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June 8 - While fans of the Los Angeles Lakers will be of course be over the moon that their team managed to beat the Orlando Magic last night (Sunday, June 7) in Game 2 of this year's NBA Finals - after winning Game 1 last week - most will admit that it was a close, a very close affair at 101-96.
If you watched last week's game, when the Lakers pretty much dominated the proceedings against the Orlando Magic to win by a comfortable 100-75, you may be forgiven for thinking that a somewhat different Magic team strode onto the court last night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles to do battle.
Whereas in Game 1 when Orlando were only too happy to come at the Lakers' ultra-talented Kobe Bryant straight up, in Game 2 the visitors decided to shake things up a lot by varying their coverage on the shooting guard. This change in their strategy served to make it harder for the LA team to score.
However, Lakers' center Pau Gasol turned out to be his team's secret weapon as he showed a side of him that was noticeably lacking in last year's NBA Final. On Sunday he was sharp, he was bold and he was quick. He boxed out more Magic players and continually kept Dwight Howard off the block.
Gasol has learned to use his hands to full effect as he forced a couple of turnovers, and stopped Howard from dunking as much as the Magic player would have liked. Then, while Andrew Bynum did the Lakers no favors by fowling himself onto the bench, he made way for Lamar 'Sweetness' Odom.
And sweetness the center brought onto the court with him, as he proceeded to silence his detractors by putting a solid 19 points on the board for the Lakers thanks to accurate to 8-for-9 shooting. Maybe Lakers' fans will let up on him a little for his form during the Denver series, despite his back injury.
However, if there was one player last night that let Orlando down - some might even say lost the game for the team - it was shooting guard Courtney Lee who succumbed to pressure during the big points. Twice Lee received the ball where he needed it, and twice he choked. It was enough though.
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