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Van Gundy insists wheels haven't fallen off Magic bus
by Greg Heakes
While another overtime defeat was difficult to swallow, the Orlando Magic have a single-minded approach heading into Sunday's crucial game five of the National Basketball Association finals.
"The guys are in a good frame of mind," Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We are not mentally weak. We are ready to play and I think we will play a of a game."
The Magic are looking to recover from a 101-96 overtime loss in game two which was followed by a 99-91 overtime defeat Thursday which put them in a 3-1 hole in the best-of-seven series.
Orlando faces the daunting task of not only winning Sunday at home but taking games six and seven in Los Angeles.
But Van Gundy says they still believe they can win, despite no team ever having come back from a 3-1 deficit in the finals.
"You've got to start first with the belief you can win the championship," Van Gundy said at Saturday's practice at Amway Arena. "If you don't think you can go to Los Angeles and win the championship then even though you're saying one game at a time it is pretty easy to let go if things aren't going well.
"I tell them it is no different than the approach we've had all year. Our goal from the beginning has been to win the championship but then you approach your job one day, one game, one possession at a time."
Behind the closed doors of the dressing room Van Gundy told the players a story about American cyclist Greg LeMond's come-from-behind win in the 1989 Tour de France.
"People started to write him off. And at the end of a stage he looked beaten and he and his wife were talking and when he left and they asked his wife what he said and he said to her, 'I'll just make the story all that much better when I come back and win it.'"
The wheels haven't fallen off the Magic bus quite yet, but Van Gundy did say he thought the two days off between games gave them an opportunity to "grieve" a bit.
"Yesterday was one of those day where I just wanted to look in everybody's eyes and sort of try to get their heads right," Van Gundy said. "It is good for us right now to sort of have a day and, if you want to say, go through the grieving process and get your head right."
The Lakers have won 14 championships but none since 2002, the last of three straight.
"This one is special because you rarely have the opportunity to get back up to the mountain twice in a career," said Lakers star Kobe Bryant on Saturday. "You have the first run, then you hit rock bottom. Then you build it back up and get back to the top again."
The Los Angeles players have remained the same ferocious, snarling bunch throughout the post-season, cultivating the killer instinct they need to pull this one out.
Los Angeles guard Derek Fisher said there has been a deliberate change in demeanor in the dressing room because of what happened last year when they lost in six games to the Boston Celtics in the championship series.
"There is a realization that even if you are a more talented team there is no guarantee," said Fisher whose sank a pair of late three pointers, including one in overtime to seal the win in game four. "(Last year) we felt as though we couldn't lose no matter who we played.
"So this year we haven't been as jovial. Until we win this fourth game it is too close to last year for us to feel as though we have won before we've won.
"We don't want to go through that feeling again of getting to the doorstep and not being strong enough and willing to stick out our hand and twist the knob and walk through it.
"We are not going to just stand in front of the door this time. That's where the serious nature is coming from."
The 13-year NBA veteran says getting back to the finals for the first time in seven years has energized his game.
"I have an opportunity to win a fourth championship, but it feels like the first time," Fisher said. "It is so far removed from 2002 and what I have been through personally.
"There are a lot of younger guys on our team who were in middle school when we were winning championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
"It feels new again and that's why I am laying everything that I possibly have out there to help this team."
and Phil Jackson, 
