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, April 19, 2007

Magic win easily, but face DET in playoffs

The Magic did what they had to do, easily defeating a Heat team that had nothing to play for and was resting five of its regular players, including DWade and Shaq. IND needed to defeat WAS in order for the Magic to finish in the 7th seed and avoid DET in the first round. IND gave WAS a good battle, but lost 98-95.

The Magic (40-42, 25-16 home) broke open a close game in the third quarter and coasted to a 94-68 win. All 12 players scored for the Magic, led by GHill with 17 pts, HTurkoglu with 15 pts, and DHoward 12 pts, 14 rebs. JRedick added 10 pts off the bench.

The Magic (35 of 79, 44.3%) outscored MIA (26 of 69, 37.7%) 76-56. The Magic hit on 6 of 17 3 pt FGs, while MIA was 4 of 13 from long range. The Magic (18 of 29) had the edge at the FT line over MIA (12 of 14). The Magic dominated the boards 52-31. The Magic had a very good AST/TO ratio of 23/9, compared to 16/15 for MIA. Both benches scored 38 pts apiece.

Magic play in the playoffs for the first time in 4 seasons, starting this weekend in DET.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:05 AM  

5 Comments:

  • At 12:19 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Obviously, very little can be taken from this game, with MIA playing their junior varsity team throughout. Still, nice job by the Magic players, who played well, especially after halftime.

    Especially encouraging was JRedick's 10 pts in 11 minutes, including 2 of 3 from 3 pt range.

    Magic close the season with 9 wins in their final 13 games, finally beating teams that they should after having such difficulty through most of JAN, FEB, and early MAR.

    Magic playoff basketball starts this weekend at DET!

     

  • At 12:59 AM, Blogger tdawg said…

    Its exciting to think about watching the Magic in the Playoffs!

     

  • At 8:23 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    Otis Smith was interviewed by Whit Watson at half time, and Whit asked him about the job that Brian Hill has done. It was interesting that Smith's comment was something to the effect that Hill has done a GOOD job and he has done what he was ASKED TO DO. The interesting part is that the comment was nothing but a lukewarm approval. The second part of the comment about doing what he was asked to do shows Smith's inexperience again since, for no obvious reasons, it grants immunity to Hill; after all he has done what he was asked to do.

     

  • At 9:44 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    I have just posted the following on Sentinel:

    "The focus in this play-off series should not be on how the Magic will do against a superior and better coached team, but rather it should be on Brian Hill. All his moves and decisions should be placed under microscope for dissection. It does not matter how much experience the players gain from this play-off as long as Brian Hill hangs around to spoil it, or it would be an experience when players are playing elsewhere. It was so bad at times during the regular season that I wished that my beloved team does not make to the play-offs so that Brian Hill's firing would be expedited.

    Real Magic fans who know a thing or two about basketball and are mindful of the team's future could not mindlessly think of Magic competing against Detroit and be happy to win a game or two, as they might. But for the sake of the future, we should not let up on the Brian Hill's firing campaign, and should carry through applying pressure on the Magic ownership until he is gone. The ownership not only needs to sell tickets but also needs public support in approving arena construction. The politicians are bent on probing public opinion and Crotty's position is not as solid as it once was since commissioner Jacobs is on his tail. Stop celebrating this nonsense of a team with losing record making to the play-offs and do what is right for the team's future."

     

  • At 12:15 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Good post matt,to me this series should be an indicator if bsh should be brought back,now that his mistakes will be on a national stage,otis will have to do something if bsh is noticably the reason we lose the series,this is like an audition to see if we can reach the next level with this coach. All of us here would probably say that we dont need anymore auditioning,but now we'll have the whole world with us watching and not just sunshine network audiences.

     

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