Lakers Take Control, 3-1
Derek Fisher’s smooth left hand shooting stroke nailed two daggers in the heart of the Orlando Magic Thursday night.
First, with his Lakers trailing 87-84 with 4.6 left in regulation, Fisher made a 3-pointer to save LA and send game four of the NBA Finals into overtime.
Then with 31.3 seconds left in overtime and the game tied 91-91, Fisher swished another from 3-point range that sent the Lakers on an 8-0 run that sealed a 99-91 win.
The win gave the Lakers a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. Game five is scheduled for Sunday night. Game five will be in Orlando but the Magic must feel the Lakers have the Magic down and are pressing their foot on their throats.
Orlando came so close to making it a 2-2 series but the Lakers executed better when it counted.
The most obvious example of better execution was Fisher’s game-tying shot to send the game into overtime. Not only did Fisher make the shot, he saw the opportunity.
“I saw (Jameer) Nelson was giving me a lot of room,” Fisher said afterwards. “I like to step into those threes.”
That is Orlando not executing on defense and Fisher nailing it.
Another example came just before that.
With 11.1 seconds left in regulation Kobe Bryant hammered Dwight Howard underneath. Kobe wrapped his arms around the muscular Magic center, sending Howard to the free throw line.
Orlando led at the time, 87-84, and if Howard made either of his two free throws, Fisher’s shot would have been irrelevant. But Howard missed both free throws.
A third example of poor execution by the Magic was apparent after Fisher’s game-tying shot. After Fisher’s basket, Orlando still had 4.6 left to score and win the game. By NBA standards, that is a lot of time.
First Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu had trouble making an inbound pass. Credit the Lakers with good defensive execution and Orlando with not so good execution.
On the inbound play, it looked like the Magic players made one move on their defenders but then came to a standstill. Turkoglu stood in frustration, looking for someone to break open to make the inbound pass to.
Turkoglu had to call timeout. The Magic regrouped but were unable to get a good shot. Mickael Pietrus put up a 10-foot jumper that was off the mark.
In overtime a very similar lack of execution by the Magic occured.
After Fisher’s 3-pointer gave LA a 94-91 lead with 31.3 left in OT, the Magic again did not show the ball movement that had worked so well for them throughout the series.
Turkoglu rushed a shot just five seconds into the 24-second clock. It was off the mark. Orlando got a hand on the rebound and attempted to tip the missed shot to the top of the key.
But the tip went over the head of Nelson and created a fast break opportunity for the Lakers’ Pau Gasol. He slammed it home with 21.6 left to put the Lakers up 96-91.
Orlando needed five points in those last 21 seconds, so looking for the best shot was not practical at that point. Turkoglu attempted a 3-pointer that karoomed off the rim into the Lakers’ hands.
LA was able to convert it into another fast break dunk by Gasol that made the final margin bely how close this game was.
Orlando led by 12 at half, 49-37. The Lakers, who lost game three but have not lost back to back games throughout the playoffs, had a big third quarter to get back in it. LA outscored the Magic 30-14 to take a 67-63 lead.
Howard had a strong defensive game for Orlando with 15 defensive boards (21 total) and nine blocked shots. But he was 6-14 from the charity stripe. Turkoglu missed five free throws.
The Magic missed 15 free throws total (22 of 37) and that hurt Orlando big time. Turkoglu finished with 25 points for Orlando. Howard had 16 and Pietrus 15.
Bryant finished with 32 for the Lakers. Gasol and Trevor Ariza each had 16.
Fisher only had 12 points but quality was more important than quantity in this case. Fisher’s heroics were probably the biggest shots of his career.
But it is not the first time he has hit big shots. In the 2004 playoffs against San Antonio, Fisher hit the famous catch-and-shoot game winner. There was only 0.4 left for that play. Fisher took an inbound pass and in one motion, turned around and launched a 3-point winner.
The Magic have proved they can play with the Lakers. They belong in the Finals. But LA seems to execute better when it counts. That should put the title trophy in the Lakers’ hands in a game or two.
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