Orlando Magic fall apart in 4th quarter, go down 3-1 to L.A. Lakers

They've taken their fans on a wild, wondrous journey since October and defied the kind of odds this postseason that gets you in Ripley's and makes Vegas blush.The Orlando Magic now will have to top their own comeback act, dipping deep into the well of improbability to drink in a championship.After falling to the Los Angeles Lakers 99-91 in a bitter overtime loss on Thursday night at Amway Arena, the Magic trail 3-1 in the NBA Finals.The Magic not only must buck history heading into Game 5 on Sunday — no team has ever rebounded from this deficit in the Finals to win the title — but they must get past perhaps an equally formidable obstacle.Kobe.Can they beat Bryant three straight times and stop the Lakers from putting on a 15th title parade?The Magic will have to win to send the series back to L.A. If they wind up starting the summer without a trophy, the chance to win a championship might have come down to two critical areas in Game 4:Dwight Howard's poor free-throw shooting and the team failing to foul while leading by three points in regulation.Howard finished with 16 points and 21 rebounds but was just 6-of-14 at the line.Lakers forward Pau Gasol dunked to trim Orlando's lead to 87-84, but Howard missed two free throws with 10.8 seconds left. All he needed was to hit one to put the game virtually out of reach. They would be big misses on a horrendous night in which the Magic missed 15 free throws (22-of-37).Bryant got the ball to Trevor Ariza up the court, who found Derek Fisher. Fisher nailed a 3-pointer over 5-foot-10 Jameer Nelson to send the game into OT, the Magic unable — or unwilling — to foul on the other end. Mickael Pietrus missed a shot at the horn."We thought 11 seconds was too early, especially the way we were shooting free throws," Coach Stan Van Gundy said. "In retrospect, we gave [Fisher] too much space to shoot the ball. We played like we were trying to protect a layup. We just didn't play Derek Fisher. SOURCE:ORLANDO SENTINEL