The Sound of the Suburbs

The comic highlight of the NBA regular season was Sasha Vujacic --- he of the ultra-annoying Boratesque headband, the Laker benchwarmer who makes a three every month or so --- complaining to assembled media after a beatdown at the hands of New Orleans about Chris Paul's in-game commentary. I quote Sasha's Buckleyesque colloquialism: "Call me bitch! He call me bitch!"

Well guess what, Sasha, Chris Paul was right on. You're the Urkel of the NBA, ready-made for abuse.

But tonight you rode the pine as usual while Rafer "Skip To My Lou" Alston finally showed up and torched Fish and Farmar, as the Magic eked out a must-win in Game 3. The bad news for Orlando is they shot 62.5 percent, a Finals record ... and eked out a win.

Kobe Bryant is probably in a gym somewhere in FLA right now shooting free throws because his misses made the difference, uncharacteristic for The Black Mamba or whatever he calls himself in the third person (always a dead giveaway to a complete egoist).

The Magic shot brilliantly but the Lakers matched them every step of the way, led by Pau Gasol and Trevor Ariza, who may prove to be the difference in yet another ironic sports twist. Here's a guy who couldn't crack Stan Van Gundy's rotation and was dealt for a song to The Lakers. Who's sorry now, Otis Smith?

Lamar Odom was also magnificent tonight, and while it's likely Mitch Kupchak will toss him in the trash in favor of Ariza in the wake of their inevitable title, Lamar is going out guns blazing. He looked like Tim Duncan in the fourth quarter, backing Hedo down way low in the post and scoring on a variety of sweet shots.

And the Lakers can always count on the sixth man in the striped shirt, in this case Joey Crawford, whose foul call against Superman on Kobe on a clear jump ball made onlookers recall the equally fix-is-in call when Howard blocked LeBron's three at the end of Game 3 in the ECF. There are two untouchables in the league, and neither name starts with Dwight.

Not to beat a dead horse but the three-man ref crew is obsolete. Two is better than three. Case closed.

Expect the Lakers to rebound literally and figuratively in Game 4 and put it away, unless Orlando can somehow persevere and show the resilience that got them here. Because the fact is they were lucky to win tonight. The final possession alone was embarrassing: three 3-point heaves by LA with resultant offensive boards culminating in the indefatiguable Bryant grabbing the fourth rebound for a lay-in before Lewis iced it from the stripe.

LA goes into the locker room realizing that despite Orlando's shooting acumen they gave it away. And that's not a good omen for Team Van Gundy.

The overriding point, however, is tonight, like so many other nights in these playoffs, has given us fans great, great sport, competitive, emotional basketball at the highest level. Amazing can and has happened, and if the Magic can get it up in Game 4 and prevail, we could be in for the proverbial Big Finish.

For the sake of the fan in all of us, Skip To My Lou, Magic.