Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 1:25 pm  |  58 responses

Courtney Lee and His ‘Nick Anderson Moment’

by Marcel Mutoni

Lee’s miss at the end of regulation, though certainly heartbreaking for the Magic and their fans, was not the reason the Magic are now staring down a daunting 0-2 hole in the NBA Finals.

But don’t let that stop sportswriters from trying to paint him as the ultimate goat, and gleefully digging up the corpse of one Nick Anderson and his blunders in the Finals over a decade ago.

Several outlets brought it up, but we’ll place special focus on the Tampa Tribune:

He missed the shot and that was that. You only get so many opportunities like this. The Magic had their chance and couldn’t capitalize. After five minutes of overtime, the Lakers had a 101-96 victory and a 2-0 stranglehold on this series. Since 1985, when the NBA went to a 2-3-2 format for the Finals, teams with a 2-0 lead have won 11 of 12 times.

The timing was eerie, too. It was 14 years to the day that Orlando’s Nick Anderson missed four free throws late in the opening game of the Finals against Houston. The Magic lost 120-118 and went on to be swept. Lee’s miss could soon rival Anderson’s on the Orlando misery meter because this game – and perhaps the series – was there to be had.

I wonder what other devastating moment from the not-too recent past Lee’s other crucial miss in the fourth quarter (the blown floater on a broken play) reminded sportswriters of?

I overheard Rashard Lewis — playing the role of leader in the dejected Orlando locker room following Game 2 — saying some encouraging words to his teammate. He unfortunately forgot to add that Courtney should also avoid reading most newspapers and sports websites today.

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  • jdubbs29

    1. Kobe held him on the way to the hoop
    2. Gasol did a great job of recovering and contesting the shot
    3. Lee threw it higher off the backboard than he normally would because of Gasol.
    4. If Lee had layed it up at the normal level, the refs would have had to call goaltending on Gasol since his hand was through the basket.

    5. The play was a brilliant call and a couple of unlucky breaks for the Magic.

    6. I’m going to the game tonight in Orlando and will report back.

  • http://www.myspace.com/weezyleezy337 Weezy F. Leezy

    @joel….no those 3 pointers were not clutch! and neither was courtney lee…but u can defend him all u want.

    @hisham…see the difference between u an me is i get vagina..and i dont think u do lol

  • Bruno, RJ

    its just dumb and stupid to compare this to the 4 FT missed by anderson.
    that would go well in a magazine for ppl that doesn’t live for basketball, as I assume most of us do.
    guy had .6 on the clock, gasol coming towards him to block it… he is a rookie AND, press is saying the pass was that good, but it wasn’t.
    he was already under the backboard and had to adjust it mid-air and fast, worried by the clock.
    tough, tough play.

  • http://www.myspace.com/weezyleezy337 Weezy F. Leezy

    tru dat bruno the pass was tuff for him to finish it

  • http://joeloholic.wordpress.com Joel O’s

    He’s a ROOKIE for heaven’s sakes. Don’t you guys have better things to do than to make yourselves feel good inside by killing him so prematurely? Keep your bloody daggers.

  • Jay-G

    Nick Anderson moment? Really? Do people realize that C Lee didn’t get his hands on the ball until he was under the backboard? It was a great effort for him to even get a shot up.

  • JoeMaMa

    End of Game 3: Kobe had his “Michael Jordan gets stripped by Nick Anderson” moment.

  • Chad Nothe

    Nick Anderson I can’t believe you threw him under the bus. THey had Penny and Shaq an still got swept so his free throws didn’t matter much

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