Lakers Win Game 2 in Overtime

In a 101-96 overtime victory Sunday night, June 7, the Lakers won Game 1 of the NBA Finals despite a slow start and unimpressive game by Kobe Bryant. The Lakers now lead the series 2-0 but if Courtney Lee’s layup attempt off a lob pass from Hedo Turkoglu had made the inside of the rim and fallen through, instead of bouncing off the outer part of the rim as the buzzer went off, the series could have been tied at 1-1.

“What’s there to be happy about? The job is not finished. Is the job finished? I don’t think so,” said Kobe Bryant to reporters after the game, although if statistics ring true the Lakers are in a good position. Only 14 NBA teams in 222 tries have ever come back from a 2-0 defecit to win a best-of-seven series so the Magic is up against a meager 6.3% success rate. Assuming they are all necessary, the next three games will be held in Orlando starting tomorrow (June 9) with Game 3. Orlando Coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters optimisitcally, “I’ve seen series turn,” referring to when Miami came back from a 2-0 deficit to win the NBA Finals against Dallas three years ago. “Right now [it's] extremely frustrating not to have gotten [Game 2]. We had chances to win.”

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