After two games in the NBA Finals it looks like the Los Angeles Lakers are set to collect their 15th NBA championship. They blew the Orlando Magic clear off the Staples Center floor in Game 1 100 – 75, then hung on for a tough character win in overtime in Game 2 101 – 96.

Many basketball fans, columnists and observers said that had that Courtney Lee shot with six-tenths of a second left in regulation in Game 2 gone in, this series could easily be tied at 1-all with the Magic headed back to Orlando today. All of that is water under the proverbial bridge though, and the bottom line remains: when they had the chance to get it done, these Magic failed.

It is not the end of the world for the Magic though. They go home today to one of the loudest, most boisterous and supportive home crowds in the NBA. They have been very good in their own building over these playoffs. Opposing teams needed last-second Hail Mary shots to beat them here, like that long, high-arcing trey by Lebron James in the Eastern Conference Finals. Wearing their home whites would indeed be a big boost for these young Magic.

All that home support however can only go so far. The home crowd can yell and cheer but they cannot track down loose balls or long rebounds. They can heckle and jeer the Lakers but they cannot cut off passing angles or locate Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum on defense. They can hush down and pray to the high heavens every time a Magic player steps up to the freethrow line but they can never be sure if Dwight Howard puts just enough muscle, extension and follow through on his freethrows. In other words: the home crowd cannot beat the Lakers; the Magic have to beat the Lakers.

This is where things get truly sticky. Throughout these playoffs and the first two games of the Finals, the Lakers have shown what it means to want it more and to pull out the W. They were taken to seven games but a very stubborn Houston Rockets in the second round without Yao Ming and Tracy Macgrady. They only showed up in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against a Denver Nuggets squad that looked ready to pull off a huge upset. They seemingly relied too much on their superstar Kobe Bryant, even as he had to pick up his dribble high and far away, ran into all sorts of traps and double-teams, forced up a variety of rim-clanks and generally looked anything but the supposed best player on the planet.

Yet when the Lakers played like the Lakers, every body and his brother knew that this was the moment they all dreaded. There was Odom using his veteran guile, length, unassuming athletic ability and ability to handle and space the floor creating every imaginable mismatch at both forward positions. There was Pau Gasol putting on a pivot and footwork clinic inside and willingly banging bodies playoff-style, literally shaking all of those “soft Euro” tags off him self. There was Trevor Ariza making all his detractors wince every time he hit a three-pointer, slashed to the rim, broke out on transition and even went for a series-turning steal in the Denver series. There was Bynum controlling the rebounds and altering all manner of enemy shots with those long sinewy arms. Finally there was Bryant, hitting shots in bunches with a couple hands in his face and being unstoppable.

Now the Lakers are two games away from getting their first post-Shaq NBA title, and no less than Bryant knows that this is their time. He said it often enough, if only through so many words, with that scowl on his face and his grit teeth during media availability sessions before and during these Finals. “I don’t think about it at all, that was then, this is now,” he responded rather tersely to the seemingly unending questions about what it is like trying to win an NBA title without the larger-than-life Shaq.

In the end, even if by some miracle, Orlando wins all three games on their floor, there won’t be a repeat of the “Miami Miracle” of 2006. If you doubt this, ask Bryant about it. If you can stand the glare.