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.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The Month of January for the Magic

Heading into the New Year, the Magic are 22-11, with the third best record in the Eastern Conference, and are tied for the third most wins in the NBA, along with an NBA leading 15 road wins. Considering their road-heavy schedule the first two months, I don't think too many people would have thought the Magic would have so many victories at this point. Sure, there have been bumps along the way and a few bad losses, but generally, the Magic are progressing well under first-year coach Stan Van Gundy.

The Magic have 14 games this month... 7 home and 7 on the road. At home, they play four games against teams that are currently under .500 (NJ, HOU, CHI, MIA). Three games are against teams over .500 (POR, DET, BOS). On the road, the Magic play four games against teams that are currently under .500 (SAC, LAC, CHA, MEM). Three road games are against teams over .500 (DEN, UT, DET).

A pessimistic view of how the Magic will fare this month: 6-8
Optimistic view: 10-4

Two games against DET and one against BOS will be good indicators of where the Magic currently stand as a team.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 4:12 AM  

6 Comments:

  • At 10:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Great Post Mike!!! I believe that the 4 game west coast trip is going to show our versatility on offense when playing against teams that will light the scoreboards on fire like DEN and UTH. Also, matt i agree with your last posted blog, the last thing we need is a sentinel blog. The respect here is really what keeps me logged on and if i get a little too wound up dont pay any attention its just this team is sometimes a little bit nerve-wracking.

     

  • At 1:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Great Post.
    We need to come out storming in games versus NJ, DEN,UTAH this will prove if we are good.22-11 is great!SVG starts Jameer tonight.BIG Game 2night!

     

  • At 3:49 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Nets/Magic preview

    The Magic (22-11, 7-6 home) will try for their 5th win in a row hosting NJ (14-16, 7-5 road). The Nets are coming off a 97-95 victory over MIL SAT night, with Vince Carter scoring 23 pts and Jason Kidd 17 pts. NJ has won 4 of their last 5 games.

    The probable starting lineup for NJ:

    G... Jason Kidd (11.5 ppg, 10.6 asts, 8.6 rebs)
    G... Vince Carter (21.4 ppg, 5.3 rebs)
    F... Richard Jefferson (24.8 ppg)
    F... Sean Williams (7.3 ppg, 5.2 rebs)
    C... Josh Boone (5.3 ppg, 5.1 rebs)

    Top reserves... Bostjan Nachbar (10.0 ppg); Malik Allen (5.5 ppg); Jason Collins (1.1 ppg) Darrell Armstrong (1.7 ppg)

    C Nenad Krstic is out with a knee injury, and F Antoine Wright (8.8 ppg) is questionable with an ankle injury.

    NJ is averaging 92.4 ppg, while allowing 97.3 ppg. The Magic are averaging 103.9 ppg, while allowing 100.2 ppg.

    The Magic will start CArroyo at PG tonight, with JNelson coming off the bench.

    Magic are 6 pt favorites (www.pinnaclesports.com)

     

  • At 3:55 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    I agree with SVG in starting Arroyo with Nelson coming off the bench; it's going to be up to SVG to regulate their minutes. I really don't care who gets more minutes, just so the Magic get the win. Hopefully they both can play well like against the Bulls.

    I expect another tight game tonight. The Nets have a better road record than the Magic's home record, and the Nets are having one of their better stretches of the season, having won 4 of their last 5.

    I remain optimistic the Magic will continue to do what needs to be done to get their 5th win in a row... Magic by 5.

     

  • At 4:20 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    I feel like the magic have always played well against the nets,tonight shouldnt be any different. They dont have any quickness on the perimeter so i dont expect us to be hurt by dribble penetration. They also dont have an inside presence with kristic out so i dont expect them to score a whole bunch in the paint. At some point the magic will take over the game and win going away,vince and Rj probably get their's,but the magic win by double digits.

     

  • At 7:55 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Good Post! I think that this fifth game against not a bad team could get us back on the winning streak against Denver and Utah. I agree with Big Figure when he says that NJ has no perimeter quickness. That should help us a lot later in the game. Richardson has been doing good lately and so has Vince so lets hope we can keep up. It will be a great win, hopefully with a 10 or more lead at the end. Now we need to make sure that NJ doesn't come out vistorious because we could use this win...

    The Arroyo and Jameer switch on the starting lineup was just waiting to happen. I like J Nelson and especially his chemistry with Dwight but if he's not puting up more game than Arroyo has...I would agree with SVG. There is one thing I do not like Arroyo in, and that is his defense, he's too slow and allows to many jumpshots take place. And he needs to be more consistent. But he's doing a hella job in the starting position. Jameer is doing good as a bencher. I think until Nelson regains his heat, like in the beginning of the season, SVG should keep him as the second PG.

    Now the NJ nets have won 4 out of 5 of their last games and they do have a better road record than our home record...but if we keep them out the paint, which they aren't very strong in, we should come out victorious. Well magic win by ten and they do a great job for their first game in the new year, 2008. HAPPY NEW YEARS!

     

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