Vince Carter's Choke Job Is Part Of The Orlando Magic's Legacy

Flashes of Nick Anderson's inability to hit game winning free throws to stave off an aging Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets for the 1995 NBA Championship shook the timbers of Amway Arena.  Anderson had not one but two opportunities to put the sixth seed Rockets who had backed their way into the playoffs on ice. 

That was the beginning and the end of a psychological collapse that ended Nick's career.  He was never the same player after that; he had lost the mental edge that was necessary to remain a professional athlete.  No one saw it coming.  Anderson was a 90 percent free throw shooter and the Rockets were clearly full of angst when they made what they thought was a bonehead play. 

Anderson is now in the Orlando Magic front office and bore witness to Vince Carters choke job of his déjà vu moment.   This is nothing new to Carter at each of his NBA stops it had been clear that he could not be counted on in crunch time. 

All supposedly great players in the league are given labels as they create a name for themselves.  Carter's is (I prefer to say was), half-man half-amazing and in one foray to the charity stripe reminded us that he doesn't have the onions to take the heat or deserve the accolade. 

The only difference between him and Anderson is that Carter has been able to carry on in the NBA but unable to deliver. 

Please spare us the standard line that the Magics' pearl onions will suddenly turn to stone.  They do not have the required heft beside the chiseled Dwight Howard to turn it around. 

Oh Superman got his points but Kevin ‘Lex Luthor’ Garnett, Kendrick’Gorilla Grod’ Perkins , Ray ‘Captain Cold’ Allen, Paul ‘Solomon Grundy’   Pierce saw to it that his 30 points just didn't matter. 

The vaunted magical bus ride has been turned into a mystery tour.  What happened to the team that slapped down perennial door mats like the Charlotte Bobcats?  

What happened to the team that plucked the feathers of the erstwhile Hawks and turned them into ostriches with their heads buried in the sand behind a barrage of three pointers? 

Someone please tell the Orlando fans who turned Superman into Clark Kent. 

Stan Van Gundy knows he doesn't have an answer to what has turned out to be a mirror reflection of a systematic dismantling to his team by the Celtics.  Boston did the same thing to the LeBrons. 

They took away the outside shot and dared Superman and The Super-friends to withstand the pressure.  

And sure as Saturday will come, pressure burst their pipes and they couldn't stop the leaks that sprung in the form of Rajon’Braniac’ Rondo, Glen ‘toyman’ Davis, Rasheed ‘Sinestro’Wallace and Tony’Riddler’ Allen. 

The Magic failed to realize the importance of Hedo Turkgolu to their championship run in 2009.  He was the lone tragic, (excuse me a Freudian slip) Magic player who could create for himself and others. 

Hedo was Dwight’s Robin he ran the offense and gave him the necessary leeway that he needed to roam the paint.  Put Turkgolu back on this year’s squad and I assure you that Paul Pierce would not be boasting about taking them out in four in Boston. 

Carter is a shell of himself though on occasion he can jump into the way back machine and become the super-hero he pretends to be.  

Mr. Elastic, Rashard Lewis couldn't unwind himself from the Celtics' defensive web and has been the poster child for disappearing acts in the fourth quarter. 

Jameer ‘the boy-wonder’ Nelson, like Mo Williams will only go as far as his superstar takes him. 

Orlando has a roster full of not ready for prime time players and it shows.  The dazed look, the inability to generate offense without jacking up threes has laid the ground work if not for a sweep but at least for a five game shellacking. 

Two days on the Jungle floor of the TD Garden where Boston’s play has been less than stellar may just salvage Orlando's season. 

However, the way the fourth seeded Celtics bull-dozed their way through  The Chosen One   may have set the blueprint for Orlando’s demise. 

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