Derek Fisher–Los Angeles Lakers
Photo credit: Robert Gauthier/L.A. Times
The Los Angeles Lakers played spoiler in Orlando on Thursday night against a city united in blue and white. The Magic had breathed life into Orlando in many ways – a city dress code of blue seemed to be enacted, Mayor Buddy Dyer extended the drinking hours at bars to allow fans to imbibe for an extra hour (unfortunately not in celebration,) and the names on the city’s lips were formerly unfamiliar such as Pietrus and Turkoglu. After watching the Magic fall in overtime against the Lakers 99-91, I fear things may be changing.
The Lakers were plagued by foul trouble in the first half and the jolt it gave to their lineup was partly responsible for the 12 point lead Orlando carried into halftime. After the half, the Lakers began to make up the difference following Trevor Ariza’s lead as he scored 11 points in the first six minutes of the second half. With 6:02 gone from the clock in the third quarter, an Andrew Bynum free-throw took away the Magic lead that so quickly waned in the third quarter.
Do all four quarters count in the NBA? Maybe. If you looked at last night’s game, you could probably argue not. With 14 minutes to play in regulation time, the score was tied, effectively a clean slate for both teams. Were this the case or not, there are only four moments that are responsible for the Magic loss. The first took place with 1:28 to play in the third quarter.
I hate to say this, especially after a painful loss, but I think Shaq was right, Stan Van Gundy is a “Master of Panic.” People tell me how smart Stan is, but if that is true, he has a funny way of proving it when it counts. Van Gundy makes such poor choices in his line up selection, I am running out of ways to write about it. Rafer Alston had gone cold, he had a huge first quarter, but in the third he began to orchestrate scoring plays again with assists to Mickael Pietrus and JJ Redick. After watching Rafer make things happen for an offense in crisis, Stan decided to pull him for the rest of the game in favor of Jameer Nelson. During the fourth quarter and overtime, Nelson only contributed two assists. Not to mention what gave up.
The second moment that factored into the Magic loss was the Superchoke. Maybe it was the red capes, maybe the law of averages bringing his free-throw shooting back down to earth, or maybe Dwight Howard just does not have what it takes to win with the game on the line – but Howard lost the game almost single handedly on Thursday night. When the free-throws mattered, he went 1 of 4. Recipe for a heartbreak.
With 11 seconds to play, the Magic were ahead 87-84 and Dwight had two opportunities to score the point that would’ve been the end. He missed both chances.
The Lakers called timeout. When play resumed, moment number three took place; Derek Fisher had the ball just beyond half-court and Jameer was playing him one-on-one. With a three, Los Angeles could send the game to overtime, but Nelson played off. The veteran Fisher stepped up to the line and drilled an essentially uncontested three-pointer leaving only four seconds to play. The Magic would bumble the last play and head into overtime after leading by a dozen at the half.
The final piece of the moment-puzzle fell into place for the Lakers with 31 seconds to play in overtime. The game was tied 91-91, until Fisher hit another three. Stinks like fish.
With 31 seconds the magic should have had plenty of time to come back, but they collapsed. Hedo Turkoglu threw up a bad shot .The ball clanged off of the rim and Pau Gasol grabbed a long rebound on his way to an uncontested dunk. That dunk may as well have been the buzzer. The game was over. A few meaningless free throws later and the Lakers had won a statistically series ending game four.
Stan panicked, Dwight choked, Jameer played bad D, and Fisher proved he deserves another ring for his collection. You can toss out the rest of everything that took place. Those four moments are the pillars of a loss.
