LOS ANGELES - Stan Van Gundy and Dwight Howard think they know what can cure the ailing Orlando Magic.

Orlando was outplayed in every category in a 100-75 blowout loss to Los Angeles in the opening game of the 2009 NBA finals and now it is back to the drawing board for Sunday's game two at the Staples Centre arena.

"Their size bothered us last night," Magic coach Van Gundy said after practice on Friday. "They deflected a lot of passes and we threw a lot of passes off target.

"They contested shots at the rim. I think we showed our guys film today and when we got by their first line of defence on several occasions and drove the ball we ended up taking very difficult shots against their size in situations where we probably should have made an extra pass."

The Magic shot just 29.9 percent from the field in game one, marking the lowest shooting game in the NBA finals since San Antonio shot 28.9 percent against the Nets in June 2003.

Orlando's giant centre Howard said they came out flat. Howard, Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu shot a combined six-for-27 from the field.

"Our effort and energy wasn't there," said Howard. "We know how to play basketball. It doesn't matter who is playing against us.

"We can do a lot of different things."

Howard said the Lakers did a good job of preventing him from getting to the basket. Like a good team leader, Howard was willing to take the blame for the loss.

"I should have passed it out to my teammates for shots," he said. "They really clogged the paint up. They made it tough for me to really try to get into my moves.

"But it is only one game. I'm not really concerned about the offensive end. That stuff will come."

Orlando appeared to have difficulty with Van Gundy's game time decision to play guard Jameer Nelson who had missed four months following shoulder surgery.

Van Gundy said Friday that if he could go back in time he wouldn't have played Nelson as much as he did.

In his first game back since missing the second half of the regular season, Nelson played 23 minutes, scoring just six points.

"I had Jameer out there too long a stretch in the second quarter," Van Gundy said. "I thought he played really well early in the second quarter and so I continued to go with him.

"First game back in four months it was too long."

Van Gundy expects a different Magic team to show up on Sunday.

"The effort we made on rebounding part of things was embarrassing," he said.

"I will blame myself for a lot of things but I don't really have an adjustment for when the ball goes up on the rim and everybody is going after it. I can't really X and O that.

"You are either going to put a body on somebody and get the ball or you are not. And last night, not.

"There are some game plan things and adjustments we need to make."