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, December 30, 2009

Game review: Magic (23-8) 117, Bucks (12-18) 92


After playing a horribly flat first half and trailing by 9 points at halftime against Milwaukee, the Magic surged tremendously in the second half and could not be stopped, as they shot a spectacular 78.4% in the second half on their way to the blowout victory.

The Magic led 11-10 in the first quarter before the Bucks scored 11 points in a row to go ahead 21-11, and led after one 25-21. Things did not get better for the Magic in the second quarter, as Milwaukee extended their lead to 49-41 going into the half. The Bucks still led 64-56 with 6:41 remaining in the third, but the Magic caught fire, shooting 80% in the third quarter, and outscored the Bucks 23-10 the rest of the third and 38-25 overall to lead going into the fourth 79-74. After the Bucks scored the first 2 points of the fourth, the Magic went on a 14-0 run to put the game away, and outscored the Bucks 38-18 in the fourth. The Magic outscored the Bucks 76-43 in the second half.

Magic leading scorers

Vince Carter: 25 points (10 of 16 FGs), 4 assists, 5 turnovers
Dwight Howard: 17 points (8 of 11 FGs), 10 reboundfs, 2 steals, 2 blocks
Jason Williams (bench): 16 points (5 of 5 3 PT FGs), 7 assists
Mickael Pietrus (bench): 15 points (6 of 11 FGs)
Matt Barnes: 10 points (4 of 6 FGs), 6 rebounds

Overall Game Statistics

FG%: ORL 55.8% (43 of 77) MIL 39.2% (38 of 97)
3 PT FG%: ORL 47.6% (10 of 21) MIL 40.9% (9 of 22)
FT%: ORL 80.8% (21 of 26) MIL 77.8% (7 of 9)
REB: ORL 41 (7 offensive) MIL 39 (18 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 21/14 MIL 17/15
BENCH: ORL 53 MIL 30

Other game notes and stats:

-The Bucks had 4 players in double figures, led by Brandon Jennings with 20 points; C Andrew Bogut had a double/double of 15 points, 10 rebounds
-Matt Barnes started in place of Mickael Pietrus at SF for the Magic
-The Magic shot 14 of 40 in the first half (35%)
-Howard, Marcin Gortat, and Brandon Bass shot a combined 10 of 13 from the field in the first half, the rest of the Magic combined to shoot 4 of 27 before halftime
-The Magic shot just 1 of 9 on threes in the first half, 9 of 12 in the second half
-Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis combined for 12 points overall on 3 of 13 shooting
-Howard and Gortat combined for 26 points on 12 of 17 shooting with 17 rebounds and 4 blocks
-Carter took a nasty fall into the stands in the third quarter, but scored 22 second half points on 9 of 13 shooting
-The Magic bench combined to shoot 18 of 31 from the field
-Only Carter and Lewis played more than 30 minutes for the Magic
-The starting Bucks' backcourt of Jennings and Michael Redd combined to shoot just 10 of 31 from the field
-Ryan Anderson and Anthony Johnson did not see any action for the Magic
-Cleveland is now the number one seed in the East, with the Magic and Boston tied for the second seed 1 1/2 games back

Here is the complete box score and recap from nba.com

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:44 PM  

10 Comments:

  • At 4:10 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    From Brian Schmitz's recap of the Bucks/Magic game from the Orlando Sentinel:

    On a night in which coach Stan Van Gundy changed the line-up and seemingly played every rotation searching for a spark, Van Gundy said he didn't learn what was bothering starting point guard Jameer Nelson until after the game: A family issue, apparently with one of his children, limited Nelson to one hour of sleep on Tuesday night.

    Van Gundy then revealed that Nelson's surgically repaired left knee has been swelling, causing him to have his practice time limited. Nelson was just 1-of-7 for four points.

    "We're going to have to go back and evaluate where we are with Jameer," Van Gundy said. "There's medical concerns and people don't want him to get re-injured."

     

  • At 4:28 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Bad news about Jameer Nelson. Looks like he's going to have to sit for an indefinite number of games until his knee heals completely.

    We were all concerned that this knee injury could flare up again and be a recurring thing. I'm sure Jason Williams will be ready to step back into the starting lineup, with Anthony Johnson in reserve.

    Otherwise, what a spectacular second half by the Magic after a pitiful first half. 78% shooting in the second half by the Magic... are you kidding me!?

    Great job by J-Will coming off the bench to give the team a huge spark. VC was great in the second half, and D12 dominated down low and was only limited by foul trouble.

    Interesting lineup change by Coach Van Gundy, starting Barnes in place of Pietrus. It worked out well for both players, at least for a game.

    The Magic depth really showed in this game... 53 points by the reserves. Ryan Anderson didn't even get a chance to play.

    Hopefully the Magic can carry the momentum from the second half against the Bucks to their upcoming three game road trip.

     

  • At 8:13 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    I had aired my concern with rushing Jameer back too soon. It proves the point that medicine is not an exact science. However, I feel that if the management and coaching staff would have fallen on the side of caution, and had framed the questions right, the medical staff would have recommended later comeback and more testing in practice. This development is fine with me considering how bad Jameer looked last night; even the shots which he took looked awful. On the other hand Jason had one of his best games in terms of not only shooting well but also great passing which carved MIL's defense. In fact, I was going to suggest starting Jason and let Jameer earn his stating job back.

    BOS lost again which proves my point that they cannot win games with defense only except when the opposing team is so bad on offense or has an off night. Rajon Rondo is not a classic PG since he is a bad shooter to start with, and now it is getting in his head - encouraged by Doc Rivers - that he is a leader. On a team which has many all-star veterans who lead by example, announcing such role for Rondo could be proven foolish. Doc Rivers is grooming Rondo to be a coach, which is OK, but a leader? I don't think so. He is just a hard-nosed PG which I don't care much for his theatrics.

     

  • At 11:26 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Matt while i respect your thoughts on the celtics,they played without PP and KG last night which is a ton of offense. So i completely disagree that anything has been learned about the celtics. They arent going to win many games without their two stars,but rondo last week against the magic with most of his team put up a triple double basically. You have to respect his numbers against the defending eastern champ. Rondo leads with his play and the reason thats true is because doc runs everything through rondo which is why his assists totals are usually high. He'll never be a vocal leader but they have RA,PP and KG for that. I respect the hell out of his game because he plays the game right.

     

  • At 11:39 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    SVG made a ton of welcomed changes. (1)Lets start with the starting line-up. I like matt barnes being out there with the starters,even if he isnt as consistent shooting the ball as MP. He brings a different kind of energy and hustle to the line-up,and whats most important is the way he compete's for rebounds. (2)Also i thought the offense actually had a goal,we started out running the offense through jameer and he was able to pick up a couple assists really quick in the game. To me even though we werent scoring a bunch,the basketball looked better. (3)Ball movement,players cutting and dwight getting the ball in good spots makes for better looking basketball and it tells you the coach has guided them to play a certain way. (4)The rotation was really good and we got to see dwight and BB play together alot. I liked what i saw with the defensive toughness they brought to the table,and even though JJ couldnt get his shot going he and MP look alot better playing together off the bench.

     

  • At 11:44 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    SVG basically blew up his previous strategies by changing the starting line-up & rotations. Last nights team was the way i expected us to look at the beginning of the year. I never wanted MP in the starting line-up because i thought he was more valueable coming off the bench with last year as my evidence. MB has alot of CLee in his game and thats what we've been missing in the starting line-up. I wanna see more of THIS TEAM!

     

  • At 2:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    any magic blog in spanish?

     

  • At 4:37 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    Big Figure:

    I admit that my judgements are sometimes subjective since I lean more towards qualitative assessments rather than quantitative ones. I have spent most of my professional life with statistics to become weary of numbers. With that foreword, I believe in the prototype PGs in the mold of Kidd, Billups and Davis who are good shooters, big, and in command of the floor. I have special appreciation for Steve Nash but he is in a class of his own. Rondo's theatrics is unpleasant to say the least; remember last year's play-offs when he was picking up fights with bigger guys to show how tough he is. That is not a role for a PG, and honestly it is foolish since he may get hurt. There you have it on what I think about Rondo.

     

  • At 6:33 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    "Anonymous"... no, I don't know of any Magic blogs en espanol.

    Regarding Rajon Rondo... I think he is a heck of a point guard, even though he doesn't shoot well from the outside or the FT line; he's a very good passer and makes a lot of stuff happen with his drives to the basket. I don't care much for his theatrics either though, particularly some of the stuff he pulled against the Bulls in the playoffs last season (his raking Brad Miller across the face on a breakaway, and his near-tackle of Kirk Hinrich around midcourt).

    Like Big Figure noted, it should be kept in mind Boston was without Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett during their latest loss.

    I like the lineup change with Barnes in place of Pietrus; both players adjusted to the change well. Coach rotated the players and the rest of the lineup very well throughout the game.

     

  • At 6:42 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Matt i can respect that. He isnt the prototypical PG from the standpoint of size and shooting with the ability to post up like those mentioned. But the numbers say he's in total command of the floor and thats whats most important. Seems like he routinely out plays jameer,even shoots the ball well against us. And the fact that he has been the starting PG on a championship team also proves that his style of play is good enough to get the job done without having great size or shooting ability. His theatrics are what they are,i could care less who he chooses to pick fights with. And by the way,kidd couldnt shoot to save his life in the beginning of his career and Bdavis is wildly inconsistent. Billups would be the only one out of that group considered a "prototype". Cpaul and Dwilliams can be added in place of those two.

     

Post a Comment

<< Home