On one side of the debate is Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, who dismissed his team's blistering 62.5 percent field-goal percentage in Game 3 as the byproduct of an unusually good shooting night. On the other side of the debate is Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who suggested his team must make some defensive adjustments tonight in Game 4 to keep the Magic from getting so many clean looks at the basket.

Whereas the Lakers effectively neutralized Dwight Howard's low-post offense and Orlando's dribble penetration in Games 1 and 2, the Magic more successfully exploited the middle of the floor in Game 3. Howard established deeper post position and Rafer Alston carved up the Lakers off the pick and roll, combining for 41 points but also kicking the ball back to open shooters spotted up on the perimeter whenever the defense collapsed.

"There are some things that we can do to cut into their field-goal percentage," Derek Fisher said. "Really how they're breaking our defense down is they're using Howard in a screen roll, and he's setting really solid screens, putting us on the trail and basically collapsing or rotating our defense. It really comes down to screen-roll defense and being able to contain that."

There's no doubt some of Orlando's effectiveness was simply a product of better shooting from their guards when the Lakers left them to go double-team Howard. The same Orlando backcourt that shot 28.9 percent in two games in LA hit 18 of 28 shots on Tuesday night, with Alston scoring 20 points and Mickael Pietrus posting 18 off the bench.

"It's almost embarrassing that they're going to keep leaving you open, basically a signal that, `Hey, that guy can't shoot,'" Alston said. "I may not shoot at a 50-something percent clip, but if I can shoot in the 45, 46 percent area and be able to hit wide-open shots, it will help the team out a great deal."

SAME OLD STORY

Not that Pietrus is getting sick of being asked about the difference between guarding LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, but . . .

"That's the 121st time I've answered the same question," Pietrus said, only half-jokingly. "I'm going to say the same thing, so let me read my phone again because somebody else already wrote an article about that."

"Both of them are really, really, really, really, really hard to guard," he concluded.

GASOL EFFECTIVE AGAIN

Forgive Pau Gasol if he's also tired of answering questions about whether he should have received more touches after a Lakers loss.

Gasol went 9 for 11 in Game 3, the fifth time in seven Lakers playoff losses that he's shot 50 percent or higher.

"I was effective with the looks I got, and I hope that I get the same or more the next game," Gasol said. "I can't really control that. I just try to make the right play and be aggressive when I get a chance to."

Gregg Patton contributed to this report.