The NBA Finals Game 3 represents the building excitement in the NBA world for the last two weeks.  Finally, two teams are going head to head to win NBA’s prized possession: the NBA World Championship.  So far in the series, Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic, have been fighting out of a deep dug hole against the L.A. Lakers, being led by the best player in the world of basketball, Kobe Bryant.  The Orlando Magic have been pegged as the underdogs in the NBA Finals, and what is ironic is they have been in that situation every round of the playoffs: the underdogs.  Most underdogs would say they like that position and the Orlando Magic are no different.  They have been able to come out of the gates running full speed against teams that have truly under estimated not only the skill level of the team, but more so the determination and drive this team has within them.  Orlando has been bringing it all season long, being one of the top seeded teams in the Eastern Conference, and have gone playoff round after round proving all the critics wrong, handing losses to many players and teams, such as Ray Allen and Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics, to even the great Lebron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.  The L.A. Lakers, on the other hand, have been the favorites all season long and in every playoff battle this year.  Last year the Lakers, with Kobe’s showtime, made it all the way to the finals just to taste the bitterness of losing when you are so close to tasting achievement.  The Lakers have a much more talented team and they have players like Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher who have already won 3 championships.  Lets not forget about their coach Phil Jackson, who in his career has won 9 championships as a coach (with Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan, and with Lakers with Kobe and Shaq) which ties him with the great Red Auerbach for the most championships won by a coach.  The Lakers all throughout the playoffs have been the heavy favorite, sending home teams such as Yao Ming’s Houston Rockets and Carmelo Anthony’s Denver Nuggets with broken hopes and dreams.     

In the 2009 NBA season, the L.A. Lakers were the best road team, while Orlando was one of the best home teams, losing only 9 games in their arena.  What a match-up.  The beginning of the quarter portrays Orlando’s shooting woes have not ended and was still hurting them, just like it has hurt them all series long.  The first quarter had Gasol turning up his offensive game by using the space Kobe got him by just holding the ball.  When the time is right, Kobe makes his passes and it looks like a work of art when these two get together to play like this.  Lakers defense was stifling, forcing Orlando with turnovers, while Kobe continued to make passes.  Defensively, the L.A. Lakers were giving Rafer Alston any shot and this was obviously because of his poor shooting all NBA Finals series long.  Fortunately for Orlando, Rafer Alston started hitting shots and making the defense honest.  Alston at one point was 3-3 for shots taken and made and Turkoglu added to the fire to get the Magic team motivated and the fans all hyped up.  Kobe felt the pressure and decided to go off by himself hitting contested shot after contested shot to hush the crowd and slow down Magic’s rhythm.   Poor Pietrus was working hard but Kobe just cannot be stopped at times, continuously being allowed to go right (which is Kobe’s strong hand) and just hitting shots with hands all over his face, trying to stop him.  With 30 seconds left to go, Kobe got Pietrus up in the air before Kobe took the three point shot, hits the three and gets his foul; Kobe goes to the line to take a free throw for a possible 4 point play. (He makes it, obviously).  Kobe finishes the quarter with 17 points, making 70 percent of his shots.

In the second quarter, L.A continues to move the ball and make plays for everyone.  Lamar has a basket plus the foul to continue Laker’s great shooting.  To make things better, Odom made some defensive plays early as well.  Orlando finally gets into their shooting groove in the second quarter, with contributions coming from everyone including Pietrus, and Turkoglu.  The game stays tight with a difference of only one point, and both teams battle, especially Pietrus battling extremely hard to contain Kobe, but as usual cant seem to slow down the Black Mamba(one of Kobe’s many nicknames).  Orlando goes on a 5 point run to finish up the quarter putting themselves up by 5.  To explain Orlando’s offense so far in the first half, lets just say they set a new NBA Finals first half record by hitting 75 percent of their shots as a team, and this was heavily a team accomplishment with Alston’s 5-7 Field Goal, 3-3 FG from Dwight Howard, Pietrus 4-5 FG, and Turkoglu 5-6 FG.

Both teams are playing with a fire, with Orlando fighting to survive while the Lakers were looking to put away the series. No NBA team has ever come back being down 3 games in the NBA Finals, and unless Orlando Magic picks up their slack, this record won’t be broken anytime soon. Kobe Bryant and crew were hitting all kinds of shots, but more importantly they were sticking to everything that brought them to the finals: playing together offensively and defensively.

The L.A. Lakers need to continue to pour the pressure on Orlando and close this series out by winning this game.  The environment is definitely against them, but this season it seems like that’s where they play the most comfortable.  The Orlando Magic has to continue hitting shots if they want to win any games in this series.  All season and playoffs long, they were met with many successes by being able to hit open shots that were orchestrated by their coach’s (Stan Van Gundy) offensive schemes. 

The third quarter was filled with pick and rolls for Orlando, utilizing Dwight Howard and finally it was paying off, with Orlando making plays that counted.  Courtney lee was all over, doing what he can do to neutralize Kobe, but fouls were racking up against him and Pietrus.  To be honest though, they were doing all that they can and it was admirable when its against the best basketball player in the world.  Although Orlando still maintained the lead, the Lakers kept pouring in the baskets and playing tough getting their own rebounds and working much harder than Orlando.  Lakers defense continued to smother Dwight and the following is an example of this.  During a play when Dwight got the ball in the paint, Lakers had 4 players all over Howard; Ariza and Odom flying in the air for the block, Gasol with his hands up to alter Dwight’s shot and Kobe boxing out Magic’s players, waiting under the rim for the missed lay up.  Lucky for Howard, the refs bailed him out with a call.  For Howard, one positive has been that every team he faced, especially the Lakers, were putting him to the free throw line.  Unfortunately he is just a 65% shooter at that line, but definitely you can tell he was getting better by the shot.  Rafer Alston continued to make plays and hit shots and helped Orlando take an 8 point lead with 2 and half minutes to go.  Rafer Alston was missing his shots all series long probably due to being hounded by Laker’s fans, but it seems like there is no place like home for Rafer Alston and the Orlando Magic. 

Lamar Odom started the quarter hot making consecutive baskets to power Laker’s comeback.  Pietrus of the Orlando Magic also comes through in the 4^th quarter, however not for his stellar defense though, but for his offense, making a tough shot and a transition lay up with opposing players all over.  Lakers make their own run and bring it within 3, with Orlando frantically trying to seal the deal.  Howard is getting the ball down low in the paint however there were no super dunks, and instead countless free throw attempts where he continued to shoot sixty five percent.  Orlando kept the lead up by 2 but cannot seem to execute and the very rare times they get the shot off, it just wasn’t dropping.  Memories of the first two game’s shooting woes of this series were slowly surfacing out of the 60% + field goal shooting Orlando had built.  Lakers on the other hand were getting the basketball to the appropriate stars, let it be Odom, Kobe, or Gasol, and these leaders were hitting shots, going to the free throw line, and just plain working hard.  Pietrus was the big player for Orlando in the fourth quarter, continuing to make offensive baskets and bringing his defense, a great combo and a refreshing jolt into the Magic’s purpose.  In one of the final plays, Orlando was up by only 1, desperate for a basket.  Orlando gets the ball moving with a minute left and gets Rashard Lewis open at the top of the three point line, and he delivers, showing he can be just as clutch as anyone, possibly even Kobe Bryant.  If this wasn’t enough, Pietrus comes through with 28 seconds left to catch a steal on defense from Kobe himself and gets fouled; he then went to the free throw line and converted both shots.  Kobe gets the last shot and he barely misses the three point attempt he took, only to have Ariza get the rebound with 16 seconds left.  More shots go off by Ariza, Derek Fisher, and one more attempt by Kobe, but to no avail, the Orlando Magic as a franchise have finally one a NBA Finals game. 

Orlando Magic has finally won not just as a franchise, but also as a contemporary team.  They did this by doing what they are best at: playing defensive together, and running an offensive scheme that gets the ball in and out of the paint to find shooters and slashers full open to half open opportunities to capitalize.  The only issue with this offense is if the shooters and slashers don’t bring it through a rhythm with consistency, everything breaks apart.  If they can continue to be the best home team this season, they have an opportunity to go back to L.A. with a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals series of 2009.  The L.A. Lakers are in no difficult situation, they have 2 more games in Orlando before they go back to L.A. for 2 more.  The series is at 2-1 and they are a team that has proven they can take care of business at home and out and about.  Expect the L.A. Lakers to come with a much bigger fire in Game 4, because they definitely are starting to taste that bitter taste from last year, and believe me that will drive any man to do the impossible; the Lakers don’t need to accomplish the impossible, just what they are meant to do.  Expect some serious excitement and intensity that the NBA can only bring this extreme, one time in a year when the NBA Championship rolls in.

I would like to thank nba.com for the great pictures they have taken of the excitement of the NBA Finals of 2009. The following articles are in depth breakdowns of the past two games, along with a Lakers VS Orlando series Preview, and an Article about the next best basketball player in the world. These articles are all written by me and if you liked this article, you will definitely like these ones. Thank you for taking the time to read my work, and please feel free to comment, good or critique.

Related Readings:

The 2009 NBA Championship Finals: Game 1 Breakdown

The 2009 NBA Championship Finals: Game 2 Breakdown

A Long Awaited Destiny or a New Era of the Past? A guide to the 2009 NBA Championship

Is King James Leaving Cleveland?