Solid game by the Lakers, although the Magic did a lot of the damage to themselves. The Lakers' defense on Howard was impressive. Now just have to hope the Lakers can avoid the expected letdown that comes after blowout wins like this.

Xeris

Iran17695 Posts

June 05 2009 04:50 GMT

#3203

they were bound to stop shooting light's out. Simmons mentioned it recently in his article... shooting 47% from 3 so far in the playoffs - that's INSANELY high. as he said, you live or die by the 3, and you always die.

hopefully they pick it up otherwise they're going to get rolled like fuck

Zozma

United States1626 Posts

June 05 2009 04:52 GMT

#3204

Dang it, Orlando... if you were going to start missing shots like crazy, you could have done it ONE GAME AGO. T_T

BalliSLife

1339 Posts

June 05 2009 04:59 GMT

#3205

So for the people who watched game 1 tonight was starting nelson again a good thing? or it didn't even matter?

OneOther

United States10774 Posts

June 05 2009 05:02 GMT

#3206

nelson definitely played well when he came in

unknown.sam

Philippines2701 Posts

June 05 2009 05:04 GMT

#3207

On June 05 2009 13:59 BalliSLife wrote:
So for the people who watched game 1 tonight was starting nelson again a good thing? or it didn't even matter?

it wouldn't have mattered imo...
and nelson didn't start...but he did play 20+ min

Jibba

United States22883 Posts

June 05 2009 05:11 GMT

#3208

Holy crap, Lebron got fined 25k for skipping the press conference. I guess the league is sending a message, especially because he's a superstar, but that's still pretty harsh and it's not as if he did something offensive. Then again, it's basically nothing to him and I do think part of an NBA player's job is their relationship with the media because the league has to sell its image.

Zozma

United States1626 Posts

June 05 2009 05:20 GMT

#3209

Nelson was really great, actually... much better than you would expect for someone coming back from an injury.

Roffles

Pitcairn19291 Posts

June 05 2009 06:07 GMT

#3210

Hopin we'll see a better game once the Magic shoot over 30%

XaI)CyRiC

United States4471 Posts

June 05 2009 16:25 GMT

#3211

Anyone else thinks it sucks that Anthony Johnson played well as a backup PG and arguably had a significant role in getting the Magic to the Finals, and yet didn't play a single minute last night? At the least, he might have been able to make some of the wide-open 3s Alston missed.

Speaking of which, I think it'd be interesting if Orlando played Redick at PG and let Turkoglu play point forward as he usually does. That'd make it harder for the Lakers to double Howard and defend the pick and roll. However, the Lakers are one of the better teams at pressuring ballhandlers, and you'd have Redick doing something he's not used to and Turkoglu dribbling up against Ariza, so it may not work. Interesting to consider though.

oneofthem

Cayman Islands24199 Posts

June 05 2009 16:36 GMT

#3212

the league would i think err on the harsh side of punishment than be perceived as orderless. it is a rather image conscious punishment

Xeris

Iran17695 Posts

June 05 2009 18:44 GMT

#3213

On June 06 2009 01:25 XaI)CyRiC wrote:
Anyone else thinks it sucks that Anthony Johnson played well as a backup PG and arguably had a significant role in getting the Magic to the Finals, and yet didn't play a single minute last night? At the least, he might have been able to make some of the wide-open 3s Alston missed.

Speaking of which, I think it'd be interesting if Orlando played Redick at PG and let Turkoglu play point forward as he usually does. That'd make it harder for the Lakers to double Howard and defend the pick and roll. However, the Lakers are one of the better teams at pressuring ballhandlers, and you'd have Redick doing something he's not used to and Turkoglu dribbling up against Ariza, so it may not work. Interesting to consider though.

As much as it's a great success story to see Jameer Nelson come back 2 months ahead of schedule and play in the finals after he was supposed to be done for the season, I think it was the wrong move to make.

The Magic had built a chemistry and good rhythm in the playoffs, and re-inserting Nelson totally fucked it up IMO. If you actually looked at the game... Orlando was in it until Nelson started playing in the 2nd quarter. Sure the first 2 minutes he dished out 3 assists and was looking good (he certainly didn't look too rusty) - but after that the Lakers totally blew the game open. I'm not saying that's the reason, but as Cyric pointed out: it sucks for Anthony Carter who played an important role throughout the playoffs to all of a sudden get 0 playing time. And, as Simmons pointed out recently... Rafer Alston is the kind of guy who needs to be playing a lot to be happy. If his minutes all of a sudden get cut in half thanks to some guy who hasn't played basketball in 4 months, I'd be kinda upset.

I really think Orlando should not use him for the rest of the series because it totally throws them off of the rhythm they had built in the playoffs thus far. It's miraculous Jameer came back so early - but just save him for next season; the Finals is not the time nor the place to be making arbitrary decisions like this.

igotmyown

United States4291 Posts

June 05 2009 18:46 GMT

#3214

Looks like Reddick's going to get time as the Kobe stopper, surprise surprise. Bynum had the worst +/- of the starters, not because he stunk at defense, but because swarming Dwight Howard was more effective.

KOFgokuon

United States14912 Posts

June 05 2009 18:52 GMT

#3215

yea playing jameer isn't such a great idea imo

72AND10

United States93 Posts

June 05 2009 20:38 GMT

#3216

Guys don't forget this is an Orlando team that pretty much lives and dies by the three point shot. Say what you want about Howard, but the team shoots a large amount of 3-point shots per game. Cleveland had their players hitting shots all season. And then they stopped making shots. If Orlando goes cold in this series, it may very well be a sweep / five game series.

Good luck Orlando, but it doesnt look good right now.

72AND10

United States93 Posts

June 05 2009 20:44 GMT

#3217

On June 05 2009 13:50 Xeris wrote:
they were bound to stop shooting light's out. Simmons mentioned it recently in his article... shooting 47% from 3 so far in the playoffs - that's INSANELY high. as he said, you live or die by the 3, and you always die.

hopefully they pick it up otherwise they're going to get rolled like fuck

Beat me to it.

Orlando reminds me of a "better" college team centered around shooting the 3-point shot.

igotmyown

United States4291 Posts

June 05 2009 21:51 GMT

#3218

This argument would work if the magic didn't shoot worse overall than they did from the 3 point line.
FG .299
3P .348
It's more accurate to say if you miss your jumpshots (including 3's), you lose.

And to the guy that said using your off arm to create space is a foul
+ Show Spoiler +

Check the espn nba frontpage

72AND10

United States93 Posts

June 05 2009 22:05 GMT

#3219

^^^^
Nice stat. I had no idea their FG% was that terrible in game 1.

il0seonpurpose

Korea (South)5638 Posts

June 06 2009 05:37 GMT

#3220

Sorta off topic but if Pietrus keeps playing well, he might win next year's 6th man award. Who won this years?

And this is a classy move by him; he's from France and so they call him Air France. If you didn't know about this, there was recently the Air France 447 that was lost by a huge thunderstorm; people aren't even sure if they found it yet. Check this out

SICK

And that was a day after he told the public he would stop wearing Hyperdunks, cuz you know, the main endorser is Kobe and he's sorta having to guard him in the finals.