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, January 04, 2008

Blown call at end of game costs Magic in loss to HOU

Things looked pretty bleak for the Magic halfway through the 4th qtr, trailing HOU 89-77. The Magic (22-13, 7-8 home), however, did not quit and staged a furious rally to tie the game at 94 with 20 secs remaining. After a layup by Rafer Alston of HOU with 4 secs left, RLewis of the Magic drove the ball toward the basket, missed the layup, but was tipped in by AFoyle (in the game for DHoward, who fouled out) at the buzzer. The replay confirmed that the tip seemed to be made just before the red light over the basket came on, but the refs disagreed, and HOU (16-17) ran off the court with a 96-94 win.

Four players scored in double figures in a revamped starting lineup for the Magic, who started KDooling (9 pts, 3 of 9 FGs) at SG in place of KBogans. JNelson came off the bench to lead the Magic with 20 pts (8 of 13 FGs), 4 asts. DHoward saw his double-double streak come to an end with 16 pts (5 of 11 FGs), 8 rebs before fouling out late. RLewis added 16 pts (4 of 15 FGs), including a big three to tie the game late; HTurkoglu finished with 13 pts (5 of 12 FGs), 11 rebs.

The Rockets, playing without Tracy McGrady, had five players in double figures, led by Yao with 26 pts (10 of 18 FGs), 10 rebs. Rafer Alston added 20 pts (7 of 14 FGs).

The statistical breakdown:

FGs... HOU 37 of 78 (47.4%) ORL 34 of 76 (44.7%) HOU 79 ORL 75
3 PT FGs... ORL 7 of 19 (36.8%) HOU 5 of 16 (31.2%)
FTs... ORL 19 of 25 (76%) HOU 17 of 19 (89.5%)
REB... HOU 44 ORL 35
AST/TO... ORL 15/14 HOU 18/20
BENCH... ORL 32 HOU 29

Magic fall under .500 at home once again, and embark on a 4 game west coast trip starting TUE at SAC. I doubt we've heard the last of the controversial ending, as the league will have some explaining to do as to why the game-tying shot by the Magic was disallowed, when the replay shows it should have been allowed.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:31 PM  

13 Comments:

  • At 11:47 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    30+ plus games in and SVG is still struggling with his rotation/starting line-up,this is a problem. Horrible choice to start keyon at the two for so many reason's i dont even want to go into them all. Carlos and his "slow foot speed",boy i bet he doesnt want to see rafer alston ever again. If we cant stop anybody at the top of our defense,we'll continue t lose.

     

  • At 1:26 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Actually, if the Magic had played more of the game with the fire and passion they showed in the final 5 1/2 minutes, the game never would have come down to that final call, as the Magic would have had the game in hand. I applaud the Magic for not quitting and making that comeback, but they never should have trailed by 12 in the first place.

    I admit the last call was a difficult one to make, but according to the replay, the refs could have just as easily called the basket good just as they called it no good. Tony Mejia of CBSSports.com was at the game and wrote a good column about what happened which can be found at www.sportsline.com/nba/story/10559476

    Big Figure is right when he says that SVG is struggling with the rotation/starting line-up, and that it's a problem. I wonder what SVG's reason was for starting KDooling at SG after not playing him the previous game. I think most people would agree that he's better suited coming off the bench with his high energy and defense.

    For the first time in several games, CArroyo did not do well running the team, as he played about 16 mins and committed 2 TOs without an assist. JNelson was able to give the team a spark off the bench though, with the 20 pts, 4 asts, and 1 TO.

    Some +/- stats for the game... Arroyo -9, DHoward -7, Nelson +7, Foyle +5.

    Tough night for our two long-range shooters, HTurkoglu and RLewis, who combined to shoot just 9 of 27 FGs for 29 pts, though Lewis did hit the three to tie late.

    Before this month started, the Magic had been 15-1 in games in which they held the opponent to under 100 pts. Now, they have lost two games in a row where they held the opponent to under 100.

    The Magic could not take advantage of 20 Rockets TOs.

    Before that final call, you couldn't say the refs were biased against the Magic, as HOU was called for 21 fouls and the Magic 17; the Magic shot 25 FTs to HOU's 19.

    Arroyo wasn't the only Magic player to get burned by Rafer Alston. That was some drive by Alston to give HOU the lead with 4 seconds left. Once Alston blew past his defender, there was no help defense underneath, and he had a clear path to the basket.

    Magic are now 4-2 in this stretch of 8 games against sub-.500 teams. I wanted them to finish no worse than 6-2 during this stretch, and now they must beat SAC and LAC on the road to do so.

     

  • At 5:47 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Van Gundy thought Dooling would match up better against Luther Head; that's all.

    Any coach in the NBA, Van Gundy, Jackson, Sloan, Popovich, would struggle with what he has to work with in regards to our backcourt. The rotation/starting lineup has nothing to do with Van Gundy, and more to do with the roster he has to work with.

    As for the tonight's game, Howard has now been in "foul trouble" two games in a row. He isn't playing any differently. He's just being called for bogus and cheap fouls. That is a problem, and it’s frustrating.

    As for the final play, the refs got to watch the same replay I did 10,000 times, and it was good. Even worse, what was the "official call" on the play before they went to replay? Officials are supposed to make a call on a play like that, good or not, before they go to replay, even though they know they’re going to the replay. Then, once they go to replay, the replay is supposed to provide conclusive evidence backing up that official call. As Van Gundy mentioned in his post game, they never even made an official call. He didn't know what the official call was. By the time he was giving his post game comments, he had already called the lead officials and left messages.

    Personally, forget about the Magic's problems, backcourt, defense, or whatever you want to say. In my opinion, Orlando has now been robbed two games in a row at home; this one being a lot more obvious. So much for home court advantage; I call shenanigans.

    P.S.-I never want to see Dooling starting again.

    If you’re going to bitch about our defense, I’m tired of hearing players being singled out. Good defense is played by an entire team. Our team’s defenses lapses are a lot more than a single players “slow foot speed”. After all, Arroyo did only play 16 minutes. But whatever; I realize if someone wants to continue to bitch about something, there is always a way.

     

  • At 10:09 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    It was Jnelson who kept us in the game!Although, Carlos did do his part well. Carlos just struggled on defense! Again,since Carlos has started our last five games the opposite PG has been scoring!He has Slow foot Speed.I think a good trade would be jj redick, Carlos arroyo,Marcin gortat to be traded for a player like Michael Redd, Or even Jamal crawford. those are players who can give us the extra 14 or 16 points we need a game. We BASICALLY need a player who can fill in like GRANT HILL! Anyways Jameer had 20 points and made great assits to Afoyle & dwight.
    He was playing very good!Keyon played very well last night he did his part! Well lets look forward to next game at Sacremento kings!

     

  • At 12:41 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    OVERWADED, come on buddy. You can think and write better than you did in your last post. You emphasize on team defense but isn't the team comprised of individuals? Granted it is possible to double team or move around the court to make it difficult for the offensive players, but that is not always possible because it leaves other players open. Therefore, from time to time, it is necesaary for the defensive player to defend one-on-one, and that is where individual defensive prowess comes into the picture.

     

  • At 2:18 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I was in attendance for last night's fiasco and am still fuming. It is just as clear to everyone today as it was to everyone (except the bonehead officials) last night that the tip was good. What can come of the complaints and calls that SVG made? Does the NBA fine officials for blatantly making the wrong calls? Can they suspend an official for being stupid?

    The bottom line is that we get another L at home.

    Is it the fans fault? Are we not loud enough? What is the problem with our confidence? Why aren't we dominating at home like we've been able to do on the road? Who has the answers?

     

  • At 7:57 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Well said matt. Within the first 2 minutes of the game alston had 7 pts,who was guarding him? Carlos Arroyo. Or better yet,who was trying to guard him? Carlos Arroyo. Best beleive i'm going to give it to carlos as long as his slow behind is on the court,when carlos was coming off the bench and jameer was struggling i was critical of jameer the same way,carlos will get the exact same treatment from me no matter what anybody calls my or anybody else's comments.

     

  • At 3:17 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    It was 3 quick baskets, it can happen; and 3 of those points where scored when Arroyo was not guarding Alston. The same can be said in regards to Dwight/Yao. Yao scored 12 points and had 8 rebounds in the 1st quarter on Dwight. And the same can be said of the Head/Dooling match up, as Head did whatever he wanted against our "defensive stopper". The point is, you can make that kind of case very often, but it just depends on who you want to pick on.

    But since you want to talk about defense, let’s do it. Why isn't anyone else’s name being mentioned besides Arroyos? He didn't even play 16 minutes. Both Nelson and Dooling, (guys that people claim to be that much better of defenders than Arroyo) got smoked all night.

    With both Dooling and Nelson playing over 30 minutes in tonight’s loss in comparison to Arroyos 15 minutes, why are they not the guys being talked about?

    If anyone wants to complain about defense in this game, and the player you're going to talk about is Arroyo, there is a problem. If you want to start talking anywhere, maybe you should look at the end when the game is on the line. With seconds to go, Rafer Alston got to the rim and made what turned out to be the game-winning lay-up. He totally burned our “defensive stopper” Dooling and was at the rim for an uncontested lay-up as Dooling was left standing back at the 3-point line; awesome.

    By the way, Arroyo didn't play at all in the 4th quarter, and Alston scored most of his points on people other than Arroyo. But I'm sorry; Arroyo is some how to blame...

    Like I said, stop singling players out. Because when it comes down to it, I can pick on anyone on our roster, but why?

    And still, in the end, the Magic got screwed by the officials for the 2nd game in a row, and that's what I'm bitter about.

     

  • At 3:27 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    This comment has been removed by the author.

     

  • At 3:37 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    By the way, is anyone interested in Mickael Pietrus? He hasn't really been playing much for the Warriors.

    It's rumored that the Magic could be "shopping" Arroyo and/or Dooling. Redick is a name also mentioned.

    Now, I know Pietrus is listed as a forward, but I'd love to see him brought in. He's 6-6, and I really believe he could become a solid starting shooting guard. He's young, he can shoot the 3-ball, very explosive around the basket, and he's a great defender. Pretty much, he's a better version of Bogans, Evans, Dooling, Redick, and Ariza.

    While I don't expect anything to happen, I honestly wouldn't mind seeing a trade made; especially for a talented young player like Pietrus.

     

  • At 4:29 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Excellent 3:17 AM post, OVERWADED.

    If someone wanted to, they could select any one player from the team and point out every defensive mistake that player made throughout the game.

    The Magic defense, while far from perfect, hasn't been that awful the last two games; usually, when the Magic give up 96 pts, they'll win the game by a comfortable margin; the offense now is in a little bit of a funk, averaging just 94 1/2 pts the last two games, about nine below their season average.

    I'll only disagree with what you said about the refs... yes, it was a blown call at the end, but I'm more upset with the Magic for putting themselves in that position in the first place by falling behind by 12 with less than 6 minutes left.

    As for Mickael Pietrus of GS, in 17.7 mins per game, he's currently averaging 6.0 ppg on 43.6% FG shooting and 35.2% 3 PT shooting, along with 2.9 rebs and 0.9 stls.

     

  • At 2:37 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    You ask why? Let me give you "my opinion" then. When watching the magic over these last couple of games one position seems to consistently have defensive break-downs and lately seems to be getting shut down offensively at the same time,the point guard spot (williams,armstrong,alston). We cant survive with that type of production. So yes that would mean all the individuals who play the position are somewhat to blame for our defense getting broken-down at the point of attack. Carlos's problem happens to be he's slow a foot,jameer's seems to be lack of focus due to all the things he's been through this year,and keyon who really plays the position the least out of the three did have lapses late against the rockets. Best i can do? Try and do a better job of including everybody else i think is struggling on any given night,for the most part i think every other position hasnt been great but solid enough to get the job done.

     

  • At 2:42 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    MP would be an OK signing,but nothing i would jump up and down about. Its obvious around the league that when the day comes the magic get a legit point guard who can defend and distribute,is the day we become an elite team the likes of the celtics and pistons. The magic have so many peice's that there has to be interest from the bad teams at least,i meen philly could use JJ after losing korver,and i'd give them jameer and pat(expiring contract) for andre miller. I know i know,wishful thinking. But you get my point,there's a deal to be made because we have peice's.

     

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