Published: June 8, 2009
Survive and advance.
It is a phrase conjured up most often in basketball when speaking about the NCAA Tournament, but without a doubt it is the most apt turn of phrase for what the Los Angeles Lakers did in Game 2 of the NBA Finals Sunday night.
The evidence that the Lakers merely endured and outlasted Orlando was littered in every component of the game recap.
The team scoring a pathetic 15 points of the course of the entire first quarter was rendered meaningless with their overtime victory.
Their atrocious defensive rotations they allowed Rashard Lewis to score at will in the second quarter became irrelevant thanks to an outstanding overtime session from Pau Gasol.
Kobe Bryant missing three of his five shots down the stretch and committing three fourth quarter turnovers matters not after his team secured a 2-0 lead in the series.
Allowing Courtney Lee a “gimme” lay-in on a simple backscreen alley-op with 0.6 seconds to go becomes simply a crisis averted in what is looking more and more for Los Angeles like an evitable march to the Larry O’Brien trophy.
The Lakers did not beat themselves on Sunday. But they certainly tried to.
Survive and advance. This had to have been the Lakers mantra on Sunday, because that exactly what they did.
They survived a very human performance from Bryant (despite his 29 points and 8 assists) and a series worth of missed defensive rotations and assignments. The Magic turned the ball over 20 times, but that came through no great effort on the part of the Lakers. It was simply that Orlando did not take care of the ball and failed to honour the importance of every possession of a game in the NBA Finals.
At this time of the year, each possession’s importance is amplified to the degree that one or two botched trips up the floor can swing a game, and thus, a series.
With that in mind it seems almost inconceivable that the Magic could perform as horrific as they did on the fast break. Orlando now has one fastbreak basket through 101 minutes of basketball, a fact that is simply unacceptable given both how shaky the Lakers defense still looks in transition and the number of good athletes Orlando has with which to run the floor.
If the Magic are looking to point figures after this loss, they best start by looking squaring in the mirror. You will not win an NBA Finals game with your starting point guard shooting 1-8 and his backup, an All-Star that is returning from injury, chipping in a 1-3 performance for good measure. Had it not been for Lewis’ brilliance through much of this game, or the terrific play of Hedo Turkoglu in the third quarter, this game would not have been close, a truth that is particularly pathetic given how sloppy the Lakers themselves played.
Nonetheless, the oldest cliché in the Coach’s Public Speaking 101 Handbook applies here for the Lakers: a win is a win, whether it comes by five points or fifty. And while this contest will certainly not be played back on ESPN Classic any time in the near future, it was not bad all the way through either.
Lamar Odom dazzled for the fourth game in a row, shooting 8-9 and contributing 19 points and 8 rebounds. Pau Gasol contributed subtly during regulation but his play in the extra period really made his 24 points and 10 rebounds jump off the box score. Both forwards showed exactly why everyone has been saying they were the Lakers most important players in this series, perpetuating the theory that Bryant’s contributions are a constant and a known ingredient, but that their play was the variable that would swing the series one way or another.
In Game 2 at least, it swung in favor of the purple and gold.
The Magic now have a chance to stand their ground in Game 3 in Orlando on Tuesday night. They will either begin making this a series, or confirm our worst fears that they are simply in over their heads.
On Sunday the Lakers didn’t lose more than they won. They survived. Tuesday will show us if they are really ready to advance.
One Comment on "Lakers Survive Overtime Scare"
Hoops Addict Article – Lakers Survive Overtime Scare | The On Deck Circle on Wed, 15th Jul 2009 11:49 am
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