Silly bailout foul. Fisher had no chance at that shot, he was just trying to draw contact as they said on the broadcast.

SI

Smart play by Fisher

Come on Lakers, we need a dagger.

GASOL!

That all but sews this one up for LA

SI

Bad call there- should have been Lakers ball

SI

Dwight with the shove.

Acting on Gasol's part?

Hey, ABC- want to show us the angle of replay with the foul, not some ugly thing where we barely get the shot by Lewis and nothing of the foul underneath

SI

That's a three-pointer let's get on with it.

Just one.

Game

SI

Bah.

Done.

Lakers have done what they needed to do, keeping homecourt. Time to withstand the two (possibly three) straight games in Orlando.

bah. they had their chance at the end of regulation

Big missed opportunity tonight.

Orlando needs to win three straight at home.

He still should have probably made it anyway, but that pass was just a touch too low. Still, the degree of difficulty on that lob is amazingly high.

My only question is, will Kobe be rapping "How my ass taste now?" to Shaq if the Lakers win?

Just read the Simmons article about last night's game...


Can anyone verify this happened? I couldn't watch the game.

0:01: Fascinating last play -- Orlando defends Kobe with its slowest defender (Turkoglu), gambling that his length will bother Kobe's jumpshot, and if Kobe drives, Hedo's teammates will jump in to help and Kobe will shoot, anyway. So what happens? Kobe beats Hedo off the dribble, Redick, Lewis and Howard all collapse on Kobe, Kobe ignores Odom (wide-open, left corner), Ariza (wide-open, top of key) and Fisher (wide-open, right corner) and shoots with two seconds left, anyway ... and Hedo blocks him from behind. Sorry, that's just a terrible offensive play. I would hope even the Lakers fans would admit that.
Important note: Kobe's reputation as a "killer" at the end of games remains overblown. The site In depth coverage of the NBA from 82games.com just posted a study of game-winning shots from the last five-plus seasons (regular seasons and playoffs since the 2003-04 season) that revealed Kobe was shooting 14-for-56 (25 percent) with one assist and five turnovers, and made 12 of 15 free throws. So let's say that was 70 possessions total, including Sunday night. ... He only had one assist in nearly six years??? That's why Orlando quadruple-teamed him in that spot. Kobe is a phenomenal streak shooter, and he has a real talent for catching fire with a lead and closing games out ... but you can stop him in one-shot situations simply because he's his own worst enemy. He wants to be a hero, he's shooting it, and that's that.
0:00.6: Funniest moment of the game: Kobe storms back to the bench, whacks the chair in disgust and sits down as Phil Jackson (already sitting) looks at him with a bemused, "Should I point out to him that MJ absolutely would have passed there?" smile on his face. Classic.
My biggest issue with this Lakers team: Normally when teams get over the hump and win the title, everyone pitches in and there's a selflessness that manifests itself as the playoffs go along. For instance, Jordan's Bulls never totally came together until Jackson screamed at MJ to start finding a wide-open John Paxson in Game 5 of the 1991 Finals; from that point on, MJ dropped the Hero Complex and started trusting his teammates. What's weird is that Kobe isn't 100 percent there yet, but the Lakers are going to win the title, anyway. It has never happened in NBA Finals history before. At least as far as I can tell.

of course it did. the shit is so effed-up it's crazy. league wants kobe to get his title.

The officials were atrocious in the game but I'd still pin the loss on Howard who disappeared at the end of the game.

I'd pin it on Howard's inability to keep possession of the ball. Seriously, I was nervous every time they threw it to him in the post. Either Fisher would swipe it away or he'd lose control of the pass.

How about the call with a minute left where they said it went off of Kobe's leg and it clearly did not? I don't think any team gets called for a travel there at the end of the game.

Lee should have made that play. Even if the degree of difficulty was roughly an 8.

Aye. To be fair to him, it looks a lot easier in slow-mo than it was in game speed.

He also could have done better with the layup not long before that too. He finished that far too weakly with a little push shot that made it harder than it needed to be.

Been a Laker fan since the days of West and Wilt suffering many finals with no wins. I don't know how anyone Laker fan or not would think it was a good play on Kobes part. Hell I was screaming "pass the goddamn ball!":banghead:

I do watch a lot of Laker games and I can't say I've really thought of Kobe as a "killer". I think his skill is getting on a roll to the point where a game doesn't come down to the last shot. Am I'm the only Laker fan that thinks that? I hope not. If the game is on the line though I would hope he would read the defense and trust a wide open player if he's being ganged up on. I do agree though that he thinks he should take the shot no matter what.

Just like how the league wanted the Celtics to finally win again last year? :)

lol - i guess one could say that. or one could just say "the league wanted a celtics vs. lakers final series" and the celtics made sure to put the final game so far out of reach that the refs couldn't do anything to effect the series.

:)

Pretty good game tonight. Magic are shooting 75% and are only up five!

The Magic have been near-flawless tonight, and that's what it should take to beat the Lakers in this series. No room for errors, no room for mediocrity.

Hello Mr. Stern

First miss of the Lakers in the fourth... with 3 min left.

Gasol ties it up, 99-99.

Clutch shot from Rashard

Boy, I dunno why anyone would say the NBA is fixed, Joey Crawford...

SI

And Kobe misses his 5th FT of the game!

* Kobe hasn't missed 5 FTs in a game all season long.

That was a bad call as it looked like a clean block to me.

He's doing everything he can to help Kobe, but Kobe just can't make FTs tonight.

That said, I am SURE the NBA would prefer a long series and not a 4-0 sweep by the Lakers. It's not fixed, it's just a star getting a call they shouldn't

Good block by Gasol and Odom.

Well that could do it.

Great defensive play by the Magic!

Good, hard-fought game by both teams. This is done.

Meh, so much for the sweep

Orlando finally gets their first finals win after six losses. Nick Anderson will sleep well tonight.

Really enjoyable game. Almost makes me glad that I was off work with the flu (not THE flu however ;) ) to be able to watch it.

Kobe getting hot in the 1st Q was probably the worst thing that could have happened for the Lakers in hindsight. They are such a better team when everyone is playing together, rather than watching Kobe run iso plays.

Good first half from Orlando. Howard was a beast.

Howard has really matured this series IMO. Each game he is better understanding how effective he can be without even scoring, just by using himself as a decoy. This is also a prime example of why, during the regular season, there should not have been so many Magic games where Howard rarely touched the ball. If they'd played like this all season they'd have been the #1 seed in the East.

Having said that, seriously Howard, cut out the turnovers. ;)

The Lakers just erased that 12 point lead. Wow.