Whoops!

Nelson's brain-freeze may have cost the Magic a title shot

I spent most of the early hours of Friday morning trying to think of a bigger choke in NBA Finals history. Unfortunately for the Orlando Magic, I failed to come up with one.

.

Orlando epically choked whatever realistic chance they had at winning an NBA Championship by losing Game 4 to the Lakers. As with most chokes, there's plenty of blame to go around.

.

I've just recently come around on the foul-if-you're-up-three philosophy but apparently Stan Van Gundy hasn't. Even after Dwight Howard did his best Dale Davis impression and missed two critical free throws with 11 seconds left, the Magic were still in position to win the game. That was especially the case once Phil Jackson decided to imbound the ball from the Lakers' own backcourt. The game plan at htat point was simple: wait til the Lakers burn a few more seconds crossing midcourt, then foul immediately.

.

Instead, Stan Van Gundy instructed his players not to foul no matter what. Now to defend Van Gundy in all this, he told his players not to foul - he didn't tell them NOT TO GUARD. Jameer Nelson compounded the problem by giving Derek Fisher (who has hit about 682 clutch three-pointers in his career) a healthy cushion, and allowed Fish to step into a game-tying three. Even though the three-pointer only tied the score, the game was over right then.

.

It's inexcusable for a professional basketball player to be that clueless about a crucial late-game situation like that. There are 13-year old AAU players that would've known to not allow their man to step into an uncontested three-pointer. Van Gundy gets some flak for choosing not to foul, Howard also deserves some blame for a terrible game (6-14, FT, 7 TO), but it's Nelson's colossal brain fart that cost Orlando the game (and series).