Another Magic second-half collapse in loss to ATL
The Magic (23-21, 14-9 home) had a comfortable 14 pt lead at the half against ATL (15-26, 8-15 road), but once again failed to put a team away in the second half as they were outscored 52-35 and lost 93-90. Joe Johnson torched the Magic with 26 second-half pts, and DHoward made only 2 of 8 FTs in the 4th quarter for the Magic.
Johnson led ATL with 39 pts on 14 of 23 FG shooting, with 6 asts; Josh Smith 24 pts, 11 rebs; and Josh Childress off the bench with 12 pts, 5 rebs. DHoward led the Magic with 19 pts, but just 4 rebs; TBattie and JNelson with 14 pts each; HTurkoglu 12 pts, and GHill 10 pts. DMilicic led the reserves with 8 pts.
ATL (37 of 67, 55.2%) outscored the Magic (35 of 62, 56.5%) from the floor 78-75. The Magic shot 5 of 12 on 3 pters, while ATL shot 4 of 10. Poor FT shooting hurt the Magic, as they shot just 15 of 28 from the FT line. ATL shot 15 of 18. ATL outrebounded the Magic 34-26. ATL had the better AST/TO ratio of 21/16, while the Magic were 18/17. The Magic bench edged the ATL bench 21-19.
Coach Brian Hill after the game: "I consider this a very bad loss. I'm very disappointed in our first and third-quarter defense and that's all I have to say."
Johnson led ATL with 39 pts on 14 of 23 FG shooting, with 6 asts; Josh Smith 24 pts, 11 rebs; and Josh Childress off the bench with 12 pts, 5 rebs. DHoward led the Magic with 19 pts, but just 4 rebs; TBattie and JNelson with 14 pts each; HTurkoglu 12 pts, and GHill 10 pts. DMilicic led the reserves with 8 pts.
ATL (37 of 67, 55.2%) outscored the Magic (35 of 62, 56.5%) from the floor 78-75. The Magic shot 5 of 12 on 3 pters, while ATL shot 4 of 10. Poor FT shooting hurt the Magic, as they shot just 15 of 28 from the FT line. ATL shot 15 of 18. ATL outrebounded the Magic 34-26. ATL had the better AST/TO ratio of 21/16, while the Magic were 18/17. The Magic bench edged the ATL bench 21-19.
Coach Brian Hill after the game: "I consider this a very bad loss. I'm very disappointed in our first and third-quarter defense and that's all I have to say."
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:38 AM
18 Comments:
At 1:09 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
To me, this loss was the most disheartening loss of the season. I expected the Magic to romp to an easy victory tonight. Give credit to the Hawks and to Joe Johnson, who showed up in the second half and made the shots they had to make to win. That being said, it's pretty sad when the home team shoots 56 1/2% from the field, shoots 10 more FTs than the opposition, has a 14 pt halftime lead, and loses the game.
Just as disturbing to me as Dwight's poor performance from the FT line, making just 9 of 18 FTs, was the fact he got just 4 rebs... what gives??
Not a good night for Jameer handling the ball... just 2 asts along with 3 TOs... only 2 second-half pts also if I'm not mistaken.
Grant had as many assists (5) as shot attempts (6) in 29 minutes. Bogans only 2 shot attempts in 22 minutes? And why did Redick play only 6 minutes?
The Magic's record since TAriza got hurt... 1-7! His defense and energy are sorely missed, but even without Ariza, there's no excuse for losing games like this game to ATL.
At 11:25 AM,
Big Figure said…
Big Figure said...
The wizards are about to run away with our division,and dont look now but the heat are about to pass the magic also as soon as they get shaq back because theyve been making a charge lately without him,the magic may miss the playoffs,i dont think three teams in our division will make the play-offs.
11:36 PM
At 11:28 AM,
Big Figure said…
We are only 2 games ahead of 8th place,we could easily be on the outside looking in if we dont win the next 2 or 3 games,and right now i dont see how we are going to get out of this funk and win a game,we dont play the right players,we dont listen to coaching,we dont attack the basket and we cant shoot free-throws to save our lives.9-15 is who we are,thats not pessimism,thats reality.
At 11:29 AM,
Big Figure said…
Now we do have some talented young players i would agree with that,but that doesnt win games,and as much as i love trevor huge boosts dont either for that matter.Mike,i'm just being realistic,i dont sugar coat things well,i call it like i see it,and right now if we dont win a game soon we could be in the midst of a shake-up within the roster,our gm's job is putting winning players on the floor and right now you cant call us a winning team,look at the records of the teams we have beaten in the last 9 wins.
At 11:30 AM,
Big Figure said…
In the last 24 games,we've played 6 games below 500% basketball,i dont understand where you draw your confidence from,the lowly hornets treated us like step children.I would love to be optimistic,but the magic have to show me something to be optimistic about,never pessimistic though.
At 11:42 AM,
Big Figure said…
Guys that was me exactly seven days ago,when i made these comments i got called "pessimistic",in my view they are "realistic" and a good indicator of the fact that this current group together isnt improving,its unbelievable to me how the posts seven days old still apply today,one of them almost tells the tale of the game last night exactly.The wiz already lead the division,and heat will pass the magic eventually,getting trevor back will help,but we need a shake-up within the roster to play this coaches style of basketball,we cant even beat the bad teams anymore.....pathetic!
At 12:08 PM,
Big Figure said…
The back-court of jameer nelson and grant hill just isnt working,both jameer and grant are scorers,neither is a shooter.They both could benefit from playing with a player who compliments them.With jameer as the starter at point guard,JJ would compliment him best on our roster.If travis were the starter at the point,grant would be fine playing the 2guard.Our small-forward position is soft,trevor who comes of the bench is our only respectability defensively at that position,i'm about tired of hedo defensively,nothing he does offensively or should i say "his offensive streakyness" isnt worth us being so weak defensively at that position.Battie,dwight and darko all showed last night,that if they play with a point guard who will pass the ball and get them easy baskets,all three have a skill set that compliments each other.I think our bench is fine,its the starters that lay eggs at the end of games,something has to change.If this team is best with trevor and darko on the floor (with jameer,hedo and dwight),i think thats a big indicator that grant and tony arent helping our cause in the starting line-up.Hedo's a streaky shooter,but at least he's a shooter,he'd be better playing beside jameer,plus trevor's youth alone is worth him playing the three over grant who isnt going to scrapp at this stage of his career because of his injury history,and darko for battie needs no explanation.
At 2:01 PM,
OVERWADED said…
PREACH ON BIG!
Honestly though, you're not saying much we don't already know. And of course, your post a week ago still stands. The Magic haven't changed anything they’re doing. But is it not Brian Hill's job to do something? The Magic have shown we can win with some mix of these players. Obviously, certain combinations of these players do not work. Brian Hill is the guy in charge of this, and he's 100% clueless.
When the Magic closed out last season winning, Grant Hill was NOT playing. When Grant Hill has sat out this year, we've been fine. He's a solid player, and a great guy, but he doesn't fit the position he's playing; AT ALL.
Last year, we actually had a 2 guard in Stevenson that played. This year, most of the season, we've had a small forward and point guard in Hill and Dooling playing that position. This needs to be addressed NOW. If we're not going to make a trade...If we're not going to use Grant Hill's expiring contract to land someone...Then we need to start playing J.J. Redick to see if this guy can give us something before the summer hits and we still know nothing about his capabilities at this level.
Battie likes to be known as the perfect pro; Mr. Blue Collar. Give him what he wants. Make him take one for the better of the team. I don't care if the guy has played 180-something games in a row. Start Darko, show the kid you have some confidence in him, play him with Dwight, and see what happens. Again, Darko is free agent; they need to do this before the summer hits and we still don't know the true value of him. Otherwise, all it’s going to take is 1 team out there willing to pay and gamble on a talented 7 footer and we’ll lose him for nothing. If Battie is the "pro" he says he is, he'll be fine with the change.
BIG, your last post made A LOT of sense; it really did.
As for the playoffs, we haven't even hit the all-star break, why is the playoff race being mentioned constantly? The Magic could fall out of the top 8 in the East, go on a big winning streak, and all of the sudden be #1. The East is free for the taking because the East SUCKS. I'm not going to worry about the playoffs right now.
I think it was Matt, before he went on "vacation", who said he'll take losing for now, if that's what it takes to get the wrong guys out of here, and the right ones in. I'm agreeing, and I'm really considering a vacation myself.
As I said before, and as this team has shown before, they can win with certain player combinations. We have a lot of players to work with. We probably need to add a couple players, and lose a few more. Some player’s roles need to change. This should be something that isn't to difficult to do. The problem is, what our problem always has been, we don't have a capable coach.
As for who is really running this team, I don't know. Does Otis realize that Grant Hill is not the right guy; I don’t know, because he sure talks like he is. Does Otis think Brian Hill is the right guy? If not, does Otis Smith actually have the authority to bring in a new coach? They brought back Brian Hill as a PR move. I wasn't happy about it then, but I lived with it. But it's getting real old right now. If this team doesn't take a major turn by the end of this year, we must get Brian Hill out of here. As for his "popularity" with the fans, I'm beginning to believe he's just about as much of a fan favorite as Pat Garrity.
At 2:38 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Good comments and analysis, guys.
In the upcoming 10 games, at least 8 of those games are winnable for the Magic, even the way they've been playing lately. It's imperative the Magic snap out of this funk during this 10 game swing, as the schedule gets really difficult after that.
Our clueless coach needs to come up with some answers. It seems all of us here have better ideas on what player rotation to play than he does.
At 3:37 PM,
Matt said…
Back from "vacation" because some of the postings here, especially the ones by Big Figure and OVERWADED shook me to my bones, as much as the loss to ATL did. I hate to be the "I said so" type of guy. I predicted this long time ago, when everybody was hot on the tail of the marvelous finish to the last season, that come new season, Hill would impose his style, or lack thereof, with no consideration of his own limitations as an average coach. When team falls apart every third quarter, it is either that the coach is not prepping them up for the quarter during the half time break or the players are not listening to him. Either way it is the coach's fault or shortcoming, or whatever you wish to call it. When the team is inconsistent from night to night, whose fault is it? Right, the coach's. Most good teams have a certain philosophy of playing offense and defense, which is adjusted slightly from opponent to opponent. With this team it is like re-inventing the wheel, every night. Whose fault is it? Right, coach's.
So I am gonna join Big Figure and others in saying; are you ready? FIRE BRIAN HILL!!!!!!!!!! (to the power of ten)
At 5:03 PM,
Big Figure said…
I couldnt agree more,intro,matt,great posts!! FIRE BSH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At 3:03 AM,
OVERWADED said…
"Hate to say you told us so"; I remember your exact posts, over and over, warning all of us. I thought you were being really pessimistic at the time, but you were just being realistic. My flaw was that I didn't believe Brian Hill could have this negative of an impact on the team. I thought the players would handle business regardless. Obviously I was completely wrong.
Situations like this truly amaze me. It’s hard for me to understand how you can have multi million dollar businesses run so poorly. From the outside, fans like us can see the problem, how is it not being seen from the inside?
However, I really shouldn’t be surprised. This kind of crap happens in many big business corporations, and still it’s hard for me to understand.
I hope the posts keep coming. We haven't had this much energy on here in awhile! It’s unfortunate that it has to be about the ignorance of the team we love.
At 9:08 AM,
Matt said…
Hey OVERWADWD, it is understandable, and as you have mentioned, in happens in all businesses, and I would like to add big or small. The reason is two-fold:
1 - There is always a lot of politics involved in every business, and when executives become more concerned with their job security than the company's health, they tend to resist change, especially drastic ones, that may not work and sink them.
2 - Sometimes it is not easy to see a problem or problems when you are looking at them from inside, considering that there are so many filters and blinders that you have to look through.
Keep faith, you all. In my view based on past experiences, such situations come to an equilibrium, most often than not.
At 3:15 PM,
OVERWADED said…
You're right. Right now, the two guys we have calling the shots (Hill and Smith) are both playing it safe. And when you start just thinking from a "job security" standpoint it makes sense, regardless if it doesn't make sense for the betterment of the team. But as you said, it'll come to an end eventually. I just hope it ends sooner than later. I'm tired of being patient, it's exhausting.
At 3:50 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Matt, nice to see you back from your self-imposed "vacation". Yep, this bad stretch the Magic are in will come to an end sometime.
That's the whole point of being a die-hard fan of a team... to be there in the bad times as well as the good times. I admit it's very frustrating and one's patience can certainly be taxed seeing the team play so poorly, as the Magic are right now. All we can do is give our insight as to why the team is playing so poorly, and offer some solutions (which is more than what Brian Hill seems to be doing).
I look at the Magic as the glass being half-full rather than half-empty. We have a group of young, talented players mixed with solid veterans. However, one key piece (TAriza) is missing, and our coach is clueless about the proper player rotation to use.
Look at what happened to the Chicago Bears this season. It had been 12 years since they last won a playoff game prior to this year, but with all their talent on offense and defense and competent coaching, they're playing in the Super Bowl! So all Bears fans were rewarded big-time for keeping the faith in the team.
That's why I continue to be a Magic die-hard supporter, and am confident that one day, hopefully sooner rather than later, all our patience will be rewarded.
At 8:34 PM,
Matt said…
Mike, it is hard to point at negative issues, time after time. The negative energy wears you down to the point that you feel that you don't want to continue. I am positive in nature, and always looking for positive angles. When that becomes hard to do, I feel that it is best to quit communicating. That way I don't carry the burden of negativity on myself while, at the same time, do not have to feel the load of transferring negative energy to others. That has nothing to do with being a die hard fan of Magic, which I am. In fact being a die hard fan exemplifies the pain and anguish of what you are going through.
At 2:06 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Well-said Matt... all of us are going through the anguish of the tough times the Magic are having right now.
At 2:17 AM,
OVERWADED said…
AGREED.
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