NBA FINALS

Gary Payton played in nearly 1,300 NBA games over 16 years, including starting all 82 games for the 2003-2004 Lakers. Payton is now an analyst along with Chris Webber on the NBA TV studio show that is hosted by Ahmad Rashad and is serving as guest columnist for the Los Angeles Times and Orlando Sentinel.

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Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis responded in Game 2, they responded big, they came up with very good games when they had to. If Dwight Howard plays a little bit better, they win this basketball game.

But Dwight is getting double- and triple-teamed, and that gave a lot more opportunities for Turkoglu and Lewis to play. I think the difference was that Orlando didn’t make all the right plays at the end of the game.

They wouldn’t be the losers now if Courtney Lee makes that lob at the end of the fourth quarter. Orlando put it all out there, they played really well, but it wasn’t quite enough.

The problem is, it’s very hard, very hard to win three straight games at home. And it’s hard to beat a team with a guy named Kobe Bryant three straight times. It’s not an easy thing to do.

If I’m Stan Van Gundy, I’m telling my team to continue playing the way they played in Game 2. If they get Mickael Pietrus and one of the guards to play a little better, they can beat the Lakers, if Turkoglu and Lewis play this way again.

And Tuesday, Orlando will have a little bit of momentum with the fans on their side and knowing they played to the end.

And if I’m Stan, I’m telling my team they let one get away, but we’re going home, time to take one game at a time, relax a little and we’ll be fine.