Magic fall to 1-2 after ugly loss to ATL
All the happiness and optimism that surrounded the Magic after their opening night win over the Bulls is now gone, at least for a while, after 2 straight losses and this poor outing against the Hawks.
Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 31 pts on 11 of 19 shooting, and ZaZa Pachulia added 17 pts. Carlos Arroyo led the Magic off the bench with 22 pts on 9 of 9 shooting. GHill added 14 pts. DHoward was the only other Magic player in double figures with 11, but committed 5 TOs and played just 24 minutes due to foul trouble.
ATL outscored the Magic by just 1 pt from the field 65-64 (ATL 31-73 42.5%, ORL 31 of 74 41.9%), but had a superior performance from the FT line (ATL 30 of 35 85.7%, ORL 18 of 29 62.1%). Magic also shot poorly on 3's (2 of 11). The Magic tied an all-time franchise low with just 8 assists the whole game. To make matters worse, they turned the ball over 21 times. The Hawks had a much better assist-to-TO ratio of 16-17. Thanks to Arroyo, the Magic bench outscored the Hawks bench 43-28. Darko did respectable, with 9 pts 6 rebs and 3 blocks in 24 minutes.
From the players down to the coach, the Magic were a big disappointment today. They play host to a tough Wizard team Monday night, and need to bring the emotion and intensity like they did against the Bulls to snap this 2 game losing streak.
Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 31 pts on 11 of 19 shooting, and ZaZa Pachulia added 17 pts. Carlos Arroyo led the Magic off the bench with 22 pts on 9 of 9 shooting. GHill added 14 pts. DHoward was the only other Magic player in double figures with 11, but committed 5 TOs and played just 24 minutes due to foul trouble.
ATL outscored the Magic by just 1 pt from the field 65-64 (ATL 31-73 42.5%, ORL 31 of 74 41.9%), but had a superior performance from the FT line (ATL 30 of 35 85.7%, ORL 18 of 29 62.1%). Magic also shot poorly on 3's (2 of 11). The Magic tied an all-time franchise low with just 8 assists the whole game. To make matters worse, they turned the ball over 21 times. The Hawks had a much better assist-to-TO ratio of 16-17. Thanks to Arroyo, the Magic bench outscored the Hawks bench 43-28. Darko did respectable, with 9 pts 6 rebs and 3 blocks in 24 minutes.
From the players down to the coach, the Magic were a big disappointment today. They play host to a tough Wizard team Monday night, and need to bring the emotion and intensity like they did against the Bulls to snap this 2 game losing streak.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 8:01 PM
8 Comments:
At 8:31 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
As I was trying to get over the shock of the Bears losing to Miami, I saw that the Magic lost their game to the Hawks... geez, I've had better days.
After reading a recap of the Magic game and looking at the stats, I don't even know where to start with my concerns, so let me try.
Where is the Dwight Howard that we saw against the Bulls? Another tough game for Dwight... just 11 pts and 8 rebounds to go along with 5 TOs and 5 fouls in just 24 minutes. Like Introvert316 pointed out, WHY AREN'T DWIGHT AND DARKO ON THE FLOOR MORE TOGETHER?? I think that would help Dwight a heck of a lot since they complement each other so well. Dwight needs more touches than he's been getting the last 2 games.
Might we have a PG controversy developing? A horrible game for Jameer... just 4 pts, 1 assist, and 5 TOs in 22 minutes. A team's starting PG has to have a much better assist-to-TO ratio than that. Carlos comes off the bench to shoot 9 of 9 and score 22 pts, along with 3 assists and just 2 TOs... at least Carlos came ready to play.
Only 11 pts the first quarter? Why didn't BHill do a better job of getting this team prepared and motivated and ready for this game?
Hedo shoots 1 of 10... Dooling 2 for 10... ouch!
Another poor FT performance... 18 of 29... Way too many TOs again with 21... 8 assists show that the offense was not in sync at all... what happened to the fast-break offense that did so well the last month of last season and against the Bulls?
I think I'll stop now... I'm sure you guys have your thoughts about what's gone wrong these last 2 games.
At 9:04 PM,
Matt said…
I do not know what to say. Hill had Garrity in when he did not have to since he couldn't hit any thing even if it was throwing water in the ocean. Then when he needed somebody to hit 3s late in the game instead of Garrity he had Darko in. Somebody is way too confused. But on the positive side, Hill looked very confident in his designer suit.
At 1:33 AM,
OVERWADED said…
I couldn't have put it any better than Matt. The forth quarter starts. Garrity starts the 4th, having not played a single minute the entire game. He proceeds to play the next 10 minutes going 0-0-0-0 in every category besides a lone rebound. His man abuses him on the other end, even David and Matt Guokas mention how Garitty is a liability on the defensive end. The lead continues to increase while Darko sits on the bench and Garrity remains on the floor. Once the lead is at 10 and holding, Brian Hill decides to insert Darko in the game to play with Dwight for the first time. Of course by that time, there was less than 2 minutes left and the game was out of reach. As Matt said, wouldn't that be the time for Pat to be on the floor, being that the ONLY thing he is useful for is making a 3 pointer every now and then. I mean really, some of the substitutions were that bad. How could anyone with any basketball IQ not see that? Does Brian Hill think Pat is a "pros-pro", like he can just check into the game in the 4th having not played all game and just turn it on? Seriously, WHAT THE HELL??? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills having to try and understand and swallow crap like this.
At 3:03 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
J.J. Redick must still not be ready for any serious game action yet... if ever a game called for Redick to come off the bench and try to spark the team, this was it.
Over the summer, we were told that Redick was being held out of the summer league only as a precaution... that by training camp and the regular season, he'll be 100%. Here we are 3 games into the season, and there are still plenty of questions about Redick's health. I still have high hopes for him, as he will be a weapon for the Magic when he finally gets healthy.
Unfortunately, the Magic's problems right now run much deeper than Garrity's playing time.
Matt, glad you were able to find at least one positive from the game... too bad the designer suit didn't help Hill coach better.
At 5:23 AM,
Ken said…
Brian Hill continues to suck the life out of this team.
Is it too much to ask, that he at least have the team prepared to play the third game of the season? He has been given, what I think would be a coachs dream. Youth, talent, athletisism, a deep Bench, a couple savvy veterans, and he isn't doing any better than he did last year. 4th quarter, they can still win it. Nope, we get 10 painful minutes of watching Garrity get pushed around and shoot 0-3.
Nice call Brian.
At 7:02 AM,
Matt said…
I am sorry that the disappointment of loss was too overwhelming that I failed to acknowledge the fantastic play of Carlos and Grant. Darko and Keyon were solid, as well.
At 10:45 AM,
Matt said…
I think that Hedo and Keith are capable long range shooters, and Keyon is not bad either. Hill discourages players from taking outside shots if they could drive to the basket or step in for a shorter range shots. Remember the huge discrepancy on Deshawn's shooting 3s from the prior year to last year?
I agree that outside shooting is going to be a problem but defensive collapses cost us yesterday's game. After we caught up, Pat had no business of being in the game. If Darko was winded, Hill could have been better off playing small ball than using Pat.
At 3:30 PM,
Big Figure said…
You guys all make great points,none that i disagree with,right now in my opinion it seems as if the guys are still learning how to play together,throw out the chicago game because skile's who usually is a smart tactition,didnt choose to double dwight like i predicted he would,and dwight made him pay for that decision,but as brutal has pointed out,no one else wants to see dwight dunk on one on one coverage,so their sending the house at him and getting alot of turnovers out of him,hedo has been non existent and seems like he just wants to shoot the ball,battie had a great first game,and hasnt hit a shot since then pretty much,tony and pat dont help us at all if they arent hitting their jumpshots like others have pointed out,pats missing three's i know,but battie's missing ten foot jumpshots from the baseline area when he's wide open,thats just pathetic......as bad as it has been,the positive is that they have no where to go but up,and BSH seems like he's tired of seeing lackluster performances,so if jameer and battie seem uninterested tonight,they could be in jeopardy of losing their jobs,hedo too!
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