Heyyyyyy wooorrld!!! Now that’s what I call a big win!!! Hope y’all all got to see it ‘cause it was a loud and rowdy at Amway Arena as it has been all season. It felt like last May and June in the playoffs with the noise and the way the players were going at one another.

We needed a game like that to sharpen our focus for what we’re about to face in a month in the playoffs. That was two great teams going at it hard. It got nasty and physical, but hey that’s how it goes in the playoffs. It just comes down to your will and refusing to lose.

Since I’m a dog lover, I’ll break it down for you this way: You had a team of pit bulls (us) and a team of cane corsos (da Lakers), and that’s what happens in a game like that. It gets nasty with claws flying and dudes biting and scratching and scrapping. We’re the pit bulls cause pit bulls are a little shorter and cane corsos are a little taller. But hey, we kept scrapping and we got the job done.

Plus, we had heard some yapping from the Lakers that we were considered “puppy dogs,’’ so that gave us a little more motivation. We had to show them that we had the fight and the bite of an alpha dog.

I’ve got to give it up to my man Matt Barnes, who fought Kobe Bryant tooth and nail all afternoon. We don’t win that game without him getting into Kobe and keeping the pressure on him all day. He was contesting shots, fighting for rebounds and he made that huuuuuuuuuuge 3 late in the game to put us up by six points.

And what can I say about my main partner, Jameer Nelson??? That dude is playing so well lately, and that’s a big reason why we have been better. The lil’ man is just fearless driving down the lane and getting on the boards.

‘Meer was the second best rebounder in the game, second to yours truly of course. I gotta say this, ‘Meer is the best dwarf rebounder in the NBA today!!!

I’m so proud of how we kept scrapping and didn’t fold. We knew we’d get the Lakers best shot ‘cause they had lost their last two and they came at us hard several times. But we did what championship teams do – they fought back and fought back again.

I know everybody out there already has the Lakers and Cleveland in the Finals again, and that might be who everybody in America wants to see. But we might have something to say about that again. When we play our brand of ball like we did on Sunday, we know we’re capable of beating any team in the league.

Now, we’ve just got to maintain our intensity and close out the regular season with a hot streak. We want to hit the playoffs playing our best basketball and take no prisoners. That’s having that pit bull mentality and we’re starting to really get it.

Y’all be good and take care out there!!!

—DWIGHT

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But the biggest thing about today is that it is the celebration of Martin Luther King’s life and legacy. It’s such an honor that the NBA picked us to play today because this day means so much to me and my life.

Everything that I have been blessed with in my life, I owe it all to Dr. King. He fought for what was right in America and did it in a non-violent way. He brought about tremendous change by standing up for the beliefs of others who didn’t have a voice as strong as his.

Last January I got to go to the inauguration of President Obama and I couldn’t help but think that that was the spot where Dr. King gave his famous speech. I still get chills thinking about it and every time I hear that speech it almost brings tears to my eyes. Growing up in A-T-L I got to hear plenty about Dr. King and his impact and I just want to use this day to say, “Thanks’’ to him.

We’ve had two really good days of practice out here in LA to work on some stuff and I think you’ll see a different Magic team tonight. For us it’s just about playing with energy and effort. And we’ve got to get my guys that I call “The Fantastic Four’’ to playing better. We’ve been getting off to poor starts and it’s up to us four all-stars and leaders to clear that up.

Our practices in LA were kind of weird because we worked out at the Lakers practice facility. If you’ve never seen it, they have championship banners up all around the walls, including the one they got for beating us in June. And up in one corner of the building they have a window that has all 10 of the golf trophies on display. Trust me, I knew that they were up there but I tried not to look at them because it just hurt too much.

A lot of people have asked me how long it took me to get over losing in the NBA Finals, but I don’t know if you ever get over it until you win a ring. I know I’m still not over it because I catch myself thinking how close we were to winning it all. People don’t understand how I felt just playing in the NBA Finals because that was a life-long dream. But then you get so close and lose and it’s like losing something in your life that you cherish the most.

Well, I think we’ll play well tonight against the Lakers. We’ve just got to get ourselves back right and we’ll be OK. A game this against a great team can be just what we need.

Be back home soon. Remember Dr. King today!!! Ya’ll be good. Yuuuuuuaaaaaa.

—DWIGHT

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Now that we’ve had some time after the season ended I’m beginning to see what a really good year it was for us. We did a lot of things the y’ve never done around here before. And to make it even better, we did them when few gave us a chance.

I mean, come on, who really thought we’d win in Boston in that Game 7? Who thought we’d beat Cleveland the way we did in the East Finals? Who at the beginning of the year thought we’d get to The Finals?

Losing to the Lakers still really bothers me when I think about it because that series was much closer than some people realize. We lost two games in OT that were right there for the taking for us. We win those two games and it’s on with the Lakers. We know it, they know it and everybody knows that series could have gone a lot differently if we would have found a way to win Games 2 and 4.

But we’ll learn from those memories and we’ll be better when we’re back in the Finals next year. Losing to the Lakers will make us work even harder and be even hungrier next season.

Looks like Cleveland just traded for big Shaq in order to try and stop me next season. It’s good to see that the Magic are on the minds of some other teams now instead of it being the other way around. Maybe now after getting to the Finals the little ol’ Magic won’t be overlooked as much anymore.

Those kinds of trades like the one Cleveland made just lets us know that we have to be better next season. Those teams are gunning for us and trying to get better, so we’ve got to do the same thing.

Trust me, it’s on now. I’m already getting fired up for next season. I’m ready to get back to work.

Ya’ll take care and I’ll drop you a line later on. Holla back.

– DWIGHT

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Now, that’s the Magic team that we expected to look like at the start of the NBA Finals. We were patient, we were confident and we played with a swagger again. Maybe it was just being back at home or maybe it just took us a while to get used to being in The Finals, but we played like we were supposed to play.

I told ya’ll from the start that this is a seven-game series and we’re not done until the Lakers beat us four times. We still aren’t being given much of a chance to win, but maybe this win will open some eyes of the folks out there around the country. Maybe this will let them know the Magic are for real and we ain’t no pushovers.

As for my play personally, I thought I was more patient in the post and let the defense dictate what I did with the ball. When the double came I accepted it and made the right pass. When it didn’t come, I tried to be really aggressive and go right at Gasol and Bynum.

Me, Stan and Pat Ewing watched a lot of film on Monday on our day off and it really helped me see what was going on with the defense. I give the Lakers credit because they have done a good job sitting in my lap and taking away some of my moves. They are cutting me off to the middle and sending a second man when I come back baseline. So I tried to learn from that and make myself more efficient.

That’s the word – efficient – that I’m always hearing from Stan. I think I was pretty efficient in Game 3. I cut my turnovers down to one, I missed just one shot and I made most of my free throws.

And when guys like Skip, ‘Shard and MP make shots like they did, that just opens up even more things inside for me. We shot the ball like this and play this hard in Game 4 on Thursday and I think we’ll have us another win.

We really, really believe we’re still going to do this. I liked coming home for three games in a row and we felt like we could get all three of them. It’s one game at a time of course, but we haven’t lost any confidence that we can beat the Lakers.

Thank ya’ll for being so loud last night, but we need it even more hype come Thursday. We can do this – believe that!!!!

I’m out. Holler back at ya. — DWIGHT

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Tough, tough loss last night cause we really thought we let the Lakers off the hook and should have won that game. It was there for us so many times, but we couldn’t grab it because we didn’t execute and turned the ball over too many times.

I was frustrated and in the first game too, but being the leader on my team I can’t let my teammates see me frustrated. I’ve got to play through all the different situations and learn from them.

We’ve just got to take care of the ball better. There are a lot of times, I know myself, this is probably one of the games where I had a lot of turnovers, maybe my most in the playoffs. I’ve just got to do a better job of finding my teammates and being aware of the guards coming in the paint for strips.

As a team we’ve just got to do better with not turning the ball over. That’s how they got going on the offensive end, because of our turnovers, and it gave them the game tonight.

My boy C-Lee had a layup right at the rim, but just missed it. That was a tough blow for us, but it shouldn’t have ever come down to that. We don’t turn the ball over as much as we did and we don’t even need the lob play there in that situation.

Their defensive plan against me in the post has been really good. Phil Jackson is a smart, smart coach. I’m not saying the coach from Cleveland isn’t, but the way they’re using their bigs on the defensive end has been a little tricky for me. But it’s something that I’m learning from. Their bigs are doing a great job of forcing me to other the bigs. It seems like I beat one guy and there’s another one waiting on me or the guards are always there digging down and trying to strip the ball.

I just have to trust my teammates and allow those guys to hit shots, and that will open everything up for me. But I’ve also just got to do some more work on the offensive end, running, going to the glass and trying to get points that way.

We’ve just got to go home now and take care of business. The Lakers did a good job of protecting their home, and now it’s our turn to do the same thing. We’ve been in some tough situations and we’ve always been good about coming back. We’ve just got to fight our way out and I know that’s what we’ll do again this time.

This is going to be a long series and we’re a long way from done. Game 3 is all we’re thinking about, so let’s go get one win and really protect our homecourt the way the Lakers did. We still know we can do this. We tweak a few things here and there, we’ll be right back in this series before ya’ll know it.

PEACE OUT, HOMIES. — DWIGHT

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