The Big Run That Won It for the Lakers

Posted by Kevin Arnovitz The Orlando Magic have endured their share of shaky runs this postseason. They coughed up an 18-point lead with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter to lose their playoff opener. They were painfully close to taking a 3-2 series lead home to Orlando when they led by 10 point with fewer than five minutes remaining in Game 4 of their conference semifinal against Boston, but faltered down the stretch. For sheer drama, those late-game meltdowns were spectacular, but the run that proved to be fatal was the 16-0 run they surrendered to the Lakers in the second quarter of Game 5 Sunday night. Orlando looked sharp over the first quarter and a half of the game. We witnessed two of the best offensive minutes of Dwight Howard's career to start the second quarter. He showed us a baby dream shake, then a graceful spinning dribble move for an easy layup. The Magic executed on one of their patented reversals to get Pietrus a nice look from 15 feet, and sco...