Game 4: ORL @ PHI (1-2)
Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2009 5:15 pm
Game Four of Seven.
Where: Wachovia Center, Philadephia
When: 6:30 ET
Watch: NBA League Pass / NBA TV
ORLANDO Howard, Lewis, Turkoglu, Lee, Alston
PHILADELPHIA Dalembert, Young, Iguodala, Green, Miller
We once again return to Philadephi for game four of the series, and Orlando looking to level up the series two a piece, in what thus far has been an extremely disappointing series. Having dropped game one after having a 18 point lead late in the third quarter, Orlando managed to drop game three courtesy of a last second lay up by Thaddeus Young.
Lets just say going into the playoffs, none of the Magic or fans expected to be two to one down in the series, and while plenty of blame has been thrown around from SVG to Turkoglu or Lewis, I think we need to address this. There has certainly been a lack of fire, attitude or intensity, or whatever you would like to call it, thus far against the Sixers, look no further than dropping the 18 point lead after taking the foot off the proverbial neck of Philadelphia late in the third, managing to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This has carried on through, even in the win, and in part I believe it comes from looking beyond the opponent.
Moving away from mentality, what do we actually need? A win. Simple. To achieve that, I really dont think need miracles, dont need wonders, we just need contribution outside of Dwight, Courtney and to an extent Johnson and Alston. Hedo and Lewis firstly need to make a contribution, beyond lowering our shooting %, alot of the scoring burden through the first 3 games has fallen on Lee, and as good as it was to see a rookie stepping up to the plate, it really is meant to be Hedo and Lewis being our perimeter offensive players. We really need to calm Miller, Iguodala and Young down [despite Young having only a 6 point game in G3, he did score the winning shot].
A win here in game four is vital, and while a win will do, I really think the Magic will need to win big, and take some form of momentum back to Amway for Game 5. A loss will be devastating.
