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 30, 2006

Magic fall just short in 1 pt loss to WAS

In a very entertaining game that featured 3 Magic players scoring 20 pts and 3 WAS players scoring 20+ pts, the Magic (17-14, 7-8 road) saw Keyon Dooling's last second running fifteen-footer fall well to the left in a 112-111 loss to WAS (17-12, 11-3 home). The Magic now trail WAS by 1 full game in the SE.

DHoward (20 pts 12 rebs), HTurkoglu (20 pts, all in the first half, 5 of 6 3 pters), and KDooling (20 pts off the bench on 9 of 13 FG shooting) all led the Magic. TAriza had 18 pts (8 of 9 FTs), and JNelson 15 pts, 5 asts, 5 rebs. Gilbert Arenas continued his hot streak of scoring with 36 pts, 9 rebs, 7 asts, but shot just 11 of 26 FG (13 of 14 FTs). Antawn Jamison added 25 pts, 11 rebs, Caron Butler 20 pts on 8 of 12 shooting, and Deshawn Stevenson 11 pts.

The Magic (42 of 81, 51.9%) outscored WAS (38 of 70, 54.3%) from the field 92-79. The Magic shot well from 3 pt range at 8 of 13, compared to 3 of 11 for WAS. WAS had a big edge at the FT line, making 33 of 41, compared to 19 of 25 for the Magic. WAS outrebounded the Magic 37-31. The Magic had a better AST/TO ratio of 23-13, with the Wizards at 18-16. The Magic bench, thanks mainly to Dooling and Ariza, dominated the WAS bench 47-14.

Certainly a tough loss, but the Magic can take a lot of positives from this game. When they fell down by 8 pts late in the third quarter, they could have been blown out, but they came back and almost pulled it out, without GHill, who had to leave the game with a sore foot. Magic host Miami SAT night, who may be without Dwyane Wade (sprained wrist).

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:30 AM  

3 Comments:

  • At 1:26 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Well, I've been in the Orlando area a few days now on my annual holiday vacation visiting family, and I'm glad I had the chance to watch the game FRI night.

    Despite the loss, I'm actually encouraged. The offense operated very well with 23 asts; 3 players scored 20 pts; they ran on the break when they had the chance, shot nearly 52% from the field and a respectable 76% from the FT line; made 8 3 pt FGs; and limited their TOs to just 13. Jameer seems to play a lot better in this type of offense also.

    As was mentioned by Introvert316, the Magic did look disorganized coming out of the timeout with under a minute left. Also, Dwight missed a couple close-in shots in the final minute or so that he shouldn't have missed.

    That stinks that both Diener and Redick were inactive, but it was nice seeing Hedo with the hot hand in the first half, even though he didn't have it in the second half.

    Arenas did not have his best shooting night, but his dead-eye FT shooting (13 of 14) really helped the Wizards cause. With Jamison and Butler, those 3 players make WAS a dangerous team to play on any given night.

    I'm looking forward to attending the 3 home games next week, which I already have the tix for (couldn't get any for the MIA game, all sold-out). The Magic have won the last 5 games I have attended the previous 2 years, so hopefully they can get it going again.

     

  • At 9:28 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Soo Mike you'll get to see the Clippers, Bobcats, and Boston; I think they can manage a few victories for you.

    The team has been looking a lot better since the return of Hedo. For the simple fact that he's a 3 point threat, makes a world of a difference. Why Brian Hill can't put together that we struggle when we have zero 3 point shooters on the floor is beyond me. He really never mentions that, and always defers a loss to something else. It really seems obvious too; when Jameer and Hedo were out, the times our offense ran the best was when Diener and Redick were getting playing time. Even with the return of Jameer, the team still struggled, as he hasn't been taking his shots as much, especially 3 pointers. However, since the return of Hedo, the team has started looking better. I figured there would be a few games for adjustments. They also need to get their confidence back. A victory last night would have accomplished that, but it was about as encouraging of a loss as we could have had. As you pointed out, the Magic we down 9 in the 3rd, and that was the point I was thinking; "here we go again". Instead, they came out of a timeout scrambling and hustling. The play that set the tone was when they Magic hustled for about 3 offensive rebounds, Hedo dished to Dwight, and Dwight let out a little frustration with a powerful dunk. Although he didn't complete the 3 point play, they never let up from that point on. Any other night and this would have been a victory, but Hedo was shutdown in the 2nd half, Grant Hill was hurt, and for whatever reason they choose not to go to Jameer. So we just didn't have a guy to make that big shot we needed. As many game winners as Jameer has had, I really question why he wasn't demanding the ball. Oh, there was one other factor, Arenas, who ball hogged more than anyone I've seen in a long time. It's probably since the T-Mac days since I've seen something like that. The 1st 3 quarters he wasn't bad, but the 4th he just starting chucking, play after play. But he's good, and if the shot didn't go in, he usually ended up on the free throw line, so I guess I can't blame him.

     

  • At 7:05 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    I'll take that effort every night,that type of effort will win alot of games in this league,your not gonna face an offensive output type team like the wiz every night.

     

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