The Orlando Magic now face the first of three consecutive “must win” games after dropping a heartbreaking game two loss in LA. On the up side the Magic seemed to solve most of their issues from game 1, ie; poor shooting(they had twice as many 3’s as LA), Howard not being a part of the offense, and keeping a check on Kobe. The game was as close as it could be with the largest lead never getting above two possessions. Unfortunately for the Magic when the value of possessions are at a premium so are the cost of a turnover, and the “invisible hand” of the Lakers forced 20 and that was the difference between coming home 1-1 with a chance to close out at home and being down 0-2 needing to win 4 out of 5 against a team that has more talent top to bottom. It’s quite clear take away the turnovers and you’ve got more than enough wiggle room to cover, let’s say, an arrant alley-oop pass as time expires but all we’re hearing is about a possibly missed Goal Tending call. The trump card is the “it’s only one possession argument” and you still had 5 minutes of overtime but let’s save that for last. The first outrage is that Superman literally stuck his ENTIRE ARM through the basket in the first half and didn’t get it called on him, so this is no different than how you call the activity in the paint where a fore arm to hold position is not a foul in the first then it’s not a foul with less than a minute remaining. Personally they both should/could have been called but then you’re still in overtime and the result would still be the same. Deal with it and get over it or Home Depot will be sold out of a certain garden supply by the weekend.
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Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Magic now must deal with the odds as well as the bounces
Labels: la lakers, nba finals, orlando magic
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21 comments:
"The NBA Rulebook says to call goaltending if defensive player touches the ball on its downward arc or "shakes" the rim and basket to the extent that the ball cannot land inside it. Basically, you have to alter the chance of the ball going in the basket. Gasol’s inadvertent touch did not do that."
With that said, can you all stop crying foul? That magic play was beautiful. It just lacked a good finish. Lee tried but was just not able to put it inside. I didn't see the rim move, shake or whatever. The rule clearly states that the rim has to be moved or shaken which neither of those two happened. Now move on and enjoy game 3!
That shot's not a goaltend ever! its clear Lee is not ready to take shots at the end of an important game and neither is JJ so thats where the Magic are right now. Experience and maturity are winning this series and are going to win this series. Magic don't have enough players with the huevos to step it up at the highest level.
Magic should have won Game 2, however Dwight is absolutely MUGGED every time he goes to the hoop. Call it whining if you want, but I can see why he gets frustrated. Shots to the head, slaps to his arms, etc... If anyone breaks wind around Kobe, he's going to the line. Absolutely ridiculous!
Game 2 was the Magic's to lose. Had Dwight stepped up and not led all players in turnovers, Orlando would have won by a safe margin -- no missed layup or OT or refs to worry about. SVG did a great coaching job and Lewis and Turkoglu played up to their expectations. The bench was unreliable as usual but made some key shots. But Dwight still looks lost on the floor and until he gets his act together, the Magic won't win against this Lakers team.
The shot was just a bit too hard and in my opinion, I don't think Gasol's 'gaol tending' really affected it. With .06, the refs will not make that call when the game is that close! A Magic fan just been realistic. In order for us not to be in that position again, the team must make free throws, make easy baskets, and so on.
Fans upset? Good. People who are upset about Gasol's supposed goaltending are hypocrite for ignoring Howard's goaltending in the first period. I couldn't careless about hypocrites getting upset.
People, Please quit your b|tching. The officiating in game 2 was probably the fairest we've seen in the post season. It was not lop-sided and it was consistent. We should hope for as much the rest of the way.
Look, just forget about it and try to win game 3. Besides, if people are gonna bit ch about the non-call, then they gonna have to let the whiners of dwight's non-call be, which was way more obivous and, would put us back to square 1.
t is also quite curious to me how this whole thing only became an issue after ABC decided to make a controversy of it after the play when as far I can tell no one even noticed the Gasol touch of the rim when the played happened (enough to think it was goal tending). If it was even close to obvious, you can bet Van Gundy would have been off the bench in a tirade. Clearly in real time/ live basketball play, nobody had any complaint. Only after ABC micro analyzed the play with close up slow motion replay. Even after the game Vand Gundy never mentioned it.
With slow mo, close up, HD replay you can pick through the game and find hundreds of incidents to nit pik, that of course would be absurd to the extreme.
So come on guys let's get to game 3. Magic played much better in 2, better D for sure. I don't think the Lakers will play that poorly most games, and I am not sure if Magic can count on Lewis shooting lights out dropping 34 every night either. Here's wishing a great game.
If the Tragic would stop playing like some bush league team, they would not need to worry about replays and non-calls. If the refs called the games fairly, Jerkalow and Lois Lane would foul out of every game by the end of the 3rd quarter, their defense is so bad.
Stop whinning and try to play like a championship team is suppose to. Beating Lebron did not make you world champions, have you figured that out yet?
I would suppose, then, that the pair of "missed calls" cancel each other out. That seems only fair.
It is also quite curious to me how this whole thing only became an issue after ABC decided to make a controversy of it after the play when as far I can tell no one even noticed the Gasol touch of the rim when the played happened (enough to think it was goal tending). If it was even close to obvious, you can bet Van Gundy would have been off the bench in a tirade. Clearly in real time/ live basketball play, nobody had any complaint. Only after ABC micro analyzed the play with close up slow motion replay. Even after the game Vand Gundy never mentioned it.
With slow mo, close up, HD replay you can pick through the game and find hundreds of incidents to nit pik, that of course would be absurd to the extreme.
So come on guys let's get to game 3. Magic played much better in 2, better D for sure. I don't think the Lakers will play that poorly most games, and I am not sure if Magic can count on Lewis shooting lights out dropping 34 every night either. Here's wishing a great game.
It is so silly to see incidences like this micro analyzed in the play offs at crunch time. During the regular season these giants constantly hit the rim, the net the backboard when going up to contest shots or to rebound. If such an action causes so much interference, vibration whatever as to cause the ball to not go in the hoop when it otherwise had a chance, the refs should and generally do call goal tending. But when the touch or brush of the rim, net whatever is minor and it does not effect the ball going in the refs will not "gift a basket" to the opposing team. That ball of Lee's had 0 CHANCE of going in and the touch of Gasol was so minor as to not effect the ball regardless. Had the refs called the Howard interference in the 1st which was blatant, Lee's shot would have been a mute point because the Lakers would have had a 2 point lead in final seconds and Magic would have had to foul or the Lakers sikply run out the clock.
I dont know what the hell happened yesterday but Orlando played like pure garbage out there. No sense of urgency, no heart, how do you miss that many open looks??? Amazingly we played well in the first quarter, especially when compared to the way we played the Cavs in Cleveland. After a few minutes into the 2nd it was all downhill. Somehow at the start of the 3rd we're shooting what 30% and we are down by 9?? After that though LA just started pulling away. You cant shoot 30% and expect to compete in any game. We need to try and get the ball to Howard up above the rim so LA cant foul him before he can get a shot up. I dont think I have ever seen a guy have 16 foul shots on 6 FG attempts. He needs to go up stronger and more determined and move faster when going to the basket. I think we'll be fine if we just hit our open shots but I dont see how they missed that many to begin with.
Guys listen the lakers are a very good team and so are the magic gme 1 went to the lakers cause they played very well defense and kobe got his team mates involved so here is the thing when the lakers won the west magic johnson said if kobe continues to sourround his teams and get them round they will win the nba championship and one thing defense wins championships
i lok at it this way match up wise LA has a clear advantage. Orlando cant guard kobe epecially with a rookie and gasol is a beast and howard is gonna be surrounded by 7 footers and as for turkey glue like i said we got 3 7 footers odom has speed gasol has good foot work and bynum if he keeps his feet set can shut down howard so orlando has a tough road to travel. but i guess everyone will see after my lakers close it out in game 5
Kobe is the most fundamentally sound player in the history of the game. Sure, Lebron is awesome and he racks up the stats but a guy that size who can only drive and dunk without a post up game or the ability to hit difficult jumper to be better then Kobe? Thats nonsense. Kobe has every skill known to basketball. He played at Jordans level last night which Lebron will not be able to do. Kobe is not done and he may very well end up with 5 or 6 chamipoinship. That would give him 8 or 9 finals trip. That is amazing. Lebron on the other hand will be lucky if he wins 2. I can see Lebron ending his career like Karl Malone, ringless. Kobe on the other hand is too good to not win more. He will get his 4ths in 6 games against Magic.
Listen Orlando fans you have a great team,great shooters,and a great bigman,who i happen to love along with your point guard Mr.Nelson,but listen I have been a Laker fan since 1982 and feel that this Laker team is not like last year's team they learned something last year. They had 2 straight tough series' in a row and clawed their way to the finals. True of enough Orlando beat Boston,but that was without KG and was a matchup nightmare for the Cavs and LaBron averaged 46.5 mins for 6 games in this series. So in closing if my Lakers continue to play the way they played thurs. night along with Stan Van Gundy's terrible coaching move playing a guy for 23 mins who had not played for 4 months,true he had a couple good plays but that was off of emotion and adrenaline. It doesnt matter if you win by 25 or 5 as long as you win. GO LAKERS!!!!!!!!
The Lakers are too hot right now. Finally in the last 9 quarters they have found the touch they needed to make another run....A CHAMPIONSHIP RUN.....expect them to dominate sunday!
"Phil did not win" this game. Magic had countless open jumpers they took but didn't sink. They got into the paint quite a few times but weren't able to finish. Howard may have not been spectacular regarding his field goals, but that is because when he passed out of the double and triple teams, he didn't get an assist because his 'mate didn't make the shot. Game 2 will be much different tonight. I feel the Magic could keep the same game plan and win.
These comments about the officiating are nothing new....the only difference is now the "big market conspiracy". Years ago, ANY game at the old Boston Garden was an automatic 6 points extra for the Celtics when Mendy Rudolph officiated, plus the old time keeper who would inevitably wait several seconds before starting the clock when it benefitted the Celts, of course. See game 5 1976 finals against PHX...does that mean the conspiracy was to ensure Celtic titles? Orlando could have won if they don't make one dumb turnover after another, and teams without experience do that in the finals, they'll probably win at least 2 in Orlando, and then the reality of how close they are will set in, and they'll lose. They need to experience defeat before they can win...see the Pistons, Bulls, Rockets, Sixers...all had to lose first before knowing what it takes to win
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