Is it me or have there been great finishes in every game since the conference finals started? LeBron James hit the buzzer beater the other night to steal the game from the Magic just when it looked like Orlando was going to be up two games to none going home. The Magic almost did what it took the entire league a complete season to accomplish and that was beat Cleveland twice on its home floor.
Great finish, unless of course you are Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy. The look on his face after the shot went down by King James said "hey, that's LeBron and he made a shot. It happens." But the real translation of that look was, "Ah man, I should have picked the other coverage."
Everybody surmised the ball was going to James and the Magic made him catch the ball going away from the hoop after Hedo Turkoglu took away the initial play where Mo Williams was looking for the lob pass to James. But the one fatal mistake made by Van Gundy, as he did the giant mea culpa in the post-game news conference, was not having Rashard Lewis pressure the ball. Was Stan not watching the Laker' game the night before where simple token pressure by Lamar Odom forced Anthony Carter to make a bad pass leading to a steal by Trevor Ariza? Oh by the way, that same thing happened again in Game 3 in Denver, but more on that later. With Lewis allowing a free look for Williams, he made the perfect pass for LeBron to catch-and-shoot in rhythm. Every shooter will tell you that a solid pass in the shooting pocket where you don't have to adjust to catch the ball and then reposition yourself to shoot always gives you a better chance at knocking down the shot. Heck, an average defensive back in football is better when the quarterback is running for his life and even the best in the business can't cover a guy all day if the guy standing in the pocket has time.
We'll see what happens in Game 3 in Orlando. One thing that won't materialize is the emotional hangover after a tough loss. The Magic have been through it before three times in this playoff run, twice against Philadelphia and once against Boston where they have lost at or close to the buzzer and bounced back.
I take the opposite position to many regarding LeBron's game winner. Yes it will be a shot that will be shown on the highlight reels regularly and will probably be in one of those marketing jobs "Where amazing happens" but I would not call it one for the ages. It was important and from an important player but it didn't win a title or even a series for that matter so while it was a big shot, it was no bigger than say….oh, say, the Rik Smits job that beat Orlando at the buzzer in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1995 after Penny Hardaway did what Turkoglu did putting Orlando up with about the same amount of time (1.3 seconds) remaining. It may get more play, but it isn't at a different level in these eyes.
The Lakers regained home-court advantage by winning Game 3 in Denver as Kobe did the damage again for Los Angeles. For the first time in the series Carmelo Anthony looked mortal and the Nuggets, even with a good second half from Chauncey Billups, who had more turnovers than points in the first half, came up short. The Nuggets looked strangely like the team that has lost in the first round in recent playoff outings as they seemed to panic and try to do too much individually down the stretch. Denver allowed its defence to slip, a critical mistake, as its offence took a break. When the offence isn't going it's the other end that has to keep you in the game and Denver didn't do that in game three.
The Nuggets once again had a "loose possession" after a time-out as this time it was Kenyon Martin throwing the ball away. Man, did George Karl not go over this on the video? Martin threw a bad pass but this time Lamar Odom wasn't just playing statue. He was actively making it tough for Martin to get a look at Carmelo Anthony on the inbound play. Trevor Ariza was terrific defending Anthony, mind you not all of it was Ariza but it was good enough as Anthony had a tough night and Kobe Bryant did not have to guard 'Melo down the stretch. If Ariza plays that kind of defence, Anthony fouled out after going 4 of 13 from the floor with only three second half points and gives you big shots the way he did late in the fourth quarter, the Lakers can punch another ticket to the Finals.
