Doh! If the Orlando Magic don’t recover, Courtney Lee’s missed alley-oop lay-up at the buzzer will go down in infamy right next to Nick Anderson’s four missed free throws against the Houston Rockets in Game 1, 14 years ago. After an abominable and embarrassing Game 1 on Thursday, the Magic responded by winning the rebound and points-in-the-paint battles, plus got good-to-awesome games from our front line. But you can’t miss 5 foul shots in a row on the road and make 20 turnovers against a good team and blow 2 opportunities right at the basket in the last 10 seconds and expect to win. And boy, do our guards suck so far in the finals. An obviously distracted Rafer Alston, whose head is all screwed up by the appearance of Jameer Nelson in a uniform rather than a suit, is gonna hurt somebody with that cockeyed jumpshot of his (how about aiming for the rim next time?) They need to pick it up real soon since even at their best, Dwight, Rashard, and Hedo can’t do it alone.
Tie score. Less than one second left (.6). The perfect call by Stan Van Gundy. A great inbounds lob pass by Hedo over Lamar Odom. Lee is wide open off the screen and catches it and lays it up off the backboard over the outstretched arm of Gasol, all in one motion. Too strong…overtime. Kobe was asked what went through his mind when he got picked off by Rashard and saw Courtney alone by the corner of the basket. His answer—“Shit!” You can say that again.
A longshot at best. No team has ever beaten three 60+ win teams on their way to the NBA championship. The Zen Master is 43 - 0 when winning the first game of a playoff series. They have the best closer in the game in Kobe (no argument there) and the athletes to match up with Turkoglu and Lewis up front (that would be Ariza and Odom). The Lakers have been to the finals 30 times (!), including just last year when they lost to Boston, while the Magic have been there only once before, 14 years ago, when they were seeded 1st but got swept by the Houston Rockets with Akeem. LA even has homecourt advantage, and the 2-3-2 format never favors the road team. The Magic beat the Lakers twice during the year, but that was with a healthy, All Star-quality Jameer Nelson at the point. Essentially, Orlando is just too young, injured, and inexperienced, and Dwight and Co. will have to wait their turn. Virtually everyone in sports media outside of Charles Barkley and Mike Golic are picking the Lakers in 6.
All of this makes perfect sense, yet the Magic have been defying expectations and bucking the odds all postseason. Crushing Philly in Game 6 on the road without Dwight? Beating the Celtics handily (even without KG) in a Game 7 in Boston? Coming thisclose to sweeping Cleveland and ultimately taking out Lebron and the Cavs in 6 games, the team with the best record in basketball that had destroyed its first two playoff opponents? Logic and match-ups say the Lakers should win this thing, but the Magic have shown a mental toughness and resilience to take on all challenges. We know the future is bright, but there’s no time like the present. Let’s see what happens…Go Magic!
Heard an interesting stat this morning: through the season and the playoffs thus far, when the Magic hit over 30% from 3-point range they are 60 - 15; when they don’t, they are 7 - 13. Shoot at least fair from deep, win 80% of your games; shoot poorly, lose 65% of your games. So for all this talk about defense and turnovers and Hedo’s game and Dwight’s touches and Rafer’s shot selection, etc, etc, it all comes down to this when Orlando takes the floor against Lebron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers tonight in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The team that led the league in 3-point shots made and attempted (Orlando), and (I believe) was in the top 2 or 3 in field goal percentage from beyond the arc at almost 39%, just has to be mediocre from long range and they have a good shot in this series. And we all saw what hitting a few early did for their confidence in Game 7 in Boston.
Now let’s see them execute the game plan to determine if the trend continues.
What a week to forget for Boston sports fans! Yes, all of you front-running, sports bar-crowding, lucky SOBs who represent “The Nation”—the die hard fans of the Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, and Red Sox who have been living in fat city for far too long in recent years. It’s about time the chickens have come home to roost.
Big Papi (Red Sox DH superstar and ex-Twin David Ortiz) is in such a slump and leaving so many men on base that he actually got benched over the weekend. The Bruins, the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference in the NHL playoffs, battled back from a 1-3 deficit against the Carolina Hurricanes to force a Game 7 (the two greatest words in the English language to sports junkies) at home in Boston. They blew a lead and then lost a stunner in overtime. And sweetest of all, the Orlando Magic actually held their poise and showed some maturity and mental toughness as they dismantled the gutty, KG-less, World Champion Boston Celtics, beating them by 19 in Boston for Game 7. The same Celtics that were 17-3 in Game 7s at home and 32-0 when leading 3 games to 2 in a best of 7 series. Not anymore…
A perfect capper to a great week for us Boston-hating transplanted New Yorkers. Now let’s see what the Magic can do against the seemingly invincible Cleveland LeBrons—I’d be very surprised if the Cavs undefeated and double digit victory streak continues through this Eastern Conference final. The drama begins again on Wednesday night.
Will he or won’t he? Future Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Brett Favre may be un-retiring yet again, this time to play with my Minnesota Vikings after his one-year stay with the New York Jets (after his glorious 16 seasons in Green Bay of course). The latest report is that Favre has supposedly told Vikes coach Brad Childress (my least favorite since the atrocious Les Steckel by the way) that he is indeed still set on the retirement thing and he’s done. But do we really believe it? Maybe he doesn’t want to go to camp early with everybody else, but (and it’s a big but) if his arm is healthy, even at 40 this guy is light years ahead of current Vikes QBs Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfelt.
He’d be walking into a nearly perfect situation: one of the best overall defenses and the best rushing defense in the league; possibly the best running back in the league in Adrian Peterson and an excellent back-up in Chester Taylor; a good offensive line; a stud wide receiver in Bernard Berrian who led the league in yards-per-catch; a potentially game-breaking offensive threat in rookie Percy Harvin from Florida; and an offensive system that he’s familiar with. With all this talent, the Vikings still only went 10-6 last year and clearly need the things that Favre can provide—experience, leadership, and a rifle arm.
Maybe Brett just wanted to avoid any big announcements on Manny’s day of infamy. But even I, a lifelong Packer hater, would be down with the man taking one last shot at glory at the helm of the Vikings. And I won’t believe he’s not going to do it until someone else is under Center for that first exhibition game.
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