As the sun sets on my beloved Minnesota Twins and their incredibly lame starting rotation (Carl Pavano as the savior—really!?) after their latest losing road trip (2 - 4 combined against “Let’s have a fire sale” Cleveland and 1st place Detroit), I must admit to a great deal of satisfaction in the Yankees dismantling of the Red Sox this weekend. The only contest of the 4-game series not to be televised down here was the 15-inning scoreless epic (of course), but even the updates on MLB and ESPN were exciting until A-Rod ended the 0-0 deadlock with that 2-run blast.
For New York fans or Boston haters, this series had a bit of everything. Yankee pitching held Boston scoreless for an unbelievable 31 innings, the longest such streak for the Sox in at least 35 years. The Yankees ended up outscoring Boston 25 - 8, with 6 of those coming in Game 1. A-Rod came through in the clutch (for real) and all of the high priced free agent acquisitions (Teixeira, Sabathia, and Burnett) delivered. Teixeira even homered two pitches after Johnny Damon did in the bottom of the 8th to put NY up for good in Sunday’s finale, the sixth time this season that the two of them have gone back-to-back—incredibly the most ever for the same pair of players in one season in Yankee history. Now that’s a piece of trivia that’s hard to believe, especially when you consider how many years Maris and Mantle played together.
While I’m not optimistic, I still hold out a little faith that the Twins may eventually go on some kind of tear and challenge the Tigers and White Sox. But knowing the Red Sox are 6 1/2 back in the AL East and fighting for their Wild Card lives with Tampa Bay and Texas makes these final 50 games or so just a bit sweeter.
Wow! Talk about a deal to shake things up. I still can’t get a handle on whether or not the Magic trading for Orlando native and 8-time All Star, ex-Toronto Raptor, ex-New Jersey Net Vince Carter is a good thing or bad. And apparently I’m not alone, since an Orlando Sentinel poll showed that 49% liked the Carter/Ryan Anderson for Courtney Lee, Rafer Alston, and Tony Battie deal, while 50% did not.
I was resigned to losing Alston and Battie for financial reasons, since I figured the Magic needed to dump their salaries to be able to sign Hedo Turkoglu when he opted out of the last year of his current contract. But when Hedo’s agent rejected their first offer (apparently far below the $10 mil per for 5 years that Hedo was looking for), I think the Magic couldn’t let him just walk and get nothing in return (a la Shaq so many years ago). So when they had a chance to acquire a former All-Star and hometown boy (especially one that can create his own shot at the end of games), they jumped at it. And though he’s a couple of years older than Hedo, Carter’s stats (granted, on a far less balanced team) were better with 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game.
No one’s happy about letting go of Courtney Lee, who had a terrific rookie season, especially on the defensive side. And would I rather have Hedo and Courtney on the team than Vince Carter? I’d say YES, but waiting or negotiating for that possibility may have blown up in the Magic’s faces. It’s a shame Orlando is already breaking up a team that made it all the way to the NBA Finals and lost at least a couple of games to inexperience, not necessarily lack of talent. But GM Otis Smith has rolled the dice and gambled that Carter’s offensive talents and versatility (though not as unique as Hedo’s) will blend with his other 3 All-Stars and produce a championship. Now let’s see what he can do about the Power Forward spot and the bench. Antonio McDyess (sp?) for a start sounds pretty good to me.
Yes, in the immortal words of Hedo Turkoglu at the somber post-game press conference after Game 4 of the NBA Finals, that about sums it up. Easily the most gut wrenching, soul crushing, rip-your-heart-out defeat in the 20-year history of the Magic franchise, Orlando has no one to blame but themselves (even if the refs somehow didn’t see Kobe elbow Jameer in the face late in the OT and knock him to the floor) as they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
And the ironic thing is that Magic fans have seen it all before—14 years ago in Game 1 of the Finals against Houston, the Magic were up by 3 with 11 seconds left and a chance to put the game away by making one friggin’ free throw. But Nick Anderson ended up missing 4 in a row and Orlando let Kenny Smith tie the game on a 3-pointer to send it into overtime, which they proceeded to lose and ultimately get swept. Cut to the present, 11seconds left in the game. On a just abominable foul-shooting night by the whole Magic team (they missed 15!), Dwight Howard can essentially tie up the series with one free throw by making it a 4-point, 2 possession lead. But he misses them both badly, and the Lakers call time-out, down by 3. Does Stan Van Gundy put in a defensive replacement for the 5-10 mighty mite, Jameer Nelson, who had to be running on fumes after playing the whole 4th quarter despite returning from a 4-month shoulder injury? No. Does Stan Van Gundy elect to foul any Laker who crosses mid-court with the ball so there’s no opportunity for a game-tying 3-pointer? No. So with 5 seconds left Derek Fisher, the 3rd most prolific 3-point shooter in NBA Finals history, is left wide open (!) to walk into and drain a 3 right in Jameer’s face. Tie score. The Magic get a horrible shot by Michael Pietrus with 5 seconds left that has no chance of going in, and we’re headed to overtime. Game, Set, Match.
It was like a Twilight Zone episode happening before our eyes in the NBA Finals. Aren’t we supposed to learn from our past mistakes? 19 turnovers (7 by Dwight—again!), 15 missed free throws (4 by Hedo in the 4th quarter—are you kidding me?), 2 baskets total for All-Star Rashard Lewis (who went 2 for 10 in a must-win game—nice!), and a jaw-droppingly idiotic defensive strategy and execution on the most important play of the season.
Believe it or not, one Courtney Lee lay-up and one Dwight Howard foul shot is all that separates this Magic team from being up 3-1. Instead, the Lakers are ready to send them packing for summer vacation either Sunday here or Tuesday back in LA. Coulda, shoulda, woulda… It’s a sad day in O’town—this one really hurt.
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!
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