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Thursday, December 14, 2006

TOR stuns slumping Magic

TOR (8-14, 3-11 road), without starting C Chris Bosh and on a 4 game losing streak, took advantage of another poor-shooting game and poor second-half showing by the Magic (15-9, 8-4 home). Final score TOR 91, ORL 84.

TOR was led by number one overall pick Andrea Bargnani, who scored 23 pts off the bench on 8 of 16 shooting, including 5 of 8 on 3 pt FG. Four other players scored in double figures for TOR. ORL was led by CArroyo, starting in place of JNelson, with 22 pts. DHoward added 17 pts 13 rebs, but shot just 6 of 17. TBattie added 11 pts, and KDooling led the reserves with 10 pts, but shot just 3 of 11. TDiener (6 pts) and J.J. Redick (0 pts) saw a combined 36 minutes of action, but shot a combined 2 of 14, including 2 of 8 on 3 pters. GHill scored just 3 pts, and had to leave the game early with left knee tendinitis.

TOR (31 of 66, 47%) outscored the Magic (32 of 85, 37.6%) from the field 69-66. TOR shot 7 of 17 on 3 pters, while the Magic struggled at 2 of 12. TOR (22 of 26) also had the edge at the FT line (ORL 18 of 23). The Magic won the rebound battle 43-39. The Magic had a poor assist/turnover ratio of 10-14, while TOR was at 14-14. The TOR bench soundly outscored the Magic bench 44-24.

Despite Nelson, HTurkoglu, and KBogans out with injuries, the Magic are still superior to a TOR team without star C Chris Bosh, but still managed to lose the game. Only 40 second half pts on 32% shooting and 9 second-half TOs for the Magic. ORL still leads the East by 1/2 game over DET and CLE, and 2 games over CHI. No time for rest, as they travel to CHA THU night for a national TV game on TNT.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:05 AM  

8 Comments:

  • At 1:21 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Brian Hill finally did what all of us have been saying he should do: not play Garrity and give Diener and Redick playing time. So what happens? Diener and Redick shoot a combined 2 of 14, and 2 of 8 on 3's... ouch! Redick didn't even score in 16 minutes (0 of 2 3 pt FGS). But... you still have to play them and hope they can get on track.

    Dooling, Diener, and Redick combine to shoot 5 of 25.

    TAriza started in place of Hedo and had just 7 pts 5 rebs in 31 minutes. He's capable of doing much better than that.

    The one sequence where Dwight missed the 3 consecutive close-in shots was kind of hard to watch. His teammates won't let him forget about that.

     

  • At 8:59 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    The kids were nervous, and need some playing time to get over it. TOR defended unexpectedly well, and contested each and every shot by the Magic, something that we didn't. Bargnani was too long for Trevor and too fast for Battie and Darko to contest out on the floor, but many of his shots were made with no hand in his face. The one that he made from way out there (28-30 feet) could not have been prevented. Grant's injury complicated matters more. Now we have to deal with 4 key players out.

     

  • At 10:29 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Personally i think grant was part of last nights problem,you cant play grant and trevor at the same time and be successful,neither can shoot,thats why it looked like the raptors were playing a much better brand of defense,they packed it in all night (when the starters were on the floor)not respecting our outside shot,then when BSH put in trav,keyon and JJ we got back in the game to make it close at the half,then BSH made a critical mistake,he tried to get that same starting group to play better,while the guys that got us back in the game just sat on the sideline the whole third quarter,by the time they re-entered the game,there was only 8:00 left in the fourth quarter,and thats not enough time to really get into the game,then try and mount a comeback,BSH lost that game for us by himself. I'm also about tired of watching bsh's same substitution pattern every night,its easy to scout the magic because anyone who watches film of the magic can see that our coach does the same thing every night,the starters play the first 9 minutes of first quarters,then with two minutes left in the first he birings in carlos,keyon and darko,to start the second quarter usually he'll bring in trevor and a sub for dwight (usually pat or bo),so now to start the second quarter you have a back-up five on the court,then with about 5:00 minutes left in the half he'll come back with the starters,in the second half you get the same thing.I hate these sub pattern's,i can remember phil jackson asking shaq along time ago if he could play 48 minutes because he was going to have to,shaq told phil he could and he did and won three championships,so why does someone like dwight have periods where he could sit for 6 or 7+ minutes (even when he's not in foul trouble)????? If shaq could do it,i know dwight can! Is 5:00 minutes at the end of a half or game (when you cant take any chances,and shooting misses are magnified) long enough for someone to get back into a flow,after you've been sitting 6 or 7+ minutes??? In a game like last nights where bo and pat both would have been effective playing against the raptors small power forwards,neither played,instead as matt pointed out BSH made dwight and darko try and guard these guys,who were to quick for them,and to long for trevor,why not use BO whos a little bigger and more experienced than trevor???? Pat may have spread the floor as JJ did (even though he didnt score),can you imagine pat,trav and JJ being on the floor together last night(not against every team,but last night),why not give it a shot????? Nope all we got was,the same old substitution pattern when the team you are playing should dictate how you sub,dwight at his age should never come of the floor (unless foul trouble),plus trevor and grant playing that many minutes and not contributing on the score board is also a sign that the line-ups and substitutions that bsh is using isnt benefiting our players.

     

  • At 10:50 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    Excellent points, Big Figure. I absolutely agree with all the points that you have raised. The difference between an average and an above-average coach is in those adjustments based on the match-ups.

    On a positive note, I sense that the team is still feeling the effects of the long road trip, at which they tried hard to be successful, and they were. That, however, should not have affected Travis and J.J., since they didn't play, but can you suddenly throw in young players in the game and put all the weight on their shoulders without making them nervous? That is why we were advocating all along to give these players some meaningful minutes, short of throwing them in the boiling water. I, however, expect both Travis and J.J. to play better tonight.

     

  • At 11:26 AM, Blogger Ken said…

    Great points big figure. You can always predict who and when BSH is going to substitute. As long as he is the coach of this team, it worries me that our young stars may never have the chance to reach their full potential. And that is a excellent point about Phil Jackson and Shaq. There is so reason why Dwight can't handle playing 42+ minutes a night.

    That was a lot of pressure to put on Deener and JJ last night. Neither was has seen any playing time to speak of yet this season. Hopefully Hill will decide to give them both more minutes, instead of burying them back on the bench for not producing as much as he hoped.

    Another thing that annoys me about this so called coach is, Why isn't he letting these guys get out and run. Instead of the same old walking the ball up the court? I know all about the "defense wins championships" blather, but this is a young, energetic team. Its time to turn these guys loose like they did at the end of last season. We can out run most other teams with out youth. But noooooooooo.. Not BSH..

     

  • At 12:40 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Big Figure nailed my thoughts. Our 2nd unit, with Travis and J.J. brought us back into the game twice. Even though they were not hitting to many shots, they still spread the floor and hustled. In the 1st half they had more time to do so. The 2nd half, they cut into the lead, but they didn't have as much time, and then B Hill reloaded and the lead grew again. Many of our lineups do not work right now. One was mentioned with Ariza and G Hill. I also question how well Dooling works with Ariza. Dooling can hit a 3, but not consistently. And since when is Dooling only a 2 guard? Did we not bring him in to play point? It's not that I don't like the guy’s energy, but he doesn't have the offensive skills to shoot as much as he does. Any games we have him out there playing 30+ minutes I'm thinking we're going to struggle to get a victory.

    A few other quick points...

    As stated, Dwight needs to play more. At the same time, the officials are letting him get pushed around. It's about time Dwight starts pushing back. He needs to get more physical.

    Was it just me or was Arroyo trying to do it all on his own last night when he was on the floor? He finished with only 2 assists; I thought Jameer was our shoot first point guard?

    Darko had a solid all around game. 8/7/1; yet he still only plays 26 minutes?

    Our great starting power forward Battie had 11 points, but it took him 30 minutes to get it, and he only had 3 rebounds?!?! Someone remind me why this guys starting job isn't in jeopardy?

    I can't even imagine the pressure J.J. was feeling last night. Of course all of us were hoping for him to light it up, but that didn't happen. Play like that could have been avoided if Brian Hill would have actually played him some over the last 2 months. Hopefully he won't feel as much pressure on the road and bounce back tonight.

     

  • At 12:42 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Brian Hill is like clockwork when it comes to substitution patterns. They were awful in the 90's, and they are still awful 10 years later. That has always been my biggest complaint with this guy.

     

  • At 1:09 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Intro your right on time with those comments.In my opinion a coach should match a shooter with a defender on the perimeter (2guard and small forward),so that means grant and trevor should never play together,hedo and grant obviously works,keith and hedo is the other starting combo which worked,keyon and trevor are ok when used as "BENCH" players together,but as starters they get to many minutes and not enough point production,i love keyon but like intro said he's not a good shooting two guard,i'd like to see JJ get some of those minutes playing beside ariza on the second unit.

     

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