The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Los Angeles Lakers 100, Orlando Magic 75

Lakers lead series, 1-0

1. Kryptonite

The most remarkable, and telling, pair of statistics to emerge from the Lakers whupping of Orlando Thursday night is the number of field goals made (1) and free throws attempted (16) by Dwight Howard. As Howard was dominating the low block in two or three of Orlando's wins against the top-seeded Cavs, everyone was wondering why the phlanx of Cleveland big men didn't use their fouls wisely and ensure Howard couldn't finish at the rim. Make him earn it at the stripe. Howard nailed a driving hook during the game's first two minutes on his second shot attempt. Over the next 46 minutes of play he had four official FGA and missed them all. Yes, he finished with only two fewer free throw tries than the entire Laker team, and yes, Andrew Bynum and then Pau Gasol both had to sit extended minutes due to foul trouble at various points in the first three quarters. But the momentum of Howard beating his man down the floor, or slamming a putback from the offensive glass, or receiving the feed off dribble-penetration, or creating his own open bucket with a baseline spin or power charge across the lane--all the the familiar Howard sparkplug manuvers from the Cleveland series, in other words--weren't happening in this series opener.

Will Howard play better, probably much better, in succeeding games? Sure. But remember, the foul that sent him to the bench late in the first period was a charge, and came on an effort at  payback after Gasol executed a slam at the other end. And in the second half, Howard was clearly frustrated that he suddenly couldn't do all the things he'd been doing versus the Cavs. In other words, Howard got spoiled in the previous series, and probably subconsciously figured he'd slide back into that comfort zone vs. the Lakers. But Phil Jackson's ballclub obviously spent a lot of time figuring out how they wanted to play him, and in Bynum and Gasol, have a pair of interesting deterrents who can execute the plan. Howard will go off at least once in this series, and get both bigs in more serious foul woes than occurred in Game One. But the picnic is over.

Preventing Howard from getting in rhythm meant the Lakers didn't have to double down or rotate over nearly as assiduously, and could thus stay with the three-point shooters more often. Longer and less distracted than Cleveland's perimeter defenders, the Lakers caused Orlando to hurry their treys just a tad. The commentators correctly noted that Orlando got their share of good looks from outside--but again, not as wide-open good as they were getting in most of the previous series, against Boston and Philly as well as Cleveland. By rendering Howard less effective and offering greater pressure on the long distance shooters, LA held Orlando to a remarkable 30% from the field, including a 9-38 FG performance in the second half.

2. Middle Game Turning Point and the Impact of Nelson

It's easy to forget in light of his final numbers and incredible stints in the second and third periods, but Kobe Bryant started out of sync, shooting too much and inaccurately--he was 3-9 FG, the rest of his team 7-14--in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Hedo Turkoglu was having his way with Trevor Ariza, surprising Ariza with his simultaneous quickness, physicality and dribbling prowess--not many 6-10 guys know how to use their bodies *and* can handle the rock that well. (Luke Walton proved a better matchup in the first half, although Ariza furthered the defensive momentum after the break.) Then Jameer Nelson entered the game and surprised everyone with his instant polish and court awareness. Twice in the quarter's first three and a half minutes, he slow-penetrated enough to draw out the bigs to the free throw line and delivered a layup assist, dropped another dime on a trey for Rashard Lewis, and did one of those dribble-circles through the lane and abruptly spun and sunk a short baseline jumper. Not coincidentally, L.A. was going with its dunce backcourt of Farmar and Vujacic, both of whom are better suited to guard Rafer Alston, who has trouble dishing off the drive but can hit the trey and explode to the hoop--speedy but not that smart. Nelson's genuine point guard style is another matter.

Anyway, the obvious turning point of the game occurred after Orlando's second quarter spurt, led by Nelson and backup center Marcin Gortat, which had the Magic up 33-28 with 8:32 to play in the half. Phil Jackson called timeout and brought back Bynum (sitting with two fouls) for Gasol and Kobe for Vujacic. The Lakers immediately went on a 6-0 run. Jackson then subbed Fisher back in for Farmar and the run was extended to 10-0, By the end of the half it was the Lakers up double digits, 53-43, and only the delusional thought Orlando could climb back into the game.

Now Kobe rightly gets a lot of credit for going off for a dozen points (6-9 FG) and 4 assists in that final 8:32 of the half, but obscured by those heroics is the fact that Orlando was held without a field goal for nearly five and a half minutes after that timeout, and registered only 10 points the rest of the half. In the third period, they garnered a mere 15, meaning that from the 8:39 mark of the second quarter until the end of the third period--20:39 for all your math-challenged folks--the Lakers held Orlando to a measly 25 points. Ballgame. The 17 4th quarter points for the Magic were a garbage time deflation more than Laker follow-through, but moot, of course--that's why they call it garbage time.

Again, credit the Lakers for superior schemes, but let's also reconsider the wisdom of riding Nelson for more than 23 minutes after he'd missed 40 games. This is no knock on Nelson, who was my candidate for Most Improved Player of the year until he went down with his injury, and who, as I said, looked remarkably fluid and prepared when he hit the court after such a long layoff. I happen to think that, long-term, Orlando is a better team with Nelson at the point, and Nelson was a major factor in both of the Magic's regular season wins over LA.  So I get why Stan Van Gundy gave him all that burn.

But Nelson on the court means less meaningful decisions for Turkoglu, who has been the offensive facilitator for this team during its recent surge, and averaged nearly 7 assists per game against Cleveland. Tonight he had but 2 dimes and twice as many turnovers in a titch over 33 minutes, Extended minutes for Nelson also means no time for Anthony Johnson, who has frequently been a stabilizing influence on the Magic during this postseason--and Orlando desperately needed stabilization as Kobe was blitzing through the lane and aflame with his jumper in the game-ending third quarter.

3 Quick Impressions

Early on, Gasol was lapsing into a placidity reminiscent of his beatdown at the hands of the Celtics in last year's finals. There was one play in particular near the end of the first period where he got the ball near the hoop on the left block and stiff-armed a bunny so the shot barely grazed the front iron. As the television cameras were panning the players walking off the court at the end of the first quarter, you could briefly see Kobe putting Pau on blast for his lack of aggression.

Hats off to the Laker scouts and coaching staff. Out of bounds plays overwhelmingly went in the Lakers' favor, including a pair of easy layups out of sideline toss-ins. And the Lakers knew their perimeter length could rush the Magic and sussed the schemes. Also, live by the pick and roll, die by the pick and roll: After torching the Cavs with this most basic play, the Magic were frequently burned by it in Game One. High post pick and rolls involving Gasol are especially effective because he is a very good passer, is relatively quick and a decent dribbler, and can hit the midrange jumper (or set shot in his cae) when necessary. Expect more high post patterns when Howard is on Gasol, because it brings him out away from the hoop and the Lakers can find cutters against a ballclub that has too little inside presence without Howard. Or, as the wonderful Jeff Van Gundy said at one point: "You put that guy [Bryant] in a pick and roll with Gasol and that's a difficult, difficult cover."

Other great JVG observations: That Courtney Lee (exposed all night) was not defending Kobe with the aggressiveness he has shown in his other matchups, and that Phil Jackson always seems to concoct effective defenses against opponents with a great low post presence.

The refs really let the players get away with a lot--there were blatant no-calls both ways, but the standard was pretty consistent for both sides.

Orlando needs to try and exploit Lewis's quickness when Gasol is guarding him. If Gasol isn't in foul trouble during this series and neither Howard nor Lewis is going off, then the Magic are playing dumb basketball.