Magic fade in fourth, lose tenth road game in a row
ORL found themselves in a rare position with a 70-64 lead going into the fourth quarter, but saw GS outscore them 34-24 as the Magic went down for their 15th loss in their last 17 games 98-94.
Six players scored in double figures for the Magic, led by DStevenson (18 pts). DHoward added 17 pts and 12 rebounds. Darko shined once again off the bench (12 pts on 6 of 7 shooting, 9 rebs and 2 blocks in 26 minutes). CArroyo had just 4 pts on 2 of 9 shooting. However, he had 4 assists and 3 rebs in only 19 minutes. Five players scored in double figures for GS, led by JRichardson (25 pts). Richardson scored 11 pts in the final 1:49.
The Magic lost this game at the FT line, as GS made 27 of 40 (67.5%), while the Magic shot a mere 9 of 15 (60%). The Magic outscored GS 85-71 from the field on 46.7% shooting, while GS shot 43.2%. The Magic outrebounded GS 49-44, and had an acceptable assist-to-turnover ratio of 20-12, while GS had a better ratio of 24-11. Bench scoring was even at 28 apiece. The fact that GS attempted 25 more FTs than the Magic really hurt.
Battie, Stephenson, and Dooling all stayed in the starting lineup despite their recent struggles. Stephenson and Dooling (13 pts) had decent games, but Battie (8 pts) was a non-factor after the first quarter. GHill (10 pts) and HTurkoglu (10 pts) combined to shoot just 8 of 24. Darko played his most minutes in a Magic uniform, while Arroyo saw only 19 minutes. TAriza did not play at all. When will Darko get his first start? He is proving that he deserves to.
Six players scored in double figures for the Magic, led by DStevenson (18 pts). DHoward added 17 pts and 12 rebounds. Darko shined once again off the bench (12 pts on 6 of 7 shooting, 9 rebs and 2 blocks in 26 minutes). CArroyo had just 4 pts on 2 of 9 shooting. However, he had 4 assists and 3 rebs in only 19 minutes. Five players scored in double figures for GS, led by JRichardson (25 pts). Richardson scored 11 pts in the final 1:49.
The Magic lost this game at the FT line, as GS made 27 of 40 (67.5%), while the Magic shot a mere 9 of 15 (60%). The Magic outscored GS 85-71 from the field on 46.7% shooting, while GS shot 43.2%. The Magic outrebounded GS 49-44, and had an acceptable assist-to-turnover ratio of 20-12, while GS had a better ratio of 24-11. Bench scoring was even at 28 apiece. The fact that GS attempted 25 more FTs than the Magic really hurt.
Battie, Stephenson, and Dooling all stayed in the starting lineup despite their recent struggles. Stephenson and Dooling (13 pts) had decent games, but Battie (8 pts) was a non-factor after the first quarter. GHill (10 pts) and HTurkoglu (10 pts) combined to shoot just 8 of 24. Darko played his most minutes in a Magic uniform, while Arroyo saw only 19 minutes. TAriza did not play at all. When will Darko get his first start? He is proving that he deserves to.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:50 AM
8 Comments:
At 6:49 AM,
Ken said…
Your right about the free throw shooting,Mike, it was a killer tonight. Despite taking 25 less free throws the Magic had every chance in the world to win this one. Even with the turnovers they were never out of the game. Great job again by Darko, he is much more athletic than i thought he was, With him and Howard on the floor at the same time it forces other teams to try and match up with us for a change and can be a dominating combo for years to come, its hard to believe they are both only 20 years old.
Arroyo's shot was off tonight, but I can live with that because he is still a pass first PG and just because his shot isn't falling, his head is still in the game and he's doing what he can to help the team, unlike a previous PG we know.
Would love to stay and comment more but gotta run for now..
At 9:24 AM,
WeRDevos said…
Garrity plays 8 minutes, but 7 of them in the 4th quarter? If Otis wants to win more games he should cut him. He is simply overmatched and his coach doesn't understand it.
Darko sits for much of the 4th qtr? I can't wait to see how this guy develops now that he is getting a few minutes for the first time.
It seemed like Arroyo kept waiting to make a pass then settling for a bad shot because the spacing on the floor sucks. It's either bad coaching or the team is so used to working with shoot first PGs that they are not used to running half court sets. At least twice Darko tried to pick n roll and ran into Howard in the lane which forced Arroyo to keep the ball.
I can't believe this organization can continue to employ a coach whose dream is to run the Ivy League "Princeton Offense" with kids who never went to college.
At 10:03 AM,
Matt said…
It's good that Darko's minutes are increasing and he is showing flashes of what he is capable of. If he was kept out a lot longer in the 4th due to exhaustion, I view that as a bad substitution pattern. He should have been finishing the game. Carlos was off, for once, and that happens. Grant looked weary... and the coach should have given Ariza to play some of his minutes.
As for Otis having any effects on the coaching decisions, I don't think he has much of a leverage on Hill. I, honestly, don't think that he has been given the typical authorities of a GM.
At 11:11 AM,
OVERWADED said…
For the first time in my life I fell asleep during the game last night. It looked as if we were heading towards a win once the 4th started. The last thing I remember was Darko coming out, which sucked because he was great last night. Battie was coming in, and Garrity was already out there. The last thought I had before I passed out was, "is Brian Hill trying to lose this game"? Funny, Battie got in foul trouble in the 3rd, so Darko had to come in early, the Magic stayed in a the game and even built a little lead. But then the 4th rolled around, and Hill put in his "favorites". So, normally that group would be out there to get down in the 3rd, instead they were out there to lose the game in the 4th.
Darko needs to be starting RIGHT NOW. This guy is unbelievable, he's the total package. If he had been playing with us all season he would probably be putting up "close to Dwight numbers", minus a few rebounds, plus a few blocks. That duo is going to become a scary reality for the rest of the league. They are both only 20 freakin' years old, which is even more scary. Can you imagine as the years pass, I'd say 25, but that isn't even considered "prime". Ha-ha... I pray this doesn't get screwed up. Those two can be a force like no other. The closest I can remember in recent history is Robinson and Duncan, but Robinson was on his way out. The closest match in todays league is Ben and Sheed, but I see Dwight and Darko surpassing what they are.
Last note: We seem to be heading for a top lottery pick. Who do you guys like? There seems to be about 4 guys in the top 10 that would fit our team. Rudy Gay, Adam Morrison, Rodney Carney, and Ronnie Brewer are the only guard/forwards projected in the top 10. Brewer is the only one that doesn't have shooting range. The name I've seen come in for the Magic in most mock drafts has been Rodney Carney who looks to be solid in all areas. The only complaint on him now is he might be a little on the soft side.
At 11:24 AM,
Matt said…
Well said Intro. If we resign to the fact that the season is over, it would be more advantageous to the point of playing more of the young talents, meaning no more of Garrity and Augmon, and a lot more of Darko, Ariza and Diener.
At 12:06 PM,
Ken said…
I wasn't going to mention the name garrity today because I know i've been on a rant about him the last few days, but as long as ya'll brought it up.... here goes.. Did anyone catch David Steele's comment in the closing seconds of the 1st quarter? when he said something to the fact of, brian hill inserting garrity in the game with only a few seconds left, and then expecting him to be able to make a 3 point shot after he had been sitting for so long. To me he was sounding all sypothetic towards garrity as if he had the weight of the team on his shoulders and sounding as if the fate of the Magic rested on garrity, and that it wasn't fair to garrity to be expected to just enter the game and immediately make a 3... Hell, even when garrity played 30 minutes a game, he seldom, if ever, made a 3... The only time bshill dosn't worry about matchups is when his butt monkey garrity is on the floor. The only kind of adjustments hill knows how to make is to insert garrity into a game expecting him to spread the floor and be a 3 point threat, outside of that, hill is clueless on what to do. Remember his project from his first time around? saying he was going to make Hardaway a PG, see how well that worked?
At 1:44 PM,
Matt said…
In all fairness to Garrity, his shooting numbers are decent (39.4% on 3s and 42.2% overall). The point is that those numbers should be put in the context of the numbers given on the defensive end, as well as the rebounds that are not secured, the unnecessary fouls, and the turnovers. BS Hill thinks that Garrity is one of the best defenders on the team.
At 2:00 PM,
Big Figure said…
Coach hill is killing this team,at this point the magic arent gonna win anything so you would think that he'd start making some adjustments,but no,the same old SORRY starting unit,the fact that other teams rebound and run,but the magic's point guards are told by the coach to walk the ball up,we've got the leading rebounder in the league but suck at fast break,THATS ALL THE COACH,i'm sick of watching other teams use us to become a good team on any given night,golden state sucks,but play the magic and they look playoff worthy,THATS ALL THE COACH,we'd be a much better freethrow shooting team if arroyo,grant,hedo,dwight & darko got all the starting/finishing minutes,THATS ALL THE COACH!
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