All day I have heard the question "Who should take the blame for the Magic's Game 4 loss?". People have mentioned Stan Van Gundy for not instructing his team to foul while his team up 3 with 11 seconds left or playing Jameer Nelson down the stretch instead of Rafer Alston. People have certainly blamed Dwight Howard for his 2 missed free throws to ice the game or his 8 missed free throws for the game (even though he was a complete game changer defensively for the entire game with 9 blocks). And of course people are going to blame the 19 turnovers or the 15 total missed free throws by Orlando as well. But I am going in a different direction. I am blaming the team that won the damn game, the Lakers for pulling out one of the guttiest wins in Finals history and Lakers history. Isn't a weird theory to blame the team that won the game? Remember Kobe had to make a ridiculous spin move (which for whatever reason NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT!!!!) to some how find Pau Gasol for a dunk to cut the lead from 5 to 3 with 30 seconds left. Also Kobe had to get the ball out to Ariza after he was trapped, who then got the ball up court to fisher, who then had to make the 3 anyways. So to say the Magic "handed" the Lakers the game would be foolish and really only coming from people who don't watch basketball that often. The Lakers HAD to make plays down the stretch and they did and the Magic didn't. And in overtime Kobe had to get the ball to an open Fisher for 3 and Fisher had to make it. The Magic didn't make these shots in overtime, the Lakers did.Lets start in the first half when the Lakers big men (Bynum, Gasol and Odom) inexplicably got called for 2 fouls each, early in the 1st quarter. I mean these calls were absolute jokes, because Dwight Howard literally does whatever he wants out there. Dwight plays by the 7 seconds in the key rule and the rule that elbows from him do not constitute fouls. Oh yeah and don't get me started on the screens he sets (every single screen Howard sets is illegal, every single one). OK, so the refs got in the Lakers heads a little bit. It showed with our play and the Lakers offense was just so stagnant. Luckily Kobe did his best to keep us in striking distance, with bein
g down only 12 at the half. I mean nothing went right in the 1st half, absolutely nothing. Then came the 3rd quarter. Trevor Ariza really set the tone for the quarter and was just remarkable (he had about the worst first half you could have, 0-4, 1 Tech, 1 TO and 0 relevance on the game). He got a fastbreak dunk, which cut the lead to 10 and then hit another jumper and another 2 3's (with a Kobe 3 in the middle). All of a sudden the Lakers were up 1 and ended up being up 4 by the end the quarter. How tough minded does a team have to be to come out in the 3rd quarter like that? Especially after the Lakers got hardly any calls and 2 technicals and played so bad in the first half. Then in the 4th quarter the Lakers literally got 0 calls, I mean 0 calls. I have never seen a discrepancy like that in the 4th quarter (18 fts for the Magic, 0 for the Lakers. 0 fts!!! Do you know how hard that is it to do, especially how aggressive they were). I mean how many times does Pietrus have to slap Kobe on the arm or hand before he gets the benefit. Yet the Lakers kept going, kept hitting shots, and most importantly kept persevering. And in the end they pulled out the win. That's where champions are made. Just watch Game 6 of the '98 finals where the Bulls had no business winning that game in Utah, especially when Scottie Pippen pretty much threw out his back and Jordan couldn't hit a shot for the whole game, because he literally had to do everything. And the Bulls won! The Jazz didn't hand them the game, because Malone lost the ball and Sloan left Russell one on one with MJ. The Bulls won that game and the title. That is how champions are made. Watch game 1 of the 1985 finals where the Celtics blew out the Lakers by over 30 and then see how the Lakers came back and won the series. Its all about how teams handle adversity and the championship teams do that better than anyone else. Now this series isn't over yet, but certainly one team looks like the championship team, while the other doesn't.
g down only 12 at the half. I mean nothing went right in the 1st half, absolutely nothing. Then came the 3rd quarter. Trevor Ariza really set the tone for the quarter and was just remarkable (he had about the worst first half you could have, 0-4, 1 Tech, 1 TO and 0 relevance on the game). He got a fastbreak dunk, which cut the lead to 10 and then hit another jumper and another 2 3's (with a Kobe 3 in the middle). All of a sudden the Lakers were up 1 and ended up being up 4 by the end the quarter. How tough minded does a team have to be to come out in the 3rd quarter like that? Especially after the Lakers got hardly any calls and 2 technicals and played so bad in the first half. Then in the 4th quarter the Lakers literally got 0 calls, I mean 0 calls. I have never seen a discrepancy like that in the 4th quarter (18 fts for the Magic, 0 for the Lakers. 0 fts!!! Do you know how hard that is it to do, especially how aggressive they were). I mean how many times does Pietrus have to slap Kobe on the arm or hand before he gets the benefit. Yet the Lakers kept going, kept hitting shots, and most importantly kept persevering. And in the end they pulled out the win. That's where champions are made. Just watch Game 6 of the '98 finals where the Bulls had no business winning that game in Utah, especially when Scottie Pippen pretty much threw out his back and Jordan couldn't hit a shot for the whole game, because he literally had to do everything. And the Bulls won! The Jazz didn't hand them the game, because Malone lost the ball and Sloan left Russell one on one with MJ. The Bulls won that game and the title. That is how champions are made. Watch game 1 of the 1985 finals where the Celtics blew out the Lakers by over 30 and then see how the Lakers came back and won the series. Its all about how teams handle adversity and the championship teams do that better than anyone else. Now this series isn't over yet, but certainly one team looks like the championship team, while the other doesn't.
2 comments:
I agree that you can't blame any one player for a loss ever (Except maybe Starks vs Bulls). So many variables have to occur to set up that one person's failure. Much to my chagrine, the Lakers gutted that game out and have the look of this years champions. They played an amazing third quarter (which I fell asleep during b/c of the fucking estern time zone) and closed the game like only a championship calibre team can do. That said, they did have a little help. I believe, that 11 seconds is too early to begin the foul game, especially since the Magic were shooting so terribly from the stripe, so stan van is not to blame. The culprit was just that tho, the free throws. I know dwight has been working hard on his touch, but he HAS to be able to sink just one of two down the stretch to deserve to even be on the court. Some where the Big Idiot shaquielle o'neil is having a chuckle and big dwights failure.
Word!
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