I found a great Trevor photo for this Game 4 post, but Derek deserves the graphic. No question that Derek deserves this one.
You gotta love it. First half, Lakers were looking horrible. Nothing was going their way and the Magic looked great.
Dwight alone had as many rebounds as the entire Laker team (he now holds the record for most blocks in a single Finals game with 9) and every Laker, minus the coaches, were in foul trouble. There were Lakers on the floor playing together for probably the first time all year, let alone the Playoffs.
But then came the third quarter where the Lakers outscored the Magic 30-14 (after scoring just 37 in the first half). The Magic became the weaker team.
Trevor was huge in the third. He entered the quarter with zero and left it with 13, including a two minute stretch where he scored nine straight Laker points. But the Magic kept the game surprisingly close despite shooting 60 percent at the free throw line (with 37 attempts!) and being +12 in the turnover column.
The game inevitably fell apart for the Magic with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Dwight was at the line and the Magic were up by three. He had to split the free throws (which is what he was doing all night anyway) in order to get the team ahead by two possessions, but instead he missed them both.
His two misses led to the Lakers choosing to take the ball out full court. When they inbounded, the Magic chose not to foul and with 4.6 seconds left on the clock, Fisher drained a humongous three with Jameer Nelson "guarding." I quote the word because calling that a defensive play would be like calling Mickael a good loser: both would be complete lies. But either way, Fish sunk a very clutch and important three that allowed the game to enter over time, the first Finals series to have multiple over time games in over two decades (man, the Finals are boring!)
Over time was pretty much a joke though. The Lakers had pretty much already won the game and the Magic simply stunk the place up. After Rashard drained an almost impossible three to start the period off (only his second make the entire game), the Magic didn't score again but for a single free throw make by Dwight with 87 seconds left.
The Lakers on other hand dominated. Kobe made back-to-back jumpers and Fish hit yet another huge three (after Kobe elbowed Jameer in the face, which obviously wasn't called). Pau hit the final 5 points for the Lakers, four from dunks and one from a flagrant free throw (Mickael went at him with 3 seconds left, while Pau was hanging on the rim, because Pietrus is stupid idiot).
The win gives the Lakers a 3-1 lead over the Magic in these NBA Finals. The only thing keeping the entire world from crowning us as "world" champions now is that single win, but do we really have to play that game? Let's just have the parade on Fig this Sunday instead of having Game 5. Maybe that way I could get rid of this big, fluffy, bushy, amazingly manly beard tonight... although, I have to admit, the chicks dig it.
There were a dozen plays to pick as the "play of the game," so I decided I would do the rational thing and pick none of them. Instead— I'm joking. I decided to pick the play that led me to almost scream my ear drum into the hospital, the game-tying shot by Fisher in the final seconds of the fourth:
