Let's dance!
Posted: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 by Travis Cody in
It's on tonight! I'm way too excited.
But before we begin, I just wanted to say a word or two.
Emmy winning choreographer Mia Michaels made it abundantly clear that something bugs her about SYTYCD Top 20 finalist Brandon Bryant. I thought she was rude and unprofessional, but she's certainly entitled to voice her very strong and learned opinion. In fact, she's paid to do so. I wish she could have been specific about something in his dancing rather than focusing on a general "ick" factor, which is basically what she communicated last Thursday when the Top 20 were revealed.
See, I respect Ms Michaels' opinion about dance based on the stunning dances she has made for this show.
For example...
This is Hometown Glory, featuring season 4 finalist Katee Shean and winner Joshua Allen.
This is Time, featuring season 3 finalists Lacey Schwimmer and Neil Haskell.
This is Dreaming with a Broken Heart, featuring Kherington Payne and Twitch Boss from season 4. Twitch is a Hip Hop dancer.
This is Then You Look at Me, featuring Lauren Gottlieb and Danny Tidwell from season 3.
This is A Song for You, featuring Destini Rogers and Blake McGrath from season 1.
This is Two Princes, featuring season 3 finalists Danny Tidwell and Neil Haskell.
She won an Emmy for The Bench in season 2, featuring Heidi Groskreutz and Travis Wall.
You may not like the style, but there is no question in my mind that she brings out things in dancers that they didn't know they had.
So best of luck to Brandon and the other 19 dancers should you be fortunate enough to have Ms Michaels make a dance for you. As my pal Anndi wrote to me in an email, "If he can survive a Mia choreography, he'll come out of it a better dancer."
Kobe Bryant had 17 points in the first quarter, including a 4 point play near the end of the period off a 3 point shot and a foul.
Then the Magic proceeded to shoot 75% from the floor in the first half. You'd think the rout would be on, right? Nope. The Lakers led for most of the half, until a late surge gave Orlando a 5 point lead at halftime.
75% from the floor and a 5 point lead?
Percentages even out though. You have to keep paying attention to details like getting rebounds and making the right passes and closing out on shooters. As hard as Orlando played and as well as they did a lot of that stuff, they could only extend the lead by 1 at the end of the 3rd period.
I think Orlando played as well as they can. And then Kobe made some uncharacteristic mistakes late...he missed 5 free throws in the game and turned the ball over with the Lakers down by 2 with 30 seconds to play.
You can look at it two ways, depending on who you're rooting for. You could say that the Lakers took Orlando's best shot and still nearly pulled off the win. Or you could say that the Magic answered every challenge and hung in to win a game they absolutely had to have.
I think you'd be right to say both of those things happened.
And yet, both teams have still done exactly what they have to do. They have each won on their home floor. And if that trend holds, the series will go 7 games and the Lakers will be champs.
I'm not going to look that far ahead though. The Magic won game 3, 108-104. The Lakers now lead 2 games to 1, with game 4 coming up from Orlando on Thursday.
Go Lakers!
That Mia to me is as annoying as Mary. I thought she was down right rude not only to Brandon but to others as well. I'm looking forward to tomorrow nights show.
Sorry about your Lakers. But it makes the series more exciting if it's not a sweep.
Aloha