Scattered Thoughts – NBA Finals Game 4

Today is just going to be a quick edition as I plan to go more into detail with some of the subjects being touched upon…

– First of all, story of the game..Derek Fisher. There is much more being written about him and giving him his due (check this out). All I’ll say is I said it last night..somewhere, Bill Raftery was screaming “Onions!”…maybe even a double order. Huge take and make. Thats why DFish is a winner. And if there ever was a time for him to break out the testicles dance, that was it.

– It has been well documented about whether or not Dwight Howard has a post game and I’m certainly not going to dive into that debate. Some argue he does and some argue he doesn’t. What I’m simply going to say is and I feel that this would be agreed upon 100%…he has room for improvement. He definitely can become a better post up scorer..and when he does…now that is a scary thought for the Eastern Conference.

– Can for the love of god defenders on either team stay down on the pump fake? How many times do we have to see players leave there feet and commit that foul falling into a shooter? Defenders on both teams have fallen for it and players from both the Magic and Lakers have used it. Stay down!

– I have two thoughts that I plan on investigating more thoroughly. One of them is the Magic offense without Hedo Turkoglu on the floor. When he picked up his fourth foul and had to leave the game David Thorpe an ESPN analyst reported through Henry Abbot who was live tweeting (I know, confusing) “Wow, is that a problem for Orlando”. Sure enough Orlando’s offense went to crap. Going to investigate this further when I have the opportunity to break down the film.

– The other aspect and I have some emails out, hopefully if I get them back in time and they are worth posting and revisiting I will, but the other aspect is the Sideline Out of Bounds (SLOB) and how the strategies of both the offensive team and defensive teams have played a huge part in this series. Last night the Lakers chose not to advance the ball with 11 seconds left in regulation and down three. I found this interesting and while I have my own theories like I said I’ll wait to post them. The other was Orlando’s last second SLOB plays last night and again I’ll go into further detail hopefully in the future.

– Missed free throws. Something that any coach at any level has preached to his team at one point or another. Get to the Lines. A piece of coaching that while elementary, you see it now even at the highest levels how important hitting your foul shots can be. It’s been a storyline in the past two games of the NBA Finals. First in Game Three Kobe missing down the stretch and then again last night with Turkoglu and Howard both missing key foul shots.

– I wrote about Game Fours yesterday to get a sense of history. Of the past 10 Game Fours dating back to 1999 a team has taken a 3-1 series lead now in six of the past 10, including the Lakers last night. Not exactly sure what that means, but it is interesting to note. Now the onus is on the Magic to keep the series alive and at least give everyone in the Magic organization as well as national media one more cross country flight. Plus I have nothing to do Tuesday night and would like to watch a game.

Enjoy the two days off everyone. Check back sometime Saturday or Sunday for some further analysis into the series.