[MattRegaw]

Game 3 Los Angeles Lakers at Orlando Magic

The Lakers lead 2-0 as the game shifts to Orlando for game 3 tonight. The Magic made a game of it last time out just missing a shot at the buzzer to win when Courtney Lee missed a tough lay-up. Now they are playing against the Lakers and history. As you may have heard only three teams have ever come back from this deficit to win the title with the 2006 Miami Heat being the latest team to pull off this feat. Well it may not be winning the championship but I subscribe to the theory that the playoffs don’t start until a home team loses. Orlando has plenty of reasons why they can turn it around tonight.

Back court has to be better: In one of my recent rants I begged Van Gundy to leave Nelson on the bench because it would screw up the chemistry and sure enough it did just that. The back court has had a tough time hanging on to the ball and too many turnovers cost them possessions. Combined the backcourt is just shooting 29% and they were benched last game in the fourth quarter. This should have been a wakeup call and I can’t imagine the back court having 20 turnovers and shooting just 29% at home


Magic on the run: The Magic are averaging just 2.4 points on the fast break, compared to the ten that they were averaging throughout the playoffs. They don’t necessarily have to run but they have to work on transition and getting the ball movement during transition. They had spacing problems last game allowing the Lakers to clamp down on Howard. Ball movement in transition will help with the spacing and get more open shots for the perimeter.

Home sweet Home: Home teams get calls in the NBA, that’s just the way it works.


Vegas believes in Magic: Vegas odds makers have the Magic as 4.5 point favorites which seems to be a bit on the high side. This shows you how much home court plays a role in the NBA playoffs.


Lakers Letdown: The Lakers have made a bad habit of getting a comfortable lead in a series and not showing up for a game in the series. Look at the last two series they have played and how they have letdown in the middle of the series.


Orlando -4

The Magic win with defense and both games have stayed under the total although one of them went to overtime. I Look for this one to go way over the total. Howard will get the ball more leading to more points and more fouls, this game will have a quicker tempo than the first two and the guards

OVER 198

~Matt