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 ARE the LA Lakers giving the Orlando Magic a clinic in Finals play?
That’s what some quarters are wont to say after watching how much more growing up the Magic have to do to face up against the Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals. The Lakers still lead the series, 2-1, but on Wednesday, the Magic showed they have rediscovered their magic and have sprinkled magic dust on the Amway floor. Rookie shooting guard Courtney Lee got flak for missing two really good shots in the final seconds of regulation of Game Two and failed to tie the series 1-1 for his team. Philippine Basketball League commish and radio commentator Chino Trinidad said on his dzBB radio show on Tuesday that the Lakers didn’t win that game. The Magic lost it. Those are the kinds of shots that Kobe Bryant, whom Lee greatly admires, doesn’t miss. These are the kinds of shots the Magic can’t afford to miss, says Art Garcia of NBA.com. But now, Orlando got its Magic back. Dwight Howard was good for 21 points and 14 rebounds, freed from his shackles at last. Rafer Alston had 20 and Rashard Lewis scored 19 points for the Magic, who shot 75 percent in the first half! Mickael Pietrus won the game for the Magic by sinking the last two crucial free throws at 28 seconds. Bryant had the chance to make a rainbow after Pietrus sank ‘em, but his shot bounced off. What a heartbreaker for Kobe—top scorer with 31 points for the night—21 of those points coming in the first half alone. The Magic have two more chances to work their lucky charm—Gina Marie Incandela, the seven-year old autistic girl who sings the national anthem before every Magic game—on the Lakers. Games Four and Five will both be played in Orlando. Gina sings at every Magic home game and has inspired the Magic in more ways than one. She first regaled the crowd with her awesome voice when the Magic beat the Heat on February 22. She sang before Game Three of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Boston, and Orlando won. She wasn’t there when the Magic lost Game Four to the Celtics, so they’ve called her back to sing for every home game since. Like Wednesday, the Magic have won every game she sings in. Now that the Magic have pulled off a 2-0 recovery over the Lakers, they join other teams in NBA history that have come back from a 2-0 deficit in either the playoff series or the NBA Finals and have been hailed as the league’s All-Time Comeback Kings. From 1956 to 2008, Fort Wayne, Boston, LA, Baltimore, Portland, Golden State, Phoneix, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Dallas, Washington, Dallas, Miami, Utah, Cleveland and San Antonio have all gotten back on their feet after a 2-0 deficit. Of the above teams, Boston in 1968, 1969 and 1981, Portland in 1977, Chicago in 1993, Houston in 1994 and 1995 and Miami in 2006 won the NBA championship that year (http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/art_garcia/06/08/finals.game2/ index.html). AND while we’re on a nostalgia trip, what do you think of this: The 2009 Orlando Magic are eerily similar to the 1995 Houston Rockets, says blogger GrungeDave in thedreamshake.com. Both teams weren’t expected to enter the NBA Finals. The Rockets were a six seed and were supposed to lose to the Utah Jazz in round one. The Orlando Magic were never expected to get beyond the second round. The 2009 Magic also followed a similar path to the Finals as the 1995 Rockets. Rockets coach Rudy T used the “inside-out” game. The offense begins with entry passes into Hakeem, who would either score himself or kick it out to open shooters like Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Elie, Clyde Drexler, Pete Chilcutt and Kenny Smith. Orlando’s Hakeem is Dwight Howard. The Magic offense is built around the big guy, who is also surrounded by legitimate shooters Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Mickael Pietrus, Courtney Lee and Rafer Alston. The Magic ‘09 and Rockets ‘95 rosters mirror each other. Point guard-wise, the Rockets had Kenny Smith; the Magic have Rafer Alston. The Rockets had Horry; the Magic have Turkoglu. Impact “young guy”-wise, the Rockets had Sam Cassell, then in his second year. The Magic have Courtney Lee. “Neither player was a starter for his respective team, but both were integral to the eventual outcomes.” Here’s more. “The Rockets had an aging Clyde Drexler. Acquired by a midseason trade. The Magic have Rashard Lewis. Acquired by a mind-boggling free-agent contract. Both know they aren’t the star of the team, but they know they are All-Stars and they live[d] up to that status most every night.” “Each team has a token white-guy shooter. For the Rockets that’s Pete Chilcutt. for the Magic that’s JJ Redick. Both got no more than 8-10 minutes a game and were horrible defensive liabilities. But don’t you dare leave them open!” There’s also a “good luck charm” player “rotting on their benches.” The Rockets had Chucky Brown. The Magic have Tyronn Lue—who always seems to be on teams that make deep playoff runs. Both have championship rings. No one can really explain how or why.” “Even the coaches are similar,” says GrungeDave. “Rudy Tomjanovich was a fan favorite for being a blue-collar guy with a bit of a taste for alcoholic beverages. Stan Van Gundy is a fan favorite for looking a whole hell of a lot like an adult film star. Both coaches would be hoarse by the first time-out of any game. And both are criminally underrated. “ Now, the series gets hotter, and more exciting. LA didn’t get to bury the Magic the way the Spurs buried Cleveland in ’07-’08 after all. But can the Magic turn on the charm all the way to LA? |
