Magic vs Lakers Game 2 NBA Finals Recap

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• Description : If you are looking for the missed s...(more)hot by Courtney Lee look at 2:54 LOS ANGELES (AP)—Stopped cold by a pick near the free-throw line, Kobe Bryant watched as Orlandos Courtney Lee headed toward the basket and a shot at history. Bryant was frozen. Suddenly, the Los Angeles Lakers march to a 15th NBA title—and his dream of a fourth—would be much tougher. Lees last-second shot went up, and went out. Lucky. The Lakers remain in control of the NBA finals—just barely. Lee missed a potential game-winning alley-oop as regulation ended, giving Los Angeles another shot it didnt waste. Pau Gasol scored seven points in overtime and Bryant finished with 29 as the Lakers, so dominant in the series opener, survived with a 101-96 win over the Magic in Game 2 on Sunday night. I was obviously relieved when he missed that shot, Gasol said. It could have been a heartbreaker and right now we could be in a totally different situation. If Orlando doesnt come back and win this series, Lees miss may go down as one of the biggest gaffes in finals history. He had a chance to give the Magic its first finals win. We missed it. I dont know what else to say, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. We executed well, Hedo made a great pass. Im not trying to be a pain Hedo made a great pass and he just missed it. Orlando may not get a better shot to beat the Lakers. We blew a lot of assignments tonight—a lot of assignments—and we still managed to get a win, Bryant said. When it was finally over, Bryant, Derek Fisher and the Lakers jogged to the locker room, smiling and high-fiving fans along the way. Hedo Turkoglu who threw the perfect lob pass on Lees ill-fated shot, trudged through the tunnel dejected, a towel hanging from his head. Gasol added 24 and 10 rebounds and Lamar Odom 19 points for the Lakers, who won Game 1 by 25 but needed 53 minutes to put away the Magic. Rashard Lewis scored 34—18 in the second quarter alone—and Dwight Howard had 17 points and 16 rebounds for Orlando. Game 3 is Tuesday night at Orlandos Amway Arena, which will be hosting a finals game for the first time since June 9, 1995. With the score tied at 88-88 in regulation, Lee missed the first of two late-game shots when he drove the lane and misfired on a contested layup with 10.5 seconds remaining. The Lakers called time with 9.1 seconds to play, and after Odom caught the inbounds pass, he quickly gave it to Bryant, who drove into a crowd. Bryant attempted an off-balance 12-footer, but his shot was blocked from behind by Turkoglu with 1.8 seconds left. The horn sounded, the clock expired to zeros and Jack Nicholson and the star-studded Staples Center crowd braced for overtime. But the officials huddled at the scorers table and decided to put 0.6 seconds back on the clock because Turkoglu grabbed the ball and called timeout. Turkoglu couldnt find anyone open on the inbounds and was forced to call another timeout. On the Magics second attempt, Lee got free on a perfectly executed play and caught Turkoglus long lob pass as he neared the left side of the basket. But with 7-foot Gasol closing in on him, Lees shot caromed off the backboard and front of the rim. Howard dunked in the miss as Lee put his hands behind his head in disbelief and began a long walk back to the bench as his teammates tried to console him. So close. So far. I caught it and just tried to make a play, Lee said. We didnt lose the game just because I missed the layup. We could have won the game. Howard, who had seven of Orlandos 20 turnovers, didnt want to put too much emphasis on Lees miss. We had our chances to win, he said. We turned the ball over too much. That got them the win. Bryant, who got caught paying more attention to Orlandos outside shooters than Lee, knew how fortunate the Lakers were to hang on. It was just a brilliant play, Bryant said. It was just a very, very smart play that he drew up. He knew my eye was more on the shooters coming up and just a hell of a play by a hell of a coach. Fourteen years to the day, the Magic have more finals misery. On June 7, 1995, Orlando had a chance to put Houston away in Game 1, but Magic guard Nick Anderson missed four late free throws in a 120-118 loss to the Rockets, who went on to sweep the series. (less)