LeBron's huge 4th quarter sinks Magic
The Magic held a 65-62 lead heading into the 4th quarter, when LeBron James decided to take the game over for the Cavs and no one on the Magic could stop him. James scored 19 pts in the quarter on 8 of 10 shooting to finish with 32 pts as CLE (15-11, 12-3 home) beat the Magic (17-12, 7-7 away) 86-83.
DHoward led the Magic with 17 pts 13 rebs. GHill added 15 pts, with 5 pts coming in the final seconds to make the game a little closer than it would have been. TAriza 13 pts; KDooling off the bench with 11 pts; and CArroyo with 10 pts 5 asts. Tough nights for DMilicic (0 pts) and TDiener (3 pts) who combined to score 3 pts. Poor game from JNelson (5 pts on 1 of 8 shooting). LeBron got help from Zydrunas Ilgauskas with a season-high 22 pts 10 rebs, and former Magic F Drew Gooden with 14 pts 12 rebs.
CLE (34 of 85, 40%) outscored the Magic (30 of 69, 43.5%) from the field 70-63. CLE was 2 of 9 from 3 pt range, while the Magic were 3 of 8. The Magic (20 of 27) had the edge at the FT line (CLE 16 of 29). CLE dominated the boards 51-39, including 23-10 on the offensive boards. Both teams had a similar AST/TO ratio, 17-16 for CLE and 18-16 for the Magic. The Magic bench outscored the CLE bench 29-12.
The Magic are now only 1 1/2 games ahead of the surging Wizards and 3 1/2 games ahead of MIA in the SE, and are 1 1/2 games behind DET for the best record in the conference with CLE and CHI right there with the Magic. The team has now lost 8 of its last 12 games. The Magic get 3 days off for Christmas break, then host Kobe and the Lakers WED night.
DHoward led the Magic with 17 pts 13 rebs. GHill added 15 pts, with 5 pts coming in the final seconds to make the game a little closer than it would have been. TAriza 13 pts; KDooling off the bench with 11 pts; and CArroyo with 10 pts 5 asts. Tough nights for DMilicic (0 pts) and TDiener (3 pts) who combined to score 3 pts. Poor game from JNelson (5 pts on 1 of 8 shooting). LeBron got help from Zydrunas Ilgauskas with a season-high 22 pts 10 rebs, and former Magic F Drew Gooden with 14 pts 12 rebs.
CLE (34 of 85, 40%) outscored the Magic (30 of 69, 43.5%) from the field 70-63. CLE was 2 of 9 from 3 pt range, while the Magic were 3 of 8. The Magic (20 of 27) had the edge at the FT line (CLE 16 of 29). CLE dominated the boards 51-39, including 23-10 on the offensive boards. Both teams had a similar AST/TO ratio, 17-16 for CLE and 18-16 for the Magic. The Magic bench outscored the CLE bench 29-12.
The Magic are now only 1 1/2 games ahead of the surging Wizards and 3 1/2 games ahead of MIA in the SE, and are 1 1/2 games behind DET for the best record in the conference with CLE and CHI right there with the Magic. The team has now lost 8 of its last 12 games. The Magic get 3 days off for Christmas break, then host Kobe and the Lakers WED night.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:26 AM
5 Comments:
At 12:54 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Introvert316, nice pre-game predictions; you were right on all 4 counts (GHill being tired, Darko not playing 30+minutes, Travis getting less time, and Redick not playing). Also, the margin of victory would have been what you said if the Cavs had shot FTs better.
My biggest point of contention regarding this game was the handling of the pt guards. Arroyo obviously was having a better game than Nelson; why wasn't Arroyo allowed to play the final 5 minutes in the 4th quarter? (BHill put Arroyo in the final 20 seconds when the game was basically out of reach) Instead, Nelson comes back in, and misses several shots in the final minutes.
A couple of you guys have pointed that out before, that Hill can be very inflexible when it comes to playing the starter in the final 5 or so minutes regardless of whether the starter is playing well or not. In this game, why not stick with Carlos in the 4th instead of going back to Jameer?
Of course, Darko and Diener deserve more playing time, as well as Redick.
Intro is right, it is like beating a dead horse regarding the subject of Brian Hill faults as coach. Unless Hill commits some kind of felony, or the Magic lose about 18 games in a row, there is no way Hill will be fired. I don't think any of us want to see the Magic go in the tank that bad just to see Hill fired.
The best we can hope for is that HIll can guide the Magic into the playoffs the next 2 seasons, get them that playoff experience, and after Hill's contract is up, getting a coach who is capable of turning the Magic into a championship contender.
At 9:45 AM,
Big Figure said…
The rotations used by bsh are so bad that we are playing 2's for 3's,our coach plays no three point shooters (diener,redick,bogans,garrity 9 minutes combined),we put together alot of 2pt baskets under this coach,and all it takes is a period throughout the game where the other team hits a few,then they pack it in and dare us to match them,with the line-ups being used by bsh,we just cant,thats why we've scored a 100 like once in 2 months.
At 9:46 AM,
Big Figure said…
FIRE BRIAN HILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At 10:22 AM,
Matt said…
I think we need to open a serious discussion about issues that are detrimental to Magic's long-term prospect. I don't agree with beating the dead horse argument, and totally oppose that Hill may be able to limp us into play-offs for a couple of years, and then we should hope that he is not going to be re-hired. If you want to resign to that scenario, it is your choice, but certainly not mine. I am going to start a new post and would like everybody to be genuinely open about your views. See you there.
At 10:00 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
We all want to see Darko in the starting lineup sooner rather than later. However, he is going to have to work on his consistency, and avoid such poor games like he had against CLE. 0 pts, 2 rebs, and 4 TOs in 23 minutes is simply awful. He did have the 3 blocked shots and 3 asts, but that certainly doesn't make up for the 0 pts, 2 rebs, and 4 TOs.
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