Lakers Defeat the Magic 100-75 in Game 1: Kobe Bryant Stars As Johnny Blaze
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Don’t touch him! Hot like a little kid putting a steaming tater tot in his mouth way too soon. Making the poor little fella blow teary eyed steam that comes out like Three Stooges ears and nostrils. Hot like that. Kobe Bryant wanted this and took it. As a result, the Lakers are three games away from becoming the 2008-2009 NBA Champs after kicking the mess out of the Magic…in the face…100-75.
Just imagine hearing all year long that the prevailing theme was this preconceived coronation of LeBron James even though you hit the Olympic gold medal shots, won last season’s MVP, your team was the prohibitive favorite to win the championship coming into the season and you have three rings to show for it.
Your coach rests you all year just for this moment and the heat checked inspiration boiled to the Game 1 surface with unquestioned and mad magnificent brilliance.
We all know that Phil Jackson game one career stat right?
The entire Lakers team came out on fire last night. Pau stepped up, Bynum stepped up (while he was in there), Ariza was getting sick weak side blocks, Lamar Odom was sweet like all the candy he consumes…it was just a dominating performance. They used their size and mobility to collapse the lane around Dwight while the perimeter defenders contested most shots from outside.
The Magic just didn’t look ready. Like Magic said, you are not playing the Cleveland Cavaliers. Is Orlando over matched? I guess we’ll see Sunday in Game 2. Dwight Howard did a little too much smiling again for my taste in the post game presser. Get that Kobe mean young fella. Get it now. Take now prisoners bruh. There’s really no other way to call it. How does he have one field goal? I understand the Lakers have size, but none of those cats are bad like him. If the Magic hit their shots, then he dominates. Credit the Lakers defense for stepping up and disrupting the Magic flow, but Orlando has to realize the stage their on. Seemed like when Kobe was giving it to them to the tune of 18 in the third, the Magic folded. Not acceptable in any arena, let alone the NBA Finals.
One positive for the Magic was seeing Jameer Nelson out there after missing half a season. He looked good but the question has to be asked how this will affect team chemistry? It’s almost as if the Magic sacrificed Game 1 just to get Jameer his FInals legs. Skip has to understand Jameer earned the right to play and judge his mental toughness accordingly. Don’t give up Skip. Stay in the game.
There’s really not much to say but to chalk this win up to a great game plan by the Lakers. The unquestioned 2nd best player of our generation stepped up as was Kobe clutch. Like he said in the presser, the best everyone can do is forget about last night and come out Sunday with a new mind.
Dwight Howard, Stan Van Gundy, Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and the rest of the Magic organization, you are now on the clock. Spend these next two days wisely or you will get swept.
| ORLANDO MAGIC | ||||||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Hedo Turkoglu, SF | 33 | 3-11 | 1-3 | 6-6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | -20 | 13 |
| Rashard Lewis, PF | 36 | 2-10 | 2-4 | 2-2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -26 | 8 |
| Dwight Howard, C | 35 | 1-6 | 0-0 | 10-16 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -19 | 12 |
| Courtney Lee, SG | 23 | 3-10 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -7 | 7 |
| Rafer Alston, PG | 25 | 2-9 | 0-4 | 2-2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -6 | 6 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Mickael Pietrus, SG | 32 | 5-13 | 3-5 | 1-3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -23 | 14 |
| Tony Battie, C | 5 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 |
| Marcin Gortat, C | 20 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 4 |
| Jameer Nelson, PG | 23 | 3-9 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -19 | 6 |
| J.J. Redick, SG | 8 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Adonal Foyle, C | DNP COACH’S DECISION | |||||||||||||
| Anthony Johnson, PG | DNP COACH’S DECISION | |||||||||||||
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| 23-77 | 8-23 | 21-29 | 10 | 31 | 41 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 21 | 75 | |||
| 29.9% | 34.8% | 72.4% | Team TO (pts off): 8 (11) | |||||||||||
| +/- denotes team’s net points while the player is on the court. | ||||||||||||||
| LOS ANGELES LAKERS | ||||||||||||||
| STARTERS | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Trevor Ariza, SF | 24 | 1-4 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | +18 | 3 |
| Pau Gasol, FC | 37 | 7-12 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | +14 | 16 |
| Andrew Bynum, C | 22 | 3-8 | 0-0 | 3-4 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | +9 | 9 |
| Kobe Bryant, SG | 38 | 16-34 | 0-1 | 8-8 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | +25 | 40 |
| Derek Fisher, PG | 32 | 4-6 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | +22 | 9 |
| BENCH | MIN | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Lamar Odom, PF | 32 | 5-11 | 0-3 | 1-2 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +21 | 11 |
| Luke Walton, SF | 24 | 4-5 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | +7 | 9 |
| Jordan Farmar, PG | 13 | 0-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 0 |
| Sasha Vujacic, SG | 5 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 |
| Josh Powell, FC | 3 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +4 | 3 |
| Shannon Brown, SG | 8 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +3 | 0 |
| D.J. Mbenga, C | 2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 0 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||
| 41-89 | 3-9 | 15-18 | 15 | 40 | 55 | 18 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 23 | 100 | |||
| 46.1% | 33.3% | 83.3% | Team TO (pts off): 9 (8) | |||||||||||
| +/- denotes team’s net points while the player is on the court. | ||||||||||||||
Flagrant Fouls: None
Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: None - TEAMS (def3sec): None - COACHES: None
Officials: Ken Mauer , Dan Crawford , Joe Derosa
Attendance: 18,997
Time of Game: 02:29
Recognize Johnny Blaze ain’t a damn thing changed.
More than a game, this is a passion…
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June 5th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
The Magic fell apart midway through the second quarter. I know Courtney Lee is a rookie, but there was a stretch of possessions in a game-changing second quarter in which he was abused defensively. Luke Walton scored on him twice, and Kobe was shooting over Lee that gave them a 34-33 lead and the Lakers never looked back. Lee was a liability, and Pietrus should have taken off Kobe’s shoes and put on his Jordan’s because it seems like he and some of his teammates were ‘witnessing’ again (just like in the Cavs series)…
Rashard Lewis has to step up, and take it stronger to the basket and finish…People talk about Dwight, but Lewis has the best overall offensive skillset on the team at 6′10..
Kobe struggled a little bit, but he smelled fear in the second quarter and that jumper he hit over Courtney Lee just flipped Kobe’s switch…
June 5th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
..And one more thing, Jameer played well after not playing for four months, but is there a chemistry problem out there, and is Rafer Alston down in the dumps because he feels he is being dissed because Jameer is playing considerable minutes after Rafer been the main man in the previous THREE PLAYOFF SERIES. Actually this is the first time these two been playing at the same time since the February trade…
June 5th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Good points all around Patrick. Especially Kobe sensing fear and going for the kill. That gear is what all people should attempt to emulate no matter what’s going on in your life.
Like I said in the preview, Jameer was not missing this.