Eastern Confrence Finals Game 1
The Orlando Magic entered Wednesday night off an energetic and exciting game 7 win in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. They reached their first conference finals since the Shaq led Magic did it back in 1996. This time they are led by another dominating post man, Dwight Howard. I don't have to elaborate on his talent because I'm sure (unless you've been under a rock for the last 3 years) you know who Dwight aka Superman is.
This years Conference finals promises to be an awesome match up against a tough Cleavland Cavilers team led by Lebron James. The Cavs didn't have a long road like the Magic putting the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks away easily and quickly in 4 games not allowing either team score more than 85 points in any game. Some would say that the Magic had the edge because of their dominating victories against the Cavs twice at home. Others would boast that the Cavs have a great advantage only losing twice at home during the whole regular season and post season. Either way when the Magic and Cavs met in Cleveland at The Q Arena you could tell that this game was going to be explosive to say the least.
The Cavs came out firing despite their 8 day lay off between game four of the semi-finals and game one last night. They jumped out on the Magic quick. After only a minute on a Magic possession Dwight Howard pulled down a rebound in a group of Cavs reloade
d and went up for the put back dunk. Everyone thought it was just a normal Superman power dunk until the refs had to stop play because after the dunk the 24 second shot clock broke and fell down the back of the back board causing an 8 minute delay. That was how the first points for Dwight and the Magic were scored. After that the first quarter was all Cavs and Lebron ending with a dominating 33-19 lead. That was also the Cavs highest scoring quarter out of any of the 8 previous game that they played this post season.
The second quarter was played a little bit closer by the Magic but since they had such a large deficit to overcome from the first quarter all they did was keep it from getting really ugly. The second quarter seemed to be controlled by Lebron, seeming to not miss a shot through out the quarter. Howard was quietly keeping the Magic in the game as the Cavs were visibly fear full of the three that the Magic became known for and the big reason why they put away the Celtics. The Cavs willingly paid the price of protecting the 3 point line and giving Howard a big first half. The quarter ended in a school yard game of horse style shot from 3/4 of the court by Mo Williams draining the long 3 nothing but net to put the Magic down 15 at the break and put a little pep in the Cavs step going into the locker room for half time.
After the half the Magic came out like a team possessed slowly and methodically with a lot of offensive fire power and defensive prowess they ticked away at the Cavs' lead. The shooting heated up the threes started falling unlike the first half where they only hit a couple, and Howard kept pounding away in the paint. Rashard Lewis who had a quiet first half and normally has great offensive scoring abilities started to play like Magic fans are used to see him playing. Hedo Turkoglu, Mikeal Pietrus, and Rafer Alston didn't shy away from the Cavs daunting defense either, all scoring in double digits. Lebron didn't quiet down even though it seemed like the rest of the team did. At the end of the quarter the Magic were down 82-78.
At the start of the fourth the Magic didn't lose any energy and kept the intensity up after a couple of minutes the Magic went up on a three pointer by Lewis, seeming to be the biggest shot of the night but he had more in store for later. That put the the Magic up by one giving them their first lead of the night at 84-85. Every minute after that seemed to tick by slowly. Then late in the quarter Leb
ron took the ball to the rack and drew the foul on Dwight Howard giving him 6 and ending his night early with 30 points and 13 boards. After that the Cavs gained a two point lead 106-104. Then with under a minute left on an inbound play Magic coach Stan Van Gundy drew up an isolation play for Rashard Lewis to take advantage of his mismatch on one of the Cavs bigger slower players Anderson Varejao, he took the inbound pass drove in kicked it out to Hedo then Hedo went back to Rashard for his biggest three of the night and after a pump fake he hit the three right over the outstretched arm of Varejao, putting the Magic Up by one 106-107 with 14.7 seconds remaining. The Lebron bought the ball down drove the lane and kicked it out to a wide open Williams for three, it was off the mark to cause a scramble for the rebound which ended in a jump ball between Turkoglu and James with one final second remaining. They lined up for the jump ball and when the ball went in the air Lebron being the better leaper one the jump ball tipped it out to Williams who snatched it out of the air and fired off one last shot which was..............................off the mark solidifying the Magic's game one win.
Lebron ended the game with 49 points 6 boards and 8 assists having a huge game but not being able to beat the Magics team effort alone. I cant wait for the excitement that game two has in store on Friday at 8:00 pm.
GO MAGIC!!!!
This years Conference finals promises to be an awesome match up against a tough Cleavland Cavilers team led by Lebron James. The Cavs didn't have a long road like the Magic putting the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks away easily and quickly in 4 games not allowing either team score more than 85 points in any game. Some would say that the Magic had the edge because of their dominating victories against the Cavs twice at home. Others would boast that the Cavs have a great advantage only losing twice at home during the whole regular season and post season. Either way when the Magic and Cavs met in Cleveland at The Q Arena you could tell that this game was going to be explosive to say the least.
The Cavs came out firing despite their 8 day lay off between game four of the semi-finals and game one last night. They jumped out on the Magic quick. After only a minute on a Magic possession Dwight Howard pulled down a rebound in a group of Cavs reloade
d and went up for the put back dunk. Everyone thought it was just a normal Superman power dunk until the refs had to stop play because after the dunk the 24 second shot clock broke and fell down the back of the back board causing an 8 minute delay. That was how the first points for Dwight and the Magic were scored. After that the first quarter was all Cavs and Lebron ending with a dominating 33-19 lead. That was also the Cavs highest scoring quarter out of any of the 8 previous game that they played this post season.The second quarter was played a little bit closer by the Magic but since they had such a large deficit to overcome from the first quarter all they did was keep it from getting really ugly. The second quarter seemed to be controlled by Lebron, seeming to not miss a shot through out the quarter. Howard was quietly keeping the Magic in the game as the Cavs were visibly fear full of the three that the Magic became known for and the big reason why they put away the Celtics. The Cavs willingly paid the price of protecting the 3 point line and giving Howard a big first half. The quarter ended in a school yard game of horse style shot from 3/4 of the court by Mo Williams draining the long 3 nothing but net to put the Magic down 15 at the break and put a little pep in the Cavs step going into the locker room for half time.
After the half the Magic came out like a team possessed slowly and methodically with a lot of offensive fire power and defensive prowess they ticked away at the Cavs' lead. The shooting heated up the threes started falling unlike the first half where they only hit a couple, and Howard kept pounding away in the paint. Rashard Lewis who had a quiet first half and normally has great offensive scoring abilities started to play like Magic fans are used to see him playing. Hedo Turkoglu, Mikeal Pietrus, and Rafer Alston didn't shy away from the Cavs daunting defense either, all scoring in double digits. Lebron didn't quiet down even though it seemed like the rest of the team did. At the end of the quarter the Magic were down 82-78.
At the start of the fourth the Magic didn't lose any energy and kept the intensity up after a couple of minutes the Magic went up on a three pointer by Lewis, seeming to be the biggest shot of the night but he had more in store for later. That put the the Magic up by one giving them their first lead of the night at 84-85. Every minute after that seemed to tick by slowly. Then late in the quarter Leb
ron took the ball to the rack and drew the foul on Dwight Howard giving him 6 and ending his night early with 30 points and 13 boards. After that the Cavs gained a two point lead 106-104. Then with under a minute left on an inbound play Magic coach Stan Van Gundy drew up an isolation play for Rashard Lewis to take advantage of his mismatch on one of the Cavs bigger slower players Anderson Varejao, he took the inbound pass drove in kicked it out to Hedo then Hedo went back to Rashard for his biggest three of the night and after a pump fake he hit the three right over the outstretched arm of Varejao, putting the Magic Up by one 106-107 with 14.7 seconds remaining. The Lebron bought the ball down drove the lane and kicked it out to a wide open Williams for three, it was off the mark to cause a scramble for the rebound which ended in a jump ball between Turkoglu and James with one final second remaining. They lined up for the jump ball and when the ball went in the air Lebron being the better leaper one the jump ball tipped it out to Williams who snatched it out of the air and fired off one last shot which was..............................off the mark solidifying the Magic's game one win.Lebron ended the game with 49 points 6 boards and 8 assists having a huge game but not being able to beat the Magics team effort alone. I cant wait for the excitement that game two has in store on Friday at 8:00 pm.
GO MAGIC!!!!
posted by superbike31 at
12:44 PM
