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, February 28, 2008

Sixers lead from start to finish in win over Magic

The key to beating PHI is to score at least 100 pts against them; unfortunately for the Magic, they didn't get anywhere close to that. The Sixers jumped out to a whopping 24 pt second qtr lead; the closest the Magic (37-23, 21-12 road) could get after that was nine points briefly midway through the final qtr, as PHI (26-32) won their seventh home game in a row 101-89.

Five players scored in double figures for the Magic, led by HTurkoglu with 20 pts (5 of 12 FGs), 7 rebs, 6 asts, but 5 TOs; RLewis 19 pts (5 of 15 FGs), 6 rebs; DHoward 14 pts (6 of 13 FGs), 16 rebs; KBogans off the bench with 13 pts (5 of 7 FGs); and JRedick, seeing extended minutes for the first time in a while, 10 pts (4 of 10 FGs). The Magic's starting backcourt of JNelson and MEvans combined for 2 pts on 1 of 6 FGs. KDooling, who played just 10 mins, left the game with a sprained foot.

Three Sixers scored over 20 pts, led by Andre Miller with 26 pts, Willie Green a season-high 26 pts, and Andre Iguodala 24 pts. PHI's starting backcourt of Miller and Green combined for 52 pts on 22 of 34 FGs, outscoring the Magic's starting backcourt 52-2.

The statistical breakdown:

FGs... PHI 37 of 83 (44.6%) ORL 30 of 74 (40.5%) PHI 76 ORL 71
3 PT FGs... ORL 11 of 26 (42.3%) PHI 2 of 10 (20%)
FTs... PHI 25 of 30 (83.3%) ORL 18 of 27 (66.7%)
REBs... PHI 41 ORL 41
AST/TO... PHI 24/11 ORL 18/20
BENCH... ORL 34 PHI 10

The Magic finish the month of FEB at 8-5, for an overall record of 37-23. They were 4-2 on the road, and 4-3 at home. They finished 2-4 against teams that are currently over .500, and 6-1 to teams currently under .500. The Magic hold an 8 1/2 game lead over second place WAS, and are the third seed in the East 3 games ahead of TOR and 4 games ahead of CLE.

Magic start off the month of March SAT hosting NY.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:20 AM  

5 Comments:

  • At 1:16 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    As bad as this loss was, it was only one loss and the Magic can rest for a couple days before their next game this weekend. This was their sixth game in nine nights, and the second of a road back-to-back. These kind of losses happen to just about every team during the course of a year, as it's a long 82 game season.

    It's kind of mind-boggling to see our starting backcourt being outscored 52-2! Nelson had to play extended minutes with Dooling's injury (Arroyo played only 4 mins); Evans played less than 10 mins.

    Lewis and Turkoglu combined for 39 pts, which is slightly above their season average, but only shot 10 of 27 FGs.

    In Nelson's last three games, since his 17 pt game against the Sixers on FEB 22nd, he has scored a total of 12 pts, averaging 4 ppg, on icy 4 of 21 FG shooting. His AST/TO ratio during those three games is a more than respectable 19/3, however. We need more than 4 pts a game from him, though, especially if Dooling is going to have to miss a game or two.

    Throughout the season, there were rumors of the Magic maybe getting Andre Miller from PHI. Wouldn't he look good as our starting PG now? Oh well... we gotta depend on Nelson, Dooling, and Arroyo.

    I admire the Sixers for being in playoff contention this season. With the big trade of Iverson last season to DEN and the trade of long-range gunner Kyle Korver to UT this season (for Gordan Giricek, who rarely plays), the other guys are really stepping up their play. They don't have much of a productive bench, but I do respect their starting five. They really outplayed the Magic.

    Learn from this loss and move on to hopefully come close to clinching the third seed in March.

     

  • At 12:31 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    I think it's embarrassing that Philly is contending for a playoff spot.

    I think it's even more embarrassing that we got beat down by this team.

    Granted, games like this happen, but not to a good team. This type of loss shouldn’t happen as we’re closing out the season heading into the playoffs.

    Now if they really want to piss me off they’ll let the Knicks make a game of it Saturday.

    Speaking of embarrassing, we have to find a new starting backcourt. I know it won’t happen now, and it might not fully happen in the off season. But our backcourt has been made to look AWFUL to many times. I'm pretty much done with all of them. My only hope is that maybe by adding a solid 2-guard, that'll balance out Nelson. But I'm questionable with all of them right now.

    I’m annoyed that Otis Smith didn’t find any deals with all the expiring contracts he had to work with.

     

  • At 1:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Overwaded: Agreed. In fact, I think that Otis needs to prioritize improving our backcourt even over acquiring a better PF. We simply have no defensive presence in the backcourt right now. Dooling, as good as he's been, is still small. I think we must focus on a *tall* backcourt stopper, ideally who can play both positions (and if picking that player limits Dooling's time, so be it).

    As for PF, Battie is coming back. He's not great but serviceable.

     

  • At 4:32 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Credit philly's coaching staff for putting together a game-plan that attacks us at our weakness,this game really was lost at one position,point guard. Andre miller took advantage off the size mismatch and abused jameer,they basically ran their offense through him which basically takes everybody else on the floor out of the game,if SVG wanted to do something different with the strategy to defend him then he should have,but that wouldve been the only way to change the complexion of the game,as we saw he killed us with a man-to-man strategy. Zone? Nobody on their team shoots the ball well,a zone wouldve effectively taken miller out of his game. We play them again in a few weeks,we'll see if SVG makes some changes in his defensive strategy. Bring on the knicks!

     

  • At 6:03 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Dave, I agree with you. Our frontcourt always holds it's own. But our backcourt is a regular problem.

    I saw as many as 4 players, maybe more TRY to guard Miller.

    Nelson was abused. Dooling wasn't much better. Bogans didn't work. Arroyo looked bad in the short time he was out there.

    While I agree that the point guard position was abused more than any other; Willie Green put up a season high. WILLIE GREEN. He hasn’t broken the 20 point mark often this season, but he just did twice in the last week against us.

    The sad thing is, right as I was looking at the starting lineups, I said this to myself: Willie Green is the type of scrub that we'll make look like a star. No wonder the game pissed me off so much. (13 points over his season average)

    I don’t understand how it’s so difficult for some of these guys to play defense. Arroyo and Redick are slow, Nelson is small; I understand that. But Evans and Bogans, who are both known as “capable defenders”, what gives? Even Nelson, he is small, but he’s quick and strong. There is no excuse for him to be abused as much as he is.

    Before the game, Nelson said he was really going to be focusing on his defense for the rest of the season. Well, I hope he’s got more to offer...

    Boy do I wish Otis didn't waste the money on Nelson before the season...so stupid.

     

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