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Orlando Magic News for December 24th: Previewing Tomorrow's Game Between the Orlando Magic and the Boston Celtics; An Update on All-Star Voting

erivera7 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:12:58 -0000

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Magic don’t think Celtics will be any easier to play without Paul Pierce
Tania Ganguli explains that the Orlando Magic are going to have their hands full with the Boston Celtics, even though All-Star small forward Paul Pierce will be out two weeks with a knee infection.

Stan Van Gundy: "I think that obviously the first places they’ll go are into the post more to Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace. I think you’ll see them in the post more and they’ll run a lot more stuff for Ray Allen. You’ve gotta find a way to score on them. They are a great, great defensive team and have been for three years. There’s still some defensive challenges. It seems like it’s very rare you have both teams at full strength."
Taking Inventory at Christmastime
Kevin Arnovitz of TrueHoop takes a look around the Association to see what's happening right now with the league's more interesting teams.

Watching the Magic last night was a reminder that a good system is a powerful thing. Pieces can be added and subtracted without disruption. There's a possession about four minutes into the game where Rashard Lewis runs an early high screen for Jameer Nelson, who's making his first start since November 16. Nelson dribbles to his right, while Lewis runs a little flare cut along the left side of the arc around Dwight Howard, who steps in Luis Scola's path as Scola tries to recover. Lewis gets a wide open at a 3-pointer. He actually misses the shot (and all six of this attempts from beyond the arc), but it's a clean look. What's more impressive are the remaining options on the floor even Scola is able to recover or Chuck Hayes is able to close out on the shot. A quick skip pass to Vince Carter or Mickael Pietrus on the weak side would yield similarly good stuff.
5-on-5: Celtics-Magic on Christmas Day
ESPN.com asks five questions to its five writers on the five games on Christmas Day. Here's an excerpt about the Magic and the Celtics:

3. Better bench: Magic or Celtics?
Abbott: The Magic are deeper. Ryan Anderson can really play and, as a shooter, fits their system perfectly. Marcin Gortat could start for most teams, J.J. Redick has his moments, Matt Barnes and Jason Williams could both start, Brandon Bass provides some shot-blocking and muscle and sometimes even noted defender Mickael Pietrus comes off the bench.

Broussard: This is a tough one, but I'll go with Boston, again largely because the C's have proved they have what it takes to excel in big moments.

Hollinger: Magic, hands down. Boston's bravado about having a better bench than its championship team now looks ridiculous -- Eddie House, Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine are the same, and although Rasheed Wallace is an upgrade over P.J. Brown, there's no James Posey, no Leon Powe and (for now) no Glen Davis. Meanwhile, Orlando's bench basically carried it through the first third of the season.

Sheridan: Magic. Gortat, Bass and Anderson would be starters on half the teams in the NBA, J-Will and Anthony Johnson are battle-tested and Redick is better and tougher than people think. Boston? Sheed and a healthy Glen Davis are pluses, but Marquis Daniels has been so-so at best, and Eddie House always runs too hot and cold. Not much else there.

Stein: Orlando has the best bench in the league. The Magic have an astounding 12 guys who legitimately deserve NBA minutes. No one else in the NBA has that kind of depth.
Boston Celtics-Orlando Magic Christmas Day matchup a biggie on many levels
Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com previews the highly-anticipated matchup between Orlando and Boston. A must-read.

Not only is this a matchup of the two top teams in the Eastern Conference, not only is it a nationally televised broadcast on perhaps the NBA's marquee day, but there are also leftover emotions from a memorable seven-game series in the Eastern Conference semifinals this past May that helped propel the Magic to the NBA Finals.

"I do [think it's a playoff preview]," admitted Allen, who wasn't bashful about pondering potential implications for home-court advantage in the postseason, particularly with Orlando already boasting a win over the Celtics in Boston on Nov. 20. "We look at it as a game we want to win. When you get to the end of the year, these are the type of games you look back at [for motivation and strategy] before the playoffs."
Show Time: Contenders Have Something To Prove On Christmas Day
Sean Deveney of The Baseline writes that each of the contenders playing tomorrow has something to prove.

Magic: The defense will be back. Orlando was one of the better defensive teams in the league last season, and it started off the same way this season. But that’s come apart in December, as the Magic have allowed 100.4 points per game for the month. The defense needs to toughen against the Celtics, perhaps the most efficient offensive team in the league. "We have to just be consistent," forward Mickael Pietrus said. "We know we can be a good defensive team."
The Magic are 7th in defensive efficiency, for those wondering.
The Numbers Game ... Christmas Day style
John Schuhmann notes that Vince Carter is taking the lion's share of the shots in Orlando, and converting them at a low rate.

Vince Carter is Orlando's leading scorer at 18.6 points per game, but he's shooting a career-low 39.8 percent from the field. Carter is also averaging his fewest field-goal attempts per game (16.1), but that's more than seven shots more than Dwight Howard. Even when you figure in Howard's frequent trips to the line, Carter's shooting more than the guy who ranks second in the league in field-goal percentage.
Kobe leads way in second returns of All-Star Game voting
Don't look now but Allen Iverson has surpassed Vince Carter. Which means that if voting ended today, Iverson would start alongside Dwyane Wade in the East.

The guards in the Eastern Conference are paced by Wade (1,314,215), followed by the Philadelphia 76ers' Allen Iverson (635,084). While Iverson appears among Western Conference guards on the paper ballot because he began the season with Memphis, his votes count towards the Eastern Conference guards due to his signing with Philadelphia Dec. 3. James, a two-time All-Star MVP (2006, 2008), paces Eastern Conference forwards with 1,351,292 votes, followed by the Boston Celtics' Kevin Garnett (1,113,213), MVP of the 2003 All-Star Game. The Orlando Magic's Dwight Howard leads all centers with 1,252,786 votes; the Cavaliers' O'Neal is second among centers in the East (455,239).
Which, in my opinion, would be ridiculous. Iverson doesn't deserve to be in the All-Star Game and quite frankly, neither does Carter (but the pick wouldn't be as egregious).
So This is Christmas
UPDATE: Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus previews tomorrow's game, which sees a different outlook for two elite teams in the NBA.

Meanwhile, Orlando is just now getting a look at its full complement of players. Jameer Nelson underwent arthroscopic knee surgery days after Rashard Lewis' 10-game NBA suspension ended, and Nelson is just now working his way back in the lineup, starting and playing 29 minutes on Wednesday after one game off the bench. Jason Williams and Anthony Johnson played very well in Nelson's absence, but his return still should lift an offense that already ranks fifth in the league. The only weak link so far has been Vince Carter, sporting an ugly 42.9 shooting percentage inside the arc.
The Orlando Magic own a 4-2 all-time record on Christmas Day entering Friday afternoon's game against the Boston Celtics.
UPDATE 2: Josh Robbins looks back in the past to see how the Magic have fared in games on Christmas Day.
Statement game against the Boston Celtics? Not for Stan Van Gundy
UPDATE 3: Some thoughts from head coach Stan Van Gundy.

Van Gundy’s biggest concern about the Celtics is with their defense.

"They’re one of the few teams that both holds teams to a low field goal percentage and creates a lot of turnovers," Van Gundy said. "A lot of it comes down to their size. I think their defense really comes down to their size. Rondo’s very long. Then inside they’ve got a lot of quality big guys with great size so they’re very tough. If you do not move them around it becomes even tougher to score."
Kevin Garnett will play for Boston against Orlando, and Big Baby might be activated
UPDATE 4: More news on the Celtics.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers held Garnett out of Tuesday night’s game against Indiana because of a bruised thigh, but Garnett practiced Thursday and "looked great," according to Rivers.

"My main thing right now is just defense," Garnett said. "We have to take the Magic off the 3. They’re playing really well at home. [We need] to be ready to defend for 48 minutes."

Rivers wouldn’t say who will start in Pierce’s place, though Tony Allen could be the guy. Regardless of who starts, Allen, Brian Scalabrine and Eddie House all figure to see more playing time.

Glen "Big Baby" Davis, who has missed the entire season with a right thumb injury, might be activated before the game.

Where Spreading Holiday Cheer Happens

Ben Q Rock — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:00:23 -0000

Photo is courtesy of the Orlando Magic.

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The Orlando Magic have gotten into the spirit of giving this holiday season, hosting several holiday-themed events in order to give back to the community. Two days ago, they hosted 42 families from the Apopka Family learning center for a party at RDV SportsPlex in an event which included coach Stan Van Gundy dressed as Santa Claus. From John Denton's story on the festivities:

Even the most hardened competitors on the basketball court might have grown a bit misty-eyed on Tuesday watching the joyous smiles of kids getting presents and bicycles on what might have otherwise been a lean holiday season.

"We live a good lifestyle and God has blessed us with most of the things that we have ever desired materialistically. But to be able to give back to those who are a little less fortunate, it's such a really good feeling for us," said Magic guard Anthony Johnson, one of the fourth-quarter heroes of Monday's win against the Utah Jazz. "We're just out here trying to spread some cheer and brighten the holidays."

[....]

Magic general manager Otis Smith said nothing was budgeted for the party, so he started going around to all of the players two weeks ago for donations to fund the party. The generosity from the players and staff amazed Smith, so much so that the party even exceeded the team's expectations, Smith said.

"I think there's something a little off about a party where millionaires are buying gifts for other millionaires, especially when there are so many people in need," said J.J. Redick, who had a bicycle under each arm during the end of the party. "I don't think you can underestimate the impact of an act of kindness and the impact that it can have on a person. Doing stuff like this is something that we enjoy, but it's also a necessity."

Tuesday's party was only the most recent example of the Magic's holiday giving. Ryan Anderson, Brandon Bass, and Vince Carter visited Florida Hospital for Children last Friday, to distribute gifts as well as to just hang out with the patients. That same day saw the Orlando Magic Backcourt, an organization which, per a team press release, "was created by the Magic players, coaches and basketball operation's wives, girlfriends and family members as a way to give back to the community," host an event to raise money for Edgewood Children's Ranch. And on Sunday, Anderson and Redick took local children on a shopping spree at Target.

I know there's a lot of cynicism associated with the NBA and its NBA Cares initiative, but after reading about the Magic's kindness toward the community, as well as interacting with the players lately, I can assure you that they take it seriously.

The Orlando Sentinel has a photo gallery centered on the Magic's community events. It's definitely worth a look, especially if the idea of Jason Williams trying to ride a bike built for a 5-year-old, small children pelting Matt Barnes with snowballs, and Rashard Lewis bonding with Williams over snowcones amuses you. Also, here's the Magic's official holiday eCard:

Happy holidays from us at OPP as well.

Orlando Magic 102, Houston Rockets 87

Ben Q Rock — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:14:11 -0000

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Dwight Howard once again led the Orlando Magic to an ugly, grind-it-out win at home as they defeated the Houston Rockets, 102-87, for their third straight victory, and first home win over the Rockets since April 8th, 2002, when now-Rockets guard Tracy McGrady scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Orlando. Howard scored 13 points, corralled 20 rebounds, and blocked 4 shots in just 32 minutes, shutting the Rockets down in the paint and forcing them to take jumpers for much of the night. Vince Carter had yet another poor shooting night, missing 10 of his 16 shot attempts, but nonetheless led Orlando with 18 points. Rashard Lewis scored 15 points and made four three-pointers for the second consecutive game, while Jameer Nelson also scored 15 on an efficient 6-of-11 shooting. He propelled the Magic on a decisive 15-0 run in the third quarter, scoring 8 points and dishing an assist to Lewis for a three-pointer during that stretch. Ryan Anderson became the latest Magic backup to shine, scoring 14 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in 18 well-played minutes, which Magic coach Stan Van Gundy deemed "a very good effort." Reserve power forward Carl Landry paced the Rockets with 20 points on 11 shots, so Van Gundy subbed Howard in for Marcin Gortat, and Howard responded. Van Gundy pointed out that the Rockets "went to [Landry] once [against Howard], he shut that down and that stopped [the Rockets from looking for him.]"

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Rockets	91	96.0	42.7%	20.7	13.3	11.0
Magic	95	107.9	52.4%	15.3	24.4	16.9
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

The third quarter was when Orlando really broke the game open after allowing the Rockets to trim a 12-point lead to just 3 at halftime. Houston scored 13 points on 4-of-20 shooting in the period. Rockets coach Rick Adelman said "we just had a real poor third period" and "we couldn't get anything going [...] and they kind of took control." Indeed the Magic did, as previously described. Specifically, Houston missed 8 shots and committed 2 turnovers during their 6-minute scoreless stretch, in which Orlando increased its lead from 1 to 16. The Rockets' offense is opportunistic, predicated on ball movement and finding the open man. There weren't many men open during that stretch, though Adelman did say of his team's overall shooting performance, "I didn't think they were bad shots." I'm not one to challenge anyone with a resume like Adelman's, but I don't consider a contested Trevor Ariza long two-pointer off the dribble is a good shot. Ariza, the former Magic forward, shot 1-of-10 and struggled to create his own shot all night. He fared better in a complementary role with the L.A. Lakers last season. He hasn't had the opportunity to complement anyone in Houston, with franchise center Yao Ming out, so it's far too early to say the Rockets' decision to sign him was a bad one. Yet the early returns aren't promising.

The main reason for Houston's perimeter-oriented attack was indeed due to Orlando's defense of the paint, although the Rockets are perimeter-oriented to begin with during Yao's prolonged injury absence. Sure, Howard did more than his share, and Gortat fared well up until Landry got hot in the fourth quarter. But overall, the Rockets shot 19-of-40 in the paint for 39 points. Adelman attributed the Rockets' overall offensive struggles to their inability to "get anything going to the basket." Aaron Brooks has a slight quickness advantage on Nelson, and blew by him for the Rockets' first points of the game the first time he challenged him in the first quarter, but Nelson generally tended to keep Brooks from getting to the rim. Brooks countered by draining 3-of-5 three-pointers during the Rockets' stellar second period, but managed only 2 points on 0-of-4 shooting in the second half.

A message written on the team's whiteboard after the game described of what the Magic were most proud: allowing 35 points in the entire second half. Van Gundy mentioned it in his post-game comments, and Carter cited the stat in his post-game availability as well. Said Carter, "defensively, that's where we're trying to make our mark." Once again, the Magic succeeded in that area. In their three-game homestand since allowing the Miami Heat to score 104 points on 86 possessions, the Magic have limited their opponents to 269 points on 287 possessions for a defensive rating of 93.7. Howard, in particular, is leading the charge. Said Howard, "I tell the guys, 'Hey, I got your back. Continue to play good defense, I'm going to be behind you to erase the mistakes.' And that's what it takes." He emphasized the importance of his own "blocking shots and rebounding," using a version of that phrase three times in responding to one question. Van Gundy said he's encouraged Howard, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, to try harder on that end: "We made the point that he had backed off [rebounding and blocking shots] early in the year, and he has stepped it up in a big way now." Since the Magic's two-game losing streak to the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns two weeks ago, Howard's averaging 16.7 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per contest.

The Magic's offense was a more balanced attack, with five players scoring in double figures; Orlando moved to 14-2 on the season when that occurs. They weren't too far away from placing 7 men in double-digits, with J.J. Redick scoring 9 and Matt Barnes adding 8. However, it wasn't a great performance in terms of efficiency, and Van Gundy said, "we've still got to do a little better job of getting [Howard] the ball." He added that he "wasn't really upset with the shot selection," though. Turnovers, and not shooting, contributed more to Orlando's mediocre offensive outing. Nelson and Carter had 4 apiece, accounting for half the Magic's turnovers, which Houston converted to 16 points. Counting tonight, Orlando has performed worse than their season average in turnover rate in each of their last five games, something Van Gundy wants them to correct very soon.

Orlando will practice early tomorrow to give players enough time to finish their holiday shopping, then will face the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day. Though Van Gundy and the players had plenty to say about that game when asked, it didn't appear as though the Magic were caught looking ahead with a poor performance tonight.

Ryan Anderson's Adventures in Offensive Rebounding

Ben Q Rock — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:00:15 -0000

by Gregory Smith - AP

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The book on Orlando Magic power forward Ryan Anderson reads that he is a three-point shooter, first and foremost. Prior to Monday's game against the Utah Jazz, he had attempted 100 of his 169 total shot attempts from behind the three-point line, or 59.1%. That's a more pronounced split than last season, with the New Jersey Nets, when three-pointers accounted for 46.4% of his field goal attempts. He digs the long ball for good reason, as he's connected on 37% of his treys so far in his brief career. Looking simply at those stats, it'd be fair to conclude that he's a specialist.

But there's more to the stat sheet than the 3FG/3FGA columns. Eddy's written before about how Anderson is far from the next Pat Garrity and could have a bright future in this league, and I wondered shortly after the Magic acquired him if he might develop into a Troy Murphy-like player. The reason is rebounding, and something I've noticed looking at the nuanced Anderson highlights OPP community member leeebear has shared here, as well as in-person in the Magic's game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday. Anderson is a gifted offensive rebounder, especially when it comes to grabbing his own misses. The man shows remarkable sticktoitiveness. But no matter whose mess he's cleaning up, he tends to get good results.

Before the Magic's game against the Jazz last night--again, I'm emphasizing this fact to indicate that the data are one game out of date--Anderson's snagged a modest 27 offensive boards in 22 games, or 1.2 per game. What's striking is that he's tallied an offensive rebound in only half of his appearances, which I can't explain. On the Magic, he ranks behind only Dwight Howard and Marcin Gortat in offensive rebound rate; in overall rebound rate, he places behind those two as well as small forward Matt Barnes. Interesting that, in both metrics, he outperforms the more traditional power forward Brandon Bass, whose presence many pundits (whether they qualify as observers or experts is questionable, given that Anderson had moderately outperformed Bass in rebounding even prior to this season) predicted would be a boon to Orlando on the glass.

But back to my point: he scored via a putback or a drawn shooting foul 12 times. We can increase that figure to 13 if we include an assist he dished to Bass immediately after an offensive rebound on December 2nd against the New York Knicks. Moreover, 9 of his 27 offensive rebounds have been of his own misses--sticktoitiveness!--and he's converted 6 of those 9 into scoring chances for himself. Summarily, he presents two threats to opponents in offensive rebounding situations: first, that he's going to grab one; and second, that he'll put the ball right back up and in (and potentially draw a foul trying) once coming up with the board. We also know he's a solid three-point shooter who can put the ball on the floor if chased off the three-point line; I refer you to leeebear's videos for more evidence of that. His combination of volume three-point shooting and offensive rebounding skill is more-or-less unprecedented: basketball-reference.com shows that only Korleone Young showed similar prowess to Anderson in both categories in an entire season, and that was in 15 minutes over 3 games with the Detroit Pistons in the lockout-shortened 1999 campaign. I'll let you decide if I put too many endpoints in that search, and I welcome your suggestions on improving it, as it seems perhaps too reductive.

The next time Anderson checks in, try to pay attention to his work on the offensive glass, and see how he gets after it. There's a 50% chance he'll come up empty in any given game--which, again, is very strange--but there's also a chance he'll do something productive when he does track down an offensive rebound. And that skill, combined with his long-distance shooting touch and youth (he doesn't turn 22 until May) makes him a very special player. Perhaps the "certain national writer" who told SLAM that the trade that brought Anderson and eight-time All-Star Vince Carter to Orlando "will be remembered as the deal where the Nets gave up Ryan Anderson" was onto something.

Orlando Magic 92, Portland Trail Blazers 83

Ben Q Rock — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:35:09 -0000

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The Orlando Magic's team-wide effort and energy proved to be enough for them to defeat the undermanned Portland Trail Blazers, 92-83, on Saturday night. The Magic, for the most part, executed their offense and got the looks they wanted, but the shots tended not to drop. Just ask Vince Carter, who missed 13 of his 14 shots en route to a 9-point night. Rashard Lewis led Orlando in scoring with 15 points, while Dwight Howard scored 12, blocked 4 shots, and grabbed 20 rebounds, propelling Orlando to a decisive 54-35 edge on the glass. Brandon Roy scored 33 for Portland, including 15 of the Blazers' 20 in the third quarter as they unsuccessfully tried to maintain their halftime lead. Andre Miller was the only other Blazer to make more than 3 baskets; he finished with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Curiously, the Blazers finished wth 7 assists on their 29 made field goals, with 7 different players tallying 1 assist each. For a team that, as Magic coach Stan Van Gundy noted earlier today, can play 3 point guards at a time--Steve Blake, Miller, and Roy--that's a jarring stat.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Blazers	91	91.2	39.1%	28.2	16.3	13.2
Magic	90	102.6	48.0%	25.0	32.5	21.2
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

Van Gundy emphasized energy, effort, and focus at shootaround today, but early on, it didn't look like his team responded. Orlando opened the game in an 8-0 hole, coming up empty on its first 7 possessions, which included 3 turnovers. Jason Williams then accounted for 7 straight Magic points to bring them to within 1 point of Portland, which got the Amway Arena crowd, eager for any excuse to go nuts, at least engaged in the game.

Williams' streak seemed to ignite a spark in the Magic, and they played hard, albeit not particularly well offensively, the rest of the night. In his post-game remarks, Van Gundy said his team tended to play too much one-on-one basketball in the first half, and then added, "but we played really, really hard." That really was the story. The same Magic team that couldn't be bothered to play defense Thursday night against the Miami Heat managed to shut down the Blazers' offense, while acknowledging that Portland is short several key players at the moment. Van Gundy's most telling statement of the night?

As a coach, I'm pretty proud of what they did tonight.

And later:

I know we didn't play real well offensively, and I know we turned it over way too much, but there's really a lot more positives in this game than negatives.

Chief among those positives, at least from my point of view, was the fact that all 10 guys who played tonight contributed meaningfully. Carter shot poorly, but drove the ball to the rim, played the facilitator role a bit, and battled on defense. Mickael Pietrus gave Roy about all he could handle defensively. Matt Barnes sat the entire first half, but immediately made an impact in the second, gamely defending Roy with Pietrus in foul trouble while adding 8 points and 4 boards in just 14 minutes. Van Gundy praised Barnes' work this evening as "professional," which is apt. J.J. Redick gave the Magic "a huge lift," in Van Gundy's words, with some timely shooting and playmaking ability. It goes on.

If you want to take the "one play defining the whole game" angle in discussing the Magic tonight, it'd surely be Ryan Anderson's blown fast-break dunk early in the 4th quarter, which he simply rimmed out despite the fact that no Blazer was in sight. Barnes followed up the play and flipped the ball in to knot the score at 70. Barnes' tip just barely made it over the front of the rim, making the play that much more exciting. The teams continued to trade baskets until Pietrus hit a three-pointer to give Orlando a 79-76 edge; the Magic scored 8 straight points after that 3 for an 87-76 lead with 3:32 to play, putting the game well in hand. 4 of the 8 points in that stretch came after offensive rebounds, a further indication of the team's hustle tonight. They also tied a season-high with 11 steals, with Johnson contributing 4 thefts.

I'll try to sum it up this way: were it not for the superstars and the high payroll, you might have mistaken this team for the scrappy "Heart and Hustle" unit of the 1999/2000 season, which won 41 games without any standout players under coach Doc Rivers' leadership. If that sounds like high praise, it's meant to be. Apart from the lax first 4 minutes, Orlando went hard for the entire night, which wore down the Blazers.

But onto the sloppiness and offensive issues: they could have done a lot of damage. Plenty of unforced errors for Orlando tonight, such as Johnson's trying to throw a silly crosscourt jump-pass to Redick in the left corner, or Lewis passing to the tops of Howard's new sneakers with Howard not even looking on one transition possession. Portland, for its part, was opportunistic. On 2 occasions LaMarcus Aldridge was able to strip Lewis, who's usually surehanded, cleanly while Lewis surveyed the defense at the top of the key.

Aldridge, though, struggled offensively. The man Van Gundy deemed the most underrated player in the league missed 5 of his 6 shots and scored 3 points in 30 minutes, while mired in foul trouble. Throw in Martell Webster's awful night (1-of-11 shooting, 2 points) and Joel Przybilla's usual offensive inactivity (4 points, 2-of-2 shooting, 29 minutes) and you've got a situation in which Howard outperformed the other team's entire starting front line by himself.

I give Blazers coach Nate McMillan credit for trying to make things work with the limited assets at his disposal. Not counting the cameos appearances Juwan Howard and Dante Cunningham made, the Blazers had a 7-man rotation. McMillan even went Don Nelson-style bonkers when he shifted Aldridge to center and surrounded him with four guards: Blake, Miller, Roy, and Jerryd Bayless, who probably would rather not see this game tape again. Orlando successfully limited the Blazers not named Roy, as Miller was the only other one with at least 5 made baskets. No one else had more than 3. I asked Johnson what that fact meant about the Magic's defense:

They made an effort to get Brandon Roy the ball in places where it's hard to double [team]. Coming down the stretch, he basically took a majority of their shots, and kinda played into our hands with them being a one-person team. Once he missed a few shots we were able to take advantage of it. He's a great player. But when one player has to carry the load, whenever they have a stretch of missing two or three shots, then hopefully the team can take advantage of it.

More on Bayless, Van Gundy's strategy, and scenes from the locker room after the jump.

Bayless shot 3-of-13 for 10 points, which isn't so great, but that's not why I think he'll be upset after this one. Nope, it's that the Magic picked on him defensively, running isolations for whomever Bayless guarded... even Johnson, who's probably the Magic's 11th-most-talented healthy offensive player. Worse yet for Bayless, it worked. By my unofficial count, the Magic either scored or drew a foul every time they cleared out to attack Bayless. Process that: a team with Carter, Howard, and Lewis--three All-Stars--on the floor, along with the corner three-point specialist Pietrus, is running plays for Anthony Johnson.

Something worth noting from the locker room: Carter's poor shooting night didn't seem to faze him, and I mean that in a good way, not in a "he doesn't care about playing well" way. When asked how players respond to shooting slumps, he said he likes to "just keep shooting," and added that some players tend to over-think and adjust their shooting form when mired in them; he described how he tried to "take a little off" one of his shots tonight because he missed long on his previous one. For him, it was just a poor shooting night, and one that's not likely to repeat itself. Van Gundy agreed, saying "there's not gonna be many 1-of-14s in him" and praised Carter's work on the defensive end.

On why Johnson, and not Williams, closed the game out at point guard:

A.J. was playing well, we had a group on the floor that was playing well, so we just went with it.

This point guard situation reminds me of what happened in 2007/08, when Van Gundy doled out backup point guard minutes to either Carlos Arroyo or Keyon Dooling, depending on how each one had played recently; there wasn't a clear 2nd or 3rd-stringer, as Van Gundy preferred to ride the hot hand, so to speak. With Jameer Nelson due back as early as Wednesday, it appears as though Williams and Johnson will have to do battle for backup minutes. It's quite a departure from training camp, where Williams thoroughly outplayed Johnson and claimed the backup role with apparent ease.

On Matt Barnes' ability to play through a left hand injury he re-aggravated tonight, and what he would have done if Barnes had to come out:

Thank God [he stayed in], because at that point we had Vince with 4 [fouls], M.P. with 4, we're still in the third quarter, and I didn't have another wing guy. It was a tough night to slide Rashard back to the three because they were small anyway. I would have gone with A.J. at the two, but then that still leaves us with no size on Brandon Roy at all at that point. So him toughin' it out and stayin' in the game at that point was huge for us, and a big, big, part of the game.

Matt Barnes, doing the little things. Like staying in the game. Does that qualify as "little"? Probably not, if it means not having to play your third-string point guard at shooting guard against one of the league's best players.

On the back-to-back tip-ins during the decisive 11-0 scoring run in the 4th quarter:

That's what you have to do when you're struggling offensively is you have to make plays like that. You gotta play defensively. I thought guys stayed on the boards, I thought we really defended hard. I know we need to play better, probably, a lot of nights but as a coach I'm pretty proud of what they did tonight.

This is high praise from Van Gundy, who was clearly in good spirits after the game. The locker room, too, was boisterous, which caused Andrew Melnick of Howard the Dunk to wonder aloud if it's the best mood the players have been in after a game all year. Anderson had a laugh about his blown dunk and implored Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel to list him at 6'09" in his game story; Anderson's listed at 6'10". In addition, Howard wandered around shouting nonsense like "LEGION OF DOOM!" (which makes transcribing the players' remarks a tough task), cackled like a mad man, and so on.

The best Howard moment came when he borrowed a media member's tape recorder and leaned into Redick's locker, furrowing his brow in mock concentration on Redick's comments. Redick played along with the gag, turning toward Howard and saying, "You had a question," opening the door for Howard to continue his charade (although I suspect he would have plowed through that door regardless). Howard asked a rambling, incoherent question of Redick--something about Van Gundy's consistency with berating referees for poor calls--who responded with hearty laughter while mocking Howard's interview skills: "Was that a three-part question or a four-part question?" Howard defended himself by saying the media's questions aren't much better.

With the Howard and Redick Comedy Juggernaut still assembled, one of the media members asked them to discuss Anderson's blown dunk. Howard smiled and said, "That's why they're never in the dunk contest."

To which Redick responded, "They?! THEY?!" before excusing himself in mock outrage. Howard offered a sheepish "Oops!" as Redick left.

Game 28 Recap: Blazers 83, Magic 92

Dave — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:48:12 -0000

More photos » by Phelan M. Ebenhack - AP

What's missing in this picture?

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Well, this was actually a game for three whole quarters. That's better than it had to be but it was disappointing not to be fighting tooth and nail for the win down the stretch.

The Blazers started out the game doing plenty of things right. They rebounded well. Their defense was superb: quick-footed, covering the right people, forcing turnovers. Portland jumped out to an 8-0 lead, setting Orlando back on their heels. Then wildcard Jason Williams canned a couple of jumpers and Dwight Howard got a monster dunk setting up off of a semi-break. Anyone who wants to know what Greg Oden should do when he runs down the floor should rewind the Tivo to 7:13 left in the first period and watch. Smashy smashy. Those buckets got the Magic rolling and it was on. The Blazers offense, as it would most of the game, started and ended with the guards. Portland scored 83 points total tonight. Roy, Miller, Blake, and Bayless had 70 of them. The offense wasn't all deep shots at this point though. Roy and Miller did a lot of work in the lane. In fact Brandon made a living playing the old "Around the World" game tonight where you get shots from various points at the edge of the key. Portland managed to attack this way while avoiding Dwight Howard's grubby mitts. Unfortunately as soon as Joel Przybilla sat down the Blazers lost their coverage. The second unit had to scramble too much and Orlando scored 6 points in the final 1:05 of the period. Still Portland exited the period with a 2-point lead, 21-19.

The second unit continued to struggle at the outset of the second period. They couldn't score and the rebounding that had been going well at the opening of the game started going south. That reserve lineup is also smaller up front and Orlando's forwards started scoring. The Blazers kept juggling the lineup trying to find a match that worked. They went three-guard for much of the period, even trying Miller, Bayless, and Roy together for a 7-minute stretch. All three of the guards got some offense in but it was generally at the expense of each other, as Andre Miller all but disappeared for the latter half of the quarter. This is not surprising since most of the shots generated were contested jumpers. Portland got bailed out by Bayless, however, as he hit shot after shot to total 10 points in the quarter. He scored 6 in the last 1:37 alone, matching the Magic's run at the tail end of the first quarter. 44-39 Blazers at the half.

The Magic made a couple of adjustments at the half, the chief of which was the determination to go with players who had natural mismatches. Dwight Howard was one of those. They went with him right out of the gate. But the second was Rashard Lewis, who heretofore had been fairly quiet. In a 3-minute, 30-second span Lewis hit two threes and two short jumpers. Portland countered with their natural mismatch, Brandon Roy, who scored 9 in a row for the Blazers in a 4-minute, 30-second span. (You starting to get the idea this was a game of streaks?) Miller interrupted Roy's scoring streak with a couple trips to the free throw line but Roy also finished the period with 6 straight, 15 for the quarter. Curiously enough Portland decided if a three-guard lineup was good a four-guard lineup had to be better, so they played for a while with every double-figure scorer on the team in the lineup at once plus Aldridge or Przybilla. Again the mid-size players for the Magic took advantage. The final straw was a brain-dead defensive stand which saw the Magic inbounding the ball with a little over a second left. Portland let J.J. Redick, whose main claim to fame is shooting threes, get a wide-open look from beyond the arc. It went through and the teams were tied after three.

The Blazers continued to go small through most of the fourth. Brandon Roy scored again and Steve Blake came alive and did some damage from three-point land. But the Blazers couldn't rebound and guys like Matt Barnes and Anthony Johnson worked their size/strength advantages to score. As Portland fell further and further back they got more and more desperate, shooting threes and praying. Unfortunately Blake was the only one whose hotline was working. One streak that continued unabated throughout the evening was Portland's inability to hit deep. They finished 3-18 on the night from distance. Orlando never really exploded. They just edged the Blazers out in the final period and walked away with the win: 92-83.

A lot of things went right for Portland in this game. The energy was good through most of the night. Guys were hustling out there. They held Dwight Howard to 12 points and kept everybody else out of the paint. Vince Carter made it his personal mission to scrape every bit of orange off of the rims with his jumper. The Blazers got more free throws than Orlando as the road team and they remained on the good side of the turnover margin by 7. This game was there.

But a lot of things went wrong for Portland too. They shot 37% from the field and got obliterated on the boards. Howard had 20 rebounds to go with those 12 points. Martell Webster looked like he was trying to outdo Carter in his rim-scraping, going 1-11. LaMarcus Aldridge was running around the perimeter on defense but he barely touched the ball on offense, shot 1-6 for the night, and ended up with 3 points and 1 rebound. The Blazers had 7 assists on the evening which pretty much shows you how well the offense flowed.

The bottom line is that everything has to go right if you're going to win while scoring 83 in this league, let alone against one of the best teams. Some things went right, but not even close to everything. It wasn't the worst game of the season by far but it wasn't a game we were going to win without shifting gears, which we never did. When your only adequate response to a team making adjustments is to get smaller life is going to be hard.

Individual Observations

Brandon Roy did everything he could offensively to get this team over and for a while it looked like he would succeed no matter what the Magic did. But when nobody over 6'6" scores more than 4 points on the night it's hard to find enough help to turn that superstar run into a team victory. There weren't many people to trust out there tonight. Thus 27 shots for Brandon, 33 points, but only 1 assist.

Joel Przybilla played a fantastic game and continues his streak of wonderful outings. This guy just doesn't back down lately. 10 rebounds and a lot of body-throwing against Dwight Howard. Whatever he wants on the team plane he gets.

Andre Miller scored 16 and shot 5-10 but he was taking the same approach to the offense as everyone else: shoot, drive, or punt. I was actually surprised to see he scored that many and shot that well because the shots he was getting weren't that great and it didn't look like his offense was that effective. 1 assist, 4 rebounds.

LaMarcus had 3 steals to go along with his 3 points, 1 rebound, and 1-6 shooting. You can talk about his teammates not looking for him. You can talk about him not demanding the ball enough. However you describe it, it's not good for the team when this happens and everybody needs to realize it. Maybe there was an injury that I didn't hear about but short of his foot being about to fall off his frame he's got to be more involved. Due credit for guarding a lot of perimeter players tonight though. He does that well.

Ohhhhhhhh Martell. OK, 7 rebounds, 2 steals. That's good. 1-11 from the field, 0-6 from the three-point arc, 0-2 from the line...it was like he brought his own personal cross-wind to the arena.

Jerryd Bayless played 30 minutes tonight but outside of that run in the second period the offense wasn't clicking. The types of shots the Blazers were getting aren't the type he should be taking generally. He made a couple nice passes early but nobody who received them hit the shot. After that it was every man for himself. 3-13 from the field, 4-4 free throws, 10 points. He also had some defensive difficulties. It wasn't a bad game but it wasn't a tour de force either.

Steve Blake played 27 minutes and was one of the few Blazers hitting his shots, though he hardly took any. He also had some defensive difficulties thought not quite as pronounced. 3-5 from the field, 2-3 from the arc, 11 points.

Juwan Howard tried to fill in for Przybilla for a while. Not the night for that.

Dante Cunningham played 7 minutes and missed 3 of 4 shots.

Final Thoughts

We better see more LaMarcus tomorrow night in Miami. Michael Beasley needs to worry about defending him or Beasley will just have a field day. Also, new team rule: no shooters get their eyes dilated during exams on game day.

Boxscore

See what they thought of the game at OrlandoPinstripedPost.com

See your scores for this game in the Jersey Contest here and submit tomorrow's guesses here.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

Game 28 Preview: Blazers vs. Magic

Dave — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:41:52 -0000

More photos » by Gary Dineen - NBAE/Getty Images

Uh oh.

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Game Time: 4:00 PM TV: Comcast

OK, now things get interesting. The Magic carry an unfortunate (for us) combination of being 18-7 on the year, having just lost their last game, and playing at home where they are 9-2. Their home losses came to Cleveland and Miami so it's not like just anyone gets to waltz in and request a win. They're good, they're stacked, and unless they completely take us for granted the Blazers will have a hard time winning this game. Granted it's happened before for Portland in Orlando, but it's always hard when you're fielding a team that's trying to be something and facing a team that's full of people who already are the something you're trying to become.

Obviously your first thought when you think "Magic" is Dwight Howard and rightfully so. Name a way he's not destroying the league this year. He's averaging 18 points and almost 13 rebounds. He gets over 2 blocks per game, shoots over 63% from the field, and is drawing 11 foul shots per game. Even though he's only hitting 59% of those free throws he's causing foul trouble for everyone who comes against him...a definite headache for the Blazers at the moment. He's completed the metamorphosis from incredibly raw talent to legitimate NBA superstar. There are no answers for him when he gets the ball where he likes it. He's the main reason Orlando has the 4^th most efficient offense in the league. He's also the main reason the Magic rank 2^nd in the league in points in the paint allowed and 1^st in defensive rebounding percentage. He's a two-way player, one of the wholly unique talents playing today.

The Magic have surrounded Howard with a bevy of perimeter players. Vince Carter leads the pack, also leading the team in scoring at 19 per game. He's not the VC of old but he can still hit a jumper and he can still pour it in when needed. He's scored 25+ six times this season already. Rashard Lewis didn't play until mid-November and had a hard time with adjustments when he did return but he's had a good month, is hitting the three-pointer, and is hitting 20ppg himself fairly routinely now. Those two have got the heavy scoring covered.

With Jameer Nelson out Orlando has dug Jason Williams out of mothballs. Though he's no longer any kind of Chocolate, save perhaps "stale", he still knows how to pass the ball and he's not shy about shooting the three either. Small forward Mickael Pietrus, former Golden State energy-producer, rounds out the starting lineup. Guess what? He can hit threes as well. In fact the only guys who can't drain the long ball on this team are Howard, forward Brandon Bass, and (this year anyway) forward Matt Barnes. Unless you're facing one of those three you better be ready to close out and get a hand up.

The Magic field ancient-yet-capable reserve Anthony Johnson at point guard, shooters J.J. Reddick at off-guard and Ryan Anderson at power forward, Barnes at small forward, and 6'11" rebounder Marcin Gortat for a few minutes at center. Both Gortat and the aforementioned Bass could be getting more time elsewhere. This team is pretty deep and they use everybody. They seldom lack for energy and they never lack for offensive threats.

Unless the ball is going to Howard the Magic attack is primarily perimeter-oriented. They don't score on the break and they don't score in the paint if Howard isn't taking the shot. They will give Dwight the first chance to break you down, which he'll likely do if you try and guard him one-on-one. If you send help they have you. It's simple, as old as the hills, and extremely effective. They draw a lot of fouls and shoot a TON of threes, generating extra points even in their measured game.

They'll practice the same basic plan on defense. They make up for spotty individual defenders at the wing positions by getting back, not letting you break, then shutting down the middle and daring you to hit outside. Even if you drain a couple what are the odds of you matching them the whole game?

The Magic are excellent defensive rebounders. Many of their offensive misses bounce long or are shot by Dwight Howard with nobody else coming to clean up so they're not a great offensive rebounding unit. But they don't need to be. They turn the ball over a smidge too much but it doesn't burn them most nights.

Keys to the Game

Being realistic this isn't a game the Blazers should win. There's too much need for them to double against Howard and too little capability to rotate or close out when they do so. They're going to have to stop perimeter players with guys who are too big or too small. Their own offensive players haven't always been able to dominate weaker defenders. The #1 plan should be to try and get Howard in foul trouble. When he sits you can start watching those shooters more carefully. Obviously this means some kind of penetration, as Joel Przybilla is unlikely to create problems for Howard on his own. The Blazers have to pick their poison defensively. I don't see any way they can cover everybody. I think in this case my druthers would be to stop the perimeter guys and make Howard beat us. He can go for 50. He can destroy us. But if you're going to take a chance on somebody having a bad night why not go for broke and put your eggs in one basket instead of hoping all of those shooters miss on the same night. Sometimes Howard doesn't get the ball as much as he should in those situations as the other players get impatient. Above all the Blazers have to show energy all night. It's not like they can't hang with this team. They'll just have to put themselves in a position where a few things going right can make a difference. The only way to do that is to play hard all game and see what transpires late.

You can see how Orlando views this game at OrlandoPinstripedPost.

Enter tonight's Jersey Contest form here.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

Orlando Magic 118, Toronto Raptors 99

Ben Q Rock — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:09:03 -0000

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The Orlando Magic used a team-wide hot shooting performance against the Toronto Raptors' perpetually porous defense to cruise to a 118-99 win Wednesday night. Rashard Lewis led all scorers with 21 points--including 5 three-pointers--while Matt Barnes scored 20 points on 10 shots off the bench. Dwight Howard approached a triple-double with 18 points, 14 boards, and 8 blocked shots before checking out as the game got out of hand. Orlando held Toronto's Chris Bosh to 20 points, while former Magic player Hedo Turkoglu chipped in 14 (on 2-of-9 shooting) and Jarrett Jack added 13.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Raptors	94	105.4	46.6%	18.0	22.7	10.7
Magic	87	134.9	66.7%	24.0	27.6	16.0
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

The game transpired more or less like you might have figured it would based on these teams' reputations going in. The Raptors hung with the Magic early on, but the Magic created just enough separation with an 8-0 run late in the first quarter--fueled by a tough Vince Carter layup and back-to-back treys from Jason Williams--to take a 27-19 lead, and Toronto never really challenged after that. It wasn't always a question of effort, but rather ability; Orlando got whatever it wanted, the Raptors couldn't keep pace with the Magic's blistering shooting, and so it continued for the next 36 minutes. After a while, the Raptors appeared to just say, "screw it," and they mailed in the rest of the game. The way things went for the Magic, you can hardly blame them.

Okay, well, you can, to an extent, but I think you see my point. Things came entirely too easily for Orlando. The misses came on well-executed plays, open, and in rhythm, at least until garbage time, when Marcin Gortat started launching just any old thing he wanted. And by "old thing," I mean "15-footer early in the shot clock."

Howard missed 1 shot all game, and it was an off-balance tip-in attempt. Barnes shot 7-of-10, and one of those misses came on an inexplicably blown dunk with nobody around. Several of J.J. Redick's shots rattled around and out... and on it goes. Nary a blemish for Orlando offensively, at least not when the game really mattered. Turnovers were a bit of an issue, with Anthony Johnson--who scored a lively 13 points off the bench--twice losing the ball off his knee on his way to the hoop. and with the odd push-off against Howard or Redick. Overall, though, what is your chief complaint if you're the Magic? Maybe it's that Mickael Pietrus struggled in his 17 minutes, shooting 1-of-5 with 2 turnovers as he tried to battle through illness. Maybe it's that the Raptors came up with 6 steals, despite being the league's worst turnover-forcing unit. Maybe it's that Bosh scored 20 in 30 minutes, on 7-of-11 shooting. Still, his touches were few and far between, as the Magic dared Jack (13 points on 15 shots) and Andrea Bargnani (12 points on 12 shots) to beat them. A sound strategy, which they executed.

That sentence more or less summarizes the Magic's night. They had a game plan on both ends, they put it in motion, and they prevailed with ease. Really, I'm more impressed with the Magic's defense of the Raptors than I am with their offensive assault against them. A team as gifted as Orlando should light up the scoreboard against a sieve like Toronto. But the Raptors had the league's 4th-most efficient offense coming in, and Orlando shut it down. Howard's rejections helped, sure--and some of them could have been fouls or goaltends, if we're honest, but not nearly enough to swing momentum in Toronto's favor--but rarely did the Magic get burned on that end. So Antoine Wright peels himself off the end of the bench and scores 7 straight points late in the 4th: who cares? Two contested looks in the lane and a three-pointer for a career 29.3% long-distance shooter. You're happy giving those looks up.

Finally, how about Brandon Bass tonight? Coach Stan Van Gundy dusted off Orlando's sparingly used free-agent signee, who played both power forward and center, and he responded. 5 points, 1 rebound, 3 blocks (?!), and the usual energy and aggression in just over 9 minutes for Bass, who's probably a rotation player on just about every other NBA team. I see no reason or him to take minutes from three-point ace Ryan Anderson on a regular basis, but it's always good to know that your 11th man can come in immediately and make an impact.

Sorry if I seem more peppy than usual, but again, there's very little wrong with the way the Magic played tonight. A solid win against a worthy offensive foe, and a chance to rest up on the first night of a back-to-back set. Orlando jets to Miami to play the Heat--themselves fresh off a win against Toronto--tomorrow night.

Raptors Rapid Recap - Orlando 118 - Toronto 99

RaptorsHQ - Franchise — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:20:20 -0000

-Another Raptors' game, another blowout loss. I talked about this in this morning's post but that makes 11 on the season in terms of losses of 13 or more points. Again, by comparison, the 2005-06 Raptors' club that started 1 and 17 lost by 13 or more points only 13 times all season that year.

-Any positives to be gleamed? Precious few. Toronto allowed the Magic to shoot almost 70 PER CENT through most of this one and one could argue were never really in it.

-Chris Bosh led Toronto with 20 points and 6 rebounds but again just didn't have that extra bounce in his step. (Cue the "he's not giving the effort any more because this team is so bad" stories and rumours.) The rest of the team was fairly invisible aside from Hedo Turkoglu's early forays to the foul line (he was nine of nine on the night) and the occasional bench highlight. The bench in fact managed to get this one within 5 in the first half but after the starters returned, it was all downhill.

-For Orlando, they busted this one open early with a barrage of 3 pointers and they finished 14 of 30 on the night. This decimated the Raps' meager defensive efforts and soon the lanes opened up for the likes of Matt Barnes (20 points) and Anthony "Grampa" Johnson (13.)

-Up next for TO on what's slowly becoming the most disapointing season in team history? - The New Jersey Nets. And while this one looks like an easy W on paper (Nets are 2 and 24 on the season), with the way Toronto's played of late, fans know this could be a battle in reality.

PS - Tune in to the Fan590 right now to hear RaptorsHQ's Ray Bala (Canball report) talk ball with Zack Cooper and other guests!

Orlando Magic News for December 16th: Hedo Turkoglu Returns to Orlando; Bill Simmons Comments on Grant Hill

erivera7 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:29:57 -0000

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Dwight Howard doesn’t know what kind of reception Hedo Turkoglu will receive tonight
Josh Robbins asks Dwight Howard about Hedo Turkoglu's return to Orlando as a member of the Toronto Raptors.

Dwight Howard was asked today how he thinks Magic fans will receive Turk.

"I don’t know," Howard said. "A lot of people loved him here. We miss him. I’m happy to see that he’s healthy and he’s still playing. So, hopefully he has an OK game tonight and we still come out on top."
Orlando Magic officials will continue to support their players' participation in international competitions
.. and states how members of the Orlando Magic organization, including head coach Stan Van Gundy, don't mind that their players compete internationally.

Orlando Magic officials will continue to support their players' participation in international competitions even though center Marcin Gortat and former Magic small forward Hedo Turkoglu returned from September's European championships fatigued.

Gortat played for his native Poland in EuroBasket 2009 and said the additional games weren't physically exhausting but left him a bit "burned out" mentally. Turkoglu sat out the Toronto Raptors' first four preseason games so he could rest after he played for Turkey.

"It doesn't change my opinion at all: To me, guys should be playing basketball all summer anyway and working," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I've said before even if I thought it was a detriment to our players, I would never discourage them from playing. In my opinion, as an athlete you can't have a bigger honor than representing your country."
Mickael Pietrus sits out of shootaround as Magic prepare to face Raptors again
Tania Ganguli shares news on Mickael Pietrus' health.

That stomach bug thing is going around.

Mickael Pietrus sat out of shootaround this morning with it. He’ll be a gametime decision just like Vince Carter was. Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said he will start either J.J. Redick or Matt Barnes if Pietrus can’t play.
Bill Simmons: The lost pages from my book "The Book of Basketball," via the December 28, 2009 issue of ESPN The Magazine
Bill Simmons of ESPN The Magazine reveals the lost pages in his book - "The Book of Basketball" - and mentions former Magic player Grant Hill.

The trip made me think of Grant Hill. In 1997, Fila blew him away with a massive $80 million deal meant to splash the company into the basketball market. With Nike and Reebok heatedly bidding for NBA stars, Fila went a different route: It threw the bulk of its basketball marketing budget behind Hill. But after staying healthy for six seasons, Hill injured his ankle and missed much of the next decade. Could his shoes have contributed to his woes? In any case, Fila doesn't sponsor NBA players or compete in that market anymore.

Yes, it could be coincidence, and yes, Fila surely was careful in customizing its shoe for Hill. But if a publishing company that printed only a couple of books a year tried to sign me, would I think, Do they have enough experience to publish mine? Damned right I would. The whole thing is weird. Keep in mind, it's usually bigs who battle chronic foot and ankle issues, not athletic swing guys. After my visit, I realized "What if Grant Hill had signed with Nike?" was a natural for my "Greatest What-Ifs?" chapter. Hill was headed for Level 3 or 4 of my Hall of Fame Pyramid, but he didn't make it. What if his career detour wasn't just bad luck? It's a great hypothetical, you have to admit.