Lakers pull out a win in a close game in OT that could have gone either way. Game 2 easily could have been won by Orlando with a brilliant play drawn up by Stan Van Gundy for a Courtney Lee lob with 0.06 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the rookie, he came up short. And aside from a 3 point play by Howard and a three from Lewis, OT was all Lakers. Experience in the Lakers part took over and won the game.
Game 2 started off really slow. Both teams finishing with 15pts at the end of 1st, which is the lowest combined score in the first in NBA Finals history. And aside from the last minutes of the 4th quarter and OT, it never really picked up. For the first time this season, I'd have to say that the Lakers' defense was better than their offense. And even then I can't say they played great D. I will say that Magic played a much better game on both ends, but still wasn't enough.
Most people would say Odom was the best player on the floor last night. He did a bit of everything. Shot very efficient and finished with 19pts, 8rebs, and 3blks. But in my opinion, I thought Gasol had a better game. Pau was effective as usual but for the second game did well in defending Howard. Gasol also had 7 crucial points in OT. Odom was great offensively and at times made great defensive plays. But altogether, his defense was spotty.
Time after time he left Lewis open for threes and was pretty much the reason why the Magic held on for so long. Now you can make the argument that he was helping on Howard, but many times it was because Lamar was ball watching.
Kobe had a mediocre game. I can't say that he played poorly but the man did have 7 turnovers and did make some stupid plays. He passed to Shannon when Shannon wasn't there and didn't pass to Odom when he was completely open. But then again if Kobe didn't get blocked and made that shot he wouldn't have got criticized for it. It would have just been classic Kobe. Right?
Orlando's Big three came out Big in last night's game. All three shot the ball very well, passed, rebounded well, and made the right plays.. most of the time. But the lack of contribution from the rest of their team resulted in their loss. The fact that they missed 7 free throws and turned the ball over 20 times doesn't help them either. They had horrible guard play and at times didn't play with one. I will say that Hedo did a great job in defending Kobe. I also thought Reddick did a way better job defending Kobe than Pietrus and Lee did.
The Lakers now head to Orlando for Game 3. And if they hope to win the title there they better tighten a few things up. A couple of screws seemed to have gone loose in the Lakers defense. They also need to crash boards again like they did in Game 1. We'll see how well they bounce back in Game 3 on Thursday.
NEED I SAY MORE?!?
Lakers are the 09' Champs!
Lakers pull out a win in a close game in OT that could have gone either way. Game 2 easily could have been won by Orlando with a brilliant play drawn up by Stan Van Gundy for a Courtney Lee lob with 0.06 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the rookie, he came up short. And aside from a 3 point play by Howard and a three from Lewis, OT was all Lakers. Experience in the Lakers part took over and won the game.
Time after time he left Lewis open for threes and was pretty much the reason why the Magic held on for so long. Now you can make the argument that he was helping on Howard, but many times it was because Lamar was ball watching.
One word has been used to describe the Orlando Magic. Resilience. Resilience is defined as "the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress." In other words, regardless of what happened in Game 1, the Magic have the ability to bounce back after their horrible loss to the Lakers. The Lakers should have the same outlook. Kobe had the right idea when asked about the game, he simply said to "forget about it."