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.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Ariza's return not enough for Magic in loss to HOU

HOU (35-20, 15-13 road), led by Tracy McGrady's 34 pts (15 of 18 FTS), got out to a 12 pt halftime lead and held on in the second half to send the Magic (27-30, 18-12 home) to their 4th straight defeat and 16 of their last 21 overall 97-93. The Magic got to within 2 pts with under 2 minutes remaining, but could get no closer.

The Magic were led by GHill with his best performance since coming back from his injury with 21 pts, 7 rebs; DHoward 18 pts, 16 rebs; TAriza off the bench, playing for the first time since JAN 10th, with 14 pts (10 of 12 FTs), 5 rebs in just 20 minutes; and JNelson 12 pts (3 of 5 3 pt FGs), 4 asts. Along with TMac's 34 pts, HOU was led by Rafer Alston with 20 pts, (5 of 9 3 pt FGs), Luther Head off the bench with 15 pts (3 of 5 3 pt FGs), and Shane Battier 14 pts.

HOU (29 of 67, 43.3%) outscored the Magic (31 of 79, 39.2%) from the field 72-66. HOU shot lights-out from 3 pt range, going 14 of 27, while the Magic were just 4 of 12. The Magic (27 of 41) held a slight edge at the FT line over HOU (25 of 34). The Magic won the rebound battle 44-38, including 18-9 on the offensive boards. The Magic took decent care of the ball with 12 TOs, compared to 18 TOs for HOU. The Magic also had the better AST/TO ratio of 15/12, compared to 17/18 for HOU. The HOU bench edged the Magic bench 27-26.

With the MIA win over CLE, the Magic now fall to the 8th spot 1 game behind MIA. If NJ beats NY later on tonight, they will be tied with the Magic for the 8th spot. In the meantime, the Magic will have to prepare for a tough game MON night in CHI.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 6:50 PM  

9 Comments:

  • At 7:18 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Didn't realize that this game wasn't televised in the Orlando area. I guess with ABC doing Sunday afternoon games now, they have exclusivity during that time frame.

    Very close game statistically; HOU's 3 pt shooting was the ultimate difference. ORL's 66% FT shooting didn't help either. It's not often you see a team shoot 41 FTs and lose the game.

    Good to see that Ariza was his old self, and Grant had a good game after struggling for several games. Bad Hedo (8 pts in 32 minutes) made an appearance today after seeing Good Hedo FRI night.

    After making quite an impact his first few games starting, DMilicic has tailed off considerably the last 3 or so games.

    I guess it shouldn't even be a surprise anymore that JRedick is no longer playing with KDooling back, considering that BHill much prefers the veterans and the better defenders playing, despite the fact the offensive numbers are just not there for Dooling.

    One last note... I didn't mean to stir up such a heated debate about the efficiency rating... I just wanted to throw another stat out there that could possibly be discussed after games, and I'm glad a few of you guys found the stat a little helpful. But since Matt thinks the ER is so unscientific and misleading, I won't use it anymore... I don't want to drive him away from the blog, as I've always respected his opinions. I'll just keep it to myself when posting my comments :-)

     

  • At 9:11 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    This comment has been removed by the author.

     

  • At 3:28 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    I was doing some web surfing and came across a web page on NBA.com that evaluates a player's performance by using an efficiency rating that uses a formula almost identical to mine.

    They show the ratings for every player for each game played that day. If anyone wants to check this out, here is the link:
    www.nba.com/statistics/efficiency.html

     

  • At 9:59 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Hopefully the magic wont make the playoffs as they are now on the outside looking in,brian hill gets fired over the summer,keyon dooling isnt resigned to a new deal,sign darko up for long term,and we wind up with a new perspective going into next year.

     

  • At 11:13 AM, Blogger Ken said…

    I'll 2nd that

     

  • At 1:36 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    You guys forgot one part; the Magic work a sign and trade with the Sonics for Rashard Lewis.

    There has been a lot of Lewis talk as of late. He's turning down their extension offer so he can opt out this summer. The only other team besides the Magic that can afford him is the Bobcats, who are rumored to be going after Vince Carter because of the North Carolina relation. There was a comment putting it this way, the Magic are a Rashard Lewis away from winning the East, why would he not want to come here and play with Dwight? And then if you take a look at the condition of the Sonics, we might actually have a shot at him.

     

  • At 1:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    i can't, in good conscience, cheer for the magic to lose, but big figure is right. a total collapse is our best best for a fresh start.

     

  • At 2:12 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    OVERWADED is absolutely right. I, for one, didn't want to get into an extended exchange. I am getting seriously busy with a few different projects on my hand, and I have to manage my time wisely. Rashard Lewis is exactly the type of player we need. With him brought on-board, Hedo and a bunch of our guards become expendable. Preferably, we should have gone after him in a trade before February deadline packaging, as I suggested before, Hedo and carlos or, as I may suggest now, Hedo, Keyon and Travis. That window has closed, and he would be a hot commodity in free agency market. I believe we can still put together a sign and trade package that may make it happen, but not as easily as we could have done it before the February deadline. The big issue in the process is how much he may be asking for. If he is looking for Ray Allen type of contracts (in the 15-16 million), then the question would be whether or not we can take a chance that there would not be no takers at that range, and we can wait it out?

     

  • At 2:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    acquiring lewis-- via trade or free agent signing-- would be great. i'm not sure that seattle would want hedo, however, because he has 3 years remaining on his contract. trading travis (to be free agent) or dooling (1 year remaining) might be options, but i'm not sure they're enough.

    see more: http://www.hoopshype.com/salaries/orlando.htm

     

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