ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Magic had just lost a tough one to the Los Angeles Lakers, in overtime no less, but instead of looking toward the future, the coaching staff brought up the past.
After all, Orlando is used to seeing deficits in a playoff series.
The Magic trailed the Boston Celtics, 3-2, before rallying to win an Eastern Conference semifinal in seven games. The Philadelphia 76ers had a 2-1 lead on Orlando in the first round but didn’t win another game.
The stakes are obviously higher now, but the Magic don’t seem horrified by a 2-0 deficit in the NBA Finals.
“Coach talked about that in the locker room,” Magic forward Rashard Lewis said. “This is nothing new for us.”
Both teams were proclaiming the importance of tonight’s Game 3 within minutes of the Lakers’ overtime victory in Game 2.
The Lakers know they’ll be running into a city fit with Magic fever. There’s already been a rally at City Hall. The Magic logo is seemingly everywhere, even on signs on the sides of tollbooths.
And, of course, there will be an amped-up crowd at Amway Arena.
“You’re going to see a wide-open game,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “It’s going to be a much more free-flowing game, up-tempo.”
The Magic knows this might be its last chance. No team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.
Only three teams in 30 tries have come back from a 2-0 deficit to win the Finals — the Miami Heat in 2006, the Portland Trail Blazers in 1977 and Boston in 1969 against the Lakers.
The Magic went 32-9 at Amway Arena in the regular season and 7-2 there in the playoffs. They’ll get the next three games at home, if necessary.
“We play better at home,” Magic center Dwight Howard said. “We tend to run more. Shots fall more. I expect all of us to play better.”
It would start with Howard.
Orlando’s main 3-point shooters were on target in Game 2, Lewis making six of 12 and Hedo Turkoglu making three of six from behind the arc.
Howard, however, hasn’t quite been himself on offense.
After making only one of six shots in Game 1, he made five of 10 in Game 2. For the Finals, he is averaging 14.5 points a game and shooting 37.5 percent, well below his numbers of 21.7 points and 62.2 percent shooting in the playoffs before the Finals.
Howard has one dunk so far in the Finals, off a pass from Lewis with 5:32 left in the third quarter of Game 2.
Pau Gasol played solid one-on-one defense on Howard in Game 2, often forcing him toward the baseline and into a Lakers double-team featuring a different blend of players.
“They’re mixing it up on me,” Howard said. “They’re doing some crazy things and it’s been frustrating me a bit. … I’ve just got to really do my homework and try to find ways to beat it.”
Howard acknowledged the need to “trust my teammates” more often and pledged to kick the ball out to open shooters on the perimeter.
The Lakers, meanwhile, survived a game in which Kobe Bryant admitted he wasn’t sharp (seven turnovers) and Andrew Bynum gave them just 16 minutes because of foul trouble.
Bynum was effective in Game 1 with nine points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes, but his Game 2 numbers slipped to five points and one rebound. He had five fouls.
“I think he’ll learn as he goes along,” Jackson said. “He made a critical mistake with his fifth foul, trying to run through a pick instead of sliding his way through and wedging his way through that screen. But I think he’ll find a way to be effective for us. We need him for 20 minutes. We can’t play him for that kind of minutes when he’s in foul trouble.”
Said Bynum: “Nothing I can do about it outside of stop reaching. I have to watch some tape and really look at it.”
Bynum’s issues won’t have a big effect if Gasol and Lamar Odom keep playing at a high level.
Just a few weeks ago, Odom was miserable with a bruised lower back that was tender to the touch and the width of a saucer. His game suffered, bottoming out in the last three games of the Western Conference semifinals, when he scored 10, eight and six points against Houston.
His back is still sore, but Odom has averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds so far in the Finals, not to mention averages of 19.5 points and 11 rebounds in the last two games of the West finals against Denver.
He got philosophical when asked about his turnaround.
“Nothing in my life has been easy, like from day one” he said. “I’ve got a nice big house, I expect the door to break. I expect something to go wrong. That’s life.
“I’m tired as hell, excuse my language. I’m tight, my back is tight.”
Odom said he would get a massage, try to get some sleep and “just get ready to go and play Orlando.”
The Magic will be waiting, as will a city that hasn’t hosted a Finals game since 1995.
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