Stan Van Gundy claimed after the Magic’s Game 3 win that he just needed to say three magic words to motivate Rafer Alston.

It's not what you think.

"I thought for two days about what to say to him, and I said 'Play your game.' You can write that down. That's a quote. It took me two days to come up with that."

However, if you want to believe that that was all Van Gundy needed to say to Alston, you'd just be kidding yourself, just as the Magic coach was trying to hoodwink everyone who watched the postgame press conference.

In reality, Van Gundy got into his point guard's grill on the team bus after Game 2, was in his face at the subsequent team practice, encouraging Alston to play with aggression on both ends of the floor.

The microphone Van Gundy was required to wear during game time even revealed that he told Alston midway through the third quarter: "Solid and simple. Settle down, play your game."

And the coach wasn't the only one bugging the New York native.

The Rucker Park street legend's buddies in New York were texting him similar nuggets of information: To remain level-headed, cut down on the knuckleheadedness he was prone to display in the previous rounds of the NBA Playoffs.

The 32-year-old even reminded himself to stop taking reckless shots, and his teammates were roped into the Hallmark moment as well.

"My teammates, everybody was telling me to be the guy that they brought in. I took that very seriously, and that's what I wanted to do."

"Rashard (Lewis), Dwight (Howard), Adonal (Foyle), and then tonight, it was surprising, even J.J. (Redick) pulled me aside and said 'Come on now, play your game, get back to being Rafer.' And some of them wanted some Skip tonight," Alston said, referencing his New York playground nickname, Skip to My Lou. "I gave them a little of that. But these guys are the best. They encourage me, and they keep looking for me with the confidence that I can stick the shots."

Alton did stick those shots, making his first five attempts and ending the game 8-of-12 to finish with 20 points to guide the Magic past the Lakers 108-104 to win Orlando's first Final game in franchise history.

Inconsistent guard play; an inability to knock down shots and shut out Kobe Bryant, were part of the reason why the Magic were nursing a 2-0 deficit before Game 3.

Alston was also knocked out of his rhythm at the start of the series when Van Gundy chose to use Jameer Nelson for the full 12 minutes in the second quarter of Game 1, the all-star's first game in four months after injury, no less.

His confidence was further eroded in Game 2 when Van Gundy tinkered with the rotation during the last nine minutes of the game, going with Hedo Turkoglu as the primary ballhandler, with Redick and Courtney Lee in support.

Alston cut a lonely figure on the bench, and was downright frustrated.

"Stan and I have a great relationship," Alston said. "He's just trying to coach to win games, and I'm trying to play to help this team win games, help this team. Number one is don't take it personal. I think the first game, I just said it was a rhythm thing because I had never done that before, never played like that. Second game, I was able to find a flow but not hit shots. Tonight, I was able to make shots."

The Magic-men also received 21 points and 14 rebounds from Dwight Howard, as well as 21 points and 18 points from Lewis and Turkoglu respectively, but it was Alston's and Mickael Pietrus' elevation of their games that put Orlando over the top in a game where they set an NBA Finals record by shooting on a 62.5 percent clip.

Van Gundy even labeled Pietrus' tip dunk of a missed jumpshot by Turkoglu the most important basket of the night, a make that gave the Magic a 101-99 lead that they did not relinquish thereafter.

Alston had his moment two possessions later, reading the Lakers' trap on the perimeter and making the correct decision to laser an assist to Lewis for a long two.

Kobe Bryant then missed a freethrow that kept Orlando's advantage at two, and a swipe on the ball led to players hustling for the ball, with the rock picked up by Pietrus for a bucket allowing the Magic to lead by four with 28 seconds left. Four 3-point Lakers misses later, and it was a Magic victory.

Alston will be getting some peace now, as all his advisors will look at his Game 3 masterpiece and agree that it was all good. Skip's critics, the ones that have called for Anthony Johnson to start in place of Alston, will be silenced, at least for the moment.

However, someone might just want to get in his head about the opinion that he hasn't had two great games in a row since he was tearing up Rucker Park in Harlem in the late ‘90s.

OK, that's an exaggeration.

But wasn't Van Gundy's tall tale about working for two days to come up with three words one as well?

NBA Finals Game 3 Gallery