Game 4 Reaction
Written by Maxwell Effort   
Thursday, 11 June 2009 23:33

dwight

The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

First the thrill of victory. The Magic are up by 3 with 11 seconds left and Dwight Howard is fouled. Knowing he has been pretty darn good in late game free throw situations I think to myself we only need one. Magic up by at least 4 and we are on our way to a tie series and home court for Game 5.

Then the agony of defeat. Howard steps up to the line and misses both free throws which obviously means the Lakers are within 3. The Magic do a fantastic job of denying Kobe the ball and Ariza hits Fisher streaking up the court who pulls up and sees Jameer is playing way off him and knocks in a clutch game tying 3. Pietrus rushes his shot and shoots an awkward jumper and we go to overtime. Though this team has shown tremendous fight all playoffs long I think to myself there is no way they are going to recover from blowing this game down the stretch and we are looking at 3-1.

We almost get to experience the thrill of victory again as Rashard finally gets free for a shot and hits a nice 3 as the shot clock is expiring for the 90-87 lead. I think to myself these guys are going to just shake this off and pull this thing out. What a team!!

Well that is short lived as the agony of defeat comes again after we are tied at 91. With 31 seconds left in the game Jameer goes to double Kobe who elbows him in the face knocking him over. He proceeds to pass to a wide open Derek Fisher who hits another clutch 3. Turk tries to answer with an awkward off balance 3 point attempt and Rashard back tips the rebound to nobody as Gasol gets the ball and dunks it down court. Lakers up by 5 with a commanding 3-1 series lead.

Its so funny as a fan how you can go from complete euphoria and the highest high to the lowest low. This is a game once the Lakers win the title that Lakers fans will remember for the rest of their lives. Derek Fisher coming through in the clutch again and getting his team within inches of a title. As a Magic fan you will never forget where you were for Game 4 as you slowly watched any real chance at the title fly out the window with Dwight's missed free throws and again Fisher's heroics.

Even if this is over on Sunday the big picture tells me this team was not supposed to be in the Finals and will grow tremendously from this experience. The other part of me wonders if this team has three more fights in them to pull of the impossible. Logic says no but my heart so badly wants to say yes.

We will find out Sunday what fight the Magic have left and until then I am pretty sure we fans need the break!

 

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written by curseofcleveland, June 12, 2009
There's a saying we have here in Cleveland, "There's always next year."

The Magic simply haven't played the type of game they did to beat the Cavaliers. Yes, the Lakers are better (than both teams), but the same principles ORL used to win should work against LA.

I honestly feel for you guys right now; been there plenty.
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written by Brian Tung, June 13, 2009
@curse: No, I think Orlando needs to play the Lakers differently than they played the Cavs. To their credit, they're trying to play it differently, but they simply aren't executing.

The main difference between the Cavs and the Lakers is the mobility and offensive skill set of the Lakers bigs. Z has a decent jumper and Varejao has heart, but neither of them has the mobility to stay with Howard (who because of his spindly legs is not as strong overall as he looks), nor the skills to really make him work on defense. This puts an extra premium on the Magic getting better perimeter play. Except for Game 3, and some Rashard Lewis in Game 2, that really hasn't panned out.

Speaking of Lewis, lots of Magic fans were wondering what happened to him in Game 4. It's not as though the guy just went and hid in a corner; the Lakers made a concerted effort to double him, especially in the corner. Again, this made it imperative that the other perimeter players had to step up. Turkoglu did, but the guards simply didn't. Alston was OK, but mysteriously, he snuck his way into Van Gundy's doghouse midway through the third and never got back out. Who knows why.

Howard is saying he goes into a gym and shoots 300 FT a night to improve. I just don't think that's going to cut it, honestly, unless you're running suicides every 5 FTA. He's got to be able to knock them down when he's gassed, because hitting them in rhythm is not really going to come up in late-game situations for real. His technique is ugly, and while I'm all for ugly technique if it works, it's clear that it isn't working nearly well enough for him to be a reliable late-game threat. Same reason that Kobe closed games when Shaq played with the Lakers; L.A. simply couldn't afford to have other teams put Shaq on the free-throw line with the game in the balance.

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We are Terry and The Pump Fakes, Jareth Cutestory, Vile Feminista, Maxwell Effort, I 3 Freely, Paul Ego, Supply and Demand, El Fantasma de Carlos, The Big Train, The Nickel Steak, Ayo!, and Tyson J. Perfect. Together, we are Magic fans. We remember Nick’s steal against Jordan, Billy Donovan, Scott Skiles, Jerryl Sasser and Reece Gaines, The Mac Attacks, the NBA on NBC, and Grant Hill’s ankle. We also watch TV and read the internet, thus noticing the endless flow of unoriginal Orlando Magic related puns. We have combined to discuss the Magic, the NBA, and from time to time supply side economics and the life of Leonardo da Vinci. Together we are The Puns Are Starting to Bore Me.

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