Better luck next year?

By Brendan Hall
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic Thursday night, 99-91, to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals (and I do mean commanding); and while the Magic could realistically force a Game 7, what with their unorthodox style and hot shooting, you have to wonder if their fourth quarter quasi-rally was the last gasp.

Orlando was completely blown out in the third quarter, getting outscored, 30-14. The Magic endured a quarter like that in the first game of this series, and made the score respectable towards the end, but I didn't come away convinced that they've got alot of fight left in them.

For a team that loves to shoot from the perimeter, their three-point percentage -- 7 for 21 -- is kind of startling. Hedo Turkoglu -- a guy who has established himself as a 3-point assassin this postseason -- took just three attempts, nailing one. Dwight Howard had an average night on the floor (5-12 fg, 6-14 ft) despite his 16 rebounds and Finals-record nine blocks. Ironically, they outrebounded the Lakers, 41-39, something they have not done well in the past two series.

Tonight, I'm looking for several things to happen:

-- At some point, Stan Van Gundy is going to go back to running that lineup with Mickael Pietrus, JJ Redick and no point guards, running plays through Hedo Turkoglu. You have to put the ball in the hands of your most consistent scorer when you're climbing a hill this steep.

-- Trevor Ariza is going to have three or four big defensive rotations early, and the Lakers will run off four or five straight baskets. How the Magic respond in the rest of that quarter will tell you all you need to know.

-- Pau Gasol will get fouled, will get in somebody's face, bark a few inaudible syllables and turn away realizing that, as long as he bears the resemblance to a llama, he will intimidate nobody.

-- If the Lakers start the game off cold, I predict that Phil Jackson will get out of the triangle set earlier than usual (around the start of the fourth quarter, if you notice, he lets go of the leash on Kobe Bryant).

-- We will no doubt hear 2,479 mentions of either "Phil or Red?" or "Kobe finally gets his" should the Lakers build a blowout lead at the half.

But for all intents and purposes, this one could be over tonight.