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.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Wizards break open tight game in second half to rout Magic

With the game tied 45-45 at the half, WAS (23-16, 7-13 road) went on a scoring rampage in the second half, scoring 69 pts, and won easily over the Magic (22-18, 14-7 home) 114-93. The Magic made a major change in the rotation, with TDiener the first pt guard off the bench ahead of CArroyo. It didn't help this game, as Diener went scoreless, shot 0 for 3 (all 3 pters) in 16 minutes, and had 0 assists.

The "Big Three" of WAS was way too much for the Magic to handle. Antawn Jamison scored 31 pts with 16 rebs; Gilbert Arenas 30 pts (10 of 20 FG, 5 of 7 3 pt FG), 6 assists; and Caron Butler 21 pts. For the Magic, GHill bounced back from a poor game to score 24 pts (10 of 14 FG); DHoward 20 pts (8 of 9 FG) 13 rebs; JNelson 15 pts, 7 asts; HTurkoglu 11 pts (3 of 12 FG); and KDooling off the bench with 11 pts.

WAS (42 of 96, 43.8%) outscored the Magic (36 of 77, 46.8%) from the field 93-77. WAS shot 9 of 18 from 3 pt range, while the Magic were 5 of 17. WAS had the advantage at the FT line 21 of 25, compared to 16 of 21 for the Magic. The Wizards did not shoot a FT in the first half. WAS dominated the boards 50-38, including 23-7 on the offensive boards. TOs once again hurt the Magic, as they had 18, compared to just 7 for WAS. WAS had an outstanding AST/TO ratio of 18/7, while the Magic ratio was 21/18. The bench for both teams scored 20 pts.

GHill and DHoward combined to shoot 18 of 23, while the rest of the team combined to shoot just 18 of 54 (33.3%). The Magic are now 1 1/2 games behind WAS in the SE. Magic face an improving NJ Nets team SAT night in NJ.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:31 PM  

7 Comments:

  • At 11:47 PM, Blogger tdawg said…

    This past week has really shown how important Trevor Ariza is to the Magic. I look forward to hopefully many years of a Howard, Darko, Ariza frontline.

    I'm gald to hear Deiner get minutes tonight. I like the idea of Deiner and Nelson at point.

    Keep up the good work, this is the only way I have to keep up on Orlando in Oregon.

     

  • At 1:16 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Yeah, good point TDawg. It seems like the Magic don't have any defensive stoppers in there without Ariza; they really miss the high energy level he brings off the bench. The "Big 3" for the Wizards could not be stopped, scoring 82 of the team's 114 pts, including 9 of 16 on 3 pters.

    Not a good effort from the bench for the Magic... they combined to shoot just 8 of 26, and 1 for 9 on 3 pters.

    Nice effort offensively by JNelson, who had 7 asts to just 1 TO. GHill and DHoward did well offensively also. Defensively was another story.

    Magic are now 1-4 on this tough 11 game stretch, with more tough games to come. We were all hoping they could finish at least 6-5 during this stretch; however, with Ariza's injury and the team struggling offensively, it now appears that a 4-7 record during this stretch is more likely.

    The bench is going to have to step it up if the Magic are going to have a chance at winning some of their upcoming games.

     

  • At 9:43 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    I couldn't have put it any better than TDawg did.

    Back a few weeks ago I was saying the Magic of November are back, and I was saying that before Ariza went down. As of now, the Magic are going to struggle every night without him. Obviously, I was one of his "fan boys". But why not, he did so much for this team on both ends of the floor. Think about it... When the Magic win, they do it 1 of 2 ways; strong defense, or good shooting. Well, Ariza was our best perimeter defender, rebounder, and probably the most aggressive player we have. Now that he is gone, that leaves us shooting for victories. And we've had this discussion; we just don't put the shooters out on the floor. Even worse, we lose Ariza and all that he does, and we know B Hill’s next in line is Dooling. It’s going to hurt us double, no Ariza, more Dooling. As long as Dooling is playing major minutes, we will struggle, as he’s just not that good.

    Last night, it was nice to see Diener out on the floor, but he had Dooling playing next to him who I'm getting really tired of seeing play starter minutes. Last night, Dooling played 31 minutes and actually had more shot attempts than Dwight???? Oh yeah, Dwight was 8-9 from the field and 4-6 from the free throw line, so he was doing his job when he got the ball minus his 4 TO’s which can be justified with our lack of shooting. In the end, he either needs to be shooting more, or finding players for open 3's who can actually knock them down. Of course it’s not Dwight’s fault if he’s surrounded with a bunch of average to below average shooters. Dooling found three 3PA's, and he cashed in on none of them. As of now, I just don't know if Dooling is right for our team. If he is, he's only good for a few minutes of energy. Beyond that, he hurts our team being on the floor, especially playing 30 minutes. He just doesn't have the offensive skills that he thinks he does. However, Dooling isn't the only reason we're losing. It's a combination of things. But with our team, we can win 2 ways, defense or shooting; and right now, the loss of Ariza is really going to hurt us in regards to shutting teams down. So that means we’re left with shooting for victories, which pretty much means we’re going to struggle almost every game. Maybe it’s really time to see what J.J. Redick is made of.

     

  • At 11:55 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    The sentinel's magic basketblog has some interesting proposition's submitted by fans,you guys should all take a look.Here's an interesting trade scenario,grant hill and darko for mike miller and pau gasol,im not gonna give my opinion on that yet,rather i need time to digest it.In no way shape or form am i giving up on jameer,but it seems that alot of fans are tired of dwight having to work the hardest in the league to score points,dwight basically gets no help from his guards when it comes to passes that lead to basket,so every shot he takes comes from him backing someone down and making one of his moves on the block,a fan posted the same thing i said days ago about steve nash and jkidd being the type of point guards dwight needs to play with to reach his full potential,jkidd being the one who's actually available to the right offer im sure new jersey would say.

     

  • At 12:52 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    I never thought i would say this but i was very let down last night by the players,and not for their play,but for their lack of following blatant directions.During the 3rd quarter bsh calls a timeout to give some needed direction,The sideline reporter for the magic(forgot his name)says to the audience watching quote:brian hill just told his guys "take the ball all the way to the rim".So i was expecting that whoever shot next would at least do what the coach asked,what we got was shocking to me.Jameer brings the ball down the court and gets into a pick and roll situation with dwight,dwight sets a good screen and jameer has an alley to the basket going toward the baseline,jameer then chooses to shoot a jumper over his defender(arenas)because his defender became a little of balance,jameer misses the jumper when it was clear he couldve had a lay-up attempt,gilbert races back down court and draws a foul on one of our big guys,thats why we lose.Not following the coaches direction at any point in a game hurts the team much more than any basket a player scores,and this aint just about jameer,grant and keyon followed jameer in the jumpshot party,the next two shots were jumpers by you guessed it,grant and keyon,both misses.So lets re-cap,coach says take the ball to the hoop (which is good coaching might i add)we get 3 jumpshots by jameer,grant and keyon.This isnt a quality collection of guys in my opinion,are they good guys? Sure,But being a good guy dont win games.Like intro is saying if your gonna play inside out then you need shooters on the floor,after looking at the mike miller and pau gasol trade for darko and grant,it seems like a good deal for both sides,memphis would get a replacement for gasol,get an expiring contract and servicable player in grant.The magic would get a true 2guard in miller who can shoot the three at 6ft8,plus bsh wouldnt be able to start battie anymore with gasol in the building,dwight and gasol= dominant,plus hedo-mike and jameer together would give you shooters at all three wing positions and quality starters to boot.We can live with jameer's shooting make or miss because he'a shooting point guard,but we cant live with our two shooting guards shooting so poorly from three point range,thats part of the reason why dwight turns it over so much some games,defenses collapsing becuase they dont respect our outside threats,mike miller and hedo would work great together,as much as i love grant he's playing out of position,and so is keyon,neither should be playing the 2,and neither played the 2 for the team they came from which proves my point,grant was an all-star small-forward,and keyon played back-up point guard to damon jones for the heat.To me its time for otis to start giving his coach players that can play in his system,shooters.And that does not mean promote trav or JJ to starting roles,it means aquire starting caliber players that fit the specific need and will follow direction.The problem with this team is we want to play inside out with a whole bunch of ballers who dont follow direction well at the moment,their's nothing wrong with playing inside out if you have the team to do it,look at san antone,with bowen and ginobli being shooters,they can play inside out,with grant and hedo,we try and play inside out but at the same time we have to tell grant to take it to the rim because he doesnt even attempt three's and his jumpshooting doesnt put any pressure on the defense if he misses,hedo's really our shooting guard because he can shoot from anywhere,but he cant guard shooting guards,which is what puts us into a mess,and why grants really on the floor playing the two,not because he's the best shooting guard we can employ,to me its time to find one,and move battie to the bench.

     

  • At 1:18 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Carlos and keyon have both struggled lately,but only carlos lost his job,why hasnt bsh called on JJ in the same fashion that he called on trav? Will he play JJ tonight with keyon's recent struggle's? And will travis's bad game last night get him returned to the bench after just one effort? Lately ive talked about alot of aquirable players,so i'll say who i think we actually have a shot at,Jkidd-no chance (but i'd love to have him).Miller and gasol-again no chance (i dont think otis will shake things up,i think he wants a whole year of watching this team and see what he has in the end,but again i'd love to have those guys too).So that leaves vince carter-he's a possibility.(because he'll be a free-agent he's definitely a possibility,would be an up-grade for grant at the 2,hedo could remain at the three,and both have three-point range). This team desperately needs a quality starting shooting guard with three point range,and a better starting power forward,darko's not the answer yet,his on the ball defense isnt good enough,and his under the basket post defense isnt good enough either,right now he excells at blocking shots from the weakside and unfortunately thats it defensively,garnett or gasol is who i would be targeting to play beside dwight in a starting role,both of them could be had at this point with the way their teams are playing,even though minnesota has won some games recently.

     

  • At 3:08 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Interesting that BHill was telling the team in the second half to go to the basket more, and they weren't doing so. Yes, the players need to take the blame there. Even without Ariza, there's no excuse for the sorry second-half performance the Magic put on.

    I took Big Figure's suggestion and read the Sentinel BasketBlog... and the trade proposal of Darko and GHill to Memphis for Mike Miller and Pau Gasol is very intriguing. It's going to be interesting for the next few weeks to monitor trade rumors as the trading deadline draws near.

    I agree with "Overwaded" as to what he says about Dooling. One game he'll do really well off the bench, hitting his shots and even some 3s, and then he'll go 4 or 5 games where he really struggles offensively and isn't much of a factor for all the minutes he plays.

     

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