ORLANDO, Florida, (Reuters) – The Orlando Magic will perform a quick vanishing act from the NBA Finals if they do not believe they can still win the title, coach Stan Van Gundy said Saturday.
With the Los Angeles Lakers holding a 3-1 advantage and hoping to win the championship today, Van Gundy abandoned the customary one-game-at-a-time approach.
“When you’re in this situation, they key thing is if you still have belief that you can win the championship,” Van Gundy said.
“If you don’t think you can go to LA and win the championship, then even though you’re saying one-game-at-a-time, it’s pretty easy to let go if things aren’t going well.”
Should the Magic win today, they would have to travel to Los Angeles for the next two games, if necessary. No team has ever recovered from a 3-1 deficit to win the finals.
Orlando All-Star center Dwight Howard was unnerved after the Lakers’ 99-91 overtime victory Thursday but he decided it was best to conceal his emotions.
“I couldn’t let me team mates see me hurt because me being the leader, if they see the leader doubt, then they’re going to have doubts.
“When my team mates have bad moments, they can always look to me for hope because I’ve never had a day where I’ve shown them that I was hurt about any type of situation.
“Basketball is a joyous occasion for us and I’m not going to let a loss or anything mess up what we have as a team.”
Orlando, with a little luck, could have been in position to win their first title.
In game two, a game-winning shot by Courtney Lee glanced off the rim. On Thursday, the Lakers’ Derek Fisher hit a three-pointer with four seconds left to send the game into overtime.
The Magic ended up losing both games and now the Lakers are staring at their 15th NBA title and first since 2002. Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson concedes it has not been easy.
“We’ve had to win some games in a very impossible fashion against this team and found a way to do it,” said Jackson, seeking his record 10th title as a coach.
“We know there’s just a trifle of changes between winning and losing.”
Howard, who blew two crucial free throws that would likely have given the Magic a victory on Thursday, refused to dwell on what might have been.
“We’ve been in a lot of different situations during this series,” he said. “Courtney makes the basket in LA… We come back down here and I make my free throws last game, series tied.
“It was meant for us to be in this situation and it’s going to be on us to turn it around. I have a lot of faith in what we can do.”
