SHUT DOWN: Dwight Howard hasn't had his way against Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol so far. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)
Following a Game 1 blowout where they were torched by 25, Orlando bounced back in Game 2 but were edged out by the Lakers in OT. The Magic were a missed Courtney Lee layup with 0.6 seconds left in regulation away from tying the series and stealing home court advantage.
Climbing out of an 0–2 hole will be no easy feat as only three teams have done it before. It was most recently done in 2006 by the Miami Heat who were down 0–2 to the Dallas Mavericks before they swept the rest of the series. The team up 2–0 wins the series 94 percent of the time.
Howard Improvement Needed
Facing virtually a must-win game, Orlando will have to put the tough loss behind them and focus on trying to slow down Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
The first thing the Magic need to take away from the loss is that they can compete with this Lakers—something that did not appear evident following Game 1.
But for the Magic to win, center Dwight Howard needs to step his game up. Howard is one of the most dominant big men in the game, but he was not been playing that way thus far in the series.
There’s no way Howard can dominate the way he did in the Cavs series. The Lakers big men are much better defenders than the Cavs’ big men and have held Howard to just one dunk in two games. And he didn’t even get that until the 5:33 mark of the third quarter of Game 2.
But that does not mean he can’t still be productive.
Being that the dunk is his go-to move (and really his only move offensively), Howard must become a more of a facilitator as the Lakers are not letting him catch the ball close enough to the basket to get those easy dunks and layups like he did all series long against the Cavs.
There have also been times were Howard is open in the post for an easy dunk and his teammates have not gotten him the ball. Howard must demand the ball at these times, as he is the most dominant player on his team.
While Howard is not a great passing big man, he must pass it out to the open man so the ball can be worked around to Orlando's great outside shooters like small forward Hedo Turkoglu and power forward Rashard Lewis, rather than trying to fight through the double teams and dunk.
The only problem with this strategy is that one cannot really expect the Magic shooters to shoot lights out against the length and ability of the Lakers’ perimeter defenders for the rest of the series.
Defensively the Magic played much better in Game 2, causing Bryant to turn the ball over seven times, and will need to continue their tough defense to have a chance to win the game.
Prediction
With a must win game and the home fans behind them, the Magic will come out strong and win the game.
While they will win Game 3, the Lakers will make the necessary adjustments to steal either Game 4 or 5 on the road to close out the series at home in six.
Matt Sugam also writes for The Daily Targum at Rutgers University.
