Today’s sports debate du jour — to go redundant on ya from the get go — has a particularly local resonance.

Courtney Lee, now of the Orlando Where’s the Magic, formerly a Western Kentucky Hilltopper — as if you haven’t already heard — missed a layup at the end of regulation that would have completed the theft of Game Two, turning the NBA Finals into a real series.

Fouled not once but twice by Kobe before catching the oop from Turkuglu, Lee was shaken by Gasol’s lengthy presence — and the pivot’s rim shaking, truth be told (goal tending, watch the video)– and missed the shot.

Before contemplating the gaffe — what it means for Orlando, what it means for Lee, what it means for the series — let’s give props to The Shouter. That would be Where’s the Magic coach Stan Van (Gundy). He Who Is Ever Disheveled came up with a helluva inbounds play. Running Orlando’s last option off a reverse screen for a wide open game winner. Stunning strategy. Sure fire.

Except that, as he did with a lay up with about a minute to go in regulation, Lee missed the lay in. LA LA leads the series, 2 nil.

Which raises the conjecture, would Kobe have made it? Yes. Jordan? Yes. Bird? Yes. Magic (Earvin not Orlando)? Yes. LeBron? Maybe. Robert Horry? Absofrigginlutely! (Except it would have been a trey.) You? Perhaps. Me? Uh, I doubt it.

More important, should Lee have made it?

Of course he should have. He’s a pro. It’s at point blank range. He’d shaken Kobe. Gasol though close wasn’t going to block the shot. Okay he goaltended but you know, I’m just talkin’.

Which doesn’t mean we don’t love him. Which doesn’t mean we stop rooting for LA LA to lose, i.e. Orlando to win.

Which doesn’t mean Lee is a bad person. Or that he should be cut in the off season.

He certainly isn’t the goat. But, damn, he shoulda made the shot.

– Seedy K