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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 states that the Orlando Magic are going to have its hands full with the Boston Celtics, even though 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 NBA 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 states that each of the contenders playing tomorrow have 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 of NBA.com previews each Christmas Day matchup.

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).

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.

Orlando Magic News for December 23rd: Jameer Nelson Back in the Starting Lineup; A Quick Look at a Divisional Rival

erivera7 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:00:04 -0000

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Jameer Nelson will start at point guard tonight vs. the Houston Rockets
Jameer Nelson will start for the Orlando Magic at point guard against the Houston Rockets tonight.

Stan Van Gundy just completed his post-shootaround media availability at RDV Sportsplex, and the Orlando Magic coach said Jameer Nelson will start tonight against the Houston Rockets. Van Gundy added that he will not be under any medical staff-imposed playing time restrictions for Nelson.

"I’m gonna start him tonight," Van Gundy said. "I can do whatever I want with his minutes, and that’s what I was waiting for. Whenever we got to that point, then I was going to start him. It’s just tough to start a guy when you’re only going to play him limited minutes."
Postgame report: Rockets 108, Clippers 99
Jeffrey Martin of the Houston Chronicle previews this evening's game.

Orlando is entering Game No. 3 in a five-game homestand. The Magic is 21-7, and it's going to be a formidable task for the Rockets to prevail. Houston hasn't won four consecutive games this season yet, so that would be a first. Point guard Jameer Nelson played his first game in more than a month Monday, and he is expected to start against the Rockets. Of course, there's also Dwight Howard to deal with, and don't forget about Vince Carter, who is leading the Magic in scoring at 18.6 points.
Wednesday Morning Shootaround
Benson Taylor of The Baseline writes that the Rockets will have a severe size disadvantage against the Magic.

With Yao Ming out for the season because of his foot injury, the Rockets knew size would be an issue—that’s the case when you’re left to start a 6-6 center (Chuck Hayes) and a 6-9 power forward (Luis Scola). Houston has had a better-than-expected season, but its lack of inside oomph has been a factor at times—such as Lakers big man Andrew Bynum averaging 19.0 points and 14.0 rebounds in two games against the Rockets this season.

With that in mind, Dwight Howard might not even have to break out his Superman cape to dominate when Orlando faces Houston tonight (unless hacking Howard proves to be an effective Kryptonite).
Can the Hawks win a championship?
Austin Burton of Dime Magazine wonders if the Atlanta Hawks can win a championship this year.

Still, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m watching a team that just doesn’t have enough to go all the way. I can’t explain it, but you know how there’s one or two NCAA teams every year that smash the competition throughout the regular season, but you just know in your gut all along they won’t win it all? Last year it was Oklahoma and UConn; in the NBA, it was the Nuggets.

The Hawks (20-7) are that team this year. Blame the coach — Mike Woodson is one of those types who could win Coach of the Year in 2010 and be fired by 2012 — or blame the players, but I just don’t see this group winning a title, despite how well they’re playing right now. In a seven-game series against a Cleveland or Boston or Orlando, we’d be reminded that [Josh] Smith still can’t shoot, that [Mike] Bibby still can’t run, that [Al] Horford still can’t get any taller. And somewhere, some team will take advantage.

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 104, Utah Jazz 99

Ben Q Rock — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:12:26 -0000

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Propelled by Dwight Howard's lockdown defense and J.J. Redick's explosive scoring, the Orlando Magic gutted out another tough win at home, this time over the Utah Jazz by a 104-99 score. Howard's 5 blocked shots go "hand-in-hand" in limiting Utah to 28 points in the paint and 40.4% overall shooting, said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. Redick poured in 20 points off the bench, second on the team only to Howard, who scored 21, primarily at the foul line. This neck-and-neck game saw 19 lead changes and 18 ties, and Orlando only gained control for good after Rashard Lewis and Redick sank consecutive three-pointers with less than 5 minutes to play.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Jazz	105	93.9	44.4%	22.5	18.2	16.1
Magic	91	114.0	55.3%	47.0	14.3	17.5
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

As exciting as the game was in the end, it got off to an uneven start as both teams looked sluggish in the first half. Sure, it had its moments, like Redick's deep, off-balance three-pointer to beat the shot-clock buzzer halfway through the second period, but by and large both teams just felt each other out in a dull way. Orlando out-shot the Jazz handily, but Utah's 8 extra possessions helped it muster a 40-all tie at the half.

No, the fireworks didn't begin until the third period, which saw referee Sean Corbin eject Magic point guard Jason Williams on two quick techincal fouls during what appeared to be a reasoned enough conversation, as Williams pled his case after Corbin whistled him for fouling Utah's Deron Williams. Deron Williams' shot counted, and he drained both technical foul shots as well as the and-one, giving the Jazz a rare five-point possession. The quick ejection fired up the Amway Arena crowd, which stirred in the first half when the 6'04" Redick was called for a loose-ball foul trying to box out the Jazz's 6'11" Mehmet Okur, who leaned on Redick and nearly forced him to the ground. Mickael Pietrus, who hardly registered in the first half, drilled a three-pointer and got an easy dunk off a great feed from the double-teamed Howard. Both plays gave the Magic a one-point lead. The Magic also forced Utah to commit 7 turnovers in that quarter, after forcing just 6 in the entire first half. Van Gundy didn't think his team did anything differently, though, and said, "we're not really forcing turnovers, quite honestly. Teams are turning the ball over because we're more compact and trying to hold down field goal percentage and rebound the ball." He also said he thought the Magic are last in the league in forcing turnovers (they are, naturally; no detail escapes Van Gundy) because "it's not an emphasis of ours."

Redick didn't play in the third period, but started the fourth, joining Anthony Johnson--who did not appear in the first three quarters--in the backcourt. Redick's 11 points in the 4th were key, and it got to the point that Van Gundy left him in the game and subbed starting shooting guard Vince Carter at small forward because, said Van Gundy, "there was no way I was taking J.J. out." It was a risky move on his part because it left Carter guarding Andrei Kirilenko, to whom Carter yields 3 inches. Kirilenko made three three-pointers in the fourth quarter, two of them with Carter in the game. But Van Gundy's gambit ultimately paid off. Redick scored enough to compensate for whatever Carter gave up to Kirilenko on the other end. Plus, Carter drew the defense and assisted on the aforementioned Lewis three-pointer that broke the 86-all tie. He drove from the right side and found Lewis wide-open in the left corner. Ronnie Brewer, who was guarding Redick on the left wing at the time, tried to close hard on Lewis, but he couldn't get there quickly enough. There was a time early in his Magic career when Lewis would have seen Brewer charging at him and made the extra pass to Redick for the shot, but firing away himself was the proper move in this instance. There's no need to exchange one wide-open look for another. Lewis, by the way, scored 18 points. Let's see how many times this year he plays a key role and I manage to bury his contributions in the nether portions of the recap, shall we?

Orlando's offensive display in the fourth quarter, in which it scored 34 points, demonstrated how dangerous it can be when its shots drop and when it plays great defense. Sure, Utah scored 31 points of its own. However, 3 of those came on a meaningless, uncontested trey by C.J. Miles at the final horn, and the Magic can live with Kirilenko, who sports a career 30.9% three-point mark, teeing off from deep. What Van Gundy was most pleased with was, again, his players' ability to control the paint. Deron Williams was hardly able to get into the lane, which shut down Utah's drive-and-kick game and instead forced the Jazz into taking mid-range jumpers. Generally, it's the least efficient shot in basketball, but power forwards Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap have it in their arsenal, which makes it a good--but not great--option for the Jazz every so often. Incidentally, Millsap led all scorers with 23 points in just 26 minutes, shooting 9-of-12 from the field. Public address announcer Paul Porter became audibly more disgusted with each successive Millsap bucket.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, though, must have been beside himself with each Redick basket. Redick said after the game "I'm not a guy who can afford to fall behind" in terms of game conditioning, so he must compensate by working hard and playing smart. He did so tonight. What's impressed me is his ability to create for himself off the dribble. One of the knocks on him coming out of college, and a criticism that persisted through last season, is that he's neither tall enough nor athletic enough to get shots off against NBA-caliber athletes and defenders. He's slowly but surely been able to convince me otherwise. Twice tonight he ran a pick-and-roll with Howard and got open shots for himself as a result, just by using some well-timed hesitation dribbles to fool his defender into thinking he was ready to pass to Howard on the roll. He displayed his awareness again at the 3:17 mark of the fourth quarter, when he cut hard from the right wing to the basket once his man left him to double Howard, who had the ball in the left mid-post. Howard found Redick, who laid it in softly for a 5-point Magic lead. He's shown tremendous confidence in the last several games, and throughout the whole season, really. He attributed the confidence boost to some good all-around performances in last year's playoffs, which carried over into his offseason workouts and preparation. Van Gundy said Redick "is playing with great confidence, and with good reason," later adding that "we have great confidence in him." I don't think anyone saw Redick's emergence coming, save for perhaps Redick himself.

When Van Gundy said, "If we continue to play with this kind of focus and intensity, then we're going to be in pretty good shape," he was probably right. Carter shot just 5-of-15 for 18 points (though Van Gundy praised his decision-making in crunch time), Jameer Nelson missed all 6 of his shots in his first 14 minutes of playing time in 5 weeks, and neither backup power forwards Ryan Anderson or Brandon Bass tallied a field goal. However, Orlando came through with a great showing on both sides of the ball. The Magic just might be turning the corner here on this homestand.

My thoughts on Nelson? He played a decent game, and looked excellent running two fast-breaks with Bass late in the third quarter. Johnson got the call at point guard over Nelson in the fourth quarter because, according to Van Gundy, Nelson's "decisions on when to shoot and when to pass were not real good, and that's to be expected." He said Nelson played "pretty well" overall and displayed "good quickness."

A Look at Which Orlando Magic Player is the Most Effective in Crunch Time

erivera7 — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:00:56 -0000

More photos » by Phelan M. Ebenhack - AP

Is Vince Carter the most effective Orlando Magic player in crunch time?

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This past Friday, inspired by a post written by Henry Abbott of TrueHoop, I asked the community to vote on who it thought was the Orlando Magic's most effective player with the game on the line. The premise behind the question was to see whether or not the statistics agree or disagree with what the popular opinion was. In this case, the people's choice was Vince Carter.

Is Carter the most effective player for the Magic with the game on the line?

Rather than giving the answer right away and ruining all the fun, I wanted to explain and show which numbers I looked at when it came to figuring out which Magic player performs the best in crunch time. Since 82games.com is still in the process of compiling and revealing sortable "clutch" (defined as the 4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points) stats for the 2009-2010 season on its site, I decided to take a look at the data from last year. Here's what the statistics show (per 48 minutes):

	Player A	Player B
FGA	15.0	24.5
FG%	51.1%	50.0%
3PA	7.7	8.6
3P%	43.5%	50.0%
FTA	11.0	6.4
FT%	84.0%	85.0%

Very close, but Player B is slightly better. The difference is the three-point shooting.

I also compiled information from the 2008-2009 season, courtesy of Synergy Sports Technology, to see how these two particular players performed in situations that can coincide with end-game scenarios. Here's what the statistics show:

Player A

	%Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Short Shot Clock < 4 Seconds	5%	0.77	43%	Average
Out of Bounds (Side)	10%	0.88	54%	Good
Out of Bounds (End)	4%	0.84	48%	Average
After Time Outs	15%	0.92	65%	Very Good

Player B

	%Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Short Shot Clock < 4 Seconds	6%	0.76	42%	Average
Out of Bounds (Side)	12%	0.88	55%	Good
Out of Bounds (End)	3%	0.98	69%	Very Good
After Time Outs	19%	1.02	85%	Excellent

In this specific instance, there's a clear divide between the two players and that's most notably in the 'After Time Outs' category. One is more efficient than the other.

So, who is Player A and Player B?

Click after the jump to see the results.

	Rashard Lewis	Vince Carter
FGA	15.0	24.5
FG%	51.1%	50.0%
3PA	7.7	7.2
3P%	43.5%	50.0%

Rashard Lewis

	%Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Short Shot Clock < 4 Seconds	5%	0.77	43%	Average
Out of Bounds (Side)	10%	0.88	54%	Good
Out of Bounds (End)	4%	0.84	48%	Average
After Time Outs	15%	0.92	65%	Very Good

Vince Carter

	%Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Short Shot Clock < 4 Seconds	6%	0.76	42%	Average
Out of Bounds (Side)	12%	0.88	55%	Good
Out of Bounds (End)	3%	0.98	69%	Very Good
After Time Outs	19%	1.02	85%	Excellent

Vince Carter is, unsurprisingly, the Orlando Magic's best crunch time performer in the regular season but Rashard Lewis is a close second in the pecking order. I italicized and noted 'regular season' because if the postseason is added to the discussion, there are not many players in the NBA that are more clutch than Lewis. Look no further than last year's playoffs as proof at the type of damage the cold-blooded Lewis can inflict on opponents when the basketball is in his hands. Granted, unlike Lewis, Carter hasn't had many opportunities these past few years to be clutch in those types of situations during the postseason. Vince's New Jersey Nets failed to make the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.

But before this write-up concludes, let's breakdown why Carter and Lewis are the two best options for the Magic when the game is on the line.

For Carter, as head coach Stan Van Gundy has told me before, it's his ability to create a quality shot no matter what the defense throws at him. Also, the entire playbook is available with Vince - the Magic can run an isolation for him, a pick & roll, a post-up, etc. There's no play-type or shot unavailable in Carter's arsenal and as such, these are some of the reasons why he has been the go-to guy for Orlando in close games, for instance on November 25th against the Miami Heat, when he hit a three-pointer to break a 95-all tie with 14 seconds remaining. Orlando went on to lose the game due to successive put-backs by Udonis Haslem and Michael Beasley, which sandwiched two rare misses at the foul line from Jason Williams, who could have iced the game for the Magic.

For Lewis, the options are limited. He can't consistently create his own shot, so he needs to rely on his teammates sometimes to help him get an open look (like a Dwight Howard screen, for example). But if the Magic want a guy to spot-up - especially behind the three-point line - they can't go wrong with Lewis.

When it comes to crunch time performers, Orlando has a few of them on the roster. Whether it's Carter or Lewis, the Magic have options. The OPP community was right to select Carter as Orlando's best crunch-time option.

The Orlando Magic's Offense Has Been Efficient But There is Room for Improvement

erivera7 — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:37:15 -0000

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If there's a difference between the Orlando Magic of last year and this year, it's the offense. Granted, last year's offense when the Magic had a healthy Jameer Nelson during the regular season ranked 5th in Offensive Rating. But it took a ridiculous shooting display from Nelson over a period of time for Orlando to be as potent as it was on the offensive side of the ball. It didn't seem like Jameer could sustain that type of performance for the entire year but one will never know - he may have, he may have not. As such, when Nelson did get hurt this past season, the Magic's offense couldn't keep pace because the personnel wasn't equipped to make up for the loss of production.

This year, the Magic rank 5th in Offensive Rating once again but there's room for improvement and a reason for that is the improved supporting cast on the team (as well as the impending return of Nelson from injury, etc). When one considers the inefficient shooters general manager Otis Smith jettisoned during the off-season (Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, Hedo Turkoglu) and who he brought in to replace them (Brandon Bass, Vince Carter, Jason Williams, among others), it's no surprise Orlando is a much more potent offensive team. What's scary for the Magic is that the team, offensively, isn't playing at its maximum. One major reason for that has been the sub-standard play from Carter on offense, who has been in a shooting slump lately. Carter hasn't been efficient and although it hasn't affected Orlando much, in terms of team-wide production, it has held the team back from fully realizing its offensive potential. Still, it's a long year and usually the numbers even out when everything is said and done.

Here's a list of the Orlando Magic players who have been efficient on offense:

	TS%	eFG%	Offensive Rating
J. J. Redick	61.6%	57.6%	123
Jason Williams	56.8%	54.9%	121
Ryan Anderson	58.3%	55.0%	115
Dwight Howard	64.5%	63.2%	115
Brandon Bass	56.6%	54.4%	114
Rashard Lewis	57.6%	53.6%	114
Anthony Johnson	53.6%	50.0%	110
Jameer Nelson	54.4%	50.8%	109
league average	53.9%	49.6%	106.6

Impressive.

If Carter (and to a lesser extent, Nelson) returns to form on the offensive side of the ball sooner rather than later, then the Magic could live up to Pro Basketball Prospectus 09-10's projection, which is that the team will finish the regular season with the most efficient offense in the NBA.

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

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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)