Orlando Gags Away Game 4, Likely the Series

Orlando's Game 4 overtime loss to the Lakers on Thursday night has to be considered one of the worst losses in recent NBA Finals history. The Magic had numerous opportunities to win the game but failed time after time and now are one loss away from elimination. Orlando's free throw woes became contagious in the 4th quarter as Turkoglu and Howard bricked numerous free throw attempts. Howard's 2 misses from the charity stripe with 10 seconds left in the 4th gave LA a chance to tie and they took advantage. Ironically Howard's missed FT's will go down as the most infamous missed FT's in NBA Finals history since Orlando's Nick Anderson missed 4 consecutive FT's down the strecth in Game 1 of the 1995 NBA Finals.

With a 12 point lead at halftime, Orlando should not have allowed the outcome of the game to hinge on some missed FT's. The Magic came out uninspired from the start of the 2nd half and quickly ceded control of the game to the Lakers who seemingly erased that halftime lead effortlessly. Watching the game on television, it appeared that there was a lack of energy in the building from the Orlando fans in the 3rd quarter and this could have contributed to the Magic's lackluster 3rd quarter play. The Magic were also hurt by the disappearance of Rashard Lewis who scored only 3 points in regulation. Lewis has been, in my opinion, Orlando's best scorer throughout the postseason and his scoring was missed throughout Game 4.

Orlando's 19 turnovers were a problem throughout Game 4. Rooting for Orlando, it was also frustrating to see the Lakers get numerous second chance opportunities on the offensive end. So many key Lakers possessions were prolonged by offensive rebounds and loose balls that eluded the Magic during broken plays and scramble situations.

Other notes from Game 4:

• Orlando's final possession of the 4th quarter with 4.6 seconds left was atrocious. With the Magic having made so many clutch shots in these situations throughout the playoffs, I had a good feeling that the Magic would win on their final shot. Alas, they struggled mightily inbounding the ball and were stuck with a panicked Mickael Pietrus forcing up a difficult shot. If you recall Denver's turnovers in similar situations in Games 1 and 3 of the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers out-of-bounds plays defense has now helped them win 3 huge games in the playoffs.
• Trevor Ariza continues to play at a surprisingly high level. Ariza shot less than 32% from the 3-point line during the regular season, yet is shooting 48.1% from behind the 3-point line during the playoffs and has made a few big shots. Ariza also has done a lot of the little things well including his defense and rebounding. Although I do want to point out that Ariza has been illegally riding, touching, and hand-checking Hedo Turkoglu all series long when Turkolgu has had the ball. While I am the first guy in the world to complain about ticky-tack fouls, Ariza has been unfairly gaining an advantage with his defensive tactics and should be whistled for the appropriate fouls.
• While Orlando's and Jameer Nelson's defense of Derek Fisher on his game-tying 3-pointer wasn't the greatest, I can still live with the Lakers having that shot. The Magic did the right thing in forcing the ball out of Kobe Bryant's hands and Fisher made a shot that wasn't as easy as it looks. In addition I did not think that this was the best time to use the strategy of fouling with a 3 point lead because the Magic had been struggling from the FT line and there was still about 6 seconds left when Fisher took that shot. Sometimes you have to live with your opponent making a difficult shot.