official Orlando Magic team thread

[zasbury25]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

After a horrible showing in Atlanta on Sunday and 2.5 quarters of lackluster basketball against the Wiz tonight, the Magic finally wake up and show some emotion in their 106-103 victory over Washington. Carlos Arroyo has been lights out the past two games, shooting 18 for 22 from the field. He provided a boost in the third when the offense was stagnant with the starting five on the floor. Jameer has been a bit disappointing so far this season; he has been very indecisive with the ball on the offensive side, leading to a bunch of turnovers in the first four games. Hopefully he will bounce back from these poor showings on Wednesday when the Sonics come into town on the back end of a back-to-back.

Trevor Ariza is expected sometime back this week, possibly as soon as Wednesday. The second unit definitely needs his defensive presence and energy on the court. Dooling has been playing well, but he and Bogans are undersized to matchup with the larger 2/3's in the league.

[zasbury25]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

After a turnover-laden loss last night in Indy, the Magic bounce back tonight with a win against Minnesota. Dwight was unstoppable tonight, collecting his third 20-20 game in his career with 21 points and 22 rebounds. Minnesota made the mistake of not double-teaming Dwight and he made them pay, making his first seven shots. Darko had his best game of the season with 15 points and 5 boards. Turnovers weren't a problem tonight until the 4th quarter, but they still only had 11 for the night, which is a huge improvement. The Magic finish out their road trip on Monday against the struggling Celtics.

[MagicBucsWsoxFan]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

Good W's against Minny, Boston and Denver.

This team has a punchers chance to make the playoffs if they can stay healthy.

[CM1847]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

If they stay healthy they should expect to make the playoffs. If they stay health AND overachieve they will have an outside chance to battle Washington to win the division if Miami doesn't decide to start playing for real for another few months. Any playoff birth would be huge for the young team, they schedule has been pretty easy so far, they need to take advantage of the next few games against weak teams. A West coast road trip starts after Thanksgiving, but it is relatively easy until then.

[zasbury25]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

Don't get me wrong, I am happy about the 6-3 start, but all three of those games were winable if the team hadn't committed so many turnovers. 20+ turnovers per game is ridiculous...stupid passes, so many offensive fouls, traveling calls, the list goes on and on. This is going to catch up with them soon if they don't fix this ASAP, and I fear it is not going to be pretty.

[CM1847]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

All trademarks of a young team, all of those things should improve as the season goes on. You are right, they have to improve for the team to be a threat to win a few games in the playoffs(or even get there).

[MagicBucsWsoxFan]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

Another 20/20 performance for Dwight last night. More importantly though the Magic win a game, we are supose to win. Thats always a great sign.

[CM1847]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

Anybody have Howard's career stats against the Bobcats? It seems like he gets 20/20 everytime they face them.

[zasbury25]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

Dwight goes back to back 20-20 with 20 pts and 21 rebs tonight vs. the Grizz...still 5:30 left in the game.

...and he ends up with 24 pts and 23 rebs, but the Magic lose to the Grizz on the road. Bench played horrible, Hedo was off all night, and they gave the ball up 19 times that resulted in 26 pts for Memphis. These are the games that they should be winning...turnovers on the road killed them tonight. Big game Wednesday @ home vs. the Pacers...definitely won't be easy.

[zasbury25]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

After the horrible loss in Memphis, it was good to see the team run off three in a row before heading out on the 6 game West Coast trip. JJ got his first action last night vs. Atlanta...the crowd started chanting for him at the beginning of the 4th and rarely stopped until he made his way off the bench. The crowd gave him a huge standing ovation once he was introduced and went nuts everytime he got the ball. The first time JJ touched the ball, he shot it and drilled a 20 footer. You could see that a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders and he had a bounce in his step. However, I don't expect to see much from JJ in the near future as GHill was not with the team and I can't see disrupting the chemistry of the bench to give him some time at this point during the season.

With that said, I hope that the Magic come back to town with at least 3 of 6 from out West, but anything less than 2 will be a dissapointment the way the team is playing right now.

[CM1847]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

Great way to start the road trip with a win @ Utah, just huge. They've won 8 of the last 9, that stupid Memphis loss being the only blemish. I'd like to see them win 4 out of the final 5 on the road trip, but after beating Utah they showed they can beat anyone else on this trip.

[zasbury25]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

Congrats to Howard and Coach Hill for being the Player and Coach of the Month in the East for November...

Magic survive tonight with a win in Portland on an amazing inbounds play to a cutting GHill for the game winner with 0.3 seconds left to win by 2. Props to Coach Hill for drawing up such a great play and perfect execution by the team. The Magic extend their win streak to 6 games and are 3 for 3 so far on the 6 game road trip. Next up are the Clips on Sunday, Kings on Monday, and the Pacers on Wednesday...all winable games the way the team is playing right now.

[CM1847]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

I don't like that Sacremento game the night after playing the Clippers. At least the Clippers are playing the Lakers today, nice to catch them on the tail end of a back-to-back. Orlando would do very well to win 2 of these 3 upcoming road games.

[CM1847]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

Of course I say that and then the lose to the Clippers and beat the Kings. That makes two big last second wins on this road trip, the kind of games good teams win and the kind of games they would have folded in last year.

Indiana Wednesday and then a short home stand with Detroit and Phoenix.

[MagicBucsWsoxFan]

Re: official Orlando Magic team thread

Never expected this road trip to go as well as it did. We migt just be for real fellas. The continued consistant play is really getting me excited about this season.