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Sunday, October 15, 2006

Shorthanded Magic up pre-season mark to 3-0

Despite missing several players with injuries, the Magic continue to show their strong depth as they pulled out a 92-87 win Saturday night over the Spurs in San Antonio, their second win in back-to-back games following a win over New Orleans.

Travis Diener was the star of this game, scoring 23 pts on 7 of 11 shooting, including 4 of 4 from 3 pt range. Keith Bogans and Darko each added 14 pts, while Grant Hill and Pat Garrity added 10 apiece. The Magic were outshot for the first time this preseason 51% to 43%. Garrity scored 29 pts in 2 games this weekend. I don't quite know what to make of this, as we're not used to Garrity putting up the kind of numbers like he has these two games, and not being a liability for the Magic when he's on the floor.

In any event, the Magic are unbeaten, even though so many players are missing in action due to nagging injuries. Other players are making the most of their playing time, which is good news.

Box Score

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:40 AM  

13 Comments:

  • At 2:05 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Darko has started 2 games in a row which is good news.

    At the same time, Garrity has hit double figures for 2 games in a row off the bench. He was also the leading scorer the in previous game with 19.

    Diener scored 23 tonight for the team high.

    I guess it's a good thing that 2 of our last guys off the bench actually have the ability to put up numbers.

    Darko outplayed Howard by 5 pts, 1 assist, and 1 block in playing 1 less minute tonight. It wasn't by much, but just for the fact that he can stand there with Dwight is reason enough to start him along side him.

     

  • At 10:03 AM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    Diener plays 44 minutes? Even if Redick, Dooling, Arroyo and Nelson didn't play it still looks like Diener is being showcased for a trade.

     

  • At 10:49 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    It's possible; but I think that was done because there was no one else left to play point and they were trying to limit Grant Hill's minutes as he was our back up point guard.

     

  • At 11:24 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    Where is Keyon? There is no report of injury, as I understand. A couple of points to make:

    1 - We should not read too much into this pre-season game. SA starters played only 18 minutes each (like they had set a clock on each for when to pull them out). While Ginobli was on the court it seemed like a lay-up drill.

    2 - Garrity's stats, percentage-wise, do not look too good. As has been mentioned, his defensive deficiency is tolerable only if he hits 3s in the high 40%, which has not been the case. Shots become more difficult to fall come regular season time when defenses get more serious.

    3 - I agree that Diener has been showcased for a trade, but this is a guy whose salary is below 1 million. What good may come out of his trade? On the contrary, his marksmanship could become invaluable for the Magic.

     

  • At 8:54 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Good question in regards to Dooling? I haven't read anything about an injury. I didn't hear his name mentioned during the whole radio broadcast. Kind of puzzling...

    If Diener was traded he would obviously have to be bundled with another player(hopefully Garrity) to make a deal worth doing.

    I wonder if the two have anything to do with each other?

     

  • At 10:35 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    According to what I read online in the Sentinel, Dooling had "flu-like symptoms"; that's why he didn't play against the Spurs.

    Interesting speculation about Diener and/or Garrity possibly being showcased for a trade, but I hope the Magic can hang on to Diener as a long-range weapon off the bench in case J.J. Redick continues to have injury problems.

     

  • At 1:54 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Yeah, I want Diener to hang around. He has a nice game and is better than you could hope for as a deep bench player. The main knock on him is his size, and he doesn't have the muscle to counter it like Jameer does.

     

  • At 8:35 AM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    Diener has had a great summer and camp so far. But I'm not sure what point there is in falling in love with your 4th string PG.

    If Magic can somehow get a decent backup big in a trade for him that would be a good thing. All the better if the other team wants/needs Garrity's expiring contract along with the deal.

     

  • At 10:47 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Charlotte sucks,the hornets are a non-playoff team,and when the spurs starters were in the game they had a 30 to 19 lead over the magic,anybody see a trend! Also travis is a younger/better shooting point guard than keyon,why trade travis? Keyon is listed as a shooting guard who can play the point if need be,he's been around the league and is a respected defender,he could bring back a decent big alot quicker than trav who nobody in the league really knows!

     

  • At 1:56 PM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    You just want to keep Diener around so the Magic can play five white guys at once. :)

     

  • At 1:58 PM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    I forgot about Arroyo, change that to "five pastey-white guys."

     

  • At 6:20 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    As for the Spurs, or anyone the Magic are playing right now; sure you can say wins don't mean anything, because it's the preseason. But for a young team, regardless if it's the preseason; winning on the road can't be a bad thing.

    In regards to the Magic struggling with the Spurs starters; of course they should. How many key guys are we missing? Having our floor generals in Nelson and Arroyo out is enough to guarantee a losing season. Then you can throw in Hedo, Turk, Ariza, Dooling, and Redick for the icing on the cake. No fair assessment is possible.

    So regardless, any win right now is a good win. In the end, it won't show up as anything, but it's all apart of building a winning culture, especially for a young team like ours. Every game matters...

     

  • At 6:30 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    I agree that preseason games don't matter, and yet matter in terms of building confidence and a winning culture, as Introvert316 has pointed out. The smart way of looking at them is to use all the positive inertia without reading too much into them.

     

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