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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Hawks come back to hand Magic first preseason loss

The Magic, playing their first preseason home game, failed to hold on to a 14 pt lead against the Hawks and lost 100-96 to fall to 3-1 this preseason.

Dwight Howard was the star for the Magic, scoring 27 pts, along with 10 boards, 6 assists and 3 blocks. Keyon Dooling added 15 pts. Jameer Nelson saw his first action this preseason and scored 12 pts in 25 minutes but only had 1 assist. Hedo Turkoglu and Carlos Arroyo added 5 each in their first action also of the preseason. Darko had his worst game so far with just 4 pts on 1 of 8 shooting, and also suffered a hard fall and went to the locker room favoring the right side of his back and hip. Joe Johnson (27 pts) and Zaza Pachulia (19 pts) led Atlanta.

At least we got some injured players back this game. Let's hope everything is alright with Darko after his hard fall. Dwight continues to show his offensive improvement.

Box Score

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 6:06 AM  

10 Comments:

  • At 8:44 AM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    Anyone know why Hill didn't play?

     

  • At 10:01 AM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    3 point shots up to a respectable 17 of 79 shots last night which is 21%.

    Unfortunately, they only hit 4 of 17 which is the equivalent (EFG%) of 35%.

    Once the rust shakes off let's hope they do better.

     

  • At 10:10 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Grant was just given the night off,he's fine. I also like the fact that when our starters were in together (even with the bad game from darko) we consistently had a 10 to 12 point lead.

     

  • At 1:09 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Darko obviously struggled with his shot. Although, he had 5 assists of which 3 were to Dwight. Brian Hill said after the game that he is impressed how Darko and Dwight are playing together.

     

  • At 1:13 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

     

  • At 1:56 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    As rusty as some of the starters were, they kept their head in front, and at the end really did not care much to hang on for a win. There were some positive developments that you all have pointed to, and that is all that matters from a preseason game.

     

  • At 4:21 PM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    Listened to Matty Guokas on 720 yesterday afternoon who said he had a long talk with B.Hill about Darko starting. Guokas hinted the Magic organization were taking it very seriously and are aware that given his background and contract status that its possible Darko could become alienated if he doesn't start.

    On the other hand, Guokas also talked about what a great mismatch Darko was coming off the bench for the Magic last year. And mentioned it's who finishes that's more important. Guokas also said he thought Hill may change how he uses Darko "two or three times before December is over."

    My assumption is since Matt Guokas is a Magic employee that this is an official leak of how the franchise is working through the decision of how to use Darko coming out of preseason.

    All of this assumes that there is cartlidge left in Batties knees.

     

  • At 11:09 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    Common sense logic dictates that one puts the best players on the starting line-up in order to push for an early separation from the opponent. What if the team falls behind early and is never able to catch up despite mismatches and all? Of course it is important who finishes, but it is also important (although may not be equally) who starts. Why does it have to be this or that? It is basically this and that, to put it in simple terms. It is nonsensical to experiment Darko's involvement a few times before the end of December. Darko and Dwight complement each other's game and should be on the floor together, as much as possible. Look at how many assists Darko had to Dwight in the last game.

    If they want to foolishly lose Darko, they are doing a good job at it.

     

  • At 11:36 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    I've always respected Matty Goukas as a knowlegeable basketball person, even though things didn't work out here for him as coach.

    It's good that he had a talk with Brian Hill about the possibility of Darko starting, as we all believe that this would be the best thing to do. No one wants Darko, given his background, to possibly become alienated if he doesn't start.

    At least Hill is admitting how well Darko and Dwight play together when they are on the floor at the same time. Whether that's enough for Hill to put Darko in the starting lineup, who knows?

     

  • At 8:16 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    Knowing Hill, as I know, it would be difficult for anybody to get in his empty head. I hope that Otis Smith intervenes at some point of time, and put the house in order.

     

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