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.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Magic fall to .500 with loss to TOR

TOR's Chris Bosh scored a career-high 41 pts, 31 in the second half, as the Raptors (26-23, 17-7 home) pulled away in the fourth quarter to hand the Magic (25-25, 9-15 road) a 113-103 loss, despite a career-high 32 pts from DHoward on 13 of 14 shooting.

In addition to Bosh's 41 pts on 13 of 25 FGs and 15 of 17 FTs, Jorge Garbajosa added 15 pts; Anthony Parker 12 pts; Andrea Bargnani off the bench with 11 pts, Jose Calderon 10 pts, 11 asts; and T.J. Ford off the bench with 10 pts, 11 asts. The Magic, in addition to Howard's 32 pts 9 rebs, KBogans added 15 pts; J.J. Redick off the bench with 14 pts; HTurkoglu 12 pts; CArroyo off the bench with 11 pts; and DMilicic, making his first start of the season in place of the injured TBattie, 10 pts, 6 rebs.

The Magic (41 of 81, 50.6%) outscored TOR (39 of 75, 52%) from the field 91-83. The Magic hit 9 of 24 from 3 pt range, while TOR was 5 of 17. TOR (30 of 38) had a huge advantage in FTs over the Magic (12 of 15). The Magic had a slim edge in rebounds 39-37. TOR had a superior AST/TO ratio of 31/9, while the Magic's ratio was 23-17. The TOR bench outscored the thin Magic bench 29-25, as Redick and Arroyo were the only bench players for the Magic to score.

The Magic are now just 1 game ahead of the oncoming Heat for the 8th spot in the East, and just 2 games ahead of NJ, who are in the 9th spot. The Magic return home FRI night to face the tough SA Spurs.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 11:35 PM  

11 Comments:

  • At 12:05 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    I have to complement the Raptors, as they played an outstanding game, led by Bosh, who was unstoppable in the second half, and 5 other players in double figures.

    I can't say enough about the play of the 2 TOR pt guards, Calderon and Ford. They combined for 20 pts, 22 asts and just 6 TOs. The Magic's pt guards, Nelson and Arroyo, combined for 23 pts, but just 7 asts and 3 TOs.

    In a further comparison of the pt guards, TOR's Calderon took just 3 shots in 22 minutes, and Ford took 7 shots in 26 minutes, while Nelson for the Magic took 12 shots in just 28 minutes, making only 4. Nelson did have 5 asts and 0 TOs, but still is taking too many shots, and missing too many of those shots.

    31 assists for TOR... what a fantastic job of running their offense.

    Offense wasn't really the Magic's problem, as they scored 100+ pts for the second game in a row. The defense was the main problem, as they allowed 110+ pts for the second game in a row. TAriza can't come back fast enough, as the Magic sorely miss him, as their 3-11 record without him can attest to.

    On the positive side, nice to see Redick getting minutes now. He's not doing bad at all, considering his playing time up until the past week has been so scarce. And Darko got a much-deserved start, but only because of Battie being hurt. Of course, how about the game by Dwight; he just couldn't quite match Bosh.

    Between FEB 11th and FEB 19th, the Magic play only one game. Hopefully during this time, the Magic will get a chance to rest, get healthy, and TAriza will be ready to come back, and the Magic will be ready to make a good playoff push the last 2 months. I'm trying to remain positive.

     

  • At 5:08 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Observations

    You gotta love The Euro Raptors. The difference in rules isn't the only reason Team USA always struggles against the rest of the world. Europeans actually understand fundamental basketball, unlike many players in the NBA today.

    Dwight Howard looked like an all-star tonight. Not that he's been playing bad as of recent, but tonight he was on another level. We need this Dwight every night.

    Which brings me to my next point... For years we've heard Shaq say something to the effect of "make sure to keep the big dog fed". Dwight has always shot a high percentage. I actually looked it up; Dwight is 35-45 in FG's for the past 5 games. Even though he's shot a very high percentage the last two games, he had a few rough games in there against the Knicks and Bucks. He needs to be shooting more, PERIOD. It's the responsibility of the other players to make sure he touches the ball, as much as possible. Everything runs through Dwight, right? I recall what ESPN said after we pounded the Nets last Friday, "why is this guy not averaging more than 10 shot attempts a game"?

    We might have a problem at the point guard position. Both Arroyo and Nelson continue to rush, and blast shots. Neither of them shows much patience. Neither of them do a good job of getting others involved. And both of them love to continue shooting, when they are both streaky as hell. Not good, now, not good for the future; I'm starting to worry about our PG position.

    Moving on; J.J. Redick, in the small amount of games I've seen him play for the Magic, he has shown me he has a role on this team. I'm also pretty sure that he's one of the smartest players on our team. While I know he's still adjusting and still playing a little timid, he shows a lot more patience than many of our other players. He also seems to make smart decisions on the floor. To boot, his defense isn’t bad. You can tell the guy is a gym rat. I guess I just like his game because he plays a very fundamentally sound.

    Bogans has also shown he has a role on this team.

    In my view, after watching what Redick and Bogans for a week, in playing their roles, Dooling is my odd man out. I don't see a place for him on this roster. Bogans and Redick are both better fitted to get playing time at the 2, pretty much as we've been saying all along. Both of them have produced more the Dooling has. When Dooling returns, I feel they should both continue playing ahead of him.

    However, if we wanted to cause some real friction, maybe Dooling could give it a shot at his natural position. All I know is we need someone at the point guard spot that is going to pass the ball and attempt to get others involved.

    We have a question mark at the small forward spot. My views are still the same on Grant Hill; I view him as a bench player. But, I'm now adding Hedo to that list. He's far too streaky, doesn't play smart, and lacks on the defensive end. Matt can say "I told you so" here. Hedo will make a great bench player. The question then arises; will Trevor Ariza one day be a capable starter? At least with Ariza on the floor, even if he’s not doing it on the offensive end, he’ll still be doing it on the defensive end, and boards.

    I've been saying the Magic need a shooting guard. I'm going to revise my statement; the Magic need a dominate player on the wing. We just need someone that contributes more and that does it with consistency.

    I'm tempted to just breakdown what I think about the entire roster, but I'll say that for another day.

     

  • At 5:18 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    A few other thoughts...

    Why did it seem we couldn't catch a break tonight? When you look at the game stats, we should've won. It's hard for me to understand the 38 to 15 difference from the free throw line.

    It's a shame that Darko got into foul trouble. The team had a nice start to the game with him and Dwight playing out there together.

    Worth of laugh... Was I the only one that noticed Pat Garrity in the 2nd quarter? Darko was out due to foul trouble. Dwight was getting a break on the bench, when he should've just stayed in the game. But Garrity was playing C, with Bo at the PF spot. Two times in a row down the floor, we put Pat Garrity in the post. Let me say that again... Two possessions in a row we put Pat Garrity in the post, and yes, gave him the ball........WOW. Even Matt Guokas laughed about that one!

     

  • At 12:45 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    I just switched to the new version of blogger,it will let you comment within posts,but it wont let you create new posts untill the blog itself is changed over by the creator/admin,after reading some of the help,it says that eventaully we all have to change over.

     

  • At 1:11 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Point guards: Jameer is serviceable,the fact that this is his first year as a starting point guard in this league means the jury is still out,with a full year under his belt i think he'll be fine,he should be able to improve on his assists totals while getting his shooting percentage back up.Carlos in my opinion has no place here,he isnt a good fit at what were trying to do,if we were an offensive team than he would be ok because offensively he does pass the ball,but we're an inside outside team that preaches defense first,carlos is our weakest defender because of lack of speed and often times as you watch him defend his best defense is sticking his hand out and getting a hand check foul called against him,at least it isnt a free lay-up because carlos has to have the slowest footspeed in the nba.Travis is also serviceable,has good defensive footspeed,can shoot the three,and will pass,what more can you ask for in a back-up.

     

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

    Shooting guards:Grant isnt a shooting guard,but he's played there all year when healthy,he needs to move over to the three.Keyon has been the primary back-up and in my opinion he should have carlos's role as the back-up point guard,moving him to the point would preserve his defensive abilities which we can still use,at the back-up point he wouldnt have to shoot as much also.Which brings me to keith and JJ,keith should remain the starter even with grant and keyon healthy,and JJ his back-up enough said.

     

  • At 1:33 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Small forwards:Hedo isnt starter quality,usually a starter is someone who can be an effective scorer quality wise and not quantity wise when it comes to shooting % totals while being a good defender,hedo is neither,how is he our starter?.Posey,prince,butler,james,deng,bargnani and granger are all better small-forward starters,and all of their teams are currently ahead of the magic,except for poesy.Trevor has been hedo's primary back-up and should remain the back-up small-forward when everyone's healthy,trevor has alot of up-side so he's virtually untouchable.I would love to see grant be the starter here,that would get us back near the top of production offensively and defensively from the small-forward position in the east,with hedo and trevor as the back-ups,the fact that they are so different would give a coach the ability to use them in roles which is what this team needs,if you need offense bring in hedo,if you need a defensive presence bring in trevor.

     

  • At 1:41 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Power-forward/center:Dwight and darko should be the starters,with battie as the back-up,this is the only position on the team where we dont have alot of un-wanted bodies (except for maybe pat...LOL),but its the position where we probably could add a few or give some time to augustine,you dont score 16pts and grab 17 rebounds in a d-league game if you cant ball.And bo has a role untill he decides to retire,he's cheap,good presence in the locker room,he hustle's and is just an all-around good guy.I'm not gonna say a whole lot about pat as he hasnt been played,good for bsh finally getting something right.

     

  • At 1:51 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    My starters: Jameer,keith,grant,darko and dwight. Second unit:keyon/trav,JJ,trevor,hedo and tony.Depth: Travis,james. Expendable: carlos,pat and bo.

     

  • At 3:06 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    Big Figure, I am in absolute agreement with your assessments of starters and back-ups. I think you should put it up as an independent post, so that it would be separated from the clutter relevant to a post-game analyses, and everybody could put in their dimes in a proper setting.

     

  • At 3:17 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Well said BIG.

    Good call Matt; I'll save my thoughts on it until we get an independent post going.

     

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