Nba Finals

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Derek Fisher played the role of Kobe Bryant in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night. Fisher nailed two decisive three-pointers, becoming the clutch player the Lakers needed in a 99-91 overtime win over the Orlando Magic to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. The Lakers have three tries to win their 15th NBA championship. They get their first opportunity to clinch the title in Game 5 on Sunday night. The Lakers overcame a 12-point halftime deficit to send the game into overtime when Fisher hit the game-tying three-pointer with 4.6 seconds left in regulation.

ORLANDO, Fla. - -The Orlando Magic is riding high after its Game 3 NBA Finals victory Tuesday night at Amway Arena, but history remains against the team as it continues its series against the Los Angeles Lakers. Since the NBA moved to its current 2-3-2 NBA Finals format during the 1984-85 season, the team scheduled to host the middle three games - as the Magic is - has won the championship six of 24 times. Only two teams, the Detroit Pistons in 2004 and the Miami Heat in 2006, have swept the middle three games at home.

Orlando Magic point guard Jameer Nelson said he felt fine Friday after playing his first game in four months Thursday night - Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Lakers. Nelson played 23 minutes, scoring six points and adding four assists. He played all of the second period, and coach Stan Van Gundy said that was too long and will better monitor Nelson's minutes. Nelson did double over in the second quarter after absorbing contact, but he was hit in the groin. "I knew it would be intense," he said.

No, you won't see Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals showdown many fans had been predicting - and clamoring for - since before the start of the season. Instead, Bryant and his teammates will clash with star center Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic, who eliminated the Cavs in the Eastern Conference semifinals. It's experience versus precociousness. Bryant, 30, is a 13-year pro with three championship rings. In his fifth NBA season, Howard, 23, is making his first trip to the Finals.

LOS ANGELES - -Lamar Odom just can't help himself when it comes to the sweet stuff. He loves candy. He even credits his consumption of sugary treats for fueling his double double performances in games 5 and 6 of the Western Conference finals that helped the Los Angeles Lakers close out the Denver Nuggets and reach the NBA Finals. "It's funny because the games I played well were the games where I ate candy for breakfast," he said, grinning. "It's the reason why I got double digits in points and rebounds.

ORLANDO, FLA. -- One piece of movie theme music is played more often inside Amway Arena than any other. It is the familiar refrain from the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, and it blares over loudspeakers whenever Dwight Howard throws down a dramatic dunk or initiates a thrilling three-point play. In Orlando, Howard is considered the real-life Superman. But, nationally, that doesn't make him a superstar. At least not yet. The NBA Finals, which get under way Thursday in Los Angeles, will give the Orlando Magic's 23-year-old center the greatest national exposure of his burgeoning pro career and his best opportunity yet to reach the superstar status of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

Lakers@Celtics 9 p.m. [Chs. 2, 7] The Lakers won Sunday, but the Celtics are ahead in the series, 3-2. Although the Lakers had big leads in the past two games, the Celtics have shown they are capable of erasing those leads and actually pulled out Game 4 - which is the difference in this series so far.

When the NBA Finals shift back to Los Angeles, we should hold a big ceremony at midcourt before the game so Jack Nicholson can hand over one of his Oscars to Paul Pierce. Nicholson will probably be fine with it. He has three, after all (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Terms of Endearment, As Good As It Gets). And a thespian like Nicholson can certainly recognize what a beautiful acting job Pierce did in Game 1 of the NBA Finals when he looked as if he needed to have his leg amputated at one moment.

Gathering sports media notes two-by-two and measuring them in cubits while waiting for the next downpour: It's a big weekend for ESPN/ABC, with the NBA Finals having begun last night and the Belmont Stakes run tomorrow. The playoffs have scored well for the corporate brother networks. Overall, ESPN's playoff audience was up 38 percent over last year for an average 3.3 percent of the available audience, and ABC's playoff games increased 28 percent to a 3.7 rating. The five Eastern Conference finals games on ESPN were up 47 percent (4.7 rating)