LAKERS -at- MAGIC - 6/11 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Golden Dagger... You pass through the large stone archway behind the Horsemen onto the golden courtyard of this magic kingdom. Once again, you pause, staring uneasily at this abandoned, weather-worn carnival. What tricks are in store for the Four Horsemen tonight?

Lined on both sides of the courtyard atop the walls are the monks who hold Little Larry O'Brien and his many imposters in their steel carriages. The real Little Larry is calling you. You sense he's somewhere to the right, but before you can focus that lone female carnie worker returns to tap her hat and pull out a white rabbit. It bolts into a large tent, but the Horsemen don't take the bait this time.

A carousel with zebras bobbing up and down begins to spin to your left. Instead of music, high-pitched whistles create a deafening noise. You cover your ears. Down goes Destruction, then Pestilence, then Famine.

The Death Riders tighten their flanks and step in for their fallen comrades. The Horsemen regroup and have no choice but to follow the white rabbit and get away from this madness. They charge into the tent where it disappeared.

You give chase. Inside the tent, however, you find to your horror that the Horsemen are outnumbered by three. They are forced into a corner where a large glass tank rises from the floor, trapping them inside. It is rapidly filling with water. Damn, these elaborate magicians and their tricks! One of the Magicians mocks them. "Be water," he says. They lower a black curtain over the massive tank and begin to look pleased with themselves. You run to the tank and pound the glass, then tug the curtain away.

The tank is empty except for the water. The magicians look at one another in shock. Seconds later, you see something gold -- a dagger -- arc through the air and smash into the glass. It is thrown by the one they call the Bulldog.

The Four Horsemen stand at the other side of the tent. How did they escape? The Magicians seemed stunned, too. The glass begins to crack, water begins to drip, then creep, then crash from it. The magicians try to hold it in with their hands, but it simply flows around them. The ground is covered in water, which slows the magicians. They realize their mistake and try to recover... The Horsemen move in for the kill. The magicians once again disappear in a cloud of smoke.

A lone bell rings in the distance ... just once ... and stops. The Horsemen have won.

Outside the tent, the Horsemen and Death Riders take turns cutting the locks off the monks' carriages. Death screams and his words echo through the courtyard. "Are we not worthy? Are we not good enough for you?" He seems to be yelling at The Association.

You go over to the carousel and pull its plug. As the last zebra comes to a halt in front of you, you spot a note taped to it. You have some business to take care of first. You climb aboard the carousel, rip the head off a zebra and drop kick it into the courtyard. The Horsemen scream with you. Then you read DancingBarry:

The Four Horsemen were here. They were outnumbered badly, but performed a little magic of their own. The littlest Death Rider on the battlefield threw the biggest of daggers late in the fight. The Horsemen overcame all obstacles and refused to lose.

They will fight again, one victory from bringing home Little Larry. I will continue to track them...

In this game, legends can be made in a split second...even 0.4 of a second. The new number for Laker Derek Fisher is 4.6. He sent the game in overtime with a three-pointer that sucked the wind out of the Magic arena. In overtime, he delivered another dagger three with 31 seconds left and the Lakers won 99-91. They take a decisive 3-1 lead in the series.

Memo to the NBA: The Lakers aren't going away. The Magic have delivered blows that would have knocked most teams back, but the Lakers will keep coming. They survived major foul trouble. They survived your 17-0 freethrow advantage in the fourth quarter. They are one win away from being your next NBA champions.

Sometimes, you can see the writing on the wall. You aren't meant to win a game. Sometimes you push through and overcome it. The Lakers did just that.

All those freethrows given to the Magic were a wasted effort. You can look at a ton of different miscues for the Magic, but none were more critical than two bricks by Dwight Howard with 11 seconds left. Nick Anderson thanks you. Down by three in the final seconds, Kobe fouled Howard on a rotation to save a score. Howard then went to the line and clanked. "I just missed them," Howard said. Yep. He makes those, there are no Laker miracles tonight.

After a timeout, the Lakers inbounded the ball in the backcourt. Kobe drew a double and they quickly passed it out. DFish got it in his hands, he pushed it up until he felt he was in striking distance. He rose up and let it rain. The big three silenced the Magic crowd and tied the game with 4.6 seconds left.

"It ranks right up there at the top," Fisher said afterward. "Even greater than .4, because I feel like we're as close as possible to what our end goal is."

That was the clutch shot to get them to OT. With half a minute left in OT, DFish threw another dagger three. The Magic never recovered. The heart of the series was at stake. The Lakers seized it. "I have a responsibility to my team that if I'm going to be on the floor I have to make a difference," DFish said. He was 0-5 from three before those two makes.

There were many heroes in this game. Trevor Ariza had a sensational third and made a huge three in the fourth. Pau, once again, outplayed Howard in overtime. Kobe led the charge as usual, drawing all kinds of attention and collecting another 8-assist game.

One more win. Time to close.


Kobe -- -- Kobe had one 4-minute rest in the first half and played the entire second half and overtime straight through. Some sensational plays by Kobe in this game. The spinning drive in transition to feed Pau for a dunk in the final seconds was a key play. Phil highlighted a defensive stand where Kobe yanked a rebound away from Howard as one of the biggest symbolic plays of the game. "I thought that just showed the grit this team has been trying to show since last year," Phil said. No doubt. Howard was knocking guys around knowing the refs weren't going to blow the whistle. Kobe just took that board from him, then shed Howard with fury on the foul that followed. The overtime allowed Kobe to string together another 8-assist game. He only had 1 assist in the first half. When the weight of the game and fatigue starts to set in, he needs to rely on his teammates to take the baton from him. Ariza, Pau, and DFish, of course, were all feeding off his doubles. Kobe was chewing the gum tonight, thought he might go back to that. He needed to loosen things up just a hair. Defensively, Kobe was mixing it up and rotating better as the game went along. Smartest play of the night was taking care of Howard under the hoop with a good strong foul to save a dunk or And-1 and putting Howard on the line to miss both with 11 seconds left. The Stats: He scored 32 points on 11-31 shooting (2-6 from three, 8-8 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 49 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He sank a 19-footer in transition for the Lakers first score. He doubled Lewis and stole the ball. Bad sag on Howard with Bynum defending him well across the lane, and it led to an open three (need to pick your spots, that wasn't one). He knocked a defensive board away from Bynum and Howard got it. Lee bit on his pumpfake and he drew FTs, he made both. He missed a pull-up 16-footer. He missed a forced turnaround. He didn't match up on D and his man hit a three. He faced up from the left elbow, attacked across the lane, took contact and scored the And-1 layup off the glass, he made the FT. He missed a short turnarnound in the middle of the lane. He swished a jumper over Pietrus, stepping back. He swung through on Pietrus to draw FTs, he made both. He swished a 21-footer over his man. He had 13 points on 4-7 shooting in the first quarter. He airballed or was blocked/fouled on a jumper. He swished a long three off a kickout. He missed a forced jumper over Pietrus. He missed a jumper, getting his legs taken out with no call. He blocked Pietrus's jumper. He had 16 points on 5-12 shooting and 1 assist in 19 minutes. Second Half: He drained a three in transition. He drew a double team and kicked to Ariza for a three. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a drive in transition. He missed an elbow jumper, short. He made a tech FT. He passed on an open three on a kickout. He yanked a board away from Howard, then shoved his arms off of him as he drew the foul (intensity!), he made both FTs. He missed a three. He got Pietrus in the air at the end of the quarter, but made a tough, crazy leaner. He missed a runner. He swished a long wing jumper, a foot on the three line with Pietrus all over him. He bricked a chuck over two defenders. He gave up an And-1 in transition to Pietrus to tie the game (Kobe on his heels too much as Pietrus attacked with speed). He was hammered on a drive by Howard with no call. He iso'd on Pietrus, attacked, spun and hit the jumper. He attacked, got blocked and yelled for the foul. He missed an open three, short. He back-rimmed a three. He spun in the lane on the break and hit a trailing Pau for a dunk (brilliant pass). He fouled Howard to save a dunk with 11 seconds, Howard missed both. Best foul taken all year. Overtime: He swished a pull-up from the elbow. He sank a pull-up, 19-footer next time down. He missed a tough floater. He airballed a long jumper, hit on the hand with no call, an obvious foul not called by the officials (so bad). He attacked and missed a floater, but Pau was arm locked by Nelson and we got it back. He drew the double, Nelson drew a Kobe elbow as he looked to pass and Fisher hit a three.

Gasol -- -- Dunk. Dunk. Dunk. Before the DFish regulation three, Pau had a huge dunk in transition off a sensational spin and feed by Kobe in regulation. In overtime, he was key on a couple of stops. Then, he closed out on Hedo to challenge a three with Ariza, he dunked as the board was tipped out and Pau streaked down the court. He closed the game, taking a flagrant foul in the back on a dunk and then had some words for Pietrus. You tell 'em, Pau. "He's got a certain intensity and fire that's all his own. It's different, but all his own," Phil said of Pau's grit. After all of the Laker bigs suffered from crazy foul trouble in the first half, Pau managed to hang tough. Howard was all over his back, pushing, shoving, yanking jerseys. Look at Howard on the offensive boards, check out Howard's forearm in the back of Pau as he pinned Pau to the floor while going up for rebounds or shoved him aside. Some of the non-calls on Howard in the paint in this game were ridiculous...and don't tell me they were letting them play because guys like DFish would be whistled for softer fouls for what the refs said was the same thing. Howard was flat-out protected almost all game and was even allowed to camp out a ton in the lane. Crazy home-court advantage. If this was an international game where U.S. stars aren't protected, Howard would have been riding the pine with foul problems. Fish on his big threes: "I thanked Pau for warming up my elbow," DFish said. Pau had been kicking out to him again and again and Fish was 0-5 until his big hits late in the game. Pau wasn't involved in those, but DFish promised him he'd make the threes later in the game. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 7-14 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls. He was a +9. The Action: His dunk was blocked by Howard. He picked up a foul away from the ball defending Howard, then drew a charge on him a few seconds later. He was blocked on a reverse. He picked up a phantom foul in the paint away from the ball on Howard and had to sit with 4 minutes left in the first with his second foul. He swished a wing jumper. He attacked strong past Gortat and scored a layup with his left. He missed a turnaround jumper in the lane. He attacked Gortat again in the post and hit a jumphook. He swatted Nelson's drive. He was fouled after grabbing an offensive boards, he made one FT. He had 7 points on 3-6 shooting and 3 boards in 16 minutes. Second Half: Nice extra pass to Ariza in the corner for the three. He airballed a long jumper trying to beat the shotclock buzzer. He bricked a face-up elbow jumper. He drew a clear-out foul on Howard on the D end. He was called for a moving screen away from the ball, no one on the Lakers felt that was legit. He missed a short turnaround in the post. He jumphook was goaltended by Howard. His turnaround was blocked by Howard with 2 minutes left (great defensive play). He dunked off the Kobe drive and spin in transition. Overtime: He snagged a pass that was deflected to get a stop. He challenged Lewis drive to get a miss and still tapped out the defensive board despite Howard yanking him by the jersey (so obvious). He was completely cleared out of the way by Howard on a defensive board and the refs called a foul on Fisher (ridiculous). He was fouled on an offensive board. He ran down a tapped out rebound after a good challenge on Hedo and dunked with 21 seconds left. The Lakers got another stop, Pau headed down court and he took a flagrant foul on the dunk. He picked up a tech telling Pietrus where he could stick it with 3.6 left. He made one FT.

Bynum -- -- "Everybody was talking about defense and how we were going to stop the ball," Drew said of the Laker locker room at halftime. They could have been talking about the horrible officiating, but they focused on overcoming that. Bynum was strapped with some completely bogus fouls in this game. Howard is knocking people around, shoving, pushing, forearming. Bynum is breathing on them...sometimes not even that...and getting whistles. It's a shame the kid wasn't allowed to play. It's a shame there is a clear difference in how one bigman was being officated versus how the other was. There was a stretch in the second half when Bynum was in the thick of things, playing great and then...bam!... another phantom foul. Even the broadcast crew was wondering what that call was about. Just horrible, horrible officiating...a clear-cut bias...that's what it was about. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards and 5 fouls in 16 minutes. During that brief time, he was a +8. The Action: He picked up a cheap foul on a drive by Hedo (he and Ariza biffed the coverage on the two-man D), he sat just 3 minutes in with his second foul. He posted up Gortat and hit the short turnaround. He picked up a completely bogus third foul when a guard grabbed him around the midsection while probing the baseline (seriously). He played 5 minutes and had 3 fouls. Second Half: He missed a baseline jumper with the shotclock low. No sag and he gets the stop on Howard on iso (play him more like this, please). Ariza attacked off the three line and fed Bynum for FTs, he made both. He hit a 10-footer. Great D, deflecting a pass and then he was called for another bogus foul trying to get the loose ball, even JVG said that one was bogus. Bynum was balling at that point and the refs took him out. Overtime: Did not play.

Ariza -- -- Trevor said he was wanted to come out aggressive after the half. Dude flat out turned the game around for the Lakers in the third quarter. Hedo has been delivering non-stop blows, but Trevor finally started swinging back...steal, dunk. Drive and layup. Big threes. He had 13 points in that third quarter. Great two-way stretch of ball. In the fourth, on a busted play, Trevor swished another three over a crowd as the shotclock was about to expire and tied the game. Hedo then countered with two big hoops to give the Magic a 5-point lead. Hedo was sticking his tongue out and enjoying that moment. A lot of offense was being run through Hedo all game and Ariza is the first line of defense. That's a tough job. You'd like to see us play him to shoot just a little more that we did, especially with our bigs getting fouls. In the overtime, however, the Magic were locked down for just 4 points. "He really carried a lot of energy for us in the second half," Phil said. "We needed everything he could give us." The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-14 shooting (3-4 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 43 minutes. He was a +15. The Action: He bricked a drive off the glass badly. He missed a three on a kickout. He was blocked from behind by Howard. He bricked an early offense jumper (why are you taking that?) He was called for a T after bouncing the ball off the floor and trying to make it in the basket after a foul call. His layup was goaltended with no call, the Laker coaches picked up a tech. He was tied up by Howard on a drive for a jumpball. Second Half: He swiped a perimeter pass to Hedo and took it for a dunk. He scored another transition layup shortly later. He drained a wing three to cut the lead to 5, that forced a timeout. He got out in transition with Kobe and recovered a Kobe miss for FTs, he made one. He drained a corner three to cut the lead to 1. He attacked and set up Bynum for FTs. He posted up Redick and drew an illegal D. He missed a layup. He took the long outlet from Kobe and scored another layup. Great hustle back in transition to challenge a Pietrus bust out and get a miss. He gave up FTs away from the ball on Hedo. He swished a huge three with 2:33 left to tie it up as the shotclock was about to expire on a busted play. Hedo hit two jumpers to give the Magic a 5-point lead on their next two possessions. Overtime: He attacked, missed the drive, got it back and reset the offense.

Fisher -- -- Legends are made in the Finals. Legends are made on big shots. DFish already has 0.4 in his pocket. Now, he can add Finals 4.6 to his collection of numbers. DFish drained the big-time clutch three with 4.6 seconds left to send the game into overtime. Huge, huge, huge! The Lakers had been down by 5 in the final minute and came back to send it into overtime. A seemingly impossible task, but it was DFish's big three that got them there. And once there, on what Phil said was a designed play, DFish drained another long open three on the kickout from Kobe in the post. The look he gave to Kobe after that play is hard to put into words. That's years of fighting in the trenches together summed up in a sly, we-got-em smile to your brother in arms. "I just sensed that one was the dagger," DFish said of the smile. Heck of a turnaround after struggling throughout the opening rounds of the playoffs. Heck of a turnaround in this game. He was 0-5 from three before those two haymakers. Defensively, we did a much better job defending the point than in the last game. Still had a few breakdowns, but we weren't bled from that spot like the last game. That makes a big difference. Rest up, DFish. Time to close out. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-11 shooting (2-7 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals and 5 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a +15. The Action: He pulled up and hit a 10-footer with a man on. He got hit by Howard on a rebound and went to the floor. He missed a long three. He missed a wing three. He stepped in front of Howard in transition, got knocked over with the foul called on him (absurd call, any of the Lakers bigmen would have picked up a foul). He was incredulous on another breakaway where the refs said he fouled a man who missed a layup. He missed a three. Second Half: He sank a long wing two left open on a kickout. He hit the floor for a loose ball and called timeout. He missed a corner three. He missed another long three next time down. He was mugged with no call, just ball out of bounds, Lakers. He swiped the ball from Rafer. He attacked off the three line and scored a layup (big make). He had his pass deflected trying to get it to Pau over Howard, big turnover with 3 minutes left (the Magic scored an And-1 in transition). Getting the ball in the open floor as we moved it up full court in the final 10 seconds, he stepped into a three from the right side and drained it right over Nelson to tie the game up with 4.6 seconds left. Overtime: He was called for pushing Howard on the defensive board, Pau had been completely chucked by Howard to the floor a moment before that. He got his legs into a long three off the Kobe kickout to give the Lakers a 3-point lead with 31 seconds left.

Lamar -- -- Before you gripe about LO's stats. Look at Rashard's 2-10 for 6 points. He had only one field goal in regulation. Lamar did his share defensively, but he also had help from Pau, Ariza and Kobe at times. They didn't give Rashard the space to shoot and we kept him from making an impact. Well done, guys. Memo to LO: Let Hedo shoot over your length instead of biting for the up-fakes. That foul on a three-pointer when we were up by 6 in the fourth turned the tide for L.A. in that quarter. A tough game for LO. The Laker bigmen were under siege. The fouls were coming fast and furious. Once again, however, after LO picked up that fifth foul late in the fourth quarter, he managed to play the remainder of the game and overtime without picking up another. That's twice he's done that in this Finals. The Lakers need him out there because of his passing and ability to score in the paint when the D is scrambling. We didn't see much of that because of his limited minutes and the team struggling to get into the flow. With him bringing up the ball, spreading the floor, working off the ball, that helps Kobe and Pau to work with more space. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-10 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 5 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He swiped a ball from Howard and scored a layup. He was begging for a foul getting up too close to Hedo 30 feet from the hoop, they were happy to give it. Nice rotation, switching to cover three players and we got a shotclock violation. He biffed a layup with his right in transition. He missed an elbow jumper. He hit a jumphook over Howard. He missed a drive to his left in transition. He then picked up his third foul when Hedo up-faked him and leaned in to draw a whistle. Second Half: He was blocked on a drive. He swished a three from the top of the arc. He missed a three, not balanced going up. He scored a lob to start the fourth. He bit on another Hedo pumpfake and fouled him for three FTs, just use your length (huge foul up 6). He picked up his fifth foul a couple minutes later going for a rebound and couldn't believe it was on him. Overtime: He deflected a pass away from Lewis.

Luke -- -- He had to come in at PF when all three of our impact bigmen had 2 fouls in the first quarter. The Lakers were able to survive that crazy first quarter foul trouble, but they were up against it all night. Props to Luke for helping keep the Lakers within striking distance during those sketchy lineups. Got to make your FTs, though, Luke. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-2 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards and no fouls in 11 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He rotated in front of a cutting Howard to get him to throw the ball away. He posted up and drew FTs against Battie, he made one. He flashed to the ball and hit a FT jumper. He drew more FTs on a drive in the lane, he made one again. Redick worked him on a couple plays. He attacked, lost it, got it back and hit a fade in teh lane. Overtime: He did not play.

Brown -- -- What the heck, Phil? Sasha... Sasha... Sasha? Please. Enough of it. Give Shannon his minutes. When he finally did, it was with Sasha on the floor for most of that brief minute and half stint. Nothing much to report. Just wish it was Brown shooting the open threes and not Sasha. The Stats: No stats. The Action: Nothing to report in his brief stint. Second Half: He did not play. Overtime: He did not play.

Vujacic -- -- Time to not comment again. He's got to hit something. Sometime. The Stats: He was 0-2 from three to go wtih 1 assist in 4 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a wide open three. Next possession, same thing, missed a wide open three long. Redick worked him on a couple plays. Second Half: He did not play. Overtime: He did not play.

Farmar -- -- When both he and Sasha are in there chucking threes, not good. Farmar has the cability to move off that line and hit the closer range jumpers. That's the only gripe about his game. Otherwise, some pretty good hustle and smart play on the defensive end for the most part. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting from three, had 1 assist and 1 foul in 9 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a long three late in the shotclock after we failed to get the ball to Kobe. He gave up a layup to Nelson. Nice challenge on Lewis's three. He missed a three, settling instead of attacking after a fly-by. Second Half: He stripped Howard on help D. He fouled Howard under the hoop wrapping him up to stop a dunk, Howard hit both. Overtime: He did not play.

Powell -- -- He came in at PF with a minute left in the first quarter. He played several minutes, then returned again to close the half. We had to have him tonight. Not great minutes, of course, with a couple turnovers but we survived. That's all that matters. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting, had 1 assist The Action: He was called for a travel on his first offensive sequence. He missed a FT jumper. He drained a baseline jumper. He was called for a moving pick. Second Half: He did not play. Overtime: He did not play.

Mbenga -- -- He had to come in with 4 minutes left in the first quarter when both Pau and Bynum picked up two fouls each. First quarter action. Wow. That was his only stint, but he gave the Lakers some quality minutes. He didn't do anything crazy offensively and he anchored well enough on the other end. He nearly sent an Alston shot into the seats. The Stats: He had 1 block and no fouls in 4 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He rejected an Alston drive and we recovered it before it went into the stands. Second Half: He did not play. Overtime: He did not play.

Phil -- -- Even if the Lakers lost this game, it would have been very hard to put much on Phil. There were some subtle things he could have done different, but he had his work cut out for him in a huge way in this game. At one point he was running Mbenga and Powell on the court at the same time and Luke at PF simply because he had to. He ran Kobe and Pau all second half and overtime. He had to... Bynum, Pau, then Lamar all picked up 2 fouls each in the first quarter. Some very cheap ones and the Lakers were in trouble. Phil brought in a C/PF combo of Mbenga/Luke. He later had to run Mbenga/Powell to close the first quarter... The Lakers trailed 24-20 despite the devastation to their front line by the refs. They would be up against it to stay out of foul trouble in the second quarter... "I don't know what the referees are seeing out there. There are some bogus fouls, I thought," Phil said... He started a Pau, Powell, Luke, Sasha, Farmar lineup... No reason Brown can't be in this game against Redick, instead of Sasha. Fact: Lakers could use a shooter. Fact: Sasha isn't it... Phil subbed out Farmar for Brown. Doh!... He was yelling at his team, "Stop the ball! Stop the ball!" Trying to get the Lakers to protect the paint against the drive... After Ariza's layup was goaltended with no call, Phil was called for a tech. His staff was ticked on that no call... The Lakers lost the second quarter 25-17, both Bynum and Lamar picking up their third fouls (Bynum's third was a complete joke)... The Lakers trailed 49-37 at the half. The Magic made 48 percent of their shots (18-37 from the floor, 3-12 from three, 10-16 from the line). The Lakers made 33 percent (14-42, 1-10 from three, 8-11 from the line). The Magic had 7 turnovers, the Lakers 2... Phil wanted his team to get aggressive. Shaw said, "Compete. Compete. Compete." They listened... Especially one man. The Lakers cut it to 5 when Trevor got a couple transition buckets and hit a three after the first 4 minutes... Lakers took a 1-point lead midway through the quarter... The Lakers won the third quarter 30-14 behind 13 points from Ariza and some good hustle on D by the team. They led 67-63 going into the fourth. They would need one of their best quarters all season. "Their defense was great," Stan Van Gundy said. "They were extremely aggressive without fouling." Funny... Phil ran Fisher the first 14 minutes of the half before bringing in Farmar with a 4-point lead... The offense was stalling to start the fourth. A timeout came after 3 minutes, Lakers up 71-67. Lamar picked up his fifth and Phil went with Bynum/Pau... Phil went to the starters midway through the quarter. Need to go to Pau in the post against Rashard in this lineup... No freethrows for the Lakers in the fourth. Kobe driving, getting hammered and hit twice (Magic would shoot 18 times from the line, Lakers none in the fourth)... DFish gave up penetration for a dunk. Then threw a pass away on the other end trying to hit Pau... Down 5 in the final minute, they cut it to 3 and Kobe fouled Howard, he missed both. Phil called a timeout with 10.8 seconds left. We took the ball out at three-quarter court again. Kobe drew a double, the ball was moved up the floor on the pass as the Magic overplayed Kobe. DFish tied it up with 4.6 seconds left as Nelson gave him enough space to get into a good look. The play was designed for Kobe, but the double in the backcourt allowed the Lakers to get some space and Fish used it... The Lakers got the stop, sending the game into overtime... Overtime: The bench was going crazy over a no call when Pau's jersey was nearly ripped off. Meanwhile, Kobe gets hit with no call on a jumper, so bad. Then Fish was called for a foul when it was Howard shoving. The coaches were stunned... Somehow the Lakers survived the officiating. "We had to play soft and were soft and consequently fell behind," Phil said of the calls from the start of the game... Despite getting 37 FTs, the Magic only made 22. Howard 6-14, Hedo 8-13. The Magic had 19 turnovers, the Lakers scored 16 points off of them. The Lakers had just 8 turnovers, giving up 10 points...

[Ray_Gonzoles]

This game showed the true heart of the Lakers. After falling behind big in the 1st half, they came out ant took it to Orlando. Even down by 5 late in the 4th with the clock against them, they had the determination not to panic and tied the game to force OT. In OT, they kept taking it to Orlando and grabbed not only the win, but ripped the heart of the Orlando team and their fans.

Guess the little girl won’t be singing the National Anthem on Sunday.

Go Lakers – 15 down – 1 more until the celebration begins.

Thanks for the recap DB!
_________________
"Just show up ready to work, ready to play, Have your big boy pants on, leave your diaper at home." Kobe Bryant
Anything less than a championship is a failure. Period.

[ishi331]

2nd
Great win tonight. Feels good to be up 3-1, we stole a game in their house. Thanks for the recap DB.

[sia_kb8]

It made my day. Fish just made up for half of his struggles so far.
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[TooMuchMajicBuss]

15 Down, 1 To Go!!!!

Thanks DB!!

[ksmgf]

Thank you DB. Love ur rating as always

[TheLakerFeeling]

Damn this feels good. Can't sleep. 1 more W, I can taste it already!

Thanks, DB.

--
GO LAKERS!!

[limchrc]

Glad we won even against a lot of questionable calls. Hope we get the next one too. Thanks for the recap.

[Vadorojo]

Victory is so, so sweet.

Victory against such ridiculous odds *cough* 4th-quarter free-throw discrepancy *cough* is even sweeter.
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"I like looking at a guy's face when he realizes that even his best moves aren't going to work on me all night. They look depressed." - Ron Artest

[DancingBarry]

Not only did the Magic get 17 FTs in the fourth quarter and the Lakers 0, the Magic were only called for 1 foul. The blocking foul with a minute left by Nelson. Wow.

I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like that before.

[LakerEric]

I actually kneeled in front of the TV when the score was 87-82 Magic and prayed literally! I was not disappointed! I'm so incredibly proud of how the team overcame the adversity to take this very important game!
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Do you believe it now, Trinity? - Morpheous

[waterman40]

What an epic win. Thanks DB.
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LAKERS 2019-2020: NBA World Champions!

[mhan00]

(bleep) (bleep) officiating, and the lakers still win it. absolutely beautiful. suck it salvatore, you piece of (bleep).

[X56]

Truly an unbelievable win!

Ariza and Fish deserve the game ball.

Dwight and Hedo deserve a chokeball

and lastly, the Refs obviously got the "moneyball"

ONE more WIN!!!!!
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Game 7 2010 NBA Finals - Lakers 83, Boston 79

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

[Dr. Laker]

[ReaListik]

If the league wants to have any credibility at all they will make some employee adjustments after reviewing some dumbass reffing that's been happening so far this post-season.

Tonight was ridiculous and I'm so glad the Lakers won this. They overcame a tremendous amount to fight for the win. There were key plays made by guys like Kobe, Trevor, Fisher(obviously), and Gasol to ensure this victory.

When D-Fish hit that clutch 3 to send it into OT I yelled out "OMG WOW 2001 EDITION D-FISH!!" and when he nailed the dagger in OT I was in shock. That was incredible to see and should top the "Where amazing happens" commercials.

Kobe made a ridiculous spin move play that set up Gasol and I thought it went pretty much unnoticed, but omg that was another time where I found myself jaw dropped and saying, "wow that was sick".

Awesome win, that was just amazing to see this team win against all the crap that got thrown at them...wow.
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"We are the goodest." - Shaq ESPN interview

[sonimala]

What will happen to the sound of thebell when it's all done...no bell anymore?

Thanks DB...I'm excited about the end...the closing epilogue.
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Miami police will not arrest Dirk for stealing LeBron's ring. The victim never witnessed the crime since he left 12 mins before the theft. As tweeted by: The Bill Walton Trip

[IPK]

[Arizona]

This win was so much sweeter considering the refs/Stern seemed to be doing everything they could to keep us from winning. There were just some blatantly mindblowing calls in this game. The refs weren't even trying to be subtle. I didn't know what the numbers were at the time, but having them shoot 17 freethrows to our 0 doesn't surprise me because you could feel us getting submarined the whole game. I am so incredibly proud of this team for pushing through all that adversity and gutting out an incredibly difficult win on the road. They certainly deserved it. Big props to Trev and Fish, the heroes of the night, and for Kobe and Pau who pushed through when they were clearly exhausted. Some of the fouls called on LO, Drew and even Kobe were absolutely ridiculous. Just goes to show you can win playing 5 on 8 if you stick together and are mentally tough. I've never been prouder to be a Laker fan.
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“I’m just a basketball player, you know? Just put me where you need me.” -Lamar Odom

“You’ve got to play with pride and guts.” -LO

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB

one more win!
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"I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant

"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."

[ChefLinda]

Thanks, DB! Epic write-up for an epic game.

SVG said "experience" played no factor in the game, but we needed every bit of our past experience at playing 5 on 8 to pull this one out. Kobe, Fish and Phil remember Detroit in 2004 and all our guys remember Boston. This time we kept our composure and played through it. Our experience definitely toughened us up and taught us what to expect. It wasn't "just basketball" as SVG said, it was a war out there.

I'm proud of our guys. Now go get that last one!

[City_Dawg]

There has been so much talk about the resiliency of the Orlando Magic, how about those Lakers huh? Especially in game 3. Game 3 to me, showed me the heart of team. This kids have come a long way in the last 12 months

Who's soft now?
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*sighs*

!...

[hoopschick29]

I try not to gripe about Stern and officials, but last night they did everything they could to take that game from us. Aside from the fact that they had all our bigs on the bench in the 1st half with foul trouble, that 4th quarter was just unreal.
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So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.

[NYLakerFan]

Thanks for a great, GREAT recap DB.

This was just an incredible victory given the blatant effort to hand a victory to the Magic.

I fired off an email to the NBA last night asking them for help in explaining last night's officiating to my 11 year old. He was almost in tears and kept asking me why the officials hate the Lakers. I thought last year's game 2 was the worst I had ever seen. Not anymore. The fourth quarter last night was the single most blatant attempt to influence the outcome of a game I have ever seen.