(AP Photo/David J. Phillip) NBA TV Notes added at the very bottom. “If you wanna crown them, then crown their ass! But they are who we thought they were and we let em off the hook!” Denny Green must have been in the building because the Orlando Magic gave this game away and now trail the Los Angles Lakers 3-1 in the best of seven NBA Finals. The Magic just didn’t want it enough. This is soul rock soul. You can’t fold! Kobe takes no prisoners. Dwight? Not so sure. The spin move and pass for the Gasol dunk was as pretty a play as you’ll see in sports. Boom! Derek Fisher’s three at the end of regulation tied up what looked like a sure Magic victory. Seemed as if the ball just didn’t bounce Orlando’s way in overtime and left the Orlando fans shocked. Big players make big plays in big games. Fisher and Bryant have three rings. They know what it takes and made sure LA is on the doorstep of yet another title. Can we crown Los Angeles champions? Not yet, but the lady with big thighs is revving up her vocal engine and wants to blow. How can the Magic lose this game? Why did they choke? Where was Rashard? Why don’t you foul on the last play with a foul to give? Jameer should have been in Fisher’s face like something crazy. Three is more than two bruh. There are those who are gonna criticize Dwight Howard for missing the two biggest free throws of his life despite hitting a half court Bob Gibson like hook shot pregame. All he had to do was hit one and the Magic win. Truthfully, it should have come down to that. Hedo Turkoglu missed five to almost offset Howard’s 8 misses. Hell, the Magic missed as many free throws as the Lakers made (15). In press row, reporters are given stat sheets after each quarter and a final box post game. I circle stats that jump out. The stats you see the next day. The runs. Free throw and shooting percentages. These stats also help formulate our questions to players and coaches. Free throws IMO was the deciding factor in this game. LA shot 15-20, Orlando 22-37…at home. Unacceptable in the most important game in the playoffs. The Lakers closed with a 17-4 run. Championship stuff. Why didn’t Mickael Pietrus do all he can to get the ball to Dwight Howard who was being guarded by Kobe Bryant of the pick switch? There were 4.6 seconds left. I know most of you could see mad Orlando booty holes get tight…as Sheed likes to say…in the closing moments. The Magic for the most part played alright, but straight up gave up the guts at the end. There were too many missed assignments, turnovers, clanked free throws and bricked jumpers…again, at home in a game they had to win. After the Lakers went down 12 in the first half, they professionally went to work in the third…outscoring the Magic 30-14 in the deciding quarter. Trevor Ariza (had a great all around game and his three as the shot clock dwindled in I think the third was gigantic), Andrew Bynum (his six were crucial) and of course Derek Fisher stepped up when Kobe needed them the most. Bryant shot 11-31 and had his third straight sub-par shooting performance. Although, he did become only the third player in NBA history to have four straight 30 point, 8 assist games. Is it just me or does the officiating suck both ways? Will he Magic just lay down for the summer or will they fight right? Pau Gasol continues his great play. Dwight had 16 points, 21 boards and a Finals record 9 blocks, but only had 5 field goals. What is that? How does that happen? He was dominant in the first without making an offensive impact but needs to turn it up just a notch. Seven turnovers is not good. Stop putting the ball on the floor after the catch. That’s all mental. There’s no need for the bounce. Pivot, bang or pass and reset. When you put it on the floor, you play small and the ball will get taken…especially around Fisher or Bryant. There’s really not much else to say. What say you? LOS ANGELES LAKERS STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS Trevor Ariza, SF 44 6-14 3-4 1-2 3 6 9 2 2 0 1 3 +15 16 Pau Gasol, FC 49 7-14 0-0 2-4 2 8 10 1 1 0 1 4 +9 16 Andrew Bynum, C 16 2-3 0-0 2-2 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 5 +8 6 Kobe Bryant, SG 49 11-31 2-6 8-8 1 6 7 8 1 1 3 3 +11 32 Derek Fisher, PG 42 5-11 2-7 0-0 1 3 4 1 2 0 0 5 +15 12 BENCH MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS Lamar Odom, PF 28 4-10 1-2 0-0 2 3 5 1 1 0 0 5 +5 9 D.J. Mbenga, C 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 -1 0 Luke Walton, SF 11 2-2 0-0 2-4 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 -6 6 Jordan Farmar, PG 9 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 -3 0 Josh Powell, FC 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 2 -6 2 Sasha Vujacic, SG 4 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 -3 0 Shannon Brown, SG 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -4 0 TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS 38-91 8-23 15-20 10 29 39 15 8 2 7 28 99 41.8% 34.8% 75.0% Team TO (pts off): 8 (10) +/- denotes team’s net points while the player is on the court. ORLANDO MAGIC STARTERS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS Hedo Turkoglu, SF 41 8-13 1-3 8-13 0 5 5 3 1 0 1 4 -2 25 Rashard Lewis, PF 46 2-10 2-6 0-0 0 7 7 4 2 0 3 2 -13 6 Dwight Howard, C 49 5-12 0-0 6-14 6 15 21 2 0 9 7 4 -11 16 Courtney Lee, SG 7 1-4 1-4 1-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 -9 4 Rafer Alston, PG 27 5-13 1-4 0-0 0 1 1 2 1 0 1 2 -9 11 BENCH MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF +/- PTS Mickael Pietrus, SG 37 4-8 1-2 6-7 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 3 -3 15 Tony Battie, C 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 +7 2 J.J. Redick, SG 17 2-6 1-2 1-1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 -4 6 Jameer Nelson, PG 26 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 3 0 0 1 2 +1 2 Marcin Gortat, C 4 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 +3 4 Adonal Foyle, C DNP COACH’S DECISION Anthony Johnson, PG DNP COACH’S DECISION TOTALS FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OREB DREB REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS 31-74 7-21 22-37 7 34 41 17 4 10 17 21 91 41.9% 33.3% 59.5% Team TO (pts off): 19 (16) +/- denotes team’s net points while the player is on the court. Flagrant Fouls: None Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: 3 ORLANDO ( M Pietrus 1 ) LALAKERS ( T Ariza 1, P Gasol 1 ) - TEAMS (def3sec): ORLANDO (1) - COACHES: LALAKERS P. Jackson (1) Officials: Bennett Salvatore , Mike Callahan , Scott Foster Attendance: 17,461 Time of Game: 03:08 http://youtube.com/watch?v=aYKIcnj1MJY NBA Tip-off presented by AutoTrader.com Announcers: Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith Barkley on claims that Lakers guard Kobe Bryant is fatigues following Game #3: “Kobe Bryant just had a bad second half. He’s human. He’s not going to dominate the game every night.” Barkley on the importance of Orlando winning Game #4: “This is the biggest game of the series. Orlando has a good chance of being back in the series after tonight. If Orlando wins tonight, I think this series is up for grabs.” ****    ****    ****    ****    ***** Inside the NBA presented by Hyundai Announcers: Johnson, Barkley and Smith Barkley on the Magic’s loss in Game #4: “Orlando gave this game away.” Smith on Magic center Dwight Howard’s performance in Game #4: “A superstar needs to dominate in three areas. Dwight (Howard) was only able to dominate in two; defense and rebounding. He couldn’t get the third thing in this game and that was scoring.” Barkley on Magic guard Mickael Pietrus: “Mickael Pietrus is becoming one of my favorite players.” Smith’s response to Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy saying experience doesn’t play a role in the Finals: “I disagree (with Stan Van Gundy) about experience. There is a reason not many rookies have led their team to an NBA Championship. Experience is a big part in playing a basketball game. It’s composure, not panicking, belief, and trust.” Barkley: “I disagree. Missing free throws and leaving a player open to make a three-pointer doesn’t have anything to do with experience. The bottom line is the Orlando Magic blew this game.” Barkley on Stan Van Gundy’s decision not to foul late in the game, which led to overtime: “I think Stan Van Gundy missed it. (Lakers head coach) Phil Jackson was right and Van Gundy was wrong. Phil Jackson was right when he said they (the Magic) had a foul to give.” TNT’s David Aldridge interviewed Magic guard Mickael Pietrus following the game Pietrus on his thoughts going into Game #5: “It’s going to be tough. The Lakers are going to play hard. I think we just need to relax and play basketball the way we’ve been playing.” TNT’s David Aldridge interviewed Magic guard Jameer Nelson following the game Nelson on losing to the Lakers in Game #4: “We played well enough to win the game, but we made some mistakes.” Send to Facebook