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, December 27, 2006

Lakers/Magic preview

After a three-day Christmas break, the Magic (17-12, 10-5 home, 2nd East)) host the LA Lakers (18-10, 5-6 road, 5th West), as they make their only visit to ORL this season. LAL are coming off a 101-85 beatdown at the hands of MIA on Christmas Day, as star Kobe Bryant was held to just 16 pts on just 4 of 17 shooting. LAL are 2-2 on this 6 game road swing. Magic have lost 2 in a row and 8 out of 12.

LAL are led, of course, by Bryant, averaging 27.3 pts and 5.2 asts. F Lamar Odom is out with a sprained right knee. LAL are just 3-4 without Odom. F Luke Walton averages 12.1 ppg; G Smush Parker 10.2 ppg, F/C Kwame Brown 8.7 pts, 6.2 rebs; and 19 yr old C Andrew Bynum 7.2 pts, 5.3 rebs. LAL are averaging 102.8 ppg, while allowing 100 ppg. ORL is averaging 92.7 ppg, while allowing 92.6 ppg. The Magic have scored over 90 pts just 3 times in the last 12 games.

H Turkoglu is day-to-day with his sprained ankle. Lakers have won 13 of their last 15 games against the Magic, including 3 in a row. Bryant has scored over 30 pts just 4 times in his last 15 games against the Magic. Magic are 1 pt favorites (www.pinnaclesports.com).

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 4:20 AM  

2 Comments:

  • At 3:22 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    As we all know, the Magic can beat anyone in this league, but they have also proven they can lose to everyone.

    Right now, I'm not too high on the squad. In November they were the best team in the league, and so far in December, injuries or not, they've pretty much been one of the worst, if not the worst.

    Brian Hill has proven to be the coach we all knew him to be. With a healthy team, the players can win because of great depth, but once a few injuries hit, Hill makes no adjustments, and continues to do what he does.

    Even if Hedo comes back tonight, I'd think there would be some rust and adjustments.

    Kobe is coming off of a horrible performance on Christmas day. I expect a big game from him which usually spells bad news for the opposing team.

    I hope the team can step up, but we have a few issues going on besides the coach. One, without Hedo, we really don't play any outside shooters. J.J. had his turn for 3 games, and even though he got better in each of them, he's found the end of the bench again.

    Garrity continues to somehow get 10 or so minutes a game, why, is beyond me. Teams don't even guard him anymore; he's shooting in the 20% area.

    Battie over the last 5 games has been shooting in the 20% area also. He isn't pulling down many rebounds or getting any blocks. What is he doing?

    Darko continues to average 20 minutes a game. Many games he plays less, often just a few more minutes than Garrity. Even if he is off, things happen when Dwight and Darko are out there together. Why can't our coach see that things happen much easier for the team when these two guys are on the court together? They create mismatches on both ends, and there isn't a single team in the league that won't have problems dealing with the both of them at the same time. Yet Brian Hill doesn't force the issue, and we continue letting teams off the hook.

    Point guard problems... Something needs to be done with our guards. In the past games, we've basically been rotating 4 point guards per game. OK, maybe 3, because Dooling is playing the 2 spot, and playing way to many minutes I might add. But something needs to be done here. First we have Jameer, who hasn't been playing nearly as well as he is capable. One of the reasons why, I think he needs more playing time. He's in and out so often, and usually plays in the high 20's. He's a young guy, and he's our starting point guard, there is no reason he shouldn't play 30+ minutes a night with Arroyo playing BACK UP minutes. Here is where a problem arises. It's great having Diener on the floor, because he spreads defenses, but we can't rotate this many small guards and be successful, and I think we've proven that. The perfect guy, size, and style of play would be Redick, but I've given up on him seeing any time this year.

    Interesting stats... Dwight is one of two players that averages over 30 minutes a game on our team. Still, he only plays 35 minutes. He just turned 21, is there any reason he shouldn't be playing 40? Make sense of this, the guy who plays the next most minutes behind Dwight is Grant Hill. Way to try and keep the guy healthy! Actually, you could pretty much look at minutes played and write an entire column on it. It really shows how lost Brian Hill is.

    No predictions for tonight’s game. But if the Magic want to have a chance, the players will need to show up and do it on their own. God knows Brian Hill won't have them prepared. On the flip side, you can expect Kobe and Jackson to be ready to go.

     

  • At 9:57 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    I don't know if any of you caught Brian Hill's post game. If you didn't, you should find a way to read up on it. There was a particular line he said multiply times in response for every question he was ask; "I don't have an answer for you".

    Enough said...

     

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