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.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Magic start fast, cruise past MIL

Despite speculation, Coach Brian Hill did not make any changes to the Magic starting lineup, but did use the bench liberally, as the Magic (24-22, 15-9 home) built a 27 pt halftime lead and MIL (18-28, 8-20 road) could get no closer than 13 pts in the second half as the Magic won easily 98-73.

The Magic were led by HTurkoglu with 17 pts; TBattie 15 pts; DMilicic off the bench with 14 pts, 10 rebs; KBogans also off the bench with 14 pts, 7asts; and GHill 12 pts, 8 rebs. DHoward, in foul trouble most of the game, scored just 6 pts with 7 rebs. MIL was led by Mo Williams with 23 pts; Andrew Bogut 12 pts, and Charlie Bell 11 pts.

The Magic (34 of 73, 46.6%) outscored MIL (28 of 75, 37.3%) from the floor 74-64. The Magic shot 6 of 19 from 3 pt range, while MIL shot 8 of 18 there. The Magic (24 of 38) had a decided edge on FTs over MIL (9 of 13). The Magic also had a decided edge on the boards 51-39. The Magic also had the better AST/TO ratio of 21/15, compared to just 14/18 for MIL. The Magic bench dominated the Bucks bench 43-13.

The Magic took advantage of a slumping team in MIL that was missing their top scorer that had just played the night before. This win is a start for the Magic in trying to snap out of their recent funk, but they certainly have to build on this against better teams coming up. NJ visits ORL FRI night.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 2:38 AM  

4 Comments:

  • At 3:26 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Looks like someone had a talk with Jameer about his shot selection... after taking 17 shots in 33 minutes against ATL, he took just 4 shots in 24 minutes against MIL. He had 4 asts, 2 steals, and just 1 TO.

    A lot of positives to mention...the Magic ran their offense a lot better, with 21 asts, and 15 asts at the half, which is more than they had the whole game against ATL.

    It's not too often that you can say that a player who shot 3 of 11 from the floor had an outstanding game, but that was the case with Darko. In addition to 14 pts, he had 10 rebs, 4 blocks, and 2 steals in 34 minutes. It's about time that BHill lets Darko play that many minutes.

    Nice job by Bogans and Battie with solid games.

    The performance of Keith and Darko against MIL is further evidence that those two should be in the starting lineup. Battie, being the real pro that he is, would understand, and he would be a veteran spark off the bench, as would Hedo, if Grant would be moved to SF.

    On the negative side, Dwight continues in a slump, and the Magic were mediocre in FT shooting once again. Fortunately, it didn't hurt them this game.

     

  • At 4:17 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    For some reason the saying "every dog has his day" comes to mind.

    Both of these teams have really been struggling. The Magic did what they were supposed to do and were pretty much due to have a decent game. The Bucks were on a back 2 back. They are also missing Redd which is a major low blow for them as he is their franchise player. I really felt there was no way we were going to lose this game even though I was almost hoping for a loss. If Redd was playing, I could have envisioned a loss, as he would have torched us the way Joe Johnson did. But watching the game, I really don't think we won because of how good we were. I think we won because of how bad they were.

    As it stands, I'm struggling to find a reason to smile. The Magic made NO CHANGES what so ever. As was pointed out, the bench did play a lot, but that was because Nelson and Howard got into early foul trouble and from that point the game was never really close. I don’t think that had anything to do with B Hill.

    The same 3 players stood out in my mind tonight. Bogans, Battie, and especially Darko all shined. Darko performed better than anyone else on the team tonight. He was the difference. He was active; his defense and rebounding got everything going. Because Dwight was in foul trouble, Darko cracked the 30 minute mark, and as always when he plays 30 minutes, he produces. Brian Hill is going to have to learn, that yes, he will make mistakes, as this is basically his rookie year, but he is going to cause far more good being out there extended minutes than not.

    Nobody else on our team stood out to me tonight. Turk kind of actually disappointed me. Over half of his points came in the last 3 meaningless minutes of the game when he dropped his 3 3's. Take away those baskets in garbage time, and he has a poor game.

    As Mike pointed out, Nelson shot a lot less. Maybe it was the talk G Hill had with him? Still, our PG's need to continue working on finding the open players. To often do I see Nelson and Arroyo shake their man, only to just take a shot. I know Nelson is a "shoot first" guard, but he's going to have to learn to make the extra pass, at least every once and a while. One game at a time...

    So I hope our team gained a little confidence after this win. I'm pretty much giving up on the idea of Redick playing any meaningful minutes. The thing I can hope for is Darko getting more minutes, or a starting spot. However, I think B Hill is making it clear that he really doesn't want to change anything, and he probably doesn't know what to change. As of now, the Magic are basically saying all of our struggles are related to our youth, and nothing else. The only way I see any changes happening, is if we just keep losing A LOT. But if we play .500 ball here out, I can see things staying the same.

    Positive note: It appears B Hill might have the ability to learn after all. We haven’t been seeing Garrity nearly as much as we once were. Let’s hope that is something that doesn’t change.

    Hopefully this post makes sense. I started writing one up before Mike posted his, attempted to publish mine, and I guess I entered something wrong on the "word verification". When it didn't post, the page refreshed and Mike's post was sitting there. I had to go back and edit a ton, because all I was doing is repeating what he was saying. Great minds think alike?!?!?!

     

  • At 11:09 AM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    Don't get too excited. There was a blurb at the end of the game that Milwaukee is something awful like 2-19 with Redd out?

     

  • At 11:45 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    The magic played a JV team last night,and whats pathetic to me is the fact that the first and third quarters with the same starting five on the floor the magic struggled against a very bad team,the magic didnt start to play well until jameer and hedo hit the bench,carlos and keith came in and played the positions like they are supposed to be played,point guards should distribute and shooting guards should shoot three's effectively and play defense,carlos and keith did that very well last night.In the basketblog brian scmitdz actually says what i said a while back about maybe giving the pass first point guard the starting job and use jameer as a scoring punch off the bench,vinny "the microwave" johnson style,and keith being a poor man's bruce bowen should make him the starter over hedo who is VERY inconsistent,as intro pointed out take away the three three's and hedo has a horrible game.That game to me will be forgotten very quickly if they go out and lose to new jersey,the bucks had to come along and screw everything up.

     

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