I was/am very nervous about the Lakers winning this series. Orlando actually has the talent to contend with and beat the Lakers.  Just focus back on the first quarter of last game. Bynum was defending well, Kobe was taking Courtney Lee off the dribble and in the post, Gasol was active and aggressive...and oh yeah, the Lakers finished that quarter trailing by two. The Van Gundy put in Jameer Nelson. Jameer looked great slashing to the basket and setting up his teammates, the Magic got out to a 5 point lead and this Laker fan was decidedly uncomfortable.

After about 3-4 minutes Jameer got tired. He started standing on the perimeter instead of slashing to the basket. The Lakers offense took advantage of his slow rotations and always short stature and got rolling. At around the halfway mark of the quarter, Jameer was slogging up the court while gesturing toward the bench waving his arm. He looked to be saying something along the lines of "I'm fine, I will play through it", he continued to stand on the perimeter on offense, get torched on defense (remember that imbounds player to Fisher) and the Lakers finish the quarter up by 10.

Come the 3rd quarter, noted Laker killer Rafer Alston, was definately off. He did not go to the hole at all, he missed badly on at least 2 wide open 3 pointers. The Lakers sprinted out to a 25 point lead and the rest of the game was garbage time. Was Rafer affected physically by not playing for a good hour between runs, was he affected mentally by sitting the entire 2nd quarter? My guess is both, and my guess is that getting good play out of Alston is going to be difficult for the Magic from this point on.

What is clear is that Jameer is not yet ready to play major minutes. After the first couple of plays, he was garbage out there. I see it noted throughout the media that Jameer played a decent first half and an uneven 2nd half. This is incorrect, Jameer played a good 3 minutes, and the rest was a tired guy looking to bet back into game shape after a long layoff. We Laker fans have just witnessed this very scenario, Bynum would have a few good minutes but would quickly grow tired, he also needed some time to grow confident enough to play with his injury. The problem for the Magic is that they don't have the 6 weeks the Lakers had to work through it. 3 more stints like that  for Jameer and the Lakers are crowned champions.

Van Gundy had a good thing going in the first. He was running his offense through Hedo who was making shots, getting to the basket and making good passes. Howard was getting the Laker bigs in foul trouble, and the team looked ready to compete for a title.     In the second quarter the Lakers took control after Nelson waved off the coach and continued to try and run the team. It is at that point a good coach calls a timeout, takes Jameer out and puts Alston back into the game. But I guess Van Gundy does not have that kind of authority on the Magic. After Van Panic failed to do his job, the energy left his team never to return. And the blowout was on.

You could see the effect of Ron Panicme's inability to lead in the rest of the team. Alston looked confused and dispirited in the 3rd. Hedo was the star of the game in the first quarter disappeared after that, Howard played with little energy and less enthusiasm. Mainly because no one wanted to tell Jameer he was not ready yet.....and the guy whose job that is failed to do so.

The Magic still have a chance, they could have a team meeting where the players realize and state that Jameer should not play a longer than 5 minute stretch. Where the players come back and tell the coach what the rotations should be, where a player steps up and leads this team, just like Howard did after the 4th quarter meltdown in Boston.

But if Panic Boy just sits on the bench with his arms folded and a hurt look on his face, he will deserve to be out of Orlando, then another coach can come in and win a title with this group that is clearly capable of doing so.