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.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Magic move into 7th in East with win over NJ

11 Comments:

At 10:28 PM, Mike from Illinois said…

The Magic (32-38, 21-14 home) pulled away late in the game from NJ (31-38, 11-25 away) for a 90-82 victory that vaults the Magic into the 7th seed, just ahead of IND, who also won FRI. NJ and NY are now on the outside looking in.

The Magic were led by JNelson with 22 pts, 6 rebs; GHill 12 pts, HTurkoglu 11 pts despite shooting just 3 of 13; and DHoward 10 pts, 16 rebs. CArroyo, in his first meaningful playing time in several games, led the bench with 9 pts in just 8 minutes. DMilicic and TAriza added 7 pts each. Vince Carter led NJ with 27 pts, 7 rebs; Richard Jefferson added 19 pts, and Jason Kidd 8 pts, 9 asts, 8 rebs.

The Magic (33 of 78, 42.3%) outscored NJ (29 of 84, 34.5%) from the field 68-66. NJ hit on 8 of 23 from 3 pt range, while the Magic were 2 of 8 from long range. The Magic (22 of 30) held the advantage at the FT line over NJ (16 of 25). The Magic dominated the boards 54-37. NJ had a good AST/TO ratio of 21-9, compared to just 13/15 for the Magic. The Magic bench outscored the NJ bench 29-15.

NJ helped the Magic cause by shooting just 11/41 in the second half, and the Magic were able to do just enough right for a very important victory. Magic have the weekend off before another important game MON at NY.
At 10:46 PM, Mike from Illinois said…

Even with the win, several things I wasn't happy with: 1) Hedo shot just 3 of 13, his second poor shooting game in a row. 2) Dwight gets just 6 FG attempts. 3) Darko plays just 16 minutes. 4) J.J. plays just 5 minutes. 5) The Magic had a poor AST/TO ratio of 13/15.

At least the defense showed up for us, as the Magic dominated the boards and held NJ to a very low FG%.

I was surprised to see Arroyo getting meaningful action, and to his credit, he did a lot in the short time he played. Don't know if that's a good thing or not, though, because we all agree that Keyon is the better "true" pt guard coming off the bench and is a much better defensive player than Carlos.

Credit to Hedo and Jameer for making their FTs late in the game (9 of 9 combined).

Like they say, a win is a win, and I'm happy the Magic were able to pull it out.
At 6:39 PM, Matt said…

All the points that Mike has raised all valid. Hill is the same bonehead, no matter what. As I mentioned, with the win over Miami, despite woeful performance against TOR, he feels that his job is safe, and that is why he is falling back unto the same foolish practices that produced no results.

With a simple win at CHA tonight NJ will climb back into the 7th spot. A loss at NY on Monday may push the Magic back to the 10th spot if IND wins tomorrow at home playing against Bulls.
At 4:33 AM, OVERWADED said…

Matt hit the point by saying; "Hill is the same bonehead". In this last win, he pretty much went back to everything he has done all year.

It's hard to argue the logic, but I'm pretty sure all Brian Hill is doing right now is playing to make the playoffs. Now I know that's the point of everything, but when I say it relating to Hill, it's not in a positive way. I think he's playing guys that probably shouldn't be playing, hoping to get an extra win or two, so they can squeak into the playoffs. I'm guessing he figures his job is safe if the team makes the playoffs. That's why Redicks minutes have gone back down once again... This is just getting old.

I really HATE Brian Hill. I'm as diehard of a Magic fan as they come, and I'm completely disinterested in the team right now. I continue to DVR the games and watch all of them, but I'm honestly getting to the point where I just don't care and it's depressing.
At 10:28 AM, Matt said…

OVERWADED picked up the word that I wad afraid to use; depressing. Even in a win over NJ with some bright spots, a real Magic fan with a broader view towards the future of the team, can not be satisfied and be confident about the team's direction. We have wasted opportunities, time after time. We let Shaq go in his prime with the short sightedness of putting a price tag on a priceless player - Sentinel involved - and not to forget the "Brian Hill is our coach" statement when Shaq's agent was showing the lack of confidence in Hill, most probably on behalf of his client. Is Hill that big of a deal to cause the loss of Dwight? Is Hill even worth the loss of Darko? Let's not forget that players talk about their coaches to each other. Is it logical to think that players wish to play for some coaches and not for others? Is the stature of the coach a motive for free agents to sign or not sign with some teams? Players salaries is the major component of any team's budget. Is paying a few more million dollars to a coach to insure the rest of one's investment a bad idea? If the answer is negative, why waste any time on a coach with an unproven track record?

Sorry, it was not my intention to add to a depressing situation. In fact, those who know me do not consider me a pessimist but rather a critical thinker. A pessimist points to the negativities and leave. A critical thinker points to the deficiencies, and then looks for solutions. I will campaign tirelessly to get a coach that is worth leading this beloved team of my hometown. We have to be visible all over, in all forums that we could be heard at, to push for Hill's dismissal. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day, and I can't cut my sleeping time to less than 5 hours.
At 12:15 PM, OVERWADED said…

Nice delivery Matt. I like how you expanded on the “depressing thoughts” so eloquently. I try not to be a pessimist myself. I’d rather say I’m a realist. Because I know basketball and the Magic, it’s easy for me to see the positives. You can start with Dwight and go from there. But where the problem sinks in is that even though we have our “superstar”, for some reason, this organization always backs Brian Hill. And to me, Brian Hill is like a poison. It’s only a matter of time. He’ll have to go, or players will start to go, or just choose to not come here in free agency. Like Matt said, players talk, it’s not just us fans. And in all the years Brian Hill has been around, I’ve never heard one of his players say anything positive about him.

In no way do I see Dwight looking for the door right now, but any player, especially great ones, can only take losing for so long. And while I know the Magic know they must keep Dwight at all costs, I don’t think they understand how to keep him happy. They need to put this guy in the right situation, with a great leader as a coach, especially with such a young team. Why anyone with any basketball IQ would think Brian Hill was the right guy for a job…who knows. Something’s got to give eventually. The team looks below average at best now a days, and you can just tell with the players that something is off. At times it really seems like they don’t want to play for this guy. Sadly, the season is almost over, yet even worse, I’m kind of relieved, because I just can’t take much more of what we’ve had to watch all year. And while I can complain about the play of guys like Nelson, Turk, Dooling, etc…I can’t blame any of them. Because I’ve seen them all play a different style of basketball where they looked a lot better night in and out. So until they’re under a legit coach, I can’t give up on those guys. So as Matt was saying, Orlando fans need to make their voice heard. Brian Hill must go.
At 3:47 PM, Mike from Illinois said…

Matt, OVERWADED, you guys expressed your feelings well, and I understand where you're coming from.

I realize that since the 13-4 start, the Magic have been a mediocre, wildly inconsistent team, coached by someone that we know isn't the right coach for the team. They are also playing in a mediocre Eastern Conference.

Despite all that, the Magic have a 50/50 chance of making the playoffs for the first time in 4 years, which would be a good experience for the players to go through, even if they would lose out in the first round.

If the Magic do make the playoffs, I realize that it virtually assures that Brian Hill will return as coach for at least the beginning of next season, which is a depressing thought. But I don't think there is any valid reason to root against the Magic not making the playoffs simply because they would fire BHill, because there is no guarantee they would, like I've been saying.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I will be very happy for the team and the players if they make the playoffs, regardless my feelings for the coach, and I hope we can finish the season on a little bit of a roll to have some momentum going into the playoffs.

At some point in time, the front office will realize that Hill isn't the right coach of this team. We, as die-hard Magic fans, can still continue to let our voices be heard, as we should, but we have to be patient, because the Magic front office aren't going to make any sudden, rash moves with BHill.

Hope it's as beautiful in FL as it is here in the Chicago area today... a day like this really makes me feel better about things... GO MAGIC!!
At 4:24 PM, Matt said…

Mike, I don't think you can really feel where OVERWADED and I are coming from looking at the issue from a logical standpoint of what the Magic's front office may or may not do. Let me be emphatically clear about a couple of things:

1 - The long-term negative effects of Hill being around could not be underestimated. I am for the team not making to the play-offs if that increases the public pressure to dismiss Hill, even though there is no guarantees that would happen. I think the public pressure would be sufficient to make it happen. I remember after the loss to CHA how the public was outraged. I thought they were ready to go to RDV and physically remove Hill and this joke of a GM together. Never ever underestimate the power of public opinion. The little experience that the team may earn in the process of a disgraceful exit at the first round bears no weight compared to accomplishing Hill's dismissal.
2 - There is no guarantee that the front office will ever understand that Hill is not the wrong guy for the job if the public remains patient. Public has to be outraged by the way they have been treated by this so-called coach and GM. Public has to keep the pressure on and be quite vocal about it. That is the only way these morons could feel threatened for their jobs, as happened after the loss to CHA when Hill tweaked the line-up a bit but then went back to his old bonehead style as nothing has happened.
At 4:31 AM, Mike from Illinois said…

I never said that Magic fans shouldn't keep the pressure on the Magic front office when it comes to our unhappiness with BHill. I'm just saying that don't hold your breath that the Magic will fire Hill immediately because the public demands it. If the Magic front office listened to the public, Hill would have been fired right after that horrid loss to CHA, because the outpouring of criticism from the fans and media was tremendous.
At 5:28 AM, Mike from Illinois said…

If the Magic do wind up firing BHill this offseason, regardless of whether they make the playoffs, I will happily admit I was wrong. My prediction is that the soonest the Magic would fire Hill would be at some point next season.
At 12:52 PM, OVERWADED said…

After this season why would we want to wait longer? It'd be better for all parties involved if he was on trial right now, which I don't see how he can't be. The summer is the time for changes. Going into next season, if we want the Magic ready to make some noise, we need to have the same coach throughout, starting with training camp. If we start with Hill again, things stay sour, and we have to changes coaches in the middle of the season, the odds of recovery are slim to none. Why would we risk another season, with a questionable coach. He's had his chances, and he's proven worthless(for over a decade). Whatever needs to happen, needs to happen now, the summer, before next season. The team situation will only get worse as long as he is here.

I like how Matt put it: "The little experience that the team may earn in the process of a disgraceful exit at the first round bears no weight compared to accomplishing Hill's dismissal".

2009 Eastern Conference Champs