SB Nation - Rashard Lewis

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?

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 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. Carter'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)

Orlando Magic Practice Report: Stan Van Gundy Concerned with His Team's Focus, as Well as Portland's Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge

Ben Q Rock — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:46:50 -0000

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The Orlando Magic haven't played the Portland Trail Blazers in over a year, but are still well prepared to take them on tonight. Coach Stan Van Gundy effusively praised Portland shooting guard Brandon Roy and big man LaMarcus Aldridge, as well as the Blazers' overall effort and energy level; his Magic charges echoed those sentiments. The team is on-point and ready to go, having lost three of their last five games to drop to 4th place in the Eastern Conference, and second in the Southeast Division. Said Van Gundy, "the bottom line is that we're fourth in the East right now, and that's not where we want to be."

The biggest takeaways from today's shootaround are these: Van Gundy believes the team has lost its focus, which happens a few times throughout the season; he used the phrase "autopilot" at one point to describe his team's effort and focus. Complacency is also a concern of his.

Interestingly, he also said Jameer Nelson, who's missed over a month due to left knee surgery, practiced today and will go again tomorrow if he experiences no swelling or pain. If all goes well, Nelson will return Wednesday against the Houston Rockets, which will be the five-week mark of Nelson's surgery, right in the middle of doctors' initial projection of a 4-to-6 week recovery time.

Stan Van Gundy:

What makes Portland a tough team to play?

Well, I think ... two great players in Roy and Aldridge, which is normally where it starts with teams, and a team that plays with a real good pace and energy. They defend very hard, they've got great overall size, so they've got a lot of very good things going.

I'd like to add here that, in a later conversation with Magic play-by-play man Dennis Neumann, Van Gundy said that although Brandon Roy is an All-Star, he's still "overlooked" in the NBA. He also praised LaMarcus Aldrige, calling him the league's most underrated player, and singling out his ability to run the floor, his mid-range jumper, and his proficiency in the pick-and-roll as his strongest suits.

Have you been able to diagnose why your team seems to come out a bit flat?

Well, we've done that in three of the last four games, and so it's just everybody's gotta take the responsibility of being ready at the beginning of the game, being focused, and playing a lot harder. I think that our focus has not been as good, we have not been as tuned-in getting ready to play in games, and we haven't come with great intensity. So I think it's, you know, each individual guy's responsibility to come out and be ready to play.

On the team's lack of focus and the importance of the week ahead:

I think there's times in every season, unfortunately, where you get.. where you hit lulls in terms of your focus and things like that, and you've gotta try and get back and refocus and the whole thing. And you get in stretches, you're playing a lot of games, and you're putting it on autopilot and coming out without an intentional focus on what's going on, and it catches up to you. Hopefully we will come with much more intensity tonight, much more energy, and a clearer focus. We've got four very, very difficult games here right up until Christmas, four games in a week here that are all up against good teams, so it'll be a good test for us to see how far we can come in these four games.

On the team's health:

Yeah, everyone seemed good today and even Jameer practiced this morning. With thirteen guys out there, it got crowded.

On how Nelson looked in practice:

Well, we were basically preparing for Portland so we weren't going up and down the floor, but he looked good. He got in and battled.

On if he'll return to game action on Wednesday, as previously scheduled:

Well, I haven't heard anything differently. I'm sort of at the mercy of what the medical people tell me. They have told me it would be Wednesday at the earliest. The plan is after going through today, both his workout and our workout, the plan is for him to practice tomorrow if he doesn't have pain or swelling after today's workout, and we'll see where we are. But they have told me at this point that Wednesday will be the earliest [he could return].

Several Magic players stayed a bit after shootaround to work on their individual games. I watched these sessions in between Van Gundy's availability session and the players'. Here's what happened:

Brandon Bass worked on short (5-7 foot) jumpers, then practiced midrange shots from either baseline, where his shots hardly so much as touched the rim on their way in; he was just about automatic. He also worked on making a jab-step before elevating for a jumper, and his post moves from the left block, finishing with either a righty hook or a turnaround jumper.
Dwight Howard shot free throws, with assistant coach Patrick Ewing rebounding and occasionally taking notes on a small black pad he stowed in the pocket of his gym shorts. Howard is animated while practicing, but still focused. At one point, he expressed mock-outrage at Ewing ("Look what you made me do!") for reasons I couldn't discern. Later, he yelled the audible equivalent of his frequent YUUUUUAAAAA Twitter messages, running to midcourt and back in exultation.
J.J. Redick worked on mid-range jumpers, free throws, and three-pointers. Anthony Johnson worked through a similar routine a bit more extensively.
Redick, Johnson, and Howard did their workouts on the court's "main" baskets, with Bass shooting on one of the four "side" hoops. Bass moved to the basket Howard occupied once Howard retreated to the locker room.
Patrick Ewing Jr. sat on the sidelines wearing sandals and Magic practice gear, with tennis shoes nearby. It looked like he went through the team's workout this morning, but there's absolutely no indication that the Magic have any plans to add Ewing, whose draft rights are owned by the New York Knicks.

After the jump, partial transcripts of the media's conversations with Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis, and Dwight Howard.

Jameer Nelson:

Before I turned my recorder on, Nelson said he was looking forward to watching the Magic win tonight than he was about making his own return to the court.

When did you know you'd be able to go today?

Probably about a week ago.

A week ago?

Yeah, I can't tell you guys all my information. I keep a lot of things to myself. [Laughs]

Rashard Lewis:

On the importance of this stretch of their schedule in the wake of some recent unimpressive showing:

You know, every game is important, especially playing at home. You always wanna take care of your home court. Gotta play some tough teams, protect our home court. We're trying to get ourselves prepared, to get better every game, to get better as a team.

On what makes Portland a tough team to play:

You know, they're a great team. They play together, they play fundamental. They have a lot of guys playing well. Brandon Roy's a tough player, they added Andre Miller, LaMarcus Aldridge is a great player... so they have a number of guys that they can go to to win ballgames, and they always play hard.

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel asked Lewis, and a few other players, about Paul Pierce's recent suggestion that the NBA raise the rims three inches. Lewis said three inches "was a lot" and would make the game "more fundamental. He added that if he were commissioner, he would shorten the season to sixty games and extend the All-Star break to a full week. He added, with a laugh, "I'm tired!" If he's tired, it's not showing up in his play, as he's connected on 40% of his three-pointers over the last five games.

Dwight Howard:

On the importance of this stretch of their schedule in the wake of some recent unimpressive showing:

We want to continue to get better as a team. We're playing against some pretty good teams in this stretch, and we all know that each game is important, each possession is important. We want to get five good wins at home.

On what makes Portland a tough team to play:

They're very active. They got a lot of guys who can score. It starts with Brandon Roy, LaMarcus... and then they got guys who can spot up and hit threes. So they're a very tough team. They run a lot, do a lot of movement, and it's going to be tough.

On how he feels at the end of the third quarter when he plays the first 36 minutes of a game, as he's done in each of the Magic's last 2 games:

I felt great last game. You know, if Coach wants me to play 48 minutes, then I have to 48 minutes. You know, I just wanna do what I can to make my team... to get my team a win. And if that's playing 48 minutes, then I have to play 48 minutes... I can only do so much, but I can do whatever I can. My teammates need me to be dominant, and to be dominant for however long it takes.

Dan Savage of OrlandoMagic.com asked Howard if he had a chance to watch Blazers center Greg Oden play at all this season before he was injured. Howard smiled silently for four seconds before saying, in a near-whisper, "No, I didn't. Sorry." He said that it's hard for him to watch West Coast teams play, and that the West Coast games broadcasted via the NBA's newest mobile app that lets the user watch them on their phone doesn't get good service here.

Game 28 Preview: Blazers vs. Magic

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

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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)

Poll: Which Orlando Magic Player is the Most Effective in Crunch Time

erivera7 — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:01:37 -0000

More photos » by Wilfredo Lee - AP

Is Dwight Howard the player you want with the ball if the game is on the line?

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Today, Henry Abbott of TrueHoop sparked a debate in the blogosphere concerning "crunch time performers" with Kobe Bryant at the center of the discussion (John Schuhmann of NBA.com provided some more information). Of course, the popular question has always been - who is the most effective player in the NBA with the game on the line?

Clutch being defined by 82games as "4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points."

But wait. I want to focus the question on the Orlando Magic.

Normally, I'd provide the statistics beforehand so that people are able to get the most accurate, detailed information before developing an opinion one way or the other. But this time, I want to withhold the data available to see what people think without the aid of numbers. Consider this poll a perception (what people perceive) vs. reality (what the stats show) test.

I'll let the poll run for a few days then next Monday in a follow-up post, I'll see whether or not the statistics agree or disagree with what the popular opinion is.

Let the experiment begin.

Poll

Who is the most effective player on the Orlando Magic roster with the game on the line?

Vince Carter

179 votes

Dwight Howard

13 votes

Rashard Lewis

100 votes

Jameer Nelson

43 votes

Other

14 votes

349 votes | Poll has closed

Miami Heat 104, Orlando Magic 86

Ben Q Rock — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:34:35 -0000

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In arguably their worst overall performance of the season, the Orlando Magic did little more than go through the motions against the Miami Heat, and came away with a 104-86 defeat as a result... and the game wasn't even really that close. Dwyane Wade and Michael Beasley led Miami with an effortless 25 and 22 points, respectively, while the bench combined for 32 points. The Heat shot 58% from the field and from three-point range through three quarters and held a well-deserved 29-point lead. Only an impressive showing from J.J. Redick (11 points on 4-of-6 shooting), coupled with indifference on the Heat's side, made the score look more respectable.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Magic	88	97.9	49.4%	11.5	17.1	14.8
Heat	86	121.2	56.2%	16.0	22.0	10.5
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

What makes the loss so jarring, from an Orlando standpoint, is just how decisively Miami out-worked it, in every facet of the game. Point guard Carlos Arroyo twice managed to out-race a Magic player to an offensive rebound, for instance. The Heat moved the ball about as well as I've seen a Magic opponent do this year, making the right pass to the right guy, which helps to explain how Joel Anthony scored 3 baskets. The Magic's defense scarcely took any of the Heat's offensive options away through the first three quarters, in which Dwight Howard, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, did not rest a single second.

The offense looked just as bad, really. Howard showed some nice moves inside early, with a rolling hook from the left block and a drop-step-to-layup maneuver from the right one, which had TNT analyst/NBA legend Kevin McHale, in a rare courtside appearance, raving. Other than that? Rashard Lewis rimmed out some open three-pointers and mid-range jumpers, while Vince Carter attempted to play HORSE with an invisible adversary, launching all variety of off-balance, contested looks. Carter's played much better of late, tending to drive to the basket rather than settle for jumpers. Tonight? 2 free-throw attempts, 4 three-point attempts (all misses) and 4-of-10 shooting overall.

It truly was an instance of Miami doing almost everything right and Orlando doing almost everything wrong, on both ends. Redick, to his credit, obviously came to play, finishing with 13 points, 5 boards, and 2 steals. But on the whole, the Heat chewed the Magic up and spit 'em out. Orlando rarely plays so uninspired on the road. Incidentally, it's now dropped 3 consecutive away games after an 8-game win streak. The good news, then, is that Orlando finishes out 2009 with 5 straight games at Amway Arena, where they can hope to rediscover their winning ways.

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.

Tracking Defensive Plays in the Orlando Magic’s 106-98 Victory Over the Indiana Pacers

jonnichols — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:00:43 -0000

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For my previous piece on the Orlando Magic, I charted hustle stats such as deflections, loose balls, missed blockouts, etc. While these things are all important, perhaps the area in which hustle is most important is defense. Although it takes more than just good hustle to be a good defender (as a certain Mr. Dwight Howard will show us later), effort is one of the keys to being a good defensive team. Therefore, I decided to track defensive plays in last night's contest between the Magic and the Pacers (this time, I only kept track of the Magic's stats). I imagine most (if not all) NBA teams track these on their own, as well as companies such as Synergy Sports.

To see the numbers, click the link below:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvNKNGJ_AHijdFVaanJkQ2xSSG5DU3ZNcUVPRHpfSkE&hl=en

The rest of this article will explain what those numbers mean. I will also provide a few observations and notes about the contest.

The first column is "Forced Misses." This is pretty self-explanatory, although I should explain a few things. First, forced misses don't only occur on an individual's man-to-man assignment. A help defender who forces a missed shot would receive the credit. Second, I conservatively rewarded a few forced turnovers as forced misses. These were situations in which a player caused his opponent to turn the ball over (through traveling, bobbling the ball, etc.) by applying good pressure and staying in good position.

The second column is "Baskets Allowed." This is also self-explanatory, with one caveat. If a player made a bad defensive play that eventually led to someone from the opposing team scoring, he was the one credited with an allowed basket. For example, on one play, Jason Williams allowed his man to penetrate into the lane with ease, forcing the Magic to help and rotate. The Pacers swung the ball and ended up with an easy three-pointer. Although Williams' man did not receive any points or assists for the play, Williams was penalized for allowing the basket.

The third column is "Good Help D." This occurred when a player came off his man to either help a beaten teammate or to make a good play such as causing a turnover. When Dwight Howard met the opponent in the lane and forced a miss, he was credited with a "Good Help D." When Ryan Anderson strayed from his man for a second and reached in and knocked the ball loose from another player, he also received credit for good help defense. As you can see by now, many of these statistics are subjective (which is both a great thing and a bad thing).

The fourth column is titled "BB/MD." This stands for blow-bys/middle drives. This occurred any time a Magic player allowed his man to drive right past him without the use of a screen (in certain cases, when there was a switch on a screen and the new defender allowed the opponent receiving the screen to drive by, a BB/MD was assessed). A BB/MD did not have to result in a made basket to be counted.

The fifth column is titled "Lost Man." This was recorded every time a player failed to stay on his man, resulting in score. This occurred most frequently in one of two ways: either a player simply wasn't paying attention and allowed off-the-ball movement (such as a backdoor cut) for a score, or a player failed to chase his man quickly enough through screens.

The sixth and final column containing raw data is "Silly Fouls." While obviously the most subjective of the six categories, it was generally pretty easy to determine. Fouls that occurred off the ball and away from the play were the biggest culprits.

The rest of the data is computed based on those six categories. I included each player's minutes played to serve as a reference point. "FG% Allowed" was calculated as follows: Baskets Allowed / (Baskets Allowed + Forced Misses). This statistic does not mean the field goal percentage of the man-to-man assignment. Because Forced Misses and Baskets Allowed are not always credited on a man-to-man basis, FG% Allowed is a bit more complicated. Obviously, a lower percentage is a better percentage.

The final six columns are the six raw categories calculated on a per-minute basis. Like last time, I calculated them in the form of "minutes per stat" as opposed to "stat per minute." This is to avoid presenting very small numbers. For positive stats such as Forced Misses and Good Help D, a lower number is better (in other words, a player achieves these stats more frequently and therefore in less minutes on average). For negative stats such as Baskets Allowed and BB/MD, a higher number (or no number at all) is better.

Finally, some observations:

As amazing as this might sound, Dwight Howard's impact was possibly even stronger than the box score indicates. He altered a ton of shots in a night in which many of his teammates seemed to struggle defensively. He was able to help his teammates and alter the Pacers' offense considerably. It didn't hurt that the opposing centers weren't looking to challenge him very often.
Other than Howard, Anthony Johnson and J.J. Redick had the two best defensive performances. Despite his age and perceived lack of speed compared to T.J. Ford, Johnson was able to play solid one-on-one defense and force a lot of misses. It's not surprising he ended up playing 27 minutes despite coming off the bench. Redick, although not challenged as often as Johnson, also made a few good defensive plays and forced some missed shots.
The only blemishes on Redick's defensive stat line were the silly fouls. He certainly did not agree with the calls, but three times he was called for defensive fouls away from the ball while fighting for position. He was the only Magic player to record a silly foul.
The man Johnson replaced, Jason Williams, struggled on the defensive end. He had a difficult time preventing Ford from penetrating and generally played poor pick-and-roll defense. The Pacers built an early lead partially by attacking him.
The Magic's two highest-paid players were mediocre at best on defense. Vince Carter's performance, which wasn't terrible, can possibly be excused because of his great offensive play. But Rashard Lewis complemented his offensive struggles with some defensive struggles. He allowed seven baskets while only forcing three misses, and he let his man blow by him into the lane four times. Lewis made some defensive strides last season, and he must be careful not to relapse this year.
Ryan Anderson struggled a bit on defense, although not because of a lack of effort. He allowed five baskets (second-most on the team behind Lewis), but did have a nice steal.
Marcin Gortat won't be happy about the measly six minutes of playing time he received, but he was generally pretty effective on defense when he was on the court.

I enjoyed tracking the individual defensive performances of the Magic, and I think this type of information sheds a great deal of light on what's going on beyond the box score. Although I don't know what Synergy Sports or the Magic track defensively about their players, I imagine data such as these are of interest to them simply because they're so useful. I plan on doing this exercise again soon.