Magic has plan it can get behind

The Orlando Magic had just lost a tough one to the Lakers, in overtime no less, but instead of looking toward the future, the coaching staff brought up the past.

After all, Orlando is used to seeing deficits in playoff series.

The Magic trailed Boston, 3-2, before rallying to win an Eastern Conference semifinal in seven games. Philadelphia had a 2-1 lead on Orlando in the first round but didn’t win another game.

The stakes are obviously higher now, but the Magic players and their coach, Stan Van Gundy, don’t seem horrified by a 2-0 deficit in the NBA Finals.

“Coach talked about that in the locker room,” forward Rashard Lewis said. “This is nothing new for us.”

Both teams were proclaiming the importance of tonight’s Game 3 within minutes of the Lakers’ overtime victory in Game 2.

The Lakers know they’ll be running into a city fit with Magic fever. There has already been a rally at City Hall. The Magic logo is seemingly everywhere, even on signs affixed to tollbooths.

And, of course, there will be an amped-up crowd at Amway Arena.

“You’re going to see a wide-open game,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “It’s going to be a much more free-flowing game, up-tempo.”

The Magic knows this might be its last chance. No team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.

Only three teams in 30 tries have come back from a 2-0 deficit to win the Finals -- Miami in 2006, Portland in 1977 and Boston in 1969 against the Lakers.

Orlando was 32-9 at Amway Arena in the regular season and is 7-2 there in the playoffs. The Magic will get the next three games at home, if necessary.

“We play better at home,” center Dwight Howard said. “We tend to run more. Shots fall more. I expect all of us to play better.”

It would start with Howard.

Orlando’s main three-point shooters were on target in Game 2, Lewis making six of 12 and Hedo Turkoglu making three of six from beyond the arc.

Howard, however, hasn’t quite been himself on offense.

After making only one of six shots in Game 1, he made five of 10 in Game 2. For the Finals, he is averaging 14.5 points a game and shooting 37.5%, well below his numbers of 21.7 points and 62.2% shooting in the playoffs before the Finals.

Howard has one dunk so far in the Finals, off a pass from Lewis with 5:32 left in the third quarter of Game 2.

Pau Gasol played solid one-on-one defense on Howard in Game 2, often forcing him toward the baseline and into Lakers double teams featuring different blends of players.

“They’re mixing it up on me,” Howard said. “They’re doing some crazy things and it’s been frustrating me a bit. . . . I’ve just got to really do my homework and try to find ways to beat it.”

Howard acknowledged the need to “trust my teammates” more often and pledged to kick the ball out to open shooters on the perimeter.

The Lakers, meanwhile, survived a game in which Kobe Bryant acknowledged he wasn’t sharp (seven turnovers) and Andrew Bynum gave them only 16 minutes because of foul trouble.

Bynum was effective in Game 1 with nine points and nine rebounds in 22 minutes, but his Game 2 numbers slipped to five points and one rebound. He had five fouls.

“I think he’ll learn as he goes along,” Jackson said. “He made a critical mistake with his fifth foul, trying to run through a pick instead of sliding his way through and wedging his way through that screen. But I think he’ll find a way to be effective for us. We need him for 20 minutes. We can’t play him for that kind of minutes when he’s in foul trouble.”

Said Bynum: “Nothing I can do about it outside of stop reaching. I have to watch some tape and really look at it.”

Bynum’s issues won’t have a big effect if Gasol and Lamar Odom keep playing at a high level.

Just a few weeks ago, Odom was miserable with a lower-back bruise that was tender to the touch and the width of a saucer. His game suffered, bottoming out in the last three games of the Western Conference semifinals, when he scored 10, eight and six points against Houston.

His back is still sore, but Odom has averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds in the Finals, not to mention averages of 19.5 points and 11 rebounds in the last two games of the Western finals against Denver.

He got philosophical when asked about his turnaround.

“Nothing in my life has been easy, like from day one,” he said. “I’ve got a nice big house, I expect the door to break. I expect something to go wrong. That’s life.

“I’m tired as hell, excuse my language. I’m tight, my back is tight.”

Odom said he would get a massage, try to get some sleep and “just get ready to go and play Orlando.”

The Magic will be waiting, as will a city that hasn’t hosted a Finals game since 1995.

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Tight leash

In case it wasn’t obvious in Game 2, Jackson has shortened the playing time for the Lakers’ backcourt reserves.

Jordan Farmar played a little more than six minutes, Shannon Brown a little under six minutes, and Sasha Vujacic played only 4:33, all in the first half.

That left a massive 48:30 of playing time for Bryant and 41 minutes for Derek Fisher.

Fisher, 34, responded with one of his best games of the playoffs, making two three-pointers and, late in the game, making a crucial steal.

“This is a reason why Derek had been playing 24 to 28 minutes during the course of the season, so that he could have this type of minutes during the playoffs,” Jackson said. “We know how valuable he is just for his heavy play out there and his ability to organize our game and keep everything in flow.”

Fisher, by the way, now has 37 career three-pointers in the Finals, good for third all-time behind Robert Horry (53) and Michael Jordan (42). He passed Michael Cooper (35) in Game 2.

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com