rafer alston, 3-17 in the first two games. he came alive in orlando. 8-12. 20-points for skip to my lou. lakers made their first eight shots but good bench play by orlando. pietrus leading the attack gives them the lead. gasol, 23 points. lakers within three. it's kobe, only had two field goals in the fourth, this one of them. he finished with 31, just 10 in the second half. l.a. within two. tied at 99. turkoglu misses. pietrus, above the rim. he had 18 off the bench. magic by two. then it's rashard lewis. foot is on the line. it's a two orlando up by three. lakers ball down two. it's kobe driving the bucket. fouled by dwight howard. kobe will good to the line to shoot two. normally a tremendous free-throw shooter. not so much here down the stretch. first free-throw attempt. he missed. kobe just 5-10 from the line. upset with himself. lakers down two. one more chance. kobe has it knocked away by pietrus. best closer in the game, hey, we saw rivera blow a save the other day. brad lidge was perfect last year and he has blown, wh

alston, top of the key, bang. that made it 12-8, and 14 of 11. now it is 18-15. kobe bryant very hot. the lakers are not shooting very well. only 15 with under 3 to play. turkoglu and alston leading the way with 7 apeace. >> don't forget, as soon as this game is over, this is where you want to be. espnews through all the postgame press conferences. you'll hear from both coaches. kobe bryant, dwight howard, and the other key players from game 4 of the nba finals. >> >> baseball, it is now tied in boston. francisco with the r.b.i. double in the 7th. david ortiz homer in the bottom of the second. great pitching back to c.c. sabathia, and brad penny who is now out. highlights in this game when it goes final. >> he was the hottest and most impressive pitcher in the first couple of months. the royals back, greinke just a little bit. 1.40 all the way up to 1.55. he has a 3-1 lead. bottom of the eighth. still in the ballgame. gone 7 and 1/3. wearing the royals in back-to-back games for the first time in weeks. >> tigers and white sox wrapping up a five-game set. curtis g

our fourth program after 9/11, alston's one is no -- our first program after 9/11, all the students want to know what they could do. if you remember, they mocked the president because at the time, and i'm sure he regrets it, president bush said that people should keep shopping and going to malls. the students were talking at. there great-grandparent's a group victory gardens during world war two and they were supposed to shop? >> another clip you will see letter, we covered the conventions every four years. those were very exciting and

rafer alston is what got you there. he's in. they control the perimeter. i just don't understand stan's decision to do that. and i'm a big stan van gundy fan. i covered him, but i question veteran leadership and not going with rafer alston amongst the other things that i said. >> anita, you're one of five fans of stan van gundy. >> i'm one of the five. i admit it. >> you're one of the five. you laid it out there very well. i'm going to go with lack of execution on the orlando magic's part in every facet of the game. usually you look at the lakers and say they're a better team, but the lakers haven't played better this series. kobe bryant hasn't finished like we've expected him to finish. the lakers have had holes. there have been kinks in the armour. but the orlando magic just haven't taken advantage. courtney lee, if he executes and makes that layup, it's a tough play, it looks easier on tv, but you got to finish in that game. the free throws, the lack of defense on derek fisher, smoke the situation. guard that three-point line. the lack of a good shot la

alston was the scorer if not the facilitators. you look at his high. tour, lie and lewis combined for 12 assists. >> you take a look at who was the guy everyone wants to shoot the ball, and obvious the lakers want skip to shoot the ball, and you look at alston and they say they want me to shoot. i know where my shots are going to come from and that's what rafer did tonight, and he was the key factor and also the player of the game for the magic, and he continues to play this well he is going to make the difference from the lakers stay honest and it's going to open up other looks for other guys. >> waiting to hear from phil jackson. before we got to him, though, last thing i want to ask you. you beat them in game one, they won the series. they have been resilient all season long. >> i wasn't -- i didn't think they had that type of resilience si. you talk about toughness and they came back against us, they were down against boston. no one thought they would close out the cavs and now they're in another situation and they're playing tough basketball, they

alston and pietrus hurt us last night. that home crowd and the ability to make mistakes and play a little freer gives them the confidence. we have to take that back. >> fars me hiting the wall, what if i did? i didn't, but so what if i did? >> what does it mean if you did? >> it means nothing. >> because? >> because i will run straight through it. >> as a team, we weren't just going to give up. we deserve a chance to win the championship. and we worked extremely hard to get to where we are at today. we were not just happy with making it to the finals and handing the lakers an easy championship. we believe that if we play our game and play our tile of basketball this would be our year to win it. >> we are happy to win last night. but we are still down 2-1 with them having the home court advantage. i think our players understand all of that. our players understand we have a tough road ahead of us. >> the lakers made the first 8 shot then areisa missed a dunk and after that it was downhill for l.a. lakers missings last five 3

rafer alston said he felt uncomfortable playing a quarter, coming out for a quarter, playing for a quarter, coming out for a quarter, that's not the way he was used throughout the playoffs. anthony johnson didn't get used at all in game one. you wonder how he feels, helps his team get to the finals now they have no use for him. jameer nelson trying to work himself back in game shape in the middle of the nba finals, calling plays for himself, taking shots, this is not the kind to work out kinks in your game. my former teammate rafer alston needs to play. >> jameer nelson is an all-star point guard, they're working him in because they expect a long series. rafer has to get used to playing his role. >> imposing stat in favor of the los angeles lakers. phil jackson-coached teams a combined 43-0 when winning game one of a seven-game series, all time. >> lamar odom -- he had a double-double in game one. kobe bryant put up big numbers. andrew bynum came up big and pau gasol had 16 and eight. l.a. leading the series 1-0. game two on sunday. >> after every nba finals game is over on abc, turn over

and rafer alston can use his dribbling ability and get past fisher.he missed lay-ups, this time they converted inside the paint. they were making shots from everywhere in this game, but not taking the long shots, passing, being patient, and looking for the better shots inside. >> and orlando five difficult players with 18 points or more in game three in the victory. what does game four hold? we find out on thursday at 8:30 eastern on abc beginning with gmc nba countdown. >> and don't forget when game number four is over, you want to hear the stars this is where you want to be, "espnews." kobe bryant, dwight howard and as well as the coaches. as soon as the game is done. the live news conferences here on "espnews." >> st. jude the patron saint of desperate cases. he believed the faithful should persevere in the face of difficult circumstances. three weeks after announcing his wife, amy, has breast cancer, phil mickelson makes his return to the tour this week, the saipt jude classic in memphis. and amy will not be there with her husband, she will not be

they took advantage of their assets, alston can get past fisher, turkoglu can take guys off the dribbleand remember all the missed lay-ups that they had in one and two? this time they were converting, 15 of their 18 shots inside the paint. they're making shots from everywhere in this game, but not taking the long shot, passing, being patient, looking for the better shots inside. >> orlando with five different players that scored 18 points or more in game three in the victory. well, what does game four hold? we'll find out beginning on thursday, 8:30 p.m. eastern time on abc beginning with the "gmc nba countdown." >> now, on espn.com j.a. writes kobe bryant had a shot at the historic insurmountable 3-0 advantage, but he bobbled it and lost it. >> alongside michelle lafontaine, i'm mark morgan. the yankees and red sox are just about done at fenway, so for those of you watching us on espn, baseball tonight is coming up tonight in a few minutes. >> much more coming up. and kris draper backhand forehand to >> you get your name on that thing, it's the greatest summer of your life. >> and now

and rafer alston can use his dribbling ability and get past fisher.edo turkoglu can take guys off the tribble. and the missed lay-ups, this time they converted inside the paint. they were making shots from everywhere in this game, but not taking the long shots, passing, being patient, and looking for the better shots inside. >> orlando with five different players with 18 points or more in game three in the victory. what does game four hold? we find out on thursday at 8:30 eastern on abc beginning with gmc nba countdown. >> and don't forget when game number four is over, you want to hear the stars this is where you want to be, "espnews." kobe bryant, dwight howard and as well as the coaches. as soon as the game is done. the live news conferences here on "espnews."she will also not week's u.s. open, but is never far from her husband's mind. >> i never felt this emotional. i never have been this emotional where if i'm driving alone or something, i will start crying. it is kind of a weird thing. i am looking forward to having a four or five hour mental br

he quickly found out that dwyane wade is totally different from rafer alston and rafer alston is totally different from lamar odom and so on and so on. i think that's the way... one way i see his adjustment from then to now. and now he's more into being a little more uplifting as opposed to so negative as he was in miami. you see him rant and rave down the sideline, but i can tell you, the next day in practice and film session, he's more inspiring than he is... than what you see on the game floor. >> how much a role does he play in your ability to bounce back? what does it say to you after those tough losses, like a lebron shot or those plays in philadelphia? >> he is instrumental in a few ways. one, he tells us to keep believing, to understand that we're a good team. there's a reason we've gotten this far. and two, he's really big on taking the blame. you don't see that from a lot of coaches. if he makes a mistake, as you mentioned, the lebron shot, the glen davis shot, he quickly takes the blame and tells us he's failed us. we quickly turn around and tell him, we're the guys on the flo

as dwayne howard put it, we got our swag back, or as kobe put it when he saw alston "you went all rucker park on us." for one game what they did was enough. with the magic, i'm rachel nichols, espn. >> shelly, rachael, thanks a lot. gil meche, 4-9 against the indians. mark derosa looking. gil meche, 11 ks. deep to right center off pavano. it does clear the wall. that's a four bagger or as we like to say it's a grand slam. 9-0, royals over the indians. callaspo's first career grand slam. guillen's third home run in the month of june after two in all of may. >> the patriots will look to pick up where they left off as a healthy tom brady returns. wendi nix has the scoop. ♪ 100 calorie light beer with lime. miller chill. do you remember when making dinner meant finding just the right stick for your hot dog. when new every fork on the trail led to a new adventure? then keep the tradition going with great father's day gifts from bass pro shops. like a 22-piece bbq tool set for only $9.94 and a prowler t-40 trolling motor for only $129.99. and don't miss the family summer camp going on now with

our fourth program after 9/11, alston's one is no -- our first program after 9/11, all the students want to know what they could do. if you remember, they mocked the president because at the time, and i'm sure he regrets it, president bush said that people should keep shopping and going to malls. the students were talking at. there great-grandparent's a group victory gardens during world war two and they were supposed to shop? >> another clip you will see letter, we covered the conventions every four years. those were very exciting and newsworthy and you get a sense of who our next president might be prayed in 2004, when present and obama gave his speech -- when president obama davis beat, it had a profound effect on the city of boston. you had the idea that this guy would be president. my son predicted this in 2008. he got it right. >> the obama speech was memorable. we wanted to afterward and were dazzled by this man. ronald reagan pa's last speech to the republican party was very dramatic -- ronald reagan's last speech to the republican party was very dramatic. he gather delegates to

alston throws it up. and it goes. he wanted the foul as well. second quarter, magic up 7. rashard lewis off the pick and roll. can't leave that guy open. why would you go to nelson when rashard lewis is wide open? maybe that's why the lakers are trailing at halftime. then, j.j. redick. slips, no problem, turk alieu, and right now, the lakers have managed only 37 in the first half. turkoglu pacing the magic with 15 points. >> as soon as this is over, right now, right now, dwight howard, is standing by at the half. >> you did not get your first couple of field goals until late in the second period. yet you had a major influence on the first half. what were you looking to do early? >> trying to be the first one on the defensive end. block shots, rebound, and make it toughe for those guys to score. but we've got two more quarters, so we've got to keep it up. >> your defense solid in the first half. lakers under 40%. what are you doing to influence them on the defensive end? >> we're moving our feet. we're not going for a lot of pump fakes and we're just having fun. >> thank yo

it sounded like rafer alston was caught off guard. you have your all-star but now rafer also needs to help get you to this point along with anthony johnson, his backup. maybe a little bit better communication. like coach van givenedy said, maybe play him shorter spurts instead of 12 straight minutes. >> only one field goal made in game number one. they only took six shots. ism know he had a lot of shots because he got fouled a lot by the lakers. how do you keep them on the offensive end? >> i know everybody's been talking about dwight howard's offense. he needs to play better defense. he's the defensive player of the year. he didn't defend the paint well, didn't play the post-up well or the peacekeeper-and-roll. getting the ball early in transition. the players have to make what we call california as coaches on time, on target passes. when he's open, get him the ball on time. don't throw it at his ankles, don't throw it above his head. get it to him on time and on target. in the half court he has to do a better job, dwight howard, at