The Orlando Magic stormed back into contention in the NBA Finals by knocking off the Los Angeles Lakers 108-104 on Tuesday at Amway Arena, trimming the deficit in their best-of-seven series to 2-1.
Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis each scored 21 points to lead the Magic, who set a record in the championship round by connecting on nearly 63 percent of their shots.
“Tonight we played more speed, more energy on the offensive end,” said Magic point guard Rafer Alston, who scored 20 points. “We were able to get down the floor, push it, a lot of pick and roll, which is our game.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
“The bad thing is we shot 62 and a half percent and almost lost the game, so we’ve got to find a way to defend these guys,” he said.
The Magic squandered a nine-point lead midway through the fourth quarter but held on for their first victory of an NBA Finals series.
PHOTO: EPA
RESILIENCE
“I’ve said it throughout the season and throughout these playoffs, the one thing that you can’t question with our team is their resilience in situations like that, whether it’s from game to game, minute to minute, our team will keep playing,” a delighted Magic coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters.
Two foul shots by Lakers Spanish forward Pau Gasol with 2:41 left tied the score at 99-99 but a jam by French guard Mickael Pietrus and a foul shot by Alston gave the Magic a 102-99 lead.
PHOTO: AFP
With the Lakers trailing 104-102 Kobe Bryant committed a costly turnover and then fouled Pietrus, who sank two free throws with 28.7 left to clinch the Magic victory.
“It was disappointing,” said Bryant, last year’s Most Valuable Player who is looking for his fourth championship ring.
“I’m used to coming through in those situations, the team trusts me to come through in those situations, and it just didn’t happen tonight,” he said.
“Obviously, you’ve got to knock down free throws but we lost this game on the defensive end,” Bryant said.
“We had been playing very good defense, and the team tonight shoots 62 percent from the field, 69 percent the first half,” he said. “We’ve got to do a better job defensively.”
Bryant played his worst game of the series, hitting only 11 of 25 shots while misfiring on half of his 10 free throw attempts. He also committed an uncharacteristic four turnovers.
SHUT DOWN
The 30-year-old scored 31 points but was shut down for much of the final three quarters after torching the Magic for 17 points in the opening period.
Bryant, an 11-times All Star, had a simple explanation for his shooting problems.
He said Orlando abandoned single coverage on him and had “four more guys” leaning on him.
“They threw the whole kitchen sink and they did a great job staying on my body,” Bryant told reporters. “They brought help from the weak side, simple as that.”
“They really started coming hard to him,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. “Howard was consistently coming at him on shots, making it difficult. He never really got in rhythm again the same way.”
Jackson said Bryant’s poor foul shooting played a huge part in the loss.
UNUSUAL
“Those are the kinds of things that change a game,” Jackson said. “This is a very unusual thing, Kobe shooting five for 10 after hitting 14 in a row at the end of the game the other night. That’s a difference maker.”
Game Four of the series is today in Orlando.
The Magic will have to fight formidable odds since only 14 teams in 222 attempts have ever come back from losing the first two games of a best-of-seven series.
“We believe in each other,” the Magic’s 2.08m Turkish star Hedo Turkoglu said. “As long as we are playing our game, our system and fighting 48 minutes then why not?”
Howard was similarly upbeat.
“We didn’t allow us being down 0-2 to discourage us from winning,” said Howard, who hit five of six shots and had a team-leading 14 rebounds.
LONG WAY
“We’ve come a long way and our goal is to win the championship. We’re going to continue to fight,” he said.
“All I told my teammates is, ‘You’ve got to continue to believe.’ We’ve had two tough losses, but things will turn around for us if we continue to believe,” Howard said.
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