Orlando Magic basketball fans are waiting for their team’s first NBA Finals win. It will be the first one… ever. The Orlando Magic have been the championship series previously. On that one occasion, it was a four game sweep by the Houston Rockets. So, it has been a long long long wait for that first win in a championship series.

The Magic will not be shy to use the three point shot to beat the Lakers. The formula of Dwight Howard or Marcin Gortat in the interior, surrounded by three point shooters, has worked to eliminated the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers. To some basketball pundits, the Orlando Magic bring back memories of the ’seven-seconds-or-less’ Phoenix Suns. On a fast break, the Magic will have someone running to the three point line for an open attempt.

The temptation for the Lakers will be to try to match the Magic in a three point shooting contest. This is not the Lakers’ game but the Magic have a reliance on their long range accuracy. The Lakers may look for the long rebounds from three point shots and try to run fast breaks on the Magic.

This series will have its oddities:

• J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison meeting again (although Adam Morrison may not even be in uniform).
• Tyronne Lue returning to the championship round, to play against the Lakers.
• Jameer Nelson possibly returning before schedule from a supposedly season ending injury.
• Jeff Van Gundy helping to broadcast a championship with his brother as the Orlando Magic coach.
• The Lakers will test how well Dwight Howard can make his free throws. It is possible that Dwight Howard can win a championship from the free throw line.

The Lakers have had a problem protecting and extending a lead. This has been an issue all through the regular season and signs of it continuing have appeared in the post season. With the Magic’s ability to make three point shots, a lead can disappear quickly. If the Lakers are slow to identify the passing lanes to the three point shooters, the momentum can shift rapidly. This Lakers propensity to squander a lead is well known and, if the Magic fall behind by a significant number, the long range shots will fly. It will not matter how early it is in the shot clock. The Magic will try to shoot themselves back into any game. The Phoenix Suns fans of the run-and-shoot style of basketball will have a special fondness for the Magic’s style of play. And, in Phoenix, those fans will think… “that could have been us“.

Catherine Forsythe