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.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Turkoglu saves the day for Magic in last-second win over SEA

After the Magic blew an 86-77 lead with 3 minutes left to trail SEA by 1 pt with 5.7 seconds left, Hedo Turkoglu's 20 footer with less than a second left bailed out the Magic as they edged the Sonics 88-87.

Turkoglu and JNelson led the Magic with 18 pts each. GHill added 12 pts and CArroyo 10 pts 6 assists. DHoward had his third straight quiet offensive game with 8 pts and 5 TOs, but did grab 10 rebounds. Ray Allen with 21 pts (4 of 8 3 pt FG) and Rashard Lewis with 16 led SEA.

The Magic shot very well from the field again (34 of 63; 54%) compared to SEA (32 of 77; 41.6%) and outscored them 74-70. Magic shot 6 of 16 on 3 pointers (37.5%), while SEA was 6 of 15. SEA (17 of 20; 85%) had the edge on the FT line over the Magic (14 of 23; 60.9%). Rebounds were even at 36, even though SEA had 16 offensive boards to just 7 for ORL. Way too many TOs for the Magic again, with 25, compared with 21 assists. SEA also had a poor assist/TO ratio at 14-21. The Magic bench edged the SEA bench 26-24.

Hedo saved what would have been an awful loss for the Magic, not being able to protect a 9 pt lead with 3 minutes left, and turning the ball over 4 times in that span. Magic are now 3-2 as they hit the road for 11 of their next 15 games, but have a number of issues to deal with and improve on.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:11 PM  

11 Comments:

  • At 11:02 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Some positives from the game: (1) Jameer was able to have a decent game, shooting 8 of 12 with 3 assists and 3 TOs. (2) Arroyo had an excellent assist/turnover ratio of 6-2. (3) Magic started the game fast and jumped out to an early 13 pt lead. (4) Magic overcame a 12 pt third quarter deficit to take control in the fourth, only to almost blow it in the final minutes.

    Some of the negatives: (1) Even though Darko had 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals, he fouled out in just 15 minutes with 4 TOs and just 2 pts. (2) Dwight with just 8 pts on 3 of 5 shooting and 5 TOs in 30 minutes... what can be done to get him going offensively? (3) Garrity saw 8 minutes of first half action, shooting just 1 of 4. At least the Magic won a game that Garrity appeared in. (4) Poor FT shooting again... 14 of 23.

    BHill needs to find a way to get Keith Bogans on the floor more. In just 5 minutes against SEA, he scored 5 pts with 2 rebs... pretty efficient. Bogans also played a key role in the win over ATL.

    Great shot by Hedo to pull out the W.

     

  • At 2:12 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Darko is going to give up on the Magic, you can see it coming. There is no reason he should not be starting but Brian Hill insists that Tony BatGirl has to be in the starting line-up. What reason does he have? I am not sure look at the stats from the game tonight for Batgirl:

    32min 6pts 5rbs 2st 1bs

    I would rather see Darko picking up those minutes. I will predict that if Darko is not in the starting line-up within the next 15 games, he will tank the rest of the season and go back to Europe to play. He has the same bad body language he did in Detroit...the writing is on the wall....

     

  • At 7:49 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    Worse than not starting Darko, Hill is quick to yank him out any time he makes a mistake. That does not sent a good signal to the player. I am curious what happened to the patience Hill demonstrated with Jameer? I agree that Darko looks uninterested, at times. We have got to remember that these days they pay pretty good in Europe.

     

  • At 9:57 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    Last night's game should have never been this close. Hill's stubbornness is causing problems:

    1 - It was the wrong idea to put in Jameer to finish the game coming in cold as opposed to Carlos who was running the team fine. The result was the melt down that we luckily escaped from losing the game.
    2 - Darko is erratic because he does not consistently practice with the same group of people. He is sometimes with the second unit and sometimes with a portion of the first unit and sometimes with a make shift unit. That should not be an issue with an experienced role player, but it is with Darko since he could be considered a rookie.
    3 - What the heck is Garrity doing in the game? I am curious if he is shooting any better in practice that gives Hill the impression that he may eventually hit some shots?
    4 - To cut down on team's turnovers, the ball should be in Grant's hands a lot more than Jameer's until team's offensive sets are well established, which is not at the moment. We don't have problems when Carlos is in. Dwight also needs to slow down a bit and scan what the opponents are giving him. He is not a polished offensive player yet, but playing alongside Darko may help his offense, too. WAKE UP HILL!

     

  • At 11:37 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    All great points matt,its a shame we had to hit a game winner to win,we had the lead and what seemed like the game in check,in comes jameer and somehow the game is a close one,the only positive in my opinion is that in the last two games the magic have won by a combined 4pts,thats showing mental toughness,last year we lose both of those games. Also seattle needs to be given some credit for being a scrappy team with some deadly shooters,miami had their hands full with them also,can you imagine how Bob Hill feels after losing the first game in florida to the heat by a game winning shot,then deja vu happens and hedo does it to them again,i was thinking before hedo let that shot go that bad luck ususally happens to bad teams,and it did,gotta feel for'em.

     

  • At 12:01 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Matt, you covered all of my main points; well said. So I’m going to just go off of what you were saying and add to it.

    1. The first and obvious was when the Magic were on a hell of a run, with a potential future starting lineup of Dwight, Darko, Hedo, Grant, and Arroyo. With the 2 big men out there together, and Arroyo running the show, the team showed how good they could be. The crowd was going crazy during that period, it was exciting basketball. Then, Brian Hill checked Nelson back into the game, and even though he hit a few shots last night, he's just not running the team well. We were up by what, 9 when he came in, and the Sonics went on a huge run. We were in trouble, and Turk bailed us out. After the game, someone asked Brian Hill why he made the Arroyo/Nelson change at the end and if it was the right move. Hill responded with: "because I wanted Nelson in". In the post game interview he was being a total dick. I guess he had his panties in a bunch over the turnovers, but that was still no reason to be an ass to the guys doing their jobs asking him about the game. This guy is bad news for us.

    2. Darko has been playing with the 2nd unit, and has been playing center. That isn't what Darko is used to or wanting to do. Darko likes to face the basket, play more of the power forward spot, make the pass, take the jumper...at least he was able to get a few significant minutes with Dwight tonight, and look at what happened. Seattle had no answer and the Magic looked like the team we know they can be.

    3. Sometimes I feel Brian Hill gives players playing time based off of seniority. Like, Garrity has been here the longest, and even though he's our worst player, that still means he should have a stretch of minutes. Maybe it's because he's a nice family guy with a wife and kids? I DON'T KNOW-I DON'T CARE. The only good thing about the time Garrity played last night was that it happened in the 2nd quarter. So, when he checked in, with the lead being 1, and was gone, with us being down a lot more, we had time to recover in the 3rd and 4th quarters from having played 10 minutes of handicapped basketball with Garrity out there.

    Also, there was a period were we had Garrity, Bo, and Dooling out there together, with a couple others, and it was just ugly. On a positive, when Garrity got his put back, and finally scored, the crowd gave him a loud sarcastic cheer. And then he went back to his normal self by screwing up on the very next play. HE IS WORTHLESS.

    Some questions to think about.

    How long will Nelson keep his starting job if the team keeps running that much better with Arroyo?

    What is going to happen with Darko? At this point, I’m not blaming anything on Darko with his situation. He came into the season ready, and Brian Hill just doesn’t know what he is doing.

    Dooling can play some nice minutes, but is he really the guy you want out there playing major minutes? He is undersized for a lot of the guys he is guarding. I’m still undecided.

    Why did we sign Keith Bogans if we’re not going to use him?

    The biggest question of concern should be, will Brian Hill ever wake up? Or, will he stunt the growth or truly hurt this team’s future?

     

  • At 12:04 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    This has been a decent start for the Magic. As bigfigure pointed out, it's good for this young Magic team to have these close games, especially the ones they win. It should make things a lot easier once the season hits full stride.

     

  • At 12:30 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    2 things: (1)Carlos is the older and more experienced point guard,he's been playing much more important basketball when it comes to international play and big game match-ups with other country's,he also understands how to lead because he's lead the puerto rican team for a long time now,why not start carlos,its like letting the student teach the class,while the teacher sits in a desk and gets up every now and then,carlos should be leading this team based on his resume,but seniority is coming into play like intro said,carlos and darko have been here for less than a whole season,so BSH gives playing time to the players that have been here the longest,and its killing us. (2)What the hell's up with letting battie man the PF spot by himself,like intro has pointed out,dwight and darko are being subed for each other,thats not how darko should be used,first thing first,dwight should not be guarding other teams offensive big-men,its causing early foul trouble,that should be battie's job,and if battie gets into foul trouble you can sud darko for battie,keeping dwight on the floor at all times,not battie,it seems as if darko plays with battie way more than he does with dwight,ughhhhhh!!!!!!!

     

  • At 8:27 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Excellent points and questions raised by you guys.

    If Darko can string a few decent games together, without the fouls and TOs, he should see more playing time, and eventually start. At least he and Dwight are seeing a little time together, and the team is playing well when they are on the floor at the same time.

    Carlos is really showing that he deserves to start at PG. However, BHIll is going to give Jameer every opportunity to remain the starter, and I do believe he'll play like he's capable of playing, but it may take awhile until the player rotation becomes a little more consistent and some chemistry can be developed.

    It's really nice knowing that Carlos can come in and play so well if Jameer isn't doing the job. But like you guys said, BHill was foolish in putting in Jameer the last 3 minutes of the SEA game when Carlos was doing so well running the team.

     

  • At 1:35 AM, Blogger Ken said…

    BSH is taking this whole seniority thing a bit to far. For as deep a bench as ours, Garrity should be sitting next to the security guard. If you think about it, BSH sort of has that Larry Brown mentality about rookies. Except Brown can somewhat coach. Darko and Dwight need to be our starting force on the floor. Then, bring in Battie with a second unit to give them veteran leadership on the floor.

    I want to thank Otis Smith for his forthought and vision in signing Carlos Arroyo. I love Jameer, he and Dwight are the cornerstones of the Magic future. But for the time being, Arroyo I believe, has earned and should be the starting PG. A solid veteran who also ran the Puerto Rican national team offense. His consistancy is something this young team desperatly needs.

     

  • At 2:47 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Brian Hill has very much reminded me of the bad qualities of Larry Brown, of course with the lack of the good ones.

    Darko and Ariza have both got to be thinking "what the hell"?

     

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