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.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Hill returns from injury to lead Magic over Cavs

Led by GHill's 21 pts and DHoward's 14 pts 16 rebs, the Magic (16-10, 9-4 home) outlasted CLE (14-9, 3-7 away) in a very low-scoring affair 81-74, despite 29 pts from LeBron James. The Magic move into 2nd place in the East, % pts behind DET.

The Magic bench contributed plenty. DMilicic had 12 pts 9 rebs, TDiener and KDooling 11 pts each, and J.J. Redick added 6 pts, including a 4 pt play. James got little help for CLE, as Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes were the only other Cavs players in double figures with 14 each.

The Magic (30 of 73, 41%) outscored CLE (27 of 75, 36%) from the field 65-57. The Magic shot well on 3 pters, 5 of 10, while CLE was just 3 of 13. CLE (17 of 25) had a slight edge on the FT line (ORL 16 of 25). The Magic won the rebound battle 48-38. Both teams had a poor AST/TO ratio, with the Magic at 13-19, and CLE at 12-16. The Magic bench dominated 40-8 over the CLE bench.

Talk about ugly stats... 81 pts, 41% FG shooting, 64% FT shooting, 19 TOs, 13 ASTS... but the Magic found a way to win the game over a quality team. With 3 players still out with injury and three starters struggling, the bench played well, and picked up the slack. The Magic finally get a break in the schedule and don't play until WED, hosting NO.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 11:08 PM  

10 Comments:

  • At 7:53 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    All that I wished for happened. Our bigs outplayed theirs and our shooters came to life. Keyon, being a streaky shooter, shot well too. I would like to see who dares to deprive Travis and J.J. from their deserved minutes, ever again? Four minutes was four minutes too many for Garrity; why not use Bo when you have shooters on the floor? This was a good win for us, and three days of rest would bring a world of relief to this tired team.

     

  • At 11:40 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Great win! BSH must have read some of my posts,because last night at the end of the lackluster first quarter,the dante guy reported that BSH told the team he wanted everything off of the roll,to many post ups were killing us because they were sagging off of trevor and grant,but as soon as we put the shooters on the floor and ran pick and roll they had no answer,we had much better ball movement and alot less one on one's/post-up's,evidence is in the fact that we dominted the boards on both ends,dwight was able to get offensive rebounds for monster put back dunks,darko got an offensive rebound off of a missed jumper late that was big,last night bsh let the guards dictate the action,the only thing that bothers me is that it took him 5 games to make the proper adjustment,when i'd been calling for it games ago!

     

  • At 11:47 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Carlos,trevor and battie combine for 6 pts,i have to give credit to bsh for putting their behinds on the pine to finish both half's,he gave them plenty of opportunities to contribute,if you cant get it done,make way for someone who can,i say start travis while jameer is out because carlos isnt a good enough outside shooter to be a lead guard,plus carlos could go back to his bench role where he's more comfortable,travis needs to be out there to spread the floor for dwight.

     

  • At 3:03 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Matt, Brian Hill is on a kick right now with 3 point shooters, so he's playing Garrity of course.

    Garrity's Stats This Year
    MPG 10
    FG% .250
    3P% .211

    And Brian Hill continues to play him...

    For the 3rd game in a row, the Magic didn't show any signs of life until Travis, Darko, and J.J. hit the floor.

    Arroyo sucked... He has actually gotten worse as the games have gone on. Maybe Hill should consider bringing him off the bench where he seems more comfortable and give Travis a chance to start.

    Last night Arroyo had 0 points, 1 assist, 1 rebound, 1 TO in 20 minutes of play. Needless to say, I'm glad B Hill was smart enough to let Travis finish the game as he outplayed Arroyo again.

    If we thought we had a point guard controversy before; things are about to heat up.

    Once again, can someone tell me why Darko still is not starting? Last night, for the first time I can remember, he plays 32 minutes (as he should be everynight), and he did what we've all said he'd do, put up 12/9/1. Our starter Battie had 2/7; at least he decided to get a few rebounds last night.

    Darko and Dwight continue to impress when they're on the court together. Can someone tell me why we don't try and take advantage of this more often? Nobody has an answer for both of these guys playing together. On the defensive end, they are awesome together, and on the offensive end they are awesome together. They are just to big on the defensive end, and the same goes on the offensive, as if one of them misses, the other is waiting to clean up. WHY ARE WE LETTING EVERY TEAM IN THE NBA OFF THE HOOK? We should be abusing teams night in and out with them paired together. Instead, we get little flashes 1 out of every 5 games or so, because BSHill doesn't play them much together.

     

  • At 4:36 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    It is interesting that LeBron said that "They make you shoot a lot of jump shots,..., because if you go down the lane, you will be faced by the three-headed monster in Battie, Howard and Milicic." I have a suggestion for a little correction; take Battie out of that comment, and I absolutely agree with it. Hill said that he does not think about changing starting line-up while winning. Did you notice that Darko was limping throughout a large portion of that 30 some minutes that he played, and never asked to come out?

    The problem remains that Hill does not contribute the current losses to any thing other than the injuries, and thus will stick to his line-up. He thinks that Darko is not ready to start, based on what, your guess is as good as mine or anybody else, for that matter.

     

  • At 8:41 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    I didn't see the game, but just by looking at the box score, I could tell that BHill did a much better job of player rotation and matchups (other than playing Garrity), because the bench players who played so well got the majority of the minutes, while the starters who struggled, particularly Arroyo and Battie, played only 19 and 20 minutes respectively. As was mentioned, at least Battie grabbed 7 rebs, but Arroyo didn't do a darn thing.

    As Matt said, Travis has proven that he deserves significant playing time every game, and J.J. too. When Nelson comes back, it's going to be up to BHill to make sure everyone who deserves it gets their proper playing time, and if Jameer doesn't pick up his play, let Travis start. Introvert 316 is right about a possible pt guard controversy developing.

    Big Figure, excellent points on your posts.

     

  • At 12:34 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Preciate it mike,and i was wondering if there was anyway you could put the standings on the home page?

     

  • At 2:56 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

     

  • At 3:03 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Big Figure, later on today when I have more time I'll make a post and show the current standings.

     

  • At 5:01 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Thanks mike,the magic's home site re-directs you to nba.com and they show the standings in a divisional way,it doesnt let you know the current seedings if the season were to end today.

     

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