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 28, 2006

Magic turn up D, stun Utah

A great start for the Magic (11-4) to the road trip, led by DHoward's 21 pts and 16 rebs, as the Magic beat the NBA's best team, the Jazz (12-3), 88-75.

Even though Dwight shot just 4 of 11, he was an outstanding 13 of 16 from the FT line, and drew the praise of Jerry Sloan about how the Jazz could not stop him on the boards. GHill scored 16 pts, JNelson 15 pts, and CArroyo led the bench with 13 pts. Carlos Boozer led UT with 21 pts 9 rebs. Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko had 13 and 11 pts respectively.

Both teams had an off-night from the field. The Magic (30 of 76, 39.5%) outscored UT (29 of 68, 42.6%) from the field 62-59. The Magic were just 2 of 11 from 3 pt range, UT 1 of 12. The Magic (26 of 34, 76.5%) had the edge on FTs (UT 16 of 20 80%). The Magic dominated the boards 45-36, including 15-5 on the offensive end. Both teams had similar assist/turnover ratios (ORL 11 assists 14 TOs, UT 19-21), but the Magic took better care of the ball. The Magic bench did well again, outscoring the UT bench 29-13. Darko (5 pts 5 rebs), and TAriza (8 pts 4 rebs) played well in addition to Arroyo.

Great job by the Magic in keeping the Jazz in a halfcourt game, as they realized the Jazz have won all 12 games when they scored 100 or more pts. Even though the Jazz scored 13 pts in a row late in the fourth quarter to cut the Magic lead to 8, the Magic didn't panic and finished the game off. After a well-deserved day off TUE, the Magic travel to SEA WED.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 3:50 AM  

7 Comments:

  • At 9:26 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    This was a good win by the Magic against a team that holds the best record in the West, although Utah did not look even close to the best teams in the West. The following are some observations:

    1 - The defense was the key. The holes in the middle were mainly plugged allowing for jump-shots that as we know is not Utah's prowess.
    2 - Magic took a better care of the ball with 14 turnovers only.
    3 - Darko played only 23 minutes, and at one point was pulled out after a mistake to be replaced by Bo. Hill needs to stop penalizing Darko for minor mistakes. The team is better off with him on the floor in-spite of those mistakes.
    4 - J.J. was back in street clothes. I guess Travis was active.

     

  • At 11:34 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    BIG WIN! Its enjoyable to watch the magic actually handle poeple,i never really thought utah had a chance watching the game,the magic lead from the begining and held on to a lead to finish it out,playing to the level of our opponent is the way i would descibe previous magic teams. On to seattle who will present a much tougher challenge in their building,three's should be raining from allen and lewis,gotta bring your defense to work!

     

  • At 12:53 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Jameer attacked,but hedo's still struggling after having a decent game last outing,substitutions were good,bench played well,dwight was unconcious from the free-throw line,defensive rebounding was great,all-around good team effort!

     

  • At 3:28 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    In Steve Kerr's latest weekly rankings on Yahoo Sports, he has the Magic rated at number 4 in the league, up from number 6 last week. He calls the Magic a deep, well-balanced team. Which is something we've known since the last month of last season.

     

  • At 5:35 PM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    I got to sit down and watch them for the first time in a long while. Was fully ready for them to not show up and get beaten badly. Instead I enjoyed the evening. They have great teamwork and good balance. Our superstar in training is not the type to get everyone else on the court stopping play to watch him, unlike say Kobe, AI, Wade, Bron, or Starbury.

    I continue to be amazed how the trades (only 40 games ago) transformed the team from selfish to ball-moving so quickly. This is no longer a fluke, they are on a 27-10 run (.730 60 win pace.)

    I still have lots of concerns, but they can be addressed later. I'm very happy with 11-4 at this point, even if three of those losses came against the three worst teams they have played.

     

  • At 10:03 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    That's the reason I'm not worried about landing a "superstar" free agent this coming summer. Vince Carter's name always comes up, and you know, I don't know that a gunner like Carter would do good for our TEAM. As of now they are playing basketball the way it should be played. Of course there is room for improvement, but they are still getting the job done so it's all good.

    Great stat on the 27-10 record since the trades. I knew Francis was bad for the team, but I don't think anyone realized he was that bad for our team. It's players with that kind of attitude that we'll have to avoid. We don't need anyone like that. But the dumping of the cancer that was Francis, and the additions of Darko, Arroyo, and Ariza not only made us a better team, but made us 3 players deeper.

    If the Magic are this good as of right now, after only 40 games with these guys truly together, what is the limit? They are only going to get better, not just because of chemistry, but we all know we have a lot of young guys that are far from peaking. Exciting times in O-Town!

    Just one other thought... I never thought Stevenson was bad for our team, but sometimes he gave me the vibe that he thought he was better than he actually was. Bogans, although not playing much, knows he's a role player, which helps, and that was something Stevenson never understood. All of our guys seem to understand their roles. What changes, and how long that will last, only time will tell. But if they continue to win, I'm sure everyone will remain happy.

     

  • At 10:24 PM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    Funny point on Stevenson from the Sentinel article on traveling with the team. The Magic book standard rooms at luxury hotels for everyone but the head coach and trainer who need more space for meetings and therapy and get suites. Players can upgrade to a suite on their own dime if they desire, paying the difference of $600 for a suite per night vs. the $225-250 the team has negotiated. Last year only one player upgraded every night on the road: Stevenson.

     

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