We watched the tape of Game 1 yesterday and we didn’t even look like the same Magic team that had been playing so well the last couple of weeks. I can’t really explain it, but we just didn’t have the energy that we needed to win this kind of game.

We didn’t get loose balls, we didn’t rebound, we were late on our rotations and we just didn’t fight the way we should have. Our energy and effort just wasn’t there. We know how to play basketball an d it doesn’t matter who is playing against us. But as a team our effort wasn’t there. When we’re playing hard and aggressive, we can do a lot of different things.

We have to want it in Game 2. For whatever reason, we didn’t play like we wanted to win. It’s fun being here, but as a team, we’re not happy just being in the Finals.

We know what happened to the Lakers last year. A lot of their guys were just happy being in the Finals. We’re fighting for a championship here. I let the guys know last night that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Nothing is ever promised to anybody and we have to take advantage of this moment.

I think we’ll play a lot better tomorrow night. We’ve seen the tapes of what went wrong, especially on defense and rebounding, and everybody knows that we wi ll shoot the ball better. Kobe is going to make shots for them, but we have to close out harder to him and take away his rhythm shots.

One funny moment from yesterday was when a media dude asked me about the blue shooting sleeve on my arm and if it was why I was shooting free throws better. I had to laugh because I just wear the sleeve because I like how it looks. It has nothing to do with making shots or performance or nothing like that. I was wearing it in practice one day and it felt good so I thought I should wear it in the games because it might make my shot look better. To me, it was just funny that someone thought I’d shoot better because of a sleeve on my arm.

We have practice today at the Lakers Practice Facility, and we’ll work on some of the stuff that will help us tomorrow night. We’ll be a lot better. Ya’ll know we bounce back and that’s what I expect tomorrow night.

Aiiiight ya’ll, be easy. — DWIGHT

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OK, ya’ll I know that was ugly, but it’s just one game. Trust me, it was just one game.

We just had a really bad shooting night and it happened to come at the worst time in the NBA Finals. I think we hit like 23 shots as a team and Kobe had 16 all by himself for L.A. We’ve never had a shooting night that bad all season, so I don’t expect that to happen again to us.

Ya’ll know how we bounce back, so I fully expect us to learn from this over these next two days and come out ready on Sunday. We came back when Philly hit a couple of shots on us, we came back from Big Baby’s shot in Orlando and Bron’s 3-pointer at the buzzer. We can get this turned around too and I know we will.

The thing that upset me most was that the Lakers played harder than we did. They beat us to loose balls, they outrebounded us and outworked us. That just can’t happen. Rarely have we ever said a team outworked us, but that was the case.

L.A. did a good job digging down on me and trapping me to get the ball out of my hands. And when I did get some looks at the rim, they fouled me and put me on the free throw line. So we have to make some adjustments.

I think we need to run more and try to get some easy baskets in transition. When we run, the defense can’t set up and that’s when we’re at our best.

My guys will bounce back from this, and so will I. We know we’re a better team than we showed last night and we’ll play much better in Game 2.

Remember ya’ll, it’s just one game. It’s going to be a long series – believe that.

One last thing…I’m going to be posting videos from my NBA Finals experience throughout the series. I want you fans to be there with me along the way. We’re in this together.

– DWIGHT

Fans: Be sure to check out Dwight on Twitter and Facebook.