Magic magically falls to 1-3

Although Magic dominated through the first half, and Dwight Howard had stunning 21 rebounds, 16 points and 9 blocks, Lakers took another win. The lead gained in the first half disappeared in the third quarter (famous third quarter collapse by Magic). It looked like Orlando team had a chance when they were up by 3 points nearing the end of regulation and the ball went into Derek Fisher hands, who was 0-5 from behind the arc that night. The shot hit nothing but net. Magic had another chance to take the lead, but Mikael Pietrus missed last second shot, and the game went to overtime, which started with Rashard Lewis 3-pointer. That was the shot that was supposed to fall in the end of regulation! Another 3-pointer by Fisher gave the Lakers leading with 31 seconds left in the overtime, and the Los Angeles team prevailed.

Questions were asked.
- Shouldn't the ball have gone to Lewis in the dying seconds of regulation? Yes, I believe it should. He is deadly from that spot in the clutch time.
- Was playing Jameer Nelson in the 4th quarter and overtime a good idea? No. With all respect to Jameer Nelson and his outstanding game against Lakers during the regular season, it's Rafer Alston who took the team to the playoffs. Although sometimes annoying ball-hog, it was Skip who helped that Magic team to win in the previous series. With a huge help of Anthony Johnson. Fisher said about his 3-pointer, that he had to shoot it, because Nelson gave him so much space! While Skip and AJ were glued to the bench! What were you thinking about SVG? How would it taste to be 2-2 now instead of 1-3?
- Is Rashard Lewis overpaid? My favorite question. Everytime he misses or his team loses, there's always a bunch of people remembering how big his salary is. That he gets money like he was number 1 option not number 2. Really? Really? Boston has 4 players with number 1 option salaries. They're not in the Finals. And last time I checked their best paid player was spending playoffs in the street clothes shouting obscenities at opponents.
- Does Magic have a chance? Not anymore. Even if they somehow win the next game, we're going back to Los Angeles. And that will be the end of season for Magic. They are great great team and played fantastically through the playoffs but Lakers are certainly a better team. That's the beastly Lakers team we used to watch in the regular season, not the Fakers that had problem with injury-devastated Rockets in the Conference-Semis.

Other news - somebody stole Michael Jordan's autographed jersey from Tony Parker's house and placed it on craigslist. Beware jersey collectors!

Cavs are still alive

Whether it was LeBron James' triple-double, Mo Williams' wet jump-shot or Andy Varejao's acrobatic flops - the boys from Cleveland kept the Nike's puppets dream alive. And the fishing-rods sellers in Ohio have to wait at least another 2 days.
The first quarter belong to the Cavaliers completely, Magic decided to have a nap during this period. The twitter-land divided into 2 camps: 1. Magic are done, Cavaliers won it. 2. Magic will slowly come back, and Cavaliers will blow this 22-point lead. Well the second group was closer to the truth - if you call blowing the lead in just one quarter slow.
Second half was much more interesting with the lead going back and forth, both teams actually playing and Reggie Miller trying to be quotable: 'Varejao flopping allover the place.' Skip to my Lou awarded us with some drama everytime he touched the ball (1-7 from 3pt line).
Unluckily, French Revolution (Pietrus) and Polish Democracy (Gortat) didn't work on the reigning MVP. Even Courtney Lee didn't dunk on the King. Cavaliers won.
Who's gonna win the series? All of us know that there were only 8 teams that came back from 1-3 deficit (that was the Cavaliers record before the yesterday's game). By all I mean everybody besides Mo Williams who seems to be the most cocky about his team winning. I know, I know, if I dislike cockiness I should stop watching basketball and start reading poetry, cooking, etc... But back to the point.
I believe in teams working in the concept of a 'team work' more than 'having a super-star and a bunch of random dudes'. That's why I picked up Magic. More, I am sure if they had Jameer Nelson, they'd win in 4 games. Or if Rafer learnt to pass more. They also have much more offensive schemes. They have Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis who are versatile enough to give any team defensive-mismatch problems. And Dwight Howard in the middle. And even if LeBron is the best player in this series he needs some help and he doesn't get it often enough.