Rainin’ Threes: Howard, shooters lead Magic to Overtime win

Dwight "Superman" Howard dominated in overtime, helping his Orlando Magic take a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers. (AP Photo/Phelan Ebenhack)

Plenty of time remained for Rashard Lewis and the Orlando Magic. Six and four-tenth seconds to be exact. They were behind by one. Hedo Turkoglu found Lewis cutting to the left corner. Once Lewis caught the ball, then in one swift motion, he turned, squared up, and canned the three-pointer. The crowd went ballistic, while Lewis celebrated with his teammates, particularly Turkoglu, his fellow forward. Four and one-tenth seconds were left, however, so the celebrating was left to a minimum. Still, the Cleveland Cavaliers had Lebron James. The game wasn’t over.

James drove into the lane immediately upon receiving the inbounds. Turkoglu blanketed his majesty all the way, bodying him with his arms straight up. It was legal defense. Yet, once James clumsily tripped over himself, forcing Turkoglu to adjust and inadvertently swipe his arm, Scott Foster, standing nearby, must have said to himself “there is no way a player of James caliber would do something so clumsily, so I am going to follow commissioner David Stern’s orders and give him the benefit of the doubt,” because the whistle blew once the supposed Chosen One fell to the ground. James swished the first free-throw, then, evidently with the Basketball Gods on his side, the second attempt hit every part of the rim, appeared it would fall off only to drop through the basket.

Five-tenths of a second was left, and the Magic would inbound the ball at mid-court. A catch-and-shoot is all that is possible in such short a time. Turkoglu couldn’t find anyone on the perimeter, so he lobbed a pass near the rim for Howard. It was worth trying, as Howard’s combination of leaping ability and height could pull of the inconceivable (after all, he’s done it before). Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao front the beastly center as the ball near. The two got their arms and legs tangled, and both fell to the ground simultaneously. Considering the iffy call James received seconds earlier, a whistle had to be blown, either for a offensive foul, or an infraction on Varejao. A whistle wasn’t blown; the Magic fans were now a different type of ballistic. Expletives reigned through Amway arena, including a chant by thousands of ‘bullshit.’ Despite the uproar, the game was still going to overtime, where Howard had the last laugh with Varejao.

Howard was integrated into Orlando’s offense early in the game, scoring 11 points in the opening half of the first quarter. Though he dominated down low, getting deep position time and time again, his biggest accomplishment was his ability to stay out of foul trouble on the defensive end.

Howard went 24 minutes of game-time without scoring a single point. Despite this drought by agruably the best center in the NBA, the Magic held their own. How was this possible? Because of their three-point shooting. Over those 24 minutes, specifically, three-pointers were rained in by point guard Rafer Alston and the ever-so valuable and flamboyant Mikael Pietrus.

After Cleveland finished the second quarter strong to take a eight-point lead, Orlando struck back quickly to start the second half. Alston, uncovered by the Cavaliers in order to prevent his ability to penetrate, left him wide open. Alston has never been a good shooter, as he owns a 38 percent clip for his career from the field, but, given space, he certainly has the capability to make the opposition pay for their lenient defensive strategy. This was the case, as the former New York playground legend nicknamed ‘Skip To My Lou’ torched Cleveland, hitting three straight jumpers, the last a three-pointer without a Cavalier within ten feet.

His three-pointer set a trend, as he drained another exactly a minute later, then, between baskets by the Cavaliers, Turkoglu and Pietrus canned their own from downtown. In spite of this three-point barrage, Cleveland held a five-point lead.

This margin dwindled once Howard woke up after hibernating for the equivalence of two periods. His layup and ensuing free-throw awoke the crowd as well, a packed blue-clad arena that was tired of watching James’ gain control. A three-pointer by Pietrus began a 7-2 spurt to end the third quarter. Thanks to Howard’s rallying of the troops, and the exclamation points by his teammates, a six-point deficit was just one in the blink of an eye.

Pietrus began the fourth quarter as he finished the third, starting another run with a three-pointer. This time, it concluded with a Magic lead stretched to eight on Lewis’s second field goal of the game, and a three-pointer by rookie Courtney Lee.

James scored five of the next seven points for the Cavaliers, anchoring a run of his own. Yet, what James and the Cavaliers accomplished on offense they gave back on defense. I guess they didn’t learn from the fourteen three-pointers Orlando had already made, because their spacing was terrible. James, along with his four teammates, collapsed on every drive to the hoop by a Magic, leaving one of their plethora of shooters open. This hurt them for the fifteenth time, as Lewis increased the margin to six with a three-pointer.

Cleveland responded, capped by James two free-throws that should have never been. No matter how unfair the final possession was, Orlando faced an enviable reality: if they fed off the home crowd, contained James in the slightest, and gave Howard the ball, they would win. It was as simple a game-plan as that, one that Orlando took to heart and played out to near perfection. Howard proved too much for Varejao, muscling in, disposing of him effortlessly for three-straight inside shots, highlighted by two dunks.

Pietrus gave the crowd more to cheer about, hitting the seventeenth and final three-pointer by the Magic for a four-point lead. Howard stretched it to six, cleaning up Turkoglu’s missed layup with a tip-in. After a string of four-points by James, Howard, a 57 percent free-throw shooter on the season, would have to make two free-throws to make it a two possession game. Fittingly, he swished both.

James wouldn’t quit, hitting a deep three-pointer with four seconds left. Lewis, a vastly superior free-throw shooter than Howard, couldn’t duplicate his center’s feat, missing one of two free-throws. James, just like in Game 2, would have the opportunity to break the Magic’s hearts with another game-winning three-pointer. On a set play, he made Stan Van Gundy sweat profusely again and presumably say “oh no, not again” a million times over. This time, Orlando’s head coach could breathe a sigh of relief, as James’ 38-footer clanged off the rim and fell harmlessly to the ground.

The Magic have taken three of four games from the favored Cavaliers. They will win the series, and do so as soon as the next game if the three’s keep falling and Howard dominates in the clutch as he did for another impressive, down-to-the-wire victory for Orlando.