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.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Magic take care of business, trounce MIL

Taking advantage of another injury-depleted, bottom-feeding team, the Magic (36-41, 13-25 away) broke open a 7 pt halftime lead by outscoring MIL (26-51, 17-21 home) by 14 in the third quarter and cruised to their second consecutive 20+ pt victory by shooting a sizzling 62.5% in their 117-94 win over the Bucks.

As in the MEM game, all 12 Magic players scored. They were led by HTurkoglu with 25 pts, 6 asts; TAriza off the bench with 16 pts on 7 of 8 FGs; DHoward 15 pts, 11 rebs; JNelson 12 pts along with a season-high 9 asts; DMIlicic 11 pts, 9 rebs; and KDooling chipped in with 8 pts off the bench. Ersan Ilyasova led the Bucks with 18 pts.

The Magic (50 of 80, 62.5%) outscored MIL (34 of 77, 44.2%) from the field 105-73. The Magic made 5 of 14 3 pt FGs, while MIL was 5 of 19 from long range. FT shooting was the only negative for the Magic, as they shot just 12 of 23 from the FT line, compared to 21 of 29 for MIL. The Magic outrebounded MIL 42-37. The Magic had their best AST/TO ratio of the season at an outstanding 36/14. MIL had a 18/14 ratio. The Magic bench did well again, outscoring the MIL bench 52-45.

The Magic are now 1/2 game behind NJ for the 7th seed, and 1 1/2 games ahead of IND in the 8th seed. The "Magic Number" for the Magic to clinch a playoff berth is now 5 (any combo of ORL wins and IND losses totaling 5 the rest of the way). Magic will have to face a real basketball team at DET WED night.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 11:12 PM  

6 Comments:

  • At 11:53 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    If the Magic had lost this game, I might have joined the rest of you guys in hoping the Magic don't make the playoffs to increase the likelihood of BHill being fired (he still may anyhow, as Matt posted earlier, because of the recent ESPN Mag item about the players wanting Hill out).

    However, with the 2 impressive wins in a row (admittedly against weak, injury-depleted competition), this shows the players care and are making the effort to improve, so I wish them the best and hope they can get the job done in making the playoffs, regardless of my negative feelings for the coach.

    The best thing about this win, in addition to the impressive FG pct., was the 36 asts (five players had at least 4 asts). Hats off to Jameer with the 9 asts (and just 2 TOs) in 25 minutes. Hopefully, he can continue to make the effort to distribute the ball and get everyone involved, as this makes the team much more of a threat. In the last 2 wins, Jameer has a total of 13 asts and just 3 TOs.

    Gotta improve the FT shooting though... Dwight, Darko, and Trevor combined to make just 4 of 13.

    I really hope they can give DET a game WED night, as this very well could be a playoff preview.

     

  • At 3:30 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    I don't know if anyone else was watching the Pistons/Knicks game tonight; but the Pistons were on cruise control most of the game and still won. I don't expect the Pistons to come out looking to crush the Magic on Wednesday. I expect the Magic to be prepared, and the game to be close. Of course in the end, I expect Detroit to turn it up a notch to try and steal the game, but I don't think they’ll sweat the game either way. In other words, the Magic will have a chance.

    As for tonight’s game, I wish it said more about our team. For the 2nd game in a row, we beat a group of guys that couldn't be a college team, and they made us look like contenders.

    If Jameer could control his assist/turnover ratio the way he has for the last two games, we'd be sitting pretty. However, the rollover teams, with their non existent defense probably had a lot to do with the increase in assists.

    Matt, I really hope you’re right and that Hill’s fate is already sealed.

     

  • At 12:54 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Another win for a bad team!!!!

     

  • At 2:43 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    I finally took a look at the Magic’s remaining games; and they could win out, pretty easily actually.

    The Pistons will be the toughest game, but they're all but a lock at the top of the East, so I don't expect them to come out hard against us. Our team should have a little more motivation. We could still very easily lose the game though. But if the Magic actually show up, we could steal the game.

    Then we head to Philly, which I don't care how many 3's Korver makes, we should still win, because their team doesn't have anything to play for.

    Then we play Boston at home, who we lost to the last time we played them. Boston has also let Paul Pierce take the rest of the season off, as the only thing they are playing for is to lose so they have a better shot at Oden or Durant. There couldn’t be much more of a guaranteed victory than this game.

    Onto Washington, whose season is all but over... They are a complete waste of a playoff spot, as Butler and Arenas are out. Unless some how Jamison blows up, that should be another victory.

    And the last game of the season is at home against the Heat. I expect the Heat to be on pre-playoff vacation then, as they'll probably be a lock at the 4 spot. Which will mean Shaq and Wade might basically get the night off.

    So since it seems we’re going to make the playoffs, pending a total meltdown. I figured I might as well look at the remaining schedule as optimistic as possible and hope for the 7th spot in the East; because I don’t want us getting totally embarrassed by Detroit, and I could see us causing the Bulls or Cavs some problems.

     

  • At 4:36 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Good attitude to have, OVERWADED.

    If the Magic can finish 4-1 the rest of the way, with the 2 in a row they already have won, that would put them in the playoffs on a 6-1 streak. Heck, even finishing 3-2 for a 5-2 record the final 7 games would be acceptable in my view.

    Since the Magic could still catch WAS, being 3 1/2 games behind them, here is WAS's remaining schedule:

    10th) vs NJ
    11th) at MIA
    13th) at ATL
    15th) vs CHI
    17th) vs MAGIC
    18th) at IND

    As one can see, that's a difficult schedule, with only the game at ATL that can be counted on as a win. If WAS finishes at 1-5 and the Magic 4-1, they would tie. A tiebreaker between WAS and the Magic would be a little tricky to figure, because they both could have an identical head-to-head record and an identical conference record. I'm not sure what the third tiebreaker is after head-to-head record and conference record.

    The game tonight between NJ and WAS is key. WAS gave a great effort in the game at NJ on SAT. If WAS wins tonight, the Magic will be tied with NJ (NJ holds the tiebreaker) with little chance of catching WAS. If NJ wins, Magic will be 3 games behind WAS, and 1 game behind NJ, but still a chance of catching NJ and still an outside chance at catching WAS.

     

  • At 5:18 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Also, IND plays tonight at PHI, and WED night at MIL. If IND wins both games and the Magic lose to DET, IND would be tied with the Magic for 8th, with the Pacers holding the tiebreaker.

     

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