Derek Fisher and Kobe Bryant are one victory away from earning their fourth NBA championship ring. (GETTY IMAGES)

Move over Robert Horry. Step aside Steve Kerr and John Paxson. Make room for the newest member of Mr. Clutch in the NBA Finals: Derek Fisher.

When Fisher stepped into those two crunch-time shots in the fourth quarter and in overtime that powered the Los Angeles Lakers to a 99-91 victory in Game 4 of The NBA Finals, he simply planted his name into basketball lore. Kobe Bryant will most likely be the most valuable player of the The Finals, but Fisher just etched his image as the true defining moment of the 2009 Finals.

With 11 seconds left and the Lakers down by three at 87-84, Orlando decided to double team Bryant in the backcourt and rolled the dice, hoping for a miss. As soon as Trevor Ariza broke the Magic press and gave it to Fisher at midcourt, the 34-year-old savvy guard and a member of three Laker championship teams stepped into the vacuum provided by Bryant and unleashed a 3-point shot over Magic guard Jameer Nelson. It would have been one of the greatest shots in Finals history, only to be topped by Fisher in overtime when he drained a 3-pointer from the top of the arc that gave the Lakers a 94-91 lead with 30 seconds remaining in the extra session.

Two classic shots from a man who exudes class in every which way. Thanks to Fisher, who had missed his previous five 3-pointers before making his last two, the Lakers are one victory away from winning the franchise’s 15th championship banner, Phil Jackson’s record 10th title as coach and Fisher and Bryant’s fourth ring.

“In a championship run, you gotta have moments where you just need big plays. Tonight was one of them. Trevor made a big three, Derek obviously made two big ones. That’s what the journey is about,” Bryant said.

Where does Fisher’s shots rank among his individual accomplishments?

“Maybe 100, 101, something like that,” Fisher joked. “Naw, obviously, personally in the last couple of years, leaving this team and playing with these group of guys, it ranks up there at the top. Even greater than .4 because I feel like we’re as close as possible to our end goal.”

I have a responsibility to my team that if I’m going to be on the floor then I have to make a difference. None of us can’t continue to expect Kobe’s gonna save us. We have to be willing to take responsibility, accountability. I felt bad because Pau was kicking it out to me for some wide-open threes that I was missing. I promised him that I was not gonna miss those shots anymore even though Kobe was the guy who passed it to me, the last one I hit, I thanked Pau for warming up my elbow.”

Speaking of elbow, it was Bryant’s right elbow that knocked Nelson to the floor that allowed Fisher to step into an open 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in OT. As Fisher jogged back, he had the look of a champion.

“I just sensed it was the dagger. That was the one that would put us in a position to close out the game,” Fisher said.

It was similar to the play that Michael Jordan made during the 1997 NBA Finals when he drew a double team and kicked it out to Kerr, who swished a jump shot at the top of the circle that ultimately knocked down the Utah Jazz and gave the Chicago Bulls ring No. 5.

When Fisher was asked if he now considers himself a Mr. Big Shot, ala Robert Horry, he said he’s a few rings short of joining Big Shot Bob.

“I definitely don’t compare myself to Robert Horry. I’m quite a few rings shy of where he stands. He’s in his own category,” said Fisher, who credited his teammates and Phil Jackson for sticking with him despite his early struggles in the game. He finished with 12 points in 42 minutes.

“Just the way he’s willing to stick certain people that he believes can get the job done, and that is not always about statistically what this guy’s gonna bring to the table,” Fisher said of Jackson. “When this guy or these guys are on the floor together, as a coach he’s confident in those five guys’ ability to win a game. We had that type of group before, where it was myself and Kobe and Robert, and Rick Fox and Shaq. Those were the five guys, I don’t care who we were playing, those were the five guys who were gonna finish a game. With Trevor Ariza’s development, we have that five guys now that consist of Pau, Lamar, Trevor, Kobe and myself, we’re kind of becoming those five guys that when the game is on the line, more times than not, those are the five guys you’re gonna see out there.”

On the shot that sent the game into overtime, Fisher said the play was initially designed for Bryant, which was to be expected.

“The ball will always be in Kobe’s hands down the stretch unless the defense does something to take it away. When they trapped him, he kicked it up to Trevor and then he kicked it up to me,” Fisher explained. “Initially, I didn’t catch the ball cleanly so I wanted to make sure I gained control of the ball. I checked the clock really quick, as I continue to kinda dribble one dribble, two dribbles, three dribbles, I just noticed that Jameer was backing up and backing up and backing up and I just decided to go up and shoot. I felt like I had the space he wasn’t close enough to deter me from shooting. In that split second, I made the decision and it worked out better for me.”

If Fisher was the main hero of the game, there were too many guys who got the goat tag and all of them were on the Orlando side of the court, starting with Magic coach and ending with Nelson.

“We thought 11 seconds was too early [to foul], especially with the way we were shooting free throws,” said Van Gundy, whose team was 22-for-37 from the foul line in Game 4 and was 11-for-19 in the fourth quarter and in overtime.

“In retrospect, we gave him so much space to shoot the ball. We played him like we tried to prevent the layup,” Van Gundy continued. “We denied Bryant the ball, but we just didn’t play Derek Fisher. We didn’t guard him. It was my decision not to foul, and yes I regret in now but only retrospect. To me, 11 (seconds) was too early. I’m gonna have to look at it again.

“That will haunt me forever. We could have played that a lot better.”

In a postseason that has seen Orlando get victimized by big-time, game-winning shots in each round, Fisher’s shots will ultimately be the ones that will leave the deepest scars for Van Gundy and the Magic.

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Jameer Nelson's decision to play in The Finals has hurt the Magic rather than help them.

A 3-1 deficit in The NBA Finals. It is staring the Orlando Magic in the face as it tries to figure out what went wrong in Game 4, a game that saw the Magic blow a 12-point halftime lead, turn the ball over 19 times and miss 15 free throws.

But the biggest reason why Orlando is on the brink of elimination is because of the presence of Jameer Nelson. In hindsight, the decision to activate him for the NBA Finals was probably the wrong one. Instead of providing a shot in the arm for the Magic, Nelson has become a detriment to team chemistry and his blown defensive assignment at the end of regulation will go down as one of the all-time blunders.

Nelson, the All-Star guard who has played in four games since injuring his right shoulder in February, inexplicably allowed Derek Fisher too much space to shoot a 3-pointer that tied the game at 87 with 4.6 seconds left and forced overtime, where Fisher hit another three to seal a 99-91 Lakers victory.

Mr. Nelson, meet Mr. Buckner.

“Obviously, we didn’t want to give up a three. I think I let Fisher get into rhythm and he shot a good shot. I could have pushed up a little more,” Nelson said of Fisher’s first 3-pointer of the game after missing his previous five attempts. Fisher’s second 3-pointer came in overtime, which also involved Nelson.

“I got elbowed,” Nelson said. “I went to go double Kobe and got elbowed. The explanation I got was the man had the ball so [the referee] can’t call the elbow,” Nelson said on the play where Bryant’s right elbow knocked him to the floor and allowed Fisher an open look at the top of the 3-point arc that made it 94-91 with 30 seconds left in OT.

Mickael Pietrus, one of the few Magic players who actually delivered in the clutch in Game 4 and did an admirable job of slowing down Kobe Bryant, says the game began slipping away in the third quarter when the Lakers erased a 12-point halftime deficit by outscoring Orlando, 30-14, in the third.

“I think we didn’t play well at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter. We started panicking a little bit and lost a lot on turnovers,” Pietrus said.

Did Pietrus just say the Magic panicked? Somewhere out in Phoenix, Shaquille O’Neal is laughing out loud as he Twitters.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said the end of regulation will “haunt him forever,” but his nightmare was a self-inflicted psychological scar. His decision to play Nelson in the fourth quarter and overtime will turn out to be more damaging than any missed free throw or careless turnover.

Van Gundy reasoned that he gave Nelson more minutes in the second half because Orlando was struggling on offense and Alston would have had a difficult time getting in rhythm after sitting for a long time.

“I thought we had a really, really bad third quarter,” Van Gundy explained. “It wasn’t so much one guy over the other, it was just we had a unit in the fourth that was playing real well and then you get down to the point where Rafer hasn’t played in 10 or 12 minutes. I thought it would be to bring him back. Jameer wasn’t doing a whole lot, but it also wasn’t hurting us at all.”

Alston had 11 points on 5-for-13 shooting, two assists and one turnover in 27 minutes. Nelson had two points, three turnovers and three assists in 26 minutes.

“I was shocked. I was shocked,” Alston told the Associated Press of his Van Gundy’s decision to bench him. “It’s tough. You’re thinking Coach will come back to you. The first two games I could understand, but again we were right there to win the game. As a player you would like to have your number called.”

Van Gundy dismissed the idea that Orlando’s lack of experience was not a factor in the Magic being down 3-1 in the series. Instead, he pointed out some regrettable mistakes that will stick with them all summer and maybe beyond that.

“Well, 19 turnovers to eight. Free throw shooting and poor execution down the stretch,” Van Gundy said.

Dwight Howard tried to defend his teammate and close friend, saying it was more Fisher than Nelson’s decision not to contest the shot that killed the Magic in Game 4.

“We tried to take that away, but he just made a tough shot,” Howard said. “We just rushed a little bit. But there’s nothing we can do about it right now.”

Despite Nelson’s botched assignment on defense and all the turnovers, Orlando still had a chance to secure the victory with 11 seconds left when Howard was fouled by Bryant and sent him to the line with the Magic ahead 87-84. All Howard needed to do was sink one free throw the outcome would have been different.

“I just missed them. I’ve been working my free throws, I just didn’t make them,” said Howard, who was 6-for-14 from the line and his two huge misses with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter allowed the Lakers a chance to tie game.

“It wasn’t just me, it was all of us,” Howard said of Orlando’s 22-for-37 free throw shooting. “But there is no reason to have any doubts right now. Never stop fighting, never stop believing. We have to bounce back. There’s no need to hang our heads.”

Howard’s monster game – 16 points, 21 rebounds and a Finals record nine blocked shots – was overshadowed by his seven turnovers and his eight missed foul shots. Hedo Turkoglu led the Magic with 25 points, but he was 8-for-13 from the line. Rashard Lewis struggled all night and finished with just six points on 2-for-10 shooting.

Should the Magic somehow win Game 5, it would only prolong the inevitable. The Lakers are now in complete control of the series and the Magic players, as well as Coach Van Gundy, have no one to blame but themselves.

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Rafer Alston, aka Skip to My Lou, scored 20 points and helped point Orlando to a 108-104 victory in Game 3.

The Orlando Magic finally won a game in the NBA Finals after failing six times and, at least for one night, made NBA followers believe that they have a shot against the Los Angeles Lakers in this series.

When you break down Game 3, the Magic won, 108-104, not because Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu played lights out, or even because Kobe Bryant showed his vulnerable side. The Magic broke into the win column mainly because of the man they call Skip to My Lou.

When you check the box score, you see that Howard and Lewis each scored 21 points and Turkoglu hit his playoff average with 18 points. As you go down the list you notice Rafer Alston had 20 points. Bingo! That was the difference.

“I was aggressive from start to finish,” Alston said. “I was able to mix it up. That’s what I do best instead of just standing on the 3-point line. That’s what you guys saw in me the first two games, standing on the 3-point line, as if I was Ray Allen or somebody. Tonight I was able to penetrate, get to the foul line, shoot the pull-up jumper, shoot the three, find open men.”

As Rafer Alston, the Magic point guard has struggled with his shot and found himself competing with Jameer Nelson for minutes in Game 1 and Game 2 – both Laker victories.

As New York City streetball legend Skip to My Lou, who showed up in Game 3, the Magic point guard played 36 minutes, made eight of his 12 shots, swished his only 3-point attempt and his push-the-pill-up-the-court approach was the biggest reason why Orlando shot 75% in the first half and 62% for the game.

“Skip did a good job of attacking and allowing guys to get open for free shots. We have to do that against a team like the Lakers. Make them move and try to get easier shots,” said Howard, who easily played his best game of the series with 21 points, 14 rebounds and sank 11 of his 16 free throws.

Notice that Howard referred to him as Skip and not Rafer.

Howard knows that when Alston is skipping with the ball and plays as Skip to My Lou, his game turns into an And 1 Mix Tape and his swag permeates through the rest of his teammates.

“Skip to My Lou got us started early in that first quarter,” Lewis said of his starting point guard, who gave Orlando another scoring threat besides Howard, Lewis and Turkoglu.

“We played with more speed, more energy on the offensive end,” Alston said. “A lot of pick and roll, which is our game, and find Dwight. The bad thing is we shot 62 and a half percent and almost lost the game. We gotta find a way to defend these guys, stop fouling Kobe on 3-point shots and pull-up jumpers.”

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy took a lot of heat for playing Nelson too much in Game 1, which many observers say disrupted his team’s flow. But Alston said there was never a moment where he was upset with Van Gundy for his point guard rotation.

“He told us he was looking for somebody that maybe get out there find a rhythm, maybe stick some shots,” Alston said of his coach. “First two games, myself and Jameer were struggling to do so. Stan and I have a great relationship. He understands that he’s just trying to coach to win games; I’m trying to play and help him win games and help this team. Never once took it personal.

“In the first game, I just said it was a rhythm thing and never had that done before, never played like that. Second game, I was able to find a flow but not hit shots. Tonight I was able to make shots,” added Alston, who was 3-for-17 from the field and had just 10 points in the first two games of the Finals.

“The guard play was great. Rafer got off to a good start and played very, very well; played with great confidence,” Van Gundy said. “We still turned the ball over too much, but the guard play was clearly much, much better.”

And the reason for Alston’s turnaround?

“You have good games and bad games. Rafer has bounced back well in the playoffs before. He’s had some great games in the playoffs and he’s had some other games that weren’t as good. That’s just sort of the way it goes. I don’t think there’s any big psychological mystery to the whole thing,” Van Gundy said. “The one thing that you can’t question with our team is our resilience. I thought we held our composure pretty well.”

Speaking of composure, when the ever-honest Van Gundy was asked again about the motivational push that got Alston going in Game 3, he sarcastically replied: “I’m a motivational genius. That’s what I am. I thought for two days about what to say to him and I said, ‘Play your game.’ Took me two days to come up with that.”

If Alston keeps “playing his game,” the Magic might actually push this series back to Los Angeles. “This league is a make or miss league,” he said. “First two games, I’m missing and I look horrible. Tonight, I’m making and I look good.”

Van Gundy agreed.

“When the ball goes in, those look like really good shots,” the Magic coach said. “And when they don’t go in, you say ‘Wow, they’re not getting any good shots. When the ball is going in 62 percent of the time, those are great shots.”

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Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy has exhausted every option in this series, and still finds his team down 0-2. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

Game. Set. Match. The NBA Finals are officially over. The Los Angeles Lakers absorbed the Orlando Magic’s best shot and still pulled out a 101-96 overtime victory in Game 2 of the NBA Finals to take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

The percentages do not favor Orlando as only three teams in the history of the league have been able to climb out of an 0-2 hole in the Finals: The 1969 Boston Celtics, the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers and the 2006 Miami Heat. The ‘06 Heat is also one of just three teams to sweep the middle three games (the Detroit Pistons did in 2004 and the Lakers pulled it off in 2001), something Orlando needs to do just to stay afloat in this series.

So, to say that the Magic is in deep trouble is the understatement of the season. They basically have one foot in the grave, and Coach Stan Van Gundy appears to be running out of options.

The Magic got a great game out of Rashard Lewis (34 points, 6-of-12 on 3-pointers) and still lost. It got a great game out of Hedo Turkoglu (22 points, 8-of-17 from the field) and still lost. Van Gundy exhausted every possible combination on the court, drew up a great play at the end of regulation and still lost.

“We tried some different things. I’m not sure I’ve got another lineup to throw out there that you haven’t seen now,” Van Gundy said. “We played with no point guard, we played conventionally, we played Rashard at the three, we played Hedo at the two. We played Hedo at the one, two and three. We played Rashard at the three and four. We played big. What did they say? You keep throwing stuff at the wall and hope something sticks.”

The Magic had chances to win, but Van Gundy pointed out the 41% shooting and the 20 turnovers ultimately doomed them. The Magic guards shot 6-for-26 for the game and center Dwight Howard was responsible for seven of Orlando’s 20 turnovers, another reason to call him Blankman instead of Superman despite scoring 16 points and grabbing 17 rebounds. To avoid a Lakers sweep, Howard needs to play like a real superhero and stop looking at the referees for help.

“Yeah, I was frustrated,” Howard said. “Being a leader of my team, my teammates cannot see me frustrated. I gotta played through all the different situations and learn from them.”

After two games, Kobe Bryant is playing like a Finals MVP and Dwight Howard has been very ordinary.

Orlando played much of the second half with Turkoglu at the point, benching Jameer Nelson and Rafer Alston. After his brief shining moment in the second quarter of Game 1, Nelson has not been much of a factor in the Finals, which was to be expect since he has not played since February. Alston, however, does not have an excuse. Skip to My Lou has been skipping these past two games. He was 2-for-9 for six points in the Game 1 and followed that with a 1-for-8 effort in Game 2 and scored a measly four points.

“I thought Rafer was playing well. They’re just leaving him open on every post up and couldn’t get the ball in the basket,” said Van Gundy, whose team was 33-for-79 from the field and got just 17 bench points. L.A.’s Lamar Odom (who scored 19 points) outscored Orlando’s bench by himself.

“We were searching for somebody to make a shot. Obviously, we didn’t find anybody,” Van Gundy continued. “I thought, for the most part, L.A.’s defense was good and I thought our guards had very good open looks. We just couldn’t knock anything down. I thought they got plenty of shots. I don’t think it was much trouble getting our guards shots. They’re not guarding them. They’re only guarding three guys.”

The Lakers mainly focused their defense on Howard, Turkoglu and Lewis and took their chances on the “other” guys. J.J. Redick was 2-for-9, Mikael Pietrus was 1-for-3 and Nelson was 1-for-3. When asked how he can fix the problem, Van Gundy answered: “I don’t have any idea on how to fix that.”

The Magic player who feels worse than Alston is rookie guard Courtney Lee, who missed a layup with 0.6 left in regulation that would won the game for Orlando. The missed opportunity ended up biting the Magic as the Lakers outscored them 13-8 in overtime.

“We missed it. I don’t know what else to say,” Van Gundy said. “We executed well, Hedo made a great pass and we missed it.”

When a reporter commented on the fact that Van Gundy has done everything he can to win the game, the Magic coach replied: “I wouldn’t say that. We win and lose together. It’s not me doing everything and our players not getting it done. All we did was try a lot of stuff today.”

All Van Gundy and his staff can do now is avoid getting swept.

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Dwight Howard made just one of six shots from the field in Orlando's 100-75 blowout loss to the L.A. Lakers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. (GETTY IMAGES)

Hey, Dwight Howard. Shaquille O’Neal just sent you a message on Twitter: “I want my nickname back!”

In Game 1 of the NBA Finals with the whole world watching his every move, the self-proclaimed Man of Steel of the Orlando Magic was completely undressed and reduced to a mere mortal. He made just one of his six field goal attempts in his Finals debut – a far cry from his 40-point superhuman effort in the series-clincher against Cleveland – and 10 of his 12 points came from the free throw line. He did grab 15 rebounds, but you expected that from him. What the Magic did not expect was his ineffectiveness on both ends of the court.

When you want the general public to call you Superman, you cannot have a bad day. If Superman had a bad day, Lex Luthor would rule the planet and there would be complete chaos.

At the end of the day, Howard went from being Superman to Blankman.

The Los Angeles Lakers were able to blitz the Magic, 100-75, because they outrebounded the Magic, 55-41, and outscored them, 56-22, in the paint to take a commanding 1-0 lead in the series. It’s a commanding 1-0 lead because Phil Jackson is 43-0 when he wins the first game of a series and Kobe Bryant quite simply will not allow his Lakers to lose.

The Lakers’ domination of the paint was more of a reflection on Howard’s inability to put his stamp on the game. If Howard, aka Blankman, is supposed to be the best big man in the NBA then the league must have some really bad centers because the 23-year-old NBA first-teamer looked very ordinary. For a guy who is the reigning top defender in the league, Howard did a very poor job of protecting the basket. For a guy who makes 56% of his field goals and leads the league in dunks, Howard was outscored by Mickael Pietrus (14 to 12) and failed to throw down a single dunk in 34 minutes.

During his best years, Shaq would bust through arm tackles and take two or sometimes three people with him to the rim and unleash one of his signiture throw downs. Howard was held down by Pau Gasol, who is not exactly the most physical player in the league.

When Laker big men Andrew Bynum and Gasol took away Howard’s dunks, the Orlando big man began shooting blanks. His shortage of inside moves was magnified.

“He has to work on getting another move,” said Gary Payton, who now works for NBA TV. “Bynum and Pau Gasol are very good. They can play defense and they can go at [Howard]. What they did was, Bynum started off from the beginning. He went at him. Then, all of a sudden, Gasol started guarding him and he gets two offensive fouls on him. That takes you out of your basketball game. [Howard] has to understand that he has to face up guys, get a Tim Duncan bank shot or something like that, or get another move.”

Because Blankman could not punish the Lakers’ single coverage in the low post, the Magic shooters struggled mightily from the perimeter, making just eight of 23 threes (34%) and shooting 29% overall. Hedo Turkoglu was 3-for-11, Courtney Lee was 3-for-10, Rafer Alston was 2-for-9 and Rashard Lewis was 2-for-10 and scored just eight points, the first time he has been held under 15 points in the playoffs.

“If you can play Dwight Howard straight up, not allowing him to get dunks and make him finish his shots in the lane, you have a good chance of beating this team,” said Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw, who has scouted Orlando all season.

Basically, Shaw revealed that the Lakers’ game plan on defense was to stay with Orlando’s snipers.

“You live by the bomb, you die by the bomb. That’s our philosophy,” Shaw said. “Everybody talked about how we’re going to match up with their 3-point shooters. Well, they have to match up with us on the inside. We play inside out. And we feel like we have an advantage because we can make Dwight Howard guard Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum inside and that means Rashard Lewis has to guard the other one as well.

“So, if we keep that as our focus, that’s putting a lot of pressure on them defensively,” Shaw continued. “The more we can play Dwight Howard straight up we can match up with their shooters, and if they keep bombing from the outside we’ll live with that.”

The Lakers’ convincing victory in Game 1 revealed two things: Orlando is not going to win a championship and Dwight Howard is just a civilian posing as Superman.

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Dwight Howard, also known as Superman II, soared over Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals and landed in the NBA Finals. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Dwight Howard is Superman II. LeBron James is Iron Man. The two collided in the Eastern Conference finals and the end result was a ground-shaking victory for the superhero from Orlando.

Howard, the self-proclaimed Man of Steel, put on his red cape Saturday night, loaded his teammates on his back and lifted the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals for the second time in the history of the franchise after defeating Cleveland, 103-90, in Game 6 to win the seven-game series at 4-2. The other time Orlando played in the NBA’s biggest stage was in 1995 when Superman I – aka Shaquille O’Neal – was flying high, protecting and serving the people of the Magic City.

You could say O’Neal was Christopher Reeve and Howard is Brandon Routh.

Now that O’Neal is basically retired in Smallville, Ariz., Howard is the new defender of truth, justice and conspiracy theorists. Howard crashed the much anticipated party of Kobe and LeBron, soaring over Cleveland and landing in Los Angeles where Orlando will play Game 1 of the NBA Finals against Bryant’s Lakers.

It’s not the dream matchup Vitamin Water, ESPN/ABC and Nike were hoping for but that’s where we are at. Nike execs are not exactly crying over their Armani suits because they still have the Lakers in the Finals, the NBA’s crown jewel that moves the ratings meter and the franchise with 30 appearances in the Finals.

Maybe the guys in Madison Avenue should flip the script and include Howard in those Most Valuable Puppets commercials. A Dwight Howard vs. Kobe Bryant showdown may not be as sexy, but it has great potential. It’s Superman II vs. The Black Mamba. Or, is it Superman II vs. Darth Vader?

Let the Twittering begin!

Bryant, the most dangerous player in the league, calls himself The Black Mamba because of his ability to strike rapidly with uncanny accuracy from anywhere on the court. But Kobe loves being the villain. He is at his best when he can sense weakness in his opponent and takes great pleasure in ripping someone’s heart. A huge “Star Wars” fan, Kobe is the perfect Darth Vader – the anti-hero who is cold, calculated and menacing on the outside, but emotionally scarred on the inside.

Kobe won’t easily intimidate Howard and the Magic because Orlando is confident it can stand toe to toe with L.A., having dropped the Lakers twice during the regular season. Orlando is one of the few teams in the league that can match up with the Lakers’ length in the frontcourt and can throw a couple of capable defenders at Bryant in Courtney Lee and Mickael Pietrus.

Conversely, the Lakers have the bigs to lean on Howard and keep him occupied. The game within the game will come down to this: Will the Lakers send a second defender at Howard? Back in 1995, Orlando surrounded Shaq with 3-point snipers, aka the Super Friends, that included Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson and Dennis “3-D” Scott to prevent teams from crowding O’Neal. This time, the HD version of the Super Friends are named Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, Rafer Alston and Pietrus who complement’s Howard’s devastating inside game.

The Super Friends were critical to Orlando’s improbable run to the Finals, but make no mistake about it Orlando’s world revolves around the man with the massive shoulders and wears No. 12. Howard posted superb numbers against Cleveland despite fouling out in three of the six games.

“I believe in my team, first of all, I believe that if we come out every night and play our brand of basketball we can beat anybody,” Howard said. “If we run, defend and rebound we can win a lot of games. Since I’ve been here, everybody has written us off. But we continue to work everyday, we put in the work in the gym to become a better team. We’re not at our best yet, but I’m happy with our progress.

“I think we started to bring back some Magic in Orlando. That’s one of the goals a I set out to do when I first got here. I felt like we were a laughing stock around the league. When everybody played the Magic they thought about Disney World. So, I just wanted to change that.”

In the series-clinching win, Howard changed the flow of the game by establishing his dominance early, scoring 21 points in the first half on 8-of-12 shooting and powered the Magic to a commanding 18-point lead at halftime.

“I don’t know what else he could have done. He was fantastic. He was unbelievable today,” said Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy of Howard. Van Gundy also took a swipe at the perception that Howard is “too nice” or “too goofy” for his own good and does not have the killer instinct to knock out an opponent.

“He was smiling, by the way, and yet was able to play well. Imagine that,” Van Gundy said with sarcasm.

“I thought (Howard) did a lot of great things today. I thought that he protected the basket and didn’t worry about what was going to happen on calls,” Van Gundy added. “And I thought the other thing he did really, really well was run. I thought that wore on them. I thought he was making good plays, scoring when they didn’t double and pass out when they did double. What the post-up game allowed us to do was just settle in, get back and defend them on the break and we can work the clock a little bit.”

Before tip-off, Howard sent one powerful text message to his teammates that really resonated with all of them: “Dominate.”

When Superman has something to say, everyone listens.

“I just told them that when they wake up today, think about dominating. Come to the shoot-around and think about dominating. When they get to the gym, to the game, think about dominating,” Howard said. He made good on his own mission statement with a career-playoff high 40 points and was his usual beastly self in the paint with 14 rebounds.

“He pretty much carried us on his back. He came out and he was dominant,” Lewis said of Orlando’s 23-year-old All-Star center, who made 14 of 21 field goals, converted 12 of 16 free throws and, according to Cavaliers coach Mike Brown, made the correct play eight out of 10 times when the Cavaliers decided to double team him.

“Dwight was a monster. He was a monster early on. They got a big lead because of it. With the way Dwight was playing, it kinda set the tone for the rest of the game,” Brown admitted.

As dominating as Howard was, James was equally impressive and more than did his part to keep the Cavaliers in the series, winning two games by himself. He won Game 2 with a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer that had all of Cleveland rocking. In Game 5, he scored  17 points in the fourth quarter and had a hand in 32 of the Cavs’ final 34 points to send the series back to Orlando.

But Cleveland’s Iron Man finally showed his human side in Game 6. The MVP of the regular season, who entered the sixth game of the series with a robust 41-point average, could not muster another superhuman performance. Hard to blame him considering he had to carry 11 other guys on his bionic shoulders.

James clearly emptied his tank during the series. Prior to Game 6, James’ numbers were astounding: 41 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, making 50% of his field goals while playing 44 minutes. But on the night the Cavaliers saw their season come to a bitter end, James was just 8-of-20 from the field, 2-of-8 from 3-point range and limited to 25 points.

While Superman got stronger as the series got longer, Iron Man simply just ran out of energy.

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Mo Williams' 17 points was not good enough to back up LeBron James' game-high 49 points in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. (GETTY IMAGES)

If Mo Williams wants to be Robin to LeBron James’ Batman, he needs to play a lot better and be more of a factor in the Eastern Conference finals.

Williams, Cleveland’s much-celebrated offseason acquisition and a first-time All-Star this season, made just 6 of 19 shots from the field and was 2 for 8 from 3-point range in Cleveland’s 107-106 loss to Orlando in Game 1 at the Q. His 17 points may have been good enough for a regular-season victory, but these are the conference finals – a place Williams has never been in. He admitted before the game that he missed his pre-game nap because he was so anxious to play.

It almost seemed like James was playing one-on-five against the Magic for most of the game as the rest of the Cavaliers showed up late to the dance. James scored a career-playoff high 49 points, making 20 of 30 shots. The rest of team made 23 of 58 shots.

James hinted that he may have shot his team out of rhythm in Game 1, but Williams knew better and immediately squashed any criticism headed in James’ way for taking too many shots.

“Offensively, we were stagnant at times. Maybe because I felt the hot hand. I got back to the one-on-one play I had in the past,” James said. Before another reporter could ask the next question, Williams said, “I want to add to that last (statement). I don’t think him (LeBron) going one-one-one was the factor. I think he had it going and that’s part of our offense; him to attack his man. The biggest key to the game was myself. I have to take pressure off (LeBron).”
“I’m looking at the stats, and I’m looking at Dwight (Howard) and I’m looking at Rashard (Lewis) and I’m looking at Hedo (Turkoglu), and those three guys were terrific,” Williams said about Orlando’s big three. “And I look at myself … 6 for 19, Bron is 20 for 30 from the field. He can go one-on-one all he wants but I got 19 shots still. It wasn’t him.”

Howard scored 30 points and had 13 rebounds, Lewis scored 22 points – including the game-winning 3-pointer – and Turkoglu had 15 points and 14 assists.

Williams had a chance to atone for his poor Game 1 performance when James whipped a pass his way with under 10 seconds left and the Cavs down by one. Instead of pump-faking his defender and taking one dribble to step into a potential game-winning jump shot, he swung a pass to Delonte West in the corner for a 3-pointer, which he missed.

At the end of the day, James was bleeding and cramping after playing 41 hard minutes. Williams knows he needs to step his game up if the Cavaliers are going to advance to the NBA Finals. He knows full well that Batman cannot do it alone. Every once in a while, Robin needs to take the steering wheel of the Batmobile and drive Batman out of harms way.

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Orlando Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu scored 25 points and had 12 assists against Boston in Game 7. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

On a day when the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, the two marquee franchises of the league, were pushed to a Game 7, the player who came up huge was not named Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Paul Pierce or Dwight Howard.

When the Orlando Magic needed someone to turn the lights out at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Coach Stan Van Gundy – who has been heaviliy criticized for losing Game 5 to the Celtics – did not call on Howard’s number or Rashard Lewis’ number. Instead, Van Gundy put the ball in the hands of Hedo Turkoglu.

Turkoglu scored 25 points, making 4-of-5 threes, grabbed five rebounds and had a career-playoff high 12 assists to lead Orlando to a 101-82 victory in Game 7 and ended Boston’s reign as NBA champions. When the Celtics made a push in the fourth quarter to close the gap, similar to what they did in Game 5, Turkoglu made sure history was not going to repeat itself.

“The thing that I probably liked the most about it is, through a good part of the second half. It looked very, very similar to Game 5. But we looked we had learned from it and we continued to play, and Turk was outstanding down the stretch,” Van Gundy said.

Turkoglu, one of the best fourth-quarter players in the NBA, made nine of 12 shots from the field Sunday night in 36 minutes. Last year, he hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to defeat the Celtics during a regular season game in Orlando.

Howard was solid (12 points and 16 rebounds) and so was Lewis (19 points). But make no mistake about it, the Magic was able to overcome Boston’s fourth-quarter comeback and earned a trip to the Eastern Conference finals because of Turkoglu. Playing point forward, the 6-foot-10 Turkoglu not only made the big shots but he also created shots for his teammates. The Celtics lost a playoff series for the first time after leading 3-2.

They call Turkoglu the Michael Jordan of Turkey. After his clutch performance in Game 7 at the new Boston Garden, they might start calling him Hero Turkoglu.

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Magic center Dwight Howard called out Coach Stan Van Gundy after Orlando fell 92-88 to Boston in Game 5. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Dwight Howard is showing his age in these NBA playoffs. In the first round, he threw a malicious elbow to the head of Philadelphia’s Samuel Dalembert that resulted in a one-game suspension. Then in Game 5 against the Boston Celtics, the 23-year-old All-Star center threw Boston point guard Rajon Rondo to the floor out of frustration and later threw his coach under the bus.

The Magic pulled a disappearing act in the final six minutes of Game 5 in Boston and allowed the Celtics to rally and outscore them, 17-3, late in the fourth quarter. The Magic’s inability to close cost them the game, as the Celtics won 92-88, and it most likely cost them the series.

After the game, a defeated and disappointed Howard complained about not getting enough touches on offense and blamed Coach Stan Van Gundy for failing to put the correct lineup on the court.

“The coaches have to recognize what’s working on the floor. Stick to it. Even if it’s half your starters on the floor. Not just the guys you have put the most trust in. You have to have trust in everybody,” Howard said.

“The reason why we were winning is because we moved the ball, we ran, got easy shots. Our coach has to recognize when he has a certain group out there and they are getting the job done, we have to leave those guys on the floor. We are going to make mistakes, but I think you have to go with what works.”

Then, Howard added more fuel to the fire by praising Celtics Coach Doc Rivers. “Their coach left the guys on the court who got the job done,” Howard said. “That’s what championship teams do.”

Howard finished with 12 points on 5-of-10 shots from the field and 2-of-3 from the line. He grabbed 17 rebounds but failed to block a shot for only the second time in the series.

“I would just say it’s tough to win all season when you play inside-out with people who got you off to a good season. I think I’m capable of scoring in the post,” said Howard, who was outscored by Glen “Big Baby” Davis, 22-12. Howard made one basket in the fourth quarter.

“I don’t’ want to say it’s all about offense. But when you have a dominant player, let him be dominant,” Howard said. “I have to do it defensively where I have to be more aggressive and offensively I have to get the ball. I don’t think you are going to win a lot of games when your post player only gets 10 shots.

“It’s tough to get yourself going and get a lot of shots without a lot of touches. We have to do a better job with that.”

Van Gundy said the Magic has no one to blame but themselves for playing not to lose at the end.

“We just quit playing,” Van Gundy said. “We looked like we were trying to run the clock out, walking the ball up the floor, playing halfcourt. It’s not the way we wanted to play it.”

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