SB Nation - Jameer Nelson

Poll: Who is Your Favorite Orlando Magic Mainstay (Not Named Dwight Howard)

erivera7 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:42:02 -0000

Is the Poland native, Marcin Gortat, your favorite "old" Orlando Magic player?

Roughly a month ago in a poll, I asked the Orlando Pinstriped Post community to decide which newcomer on the Orlando Magic was their favorite. The returns showed that the people liked Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson the most out of the new players on the Magic.

But what about the mainstays for Orlando not named Dwight Howard? Between Marcin Gortat, Anthony Johnson, Rashard Lewis, Jameer Nelson, Mickael Pietrus, and J.J. Redick, which individual has become your favorite out of the group? Once again, there's no wrong answer.

Superman is omitted because he is the franchise player and, without a doubt, the most popular person on the team.

If you'd like, explain your choice in the comments section below.

Poll

Out of the mainstays on the Orlando Magic roster, which player is your favorite (not named Dwight Howard)?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, Orlando is just now getting a look at its full complement of players. Jameer Nelson underwent arthroscopic knee surgery days after Rashard Lewis' 10-game NBA suspension ended, and Nelson is just now working his way back in the lineup, starting and playing 29 minutes on Wednesday after one game off the bench. Jason Williams and Anthony Johnson played very well in Nelson's absence, but his return still should lift an offense that already ranks fifth in the league. The only weak link so far has been Vince Carter, sporting an ugly 42.9 shooting percentage inside the arc.
The Orlando Magic own a 4-2 all-time record on Christmas Day entering Friday afternoon's game against the Boston Celtics.
UPDATE 2: Josh Robbins looks back in the past to see how the Magic have fared in games on Christmas Day.
Kevin Garnett will play for Boston against Orlando, and Big Baby might be activated
UPDATE 3: More news on the Celtics.

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

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

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

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

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.

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."

UPDATE - Denton: Jameer Nelson to Play Limited Minutes on Monday

Ben Q Rock — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:07:41 -0000

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It appears as though Jameer Nelson's return to the Orlando Magic from left knee surgery will come earlier than expected. According to John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com, Nelson will play "limited minutes" tomorrow night against the Utah Jazz.

At shootaround yesterday, Nelson and coach Stan Van Gundy said Nelson could return Wednesday, against the Houston Rockets, at the earliest.

Nelson has missed the Magic's last 16 games. Orlando went 12-4 in that stretch, with Jason Williams taking Nelson's starting role.

UPDATE: Denton expands upon the news in this story for the team's website. An excerpt:

Part of the reason the Magic want to get Nelson back on the court is because of what [Deron] Williams did to them two weeks ago in Utah. He repeatedly battered the Magic in pick-and-roll sets, going for 32 points, 15 assists and eight rebounds in a 120-111 Jazz victory.

If Nelson does return Monday, he could be in for a week of facing Williams, Houston speedster Aaron Brooks and Boston’s Rajon Rondo. But that is of no concern to the Magic’s 6-foot point guard.

"They will also have to guard me, too," Nelson said brazenly. "I’m not trying to be cocky or anything. It wasn’t like I was in practice not being aggressive. I’m trying to be aggressive and make plays."

That's the sort of attitude that I imagine the Magic love to see from their co-captain... and that other teams (and their fans) may not appreciate.

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 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

More photos » by Gary Dineen - NBAE/Getty Images

Uh oh.

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Game Time: 4:00 PM TV: Comcast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keys to the Game

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

You can see how Orlando views this game at OrlandoPinstripedPost.

Enter tonight's Jersey Contest form here.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

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