They were down almost 30 points in the fourth quarter, a shameful and embarassing situation which will be remembered in NBA Finals’ History.

The Orlando Magic definitely knew that they had absolutely no chance in the world to win that game and they could’ve just quit. They could’ve just let their bench play, slack off and watch the Lakers smash them into the ground. But they didn’t.

You saw the coach still screaming and persisting. You saw the players try their best struggle with their shots. You saw them running back and forth chasing down and defending themselves against the enemy—even if they knew that all those would be pointless.

Why?

Orland Magic is a brand that’s taking care of an image. Like any basketball team, these people are meant to inspire and motivate. They’re respected as fighters and fierce competitors. How in the world are the Magic going to face their fans and preserve their brand if they show everyone that they’re quitters? People are definitely going to stop buying Dwight Howard jerseys if they see him losing hope and slacking off.

Same goes for the Lebron James brand. With his unsportsmanlike conduct the other day with Cleveland’s loss to Orlando, he just damaged his brand equity. It’s pretty obvious that the NBA wanted to protect his brand (obviously Lebron’s making Nike and the NBA a lot of money) with follow-up articles talking about James being sorry and personally sending an e-mail to Dwight Howard talking about the incident.

Maintaining brand reputation is serious business. Brands have to be protected at all levels and at all costs.