Congratulations to the Orlando Magic on their first ever NBA Finals victory. They finally won one in their 7th try with a 108-104 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the 2009 NBA Finals. Lakers played hard tonight in Orlando and gave it their all but have a lot to work on for Game 4.
Both teams were on fire in the first half as the Lakers and Magic both shot 50 + percent from the field. ORL shot 68 percent and LA shot 51 % I think. Yet Lakers hung in there leading the game (which was amazing) until giving lead up. Lakers trailed by only 5 points. Second half began and the Magic took control of 3rd quarter again as they expanded their lead. By the end of three, LA trailed by 6. But the fourth quarter went pretty well for the Lakers. They started the 4th quarter red hot making all 7 of their 7 shots they took. LA missed some but shot at a high percent in the fourth. Yet Lakers didn't finish off some business and that cost them this game. Magic shot an NBA Finals record 62.5 % from the field. They couldn't miss a shot.
Kobe Bryant had 31 pts but faded away in the second half after scoring 21 pts in the 1st half. He had 10 after recess. Kobe struggled to find his shot in the second half. Also, Kobe missed free throws. That is a rarity as Kobe had shot 90% from the line in the playoffs. Kobe only made half his foul shots, 5/10. He got his teammates involved too by dishing 8 ast for the third straight game. Boy Kobe has been playing the faciliting role early in the ballgame.
Pau Gasol again had a consistent game with 23 pts on 9-11 shooting. He bodied up to Dwight Howard pretty well tonight. But Pau only had 3 rebounds, which we don't see often on his statline. Lamar Odom didn't play that aggressive and active like he had done in the previous games but came up big in the 4th quarter. He finally woke up as L.O. probably ate some candy. He finished with 11 pts but was in foul trouble during the 3rd quarter. Trevor Ariza knocked down a couple 3 point shots and had many steals. I think Ariza knows what the Magic are running as he was in Stan Van Gundy's system for sometime. Jordan Farmar was the other player who stepped up off the bench as he matched Odom with 11 pts. Not bad Farmar as the Bench Mob has almost disappeared. Sasha Vujacic, labeled the machine, has been dis assembled...:)
Tonight Lakers missed 10 foul shots. It was costly a bit. Lakers did a nice job rebounding as they had 11 offensive rebounds, allowing many 2nd chance points for L.A. The total rebounding numbers were pretty close. Lakres have to knock down their foul shots. That's mostly what it takes along with a better job not making Orlando get on fire and knock down those shots.
It's only 1 loss so Laker fans don't worry about it. Lakers finally played a good hard fought game 3 as they didn't fall asleep like they did in the previous games. Lakers fought til the end. After Kobe made that shot with 0.5 seconds left, he immediately went to foul Lewis, showing everyone that he wouldn't give up on the game. That is pure determination there by the Black Mamba.
I'm still sticking to my Lakers in 6 prediction. L.A. will win game 4 Lakers haven't lost consecutive games in the playoffs so far. Game 4 is Thursday.
No comments:
Post a Comment