The Magic finally won a Finals game.
And people give credit to a little girl?
I don't think so. Maybe, though.
They did have 2 bad performances in LA, but this game they shot a finals-record 63% field goal shooting. They shot an astounding 75% in the 1st half, but then the shooting percentage gradually went down in the 2nd half, where they shot 16/32.
If the Magic lost this game, then they would be i! n a 0-3 hole, one that no NBA team in the postseason has ever gotten out of. But now, they are trying to become just the fourth team to come back from 2-0 to win the series. I don't think that is going to happen, though. LA still has a tougher, better team than Orlando. They just got hot this game. And Kobe missed some key free throws that would have won the Lakers the game.
In the first game in a Lakers blowout, the Magic shot a horrid 29.9%, then in the overtime loss they shot a little better {42%}, but in this game they shot so well it covered up for some of the poor shooting in the other games.
The Magic had 5 players that scored more than 18 points, Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis each had 21, Rafer Alston stepped away from his poor shooting in the first 2 games and had 20, and Mickael Pietrus and Hedo Turkoglu had 18 apiece.
The Lakers were led by Kobe's 31 points and 8 assists, and Pau Gasol added 23, but had only 3 rebounds, which is! 6 below his average this series. Trevor Ariza added 13, and L! amar Odo m and Jordan Farmar both had 11 off the bench.
In the closing minutes, Gasol was fouled and made 2 free throws to tie it up at 99 after the Magic were up 81-75 at the end of the 3rd. Pietrus then grabbed the ball and dunked in a miss, and Lewis made a shot on the three point line to make it 104-101. Kobe then was fouled and had a chance to slice the lead to one, but missed them. Then Bryant got the ball back on the next possession and tried a little too much. He got past Pietrus with a crossover, then went up and Howard knocked the ball away, leading to 2 Pietrus free throws and a 106-102 lead.
This next part made me pretty angry.
The Lakers got desperate and started hucking up 3s, they missed 4 in a row on the same possession, and finally Kobe decided to just put in a easy 2 pointer. That is what they should have done in the first place! They should have just made a quick 2, and then tried to create a steal or intentionally foul the Magic, a! nd then make a real quick shot to bring their team back to life. But then with 0.5 seconds left, they fouled Lewis and he made both free throws to finish off L.A. The next game is Thursday at Orlando.
