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Just as the second half got underway, un-sportsmanlike Delonte West was given a flagrant two and ejected for making ridiculous claims for a foul after Rafer Alston had accidentally beaten up Sasha Pavlovic. The referee and his assistant missed the incident as they were both asking Dwight Howard for his autograph, but replays showed that Alston's flying kung-fu kick, followed by a forearm smash was clearly unintentional.
Mike Brown was called for traveling, and Rashard Lewis stepped up and calmly sank Orlando's 453rd attempt from the line for the game.
JDeuce23 wrote:No need to watch the game tomorrow, boys. I've already found the prewritten AP report from tomorrow night:
Orlando's improbable march towards the NBA Finals continued on Tuesday as they went up 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals on the heels of a stunning display at Amway Arena. The Magic built a lead just before the opening tip-off when the Cavaliers were called for 10 straight illegal defense violations as they boarded their team bus at their hotel.
The Cavs, still scoreless, saw their deficit reach 40 points early in the second quarter after Zydrunas Ilgauskus was given a technical foul for coughing on the Cleveland bench. Dwight Howard's resultant free throw was slightly off-target, but even if Anderson Varejao was not being pinned to the floor by Marcin Gortat, he would not have rebounded it. Since Orlando has been continuously getting hosed by the referees throughout the playoffs, this kind of result was no more than the Magic deserved.
The Cavs ran into more trouble four minutes before halftime when Mo Williams was ejected for enquiring about why referee Joey Crawford was wearing a Dwight Howard Superman cape. However, the Cavs were able to strike back with their first field goal of the night after an amazing piece of good fortune. As Wally Szczerbiak's two-point jump shot was only partially blocked by Crawford's assistant, LeBron James grabbed the rebound and thumped the ball through the net. Confusion reigned for 10 minutes as the entire Magic squad surrounded the referee, arguing that the referee's assistant had been fouled just two minutes earlier. Crawford grudgingly had to grant the field goal even though he racked his brain for a reason to disallow it.
Stan Van Gundy, furious, had Hedo Turkoglu take a rest on the bench and replaced him with three other players. Fortunately, things settled down again as Rashard Lewis began a new Magic run by taking a half-court shot, which sailed over the backboard, but had clearly gone through the rim first.
Just as the second half got underway, un-sportsmanlike Delonte West was given a flagrant two and ejected for making ridiculous claims for a foul after Rafer Alston had accidentally beaten up Sasha Pavlovic. The referee and his assistant missed the incident as they were both asking Dwight Howard for his autograph, but replays showed that Alston's flying kung-fu kick, followed by a forearm smash was clearly unintentional.
The Magic then sealed the game from the free throw line early in the fourth quarter. Mike Brown was called for traveling, and Rashard Lewis stepped up and calmly sank Orlando's 453rd attempt from the line for the game. Lewis had actually clanked the ball off the iron and over the backboard, but Crawford deciced the free throw was good because, based on past records, Lewis rarely missed.
The Magic, incredibly still alive in the playoffs despite continuously being on the short end of the stick from the crooked officiating, kept the pressure on until the bitter end. Wally Szczerbiak was called for a dirty touch foul for blatantly glancing at Hedo Turkoglu. The Turk inbounded the ball right into the referee's path, and Crawford made no mistake, catching the alley-oop and throwing it down into Cleveland's goal while he let out a loud, primal scream. Final score: Orlando 1,045, Cleveland -7.
One can only hope the Cavs won't continue to employ their cheap and dirty tactics in Game 5. Stan Van Gundy, in between inhaling scoopfuls of Crisco at his postgame press conference, has assured David Stern that he'll personally handle the officiating for the rest of the round.