SB Nation - Anthony Johnson

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," 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."

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)

Schmitz: Jameer Nelson Could Be Back Next Wednesday

erivera7 — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:44:39 -0000

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Via Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel:

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said Thursday that the earliest PG Jameer Nelson could play would be next Wednesday against the Houston Rockets and likely practice on Sunday.

Nelson hasn't played since undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Nov. 18.

Van Gundy said, "It just depends on how he looks. We'll have to see if he's up to speed," Van Gundy said. "He's got to go through a practice."

It's a testament to the Orlando Magic's depth that Jameer Nelson has rarely been mentioned during his absence, given that the team has gone 11-4 since he's been out. But it's clear, especially after last night's forgettable loss to the Miami Heat, that the Magic could use him back in the starting lineup.

All the credit in the world should be given to Jason Williams - ranked 6th in Pure Point Rating - and Anthony Johnson for holding down the fort while Nelson has been rehabbing his injury. Neither player is of Jameer's caliber but both came to play nearly every night for Orlando. Yes, there have been games where Williams just didn't have it for the evening but in almost each of those instances, Johnson gave the Magic much-needed production at point guard.

With Nelson set to return next week, Orlando will finally have a chance to play with a fully healthy roster for what many hope will be an extended period of time. Although Jameer hasn't been playing at the All-Star level he was performing at this past season, he is still the best point guard the Magic have. Likewise, head coach Stan Van Gundy knows that he has two reliable back-ups in Jason and Anthony. Unlike last year, Van Gundy will have the rare opportunity to play the matchups with his reserve point guards depending on the opponents. Or Stan has a chance to go with a different point guard when Williams or Johnson (or Nelson, too) isn't playing up to par. Options. It's something Van Gundy has in droves not only with his point guards but with every other position on the squad.

It'll be interesting to see if the Orlando Magic raises the level of its play a notch when Jameer gets back. It'll also be interesting to see if Nelson improves on his defense, which has been below-average this year.

Tip-In: Toronto Raptors Post Game Report - What Now?

RaptorsHQ - Howland — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:36:48 -0000

More photos » by John Raoux - AP

The Magic had no problem getting to the rim. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

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The Raptors were in the Magic Kingdon last night but there was nothing magical in how they played.

Another blow-out loss for the Raps leaves Howland grasping at straws.

Oh my.

It's getting pretty tough to watch at this point.

In fact talking about the lack of effort, the bad defense and the constant mental errors is getting tiring. There is actually very little to talk about after the 118-99 loss to the Orlando that everyone has not read and talked about before.

Last night was no different than many other nights this season. You have heard this story before:

The Raps allowed their opponent to score over 100 points.
The effort just wasn't good enough and when the team fell behind they showed no fight.
The Raps were dominated in almost every facet of the game and allowed their opponent to shoot well over 50% from the field.
The result was another lopsided Raptors loss.

After last night I am left wondering whether anything is actually changing. Sure there has been a lot of talk but there has been nothing to back up the spoken word.

We are now close to 30 games into the season and I can honestly say I have seen no improvement since the first pre-season game at the John Labatt Centre in London Ontario.

That was more than two and a half months ago.

The question that has to be asked is when, if ever, will things change?

My guess is that things are not going to change with the status quo and I don't think we are far from the point where BC has to acknowledge this. How many more blow-out losses are required before something has to give?

RIght now the Raps have to be turning into the laughing stock of the league. There are few teams who can make Anthony Johnson look like he's 25 again and right now the opponents starters know that they will likely spend the fourth quarter chilling on the bench with a comfortable lead.

The problem is I just don't see many options for BC. He can't fire Triano as there is no chance that MLSE will pay THREE coaches at one time, the market for Turkoglu is going to be limited give his age, contract and production (who knew?!), and trading arguably the best young PF in the league would be a tough pill to swallow.

I don't envy the position the Legomaster has put himself in. He has collected some pretty poor pieces that just don't add up to much. Soon the spotlight is going to shine squarely on Colangelo and he will have to answer for the bind he has put this franchise in.

It's not that this team doesn't have talent. There is talent on this team. The biggest issue is that they are not working as a unit and they are not playing for each other. That is bad, but it gets worse. There is nothing to point to that would suggest the team is about to "turn the corner".

Just how bad were things last night? Well as pointed out in the Game Day Thread Marcin Gortat had 7 rebounds which would have be a team high for the Raptors last night and he only played 10 minutes. That's pathetic and a damning statement for Mr. Bargnani and Mr. Bosh.

The most disappointing performance last night however, was that of Mr. Turkoglu. On a night when he was matched up against his old mates in Orlando you would have thought he would come out with some serious energy. Not so. Once again Turk was underwhelming. What was telling was that the Orlando fans seemed to greet him with a laissez-faire attitude. He has been easily replaced and forgotten.

To be honest, right now might be the lowest I have ever felt about this team. Rather than being a pleasure to come home and watch a game it is starting to feel like a chore. It's just not that fun to see these guys get trampled and do nothing to stop it. It's disheatening. At least when we went through the dark ages (after Vince was traded) guys showed some fight.

The only positive for the Raps right now is that they face the New Jersey Nets on Friday. Not only is that the most winnable game in the league right now but I get to see Terrence Williams.

I have to ask though, what happens if they lose that game?

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.

A Look at Vince Carter's Gutsy Performance Against the Indiana Pacers Last Night

erivera7 — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:00:21 -0000

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Before last night's matchup between the Orlando Magic and the Indiana Pacers, there were questions as to whether or not Vince Carter would suit up and play. The issue for Carter was that he was dealing with not only knee and hip pain following last Friday's game against the Phoenix Suns but a stomach ailment as well. However, Carter played against the Pacers and the Magic reaped the benefits.

Orlando didn't particularly get off to a good start against Indiana, especially on the offensive end. The starters for the Magic, sans Carter and Dwight Howard, didn't appear to play with a lot of energy on both sides of the ball and it's no coincidence that the Pacers jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter. One of the reasons why Indiana wasn't able to build a more sizable margin on the scoreboard was because of Carter's offensive efforts for Orlando. To put it simply, Carter kept the Magic within striking distance during the period.

How was Carter able to do so?

In the first quarter, Carter got some of his points on offense from the 2/5 pick & roll with Howard. On two separate instances, Carter was able to get easy buckets in the paint off the pick & roll. When Carter wasn't attacking the basket, he was able to get his shot going from the perimeter. On one possession, Carter was able to make a three in rhythm off a pass from Anthony Johnson. On the ensuing possession, Carter received an outlet pass from Johnson and proceeded to make another three on a 1-on-5 fast break. I couldn't help but chuckle when I heard Matt Guokas say "oh, no" when Carter put up the shot and once he made it, David Steele proceeded to remark "why not?"

As if to validate the decision, no less.

For the period, Carter accounted for 14 of Orlando's 17 points and did his job - efficiently - in keeping the team afloat. Had it not been for Carter's efforts offensively, Orlando could have been in a much deeper hole against Indiana as the game progressed. Luckily for the Magic, that wasn't the case.

Carter didn't see many minutes in the second quarter - no thanks in large part to the good play of Orlando's bench - but in the third quarter, he was able to make a positive impact for the team on offense. Again, Carter got things going in the 2/5 pick & roll with Howard, making a few jumpers and even a floater for good measure. When Carter wasn't scoring, he was doing a nice job of getting his teammates involved with nifty passing - whether it was a no-look lob (whether or not it was intentional is up to your own interpretation of the play) to Howard for a dunk or a smooth pass to Mickael Pietrus for a layup.

It was more of the same on the offensive side of the ball in the fourth quarter for Carter. Well, almost. Because J.J. Redick had played so well throughout the evening for the Magic, head coach Stan Van Gundy was forced to leave him out on the floor. As such, Carter saw minutes at small forward.

Two plays in particular stood out for Carter, both in the 3/5 pick & roll with Howard. On one play, Carter made an excellent pass to Redick, who was cutting into the lane. In an instant, Redick found Johnson in the corner, who proceeded to make an open three. A classic example of a hockey assist for Carter. The other play, Carter saw Redick in the corner and passed it to him. Redick made the three and iced the game for Orlando.

You had to be impressed with the fact that Carter played, despite his body being banged up and stricken with an ailment. Carter gutted it out and the Magic were fortunate that he did because there's no telling what could have happened yesterday had he not done so. Now, this isn't to say that Carter was perfect last night because he wasn't - his defense, at times, left a lot to be desired - but there's no denying that Carter was a playmaker on offense, getting his teammates involved and scoring with efficiency.