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 11, 2007

No comeback for Magic as NJ pulls away in 4th

The Magic (26-26, 9-16 road), were unable to build momentum from their incredible win over SA FRI night and saw NJ (25-27, 14-12 home) pull away in the 4th for a 93-78 victory. The Magic have now lost 12 of their last 14 road games and 12 of their last 16 overall.

The Magic were led in scoring by DHoward with 25 pts, 12 rebs, 4 blocks, but with 7 TOs. Howard continues his great shooting as he shot 11 of 15; DMilicic, in a starting role again in place of the injured TBattie, added 16 pts, 12 rebs, and 4 blocks; JNelson added 14 pts, but shot just 6 of 19. Vince Carter led the Nets with 32 pts on 12 of 23 FGs; Marcus Williams 12 pts; and Jason Kidd 10 pts, 9 rebs, 6 asts.

NJ (40 of 84, 47.6%) outscored the Magic ( 31 of 76, 40.8%) handily from the floor 86-66. NJ shot 6 of 20 from 3 pt range, while the Magic were a woeful 4 of 16. The Magic (12 of 17) had the advantage at the FT line over NJ (7 of 11). NJ outrebounded the Magic 44-37. NJ had the better AST/TO ratio of 25/14, while the Magic's ratio was 16/15. The NJ bench easily outscored the thin Magic bench 34-14.

Against SA, the trio of Nelson, Redick, and Arroyo shot an amazing 24 of 40, combining for 59 pts. Against NJ, the trio combined to shoot 11 of 34 for just 28 pts. In fact, if you don't include Darko and Dwight who shot a combined 18 of 26, the rest of the team shot a horrific 13 of 50 (26%). The Magic are just 1 game ahead of both MIA and NJ for the 7th spot in the East. Magic have 3 days off before their final game before the All-Star break against POR.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 4:17 AM  

6 Comments:

  • At 2:32 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Is it just me, or has Dwight's offensive game went to another level ever since Darko was put next to him in the starting five? Add the fact that he's been surrounded by shooters more, we're finally seeing a little of what we want. The problem still is consistent shooting. Redick is the only guy that is a truly consistent shooter.

    At times during this game it was almost laughable how much they were letting Cliff Robinson get away with. I know he's been in the league since the 70's, but still.

    Right now we have nobody else because of Ariza's and Hill's injuries; but Hedo is killing us at the SF spot.

     

  • At 3:06 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Yeah, you're right on a couple things, OVERWADED. How about Dwight and Darko in the starting lineup together? Against NJ, they combined for 41 pts, 24 rebs, and 8 blocks. If we had a little better shooting, the game was there for the taking.

    I'm really disappointed in Turkoglu also. In his last 3 games, he has scored a combined 20 pts on dreadful 7 of 29 shooting (1 of 8 3 pt FGs). Other than scoring 22 pts in the first game that Grant missed against NJ, and that great lob to Dwight against SA, he has been a non-factor, whereas last season with Grant injured, he had really stepped up his play.

     

  • At 3:27 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    If carlos deserved a wake up call,then hedo deserves the same thing,after benching carlos for four games he came back and has played very well,i think bsh should move keith over to the three and start JJ,giving hedo a big wake up call.....Put his ass on the bench!!!

     

  • At 3:30 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Interesting thought, Big Figure... it makes a lot of sense.

     

  • At 5:25 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    Good points by all. The question is how a team that had played so well against a top team in the league could play so poorly the next night (I tend to call it Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide personality)? My simple answer is that Orlando magic is not a TEAM; it is a combination of talented players. On nights when the "SUM" of individuals performances exceed that of the opponent, they win and on nights that it doesn't they lose. Teams are a group of players whose overall output is greater than the sum of individual members. They have a structured system on offense and defense that do not vary much from night to night. We, on the contrary, are playing like we are re-inventing the wheel every night. Against SA, Bigs played big, with 3 guard combination, SF position was not a factor, and all guards performed at their highest capacity, and that is why we won. Against NJ., Bigs still played big, SF position was a mess (0-8 is the egg that Hedo laid) and the guards with the exception of J.J. (2-5), which was a decent percentage, shot poorly. Additionally, what Bigs did in the game against SA was passing out of the double team to open shooters, which was then put back in the closet for NJ.'s game. Also PGs stopped moving the ball looking for the open man, and went back to the old habit of pounding the floor and taking the first ill-advised shot that came their way. The so-called coach foolishly tried the 3 guards combination for a while, and since it didn't work, instead of using our advantage of the frontline with Dwight and Darko, decided to match up with NJ. combining Darko or Dwight with Bo. Jameer was suffering from a head cold and Carlos was not at the top of his game while both had played heavy minutes, the night before, yet Hill never thought of using Travis, at all.

     

  • At 6:28 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    BIG, if Grant or Ariza were healthy I'd expect Hedo to be benched right now, even with B Hill as our coach.

    I don't have to say much else, because Matt just summed it all up perfectly. I’ll just add to one of your points that have always bothered me.

    Matt made mention to the thing that frustrates me the most about our team play, or lack there of. Not only our PGs, but Hedo often stop moving the ball, start taking it on their own, forcing shots, often putting up the first ill-advised shot they can throw up, many times with plenty of time on the shot clock. This has become a regular occurrence. It’s like some of the players, namely, Nelson, Hedo, and Arroyo start pressing, rushing to make something happen when we don’t have to, and in turn we end up falling apart; unless one of them catches fire, which doesn’t happen often. Brian Hill needs to make these guys understand, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th quarter, they still need to run the offense. The ball stills needs to go inside to Dwight or Darko, and if they’re doubled, then they need to find the open man. We don’t need Nelson, Arroyo, Hedo, or anyone else chucking up shots early in the shot clock. This continues to happen, when is it going to stop?

    Last night was a perfect example. Dwight and Darko had there way down low all game. Sure, Robinson got a little physical with Dwight, but continue going to him. Robinson should have fouled out of the game, and if we would have kept giving Dwight the ball, he would have. Dwight could have had 40 easily last night. Dwight has been shooting 90% from the field over the last 3 games. Get him the damn ball!

    Explain this to me. How is it that J.J. Redick understands this concept; not to just chuck up shots? Watch him, he attempts to move the ball, he understands there is 24 seconds to get a shot up, and he really doesn’t force anything unless he has too. He is our rookie. You’d expect him to be the one rushing everything, yet he shows more patience than anyone else on our team. I guess that’s what 4 years at Duke will do for you.

    I know in the end, players do what they do on the court; but it’s the coach’s responsibility to direct these guys. No matter how you break it down, it all still comes back on the coach.

     

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