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, March 01, 2007

Iverson's big second half leads DEN over Magic

The Magic (28-31, 10-19 away) were able to hang with DEN for much of the game before the Nuggets (28-28, 15-15 home) were able to pull away late in the fourth of a 111-101 victory. To make matters worse for the Magic, GHill did not play in the second half due to soreness in his left foot, and went scoreless in 13 minutes.

Allen Iverson scored 27 of his 34 pts in the second half and also had 7 asts, 5 steals; Carmelo Anthony finished with 23 pts; Eduardo Najera off the bench 17 pts; Linas Kleiza also off the bench 15 pts; Nene 12 pts, 8 rebs; and Marcus Camby 10 pts, 7 rebs, 5 steals. ORL was led by DHoward with 23 pts, 12 rebs; JNelson 16 pts, 6 asts but 7 TOs; KDooling off the bench 14 pts; HTurkoglu 12 pts in 18 minutes due to foul trouble; and DMilicic 10 pts, 8 rebs.

DEN (42 of 84, 50%) outscored the Magic (39 of 80, 48.8%) from the field 88-87. Magic shot well from 3 pt range, going 9 of 15, while DEN was 4 of 15. DEN (23 of 31) had the advantage at the FT line over the Magic (14 of 19). The Magic outrebounded DEN 44-37. TOs doomed the Magic once again as they committed 25 TOs, compared to just 12 for DEN. DEN had a very good 28/12 AST/TO ratio, while the Magic were just 24/25. The Magic bench outscored the DEN bench 40-32.

With MIA's win over WAS, the Magic now fall 1 game behind the Heat for the 7th seed, and 1/2 game behind NJ for the 8th seed. The Magic now have the brutal task of playing at SA FRI and at DAL SAT.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:50 AM  

7 Comments:

  • At 1:20 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    The Magic probably lost any chance of finishing .500 on this road trip. A victory over SA or DAL would be a huge upset.

    I have a couple questions about the game: 1) After Darko's breakout game against the Bulls, why the heck did he play only 24 minutes against DEN? He wasn't in foul trouble and had good numbers on the stat sheet. 2) Why is Garrity playing ahead of Redick? Is his defense that much better than Redick's? Even though Garrity did hit a couple threes, he is NOT the future of the Magic, while Redick very much is. Redick SHOULD be playing some every game! 3) Why play Bo for 20 minutes? I think he is good for maybe a 10 to 12 minute burst of energy a game; anymore than that I think is foolish. (all these questions pertain to Coach Hill)

    A few more observations... Nelson with 7 TOs... he desperately needs some consistency to his game which would really help matters.

    I guess you could expect Iverson and Anthony to get their pts, but the Magic let 2 guys for DEN (Najera and Kleiza) who had a combined average of 11.9 ppg coming in, go off for a combined 32 pts on 13 of 17 FGs.

    More injury woes for Grant... when he comes back, I really think he should be coming off the bench, as he just can't be depended on game after game in the starting rotation.

     

  • At 2:55 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Despite beating the Magic, which isn't saying much at the moment; looking at the Denver Nuggets and their situation makes me happy to be a Magic fan. The only thing they're going to excel in is individual stats, and merchandise sales.

    Do you guys think when the Nuggets are in practice, working on their defense, they have a portion called “how to flop, how to fall”? I mean seriously, there was another player hitting the floor every other time down. Not all of them were called, but it was just getting stupid. It makes me think about Charles Barkley, and miss him. Here are his thoughts on players taking a charge, and what I’d love to see happen more today when players continuously take falls, as their defense.

    Charles Barkley: "I always said if a guy tried to take a charge on me I would try to kill him. If he's got the balls to take a charge, I got the balls to try to maim him. I'm not saying it never happened, but I just can't remember anyone ever stepping in front of me."

     

  • At 2:56 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Onto the Magic; this was a weird game to watch. Brian Hill was worse than normal, playing with some strange lineups. He’ll blame the altitude. At one point, we had Outlaw, Ariza, Bogans, Dooling, and Arroyo on the court together. Ironically, they hit a few baskets. Yet, I still had to question, only 1 guy was playing his natural position in that lineup. I just don’t understand Brian Hill.

    It was nice to see Bogans on the court.

    Just the opposite, it wasn't nice seeing Garrity out there. He made two 3-pointers at the end of the game. Those were his first FG's for a month. I hope Brian Hill doesn't take this as a sign of him being ready to play, even though he probably will.

    Ariza played only 20 minutes. I heard he had a headache?

    Outlaw played 20 minutes; oooo-k. I'm with Mike in regards to how Outlaw should be used.

    Dooling couldn't have played any better; yet Bogans and Redick were putting up numbers like that on a regular basis when they were playing.

    Darko was playing a nice game with the time he was given. He had a few rough minutes in the 4th quarter, and was benched with about 6 minutes left in the game, for PAT GARRITY.

    Orlando's "veteran leader" left the game in the first have with a sore foot. Is anyone really surprised? And once again, this is why I feel the way I do about Grant Hill. Bench player, or nothing else...

     

  • At 10:25 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    Mr. Hyde showed up his ugly face once again last night, of course with help from Hill. I agree with all that has been pointed out by Mike and OVERWADED. Besides not playing Darko - just because he had a tough patch and in favor of whom? Garrity? - I don't see any point in not playing small ball since Garrity's lack of defense does not make him a more viable option. In fact Hill should be burnt, which he virtually was, if he gives Garrity any minutes, at all. I watched the game on a delayed DVR recording when I got home, but I did not have the stomach to watch it after the 3rd period. How many dunks and layups did we give to players like Nene and Najera, not to mention all the dunks by Carmelo?

     

  • At 12:58 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    When it comes to minutes,dwight and darko both had two fouls before the first quarter was over,so i understand why they both didnt play much in the second quarter. The fact that bo and pat played was only because we have no other big-men with experience,with battie out i mention days ago that we'll have to depend on pat and bo more,but in my opinion they arent why we lost. Turnovers are the sole cause,the game was close all the way until mid-way through the 3rd quarter,the magic have a spell where they turn over the ball three times mixed with a couple bad shots and denver takes the lead from 2pts to 13 pts in about a 2 minute span,i mean it was quick,at that point bsh went to his bench and the line-up of carlos,keyon,keith,trevor and dwight cut the lead to 2,but when he came back with the starters,jameer and hedo specifically the lead balloned back to 10-12 pts,those critical turnovers in the third were really the difference in the game giving iverson easy baskets to get himself going on a night that started out bad for him shooting the basketball.Someone mentioned a couple of days ago that hill doesnt milk the hot hand,well last night was an example,we may not have won,but i would have liked to see what that defensive line-up would have done if hill left them out there because they cut the lead to 2 relatively easy.

     

  • At 1:46 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    By the way,i thought the officiating was horrible last night,hedo,darko and dwight all had 2 fouls before the first quarter was over.

     

  • At 2:06 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    BIG, Hill doesn't stay with any lineup no matter how well they’re doing. The clock usually dictates what players are on the floor the majority of the time. If a lineup is working in the 4th, which we did cut the lead all the way back down, it doesn't matter; because around the 6 minute mark, the starters are coming back in no matter what. This isn’t the first time this has happened. B Hill does it because that’s how he coaches.

    Someone needs to tell him, the odds of keeping the momentum on the floor doesn’t go up when he subs 2, 3, 4 players at a time; it’s like starting all over again. But we should know this by know; Brian Hill sticks to his substitutions. He's the coach and he knows what's best for the team.

    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I’m sorry; I should be smacked for making that last comment.

    BIG, I to am often puzzled at officiating now a days. Guys get called for these "touch fouls" constantly. Yet, put a big man on the block and they're aloud to get pounded. And if he isn't getting pounded, it's because the opposing player is flopping.

     

Post a Comment

<< Home