Orlando Magic Blog

Group Blog talking about the NBA 2009 Eastern Conference Champions. Due to the amazing success of the 2009 playoff run comments are now frequently deleted to kill offensive comments, incoherence, or asininity. Comments can no longer be anonymous and require either a Blogger or OpenID account.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Magic hang on to beat Celtics

After leading the whole game but falling behind late in the fourth quarter, the Magic kept their composure and took the lead back and held on for a 92-89 victory. The Magic have now won 4 out of 5 and are at 5-3, while BOS is at 1-6.

JNelson continiues his improving play, as he led the Magic with 24 pts, 7 assists and 5 rebounds. GHill added 18 pts, DHoward 17 pts 15 rebs, and TAriza led the reserves with 10 pts. The big two for BOS, Paul Pierce and Wally Szczerbiak, scored 21 and 14 pts respectively, but combined to shoot just 11 of 31.

The Magic shot well again (38 of 71, 53.5%), outscoring BOS (31 of 81, 38.3%) from the field 76-69. However, the Magic was 0 for 8 on 3 pt FGs, while BOS was 7 of 14. BOS (20 of 28, 71.4%) had the edge at the FT line (ORL 16 of 25, 64%). The Magic outrebounded BOS 43-34. BOS had the better assist/turnover ratio of 22-11, compared to 17-15 for the Magic. At least the Magic have had two straight games of under 20 TOs. The Magic bench edged the BOS bench 26-25. Darko did well with 8 pts 4 rebs and 3 blocks in just 19 minutes.

The Magic are now 3-1 in games decided by 5 pts or less, compared to 10-14 all last season. The fact they can go on the road and win a close game after falling behind in the last few minutes is a very encouraging sign. The fact the Magic are 5-3 despite difficulties at times and less than perfect coaching at times is also encouraging. The Magic now have a stretch of 4 of 6 games at home, before embarking on a difficult 6 game road trip.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:17 AM  

5 Comments:

  • At 2:04 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    At least we have all our injured guys back now (except for Redick). Having Ariza come in off the bench with his energy and defense really helps things (once again... kudos to Otis for stealing Ariza from the Knicks).

    Now, the player rotation should be a lot more consistent from game-to-game, and that should really help team chemistry. Darko deserves more playing time though, and yes, I wish our coach would start him; Darko has been very impressive these last two games.

    I'm comfortable with the idea of sitting Grant in the second game of back-to-backs, if this will keep him fresh for the long haul. Our strong depth allows for this to be done, even though it might mess with the chemistry a little.

     

  • At 9:22 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    I expect a long day and a heavy load of work, so I forgo the long list of negatives and focus on positives:

    1 - Grant was fantastic, but is sitting Grant down on a back-to-back the most important task for Otis Smith?
    2 - Bo had some minutes at the expense of Garrity.
    3 - Ariza reminds me of Cedric Cebbalos, aka. garbage collector. I can see Ariza scoring in the 20s now that he has developed a good looking jump shot. Next to Darko he has got the most potential upside on the team. How long is his contract?
    4 - Jameer has got his eyes of the assasin back. Please do not leave the ground before you know where you are going with the ball.
    5 - Darko was aggressive and quite impressive again. Please slow down a tad bit when releasing the ball.
    6 - Winning a game on the road, when fallen behind late in the game after leading all the way through, shouls be a good character builder for a young team.

     

  • At 10:25 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Good win over a bad team,as matt has stated this team is consistently "inconsistent",so hopefully the guys can build on some of this success in winning four of five and 2 in a row,and just focus on giving your best performance every night showing maturity,patience and consistentcy,wins will take care of themselves if they do that.

     

  • At 7:34 PM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    Ariza is signed for 2 years plus a player option and is a steal.

    I have not been able to watch the last two games but don't find it surprising that the team is winning with him part of the rotation.

     

  • At 10:20 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    With ATL losing, the Magic has the second best record in the east and is on top of southeast division. They should catch DEN tired tomorrow night coming from a hard win in MIA.

     

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