made three-of-10 shots. Rashard Lewis was two-for-10 and scored eight points. And last but not least, Hedo Turkoglu was an abysmal three-of-11 from the floor and had 13 points.

This is absolutely unacceptable when you are playing in the NBA Finals. This is the NBA Finals, not a pre-season scrimmage.

The Los Angeles Lakers on the other hand came to play.

Kobe Bryant did his thing scoring 40 points, dishing out seven assists and hauling down eight rebounds. The guy dominated as he usually does during several spans of the game. He would not be denied a victory on Thursday Night.

Pau Gasol backed him up with 16 points and eight rebounds while helping contain Dwight Howard. Gasol did a hell of a job on Howard considering he held him to his lowest point total of the 2009 playoffs.

Gasol could not have done this without the help of Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. Bynum and Odom played phenomenal on both ends of the floor. Bynum had nine points and eight rebounds and was three-of-four from the line. Odom had 11 points and an incredible 14 rebounds in one of his best performances of the year.

The Lakers shot 46 percent as a team from the floor and were 15-of-18 from the line. They out rebounded the Magic 55-41 which made a huge difference in the game.

The difference in this game was experience. The Lakers knew what to expect in a Finals game and the Magic did not.

Game Two will be a different story because the Magic now have an idea of what to expect in this series. All the Magic players need to be better or the outcome will be the same.

The three pointers that had been going down for them against Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals disappeared against the Lakers in Game One. In Game Two those threes have to be going down or they will be down 2-0 heading back to Orlando.

Look for a better performance from the Magic in Game Two as they try to even this series at one game apiece.