Game 3 Adjustments: Lakers-Magic

1) Keep the offense moving: the big thing Orlando has struggled with offensively this season is getting into the paint. Even when Dwight Howard gets the ball in the post, he is having trouble getting into the paint.

The Magic are getting the ball knocked away and poked out. Orlando's success this postseason has come because of the team's ability to get Howard going inside or the ability to drive the ball inside and kick out. That has been largely stopped in the first two games.

Orlando started doing something the team has not done. Moving without the ball. It widely worked, but it is a new wrinkle to the offense Orlando will have to continue integrate.

Los Angeles is covering the pick an droll extremely tightly and the defender's length is giving the team difficulties in penetrating. Add the Lakers' very good rotation to cover Dwight Howard as he rolls to the basket, and it is a perplexing problem for Stan Van Gundy to solve.

Orlando did find some success with three-man action with Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis and Howard working the pick and roll together (with Lewis typically setting up in the corner). But this depends on the team hitting jumpers. And we have learned in this series, that might not happen.

The Magic must work to get to the basket more. This means when they drive through the lane, they have to belooking to score. Numerous times, the team was looking to pass first rather than score. That kind of mentality will not win games in the Finals.

By moving off the ball, the team can make the defense work a little more and create space for Dwight Howard. That means getting Lewis moving toward the perimeter on flare screens or Turkoglu working across the lane on curl screens.

Orlando must find new, unpredictable ways to score. Los Angeles has simply figured out how best to defend Orlando's pick and roll.

2) Keep playing physical defense: it hurt the Magic for Mickael Pietrus to be on the bench for the end of the game. And those last two fouls were very "iffy" at best -- I suspect superstar calls for Kobe Bryant. Despite Pietrus fouling out, he did a very good job defensively in staying physical with Bryant.

That, I believe, is the key to the Magic's defensive effort. They must try to be more physical than the Lakers. Los Angeles is not a physical team, Orlando can be.

Howard was a bully on the boards and began to assert himself on defense more, repelling Lakers from the paint. Pietrus was also physical with Bryant and kept him from going to the paint as much as he could (also helpful to note, Bryant deferred to his teammates throughout the night).

Orlando has to continue to frustrated Los Angeles' defense this way and play physical. It threw off the Lakers' timing a little bit and allowed the Magic to stay in the game.

3) Control the ball and the pace: two things Orlando did horribly wrong in Game Two -- turnovers and failing to take advantage of a plus-nine advantage on the boards.

Part of the Magic's problems offensively were the 20 turnovers they committed. Hard to win any game with that many miscues, forced or unforced. Orlando has to limit these turnovers.

The team can do it in the way I described above, but it really comes down to just taking care of the ball. It is all about not forcing offense and not dribbling into traffic. Passes were generally on target throughout the game and Orlando got much better looks than in Game One.

But turnovers kept the team from finishing off this game. Give credit to Los Angeles for being extremely active. But as 3rd Quarter Collapse likes to always say, execution matters.

The pace also was slowed to a crawl at times and that does not favor Orlando. When the team gets a huge rebounding advantage, it must look to run. The Lakers shot the ball pretty well, but the Magic were reluctant to run.

I think ugly games like Game Two favor Orlando, but the team must look to push the pace and beat Los Angeles down the court. The Magic will find success if they can get into their offense before the Lakers set their defense. That will be key to getting their first victory in this series.