SB Nation - Ryan Anderson

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

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

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

To see the numbers, click the link below:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally, some observations:

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

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

Orlando Magic News for December 12th: Dwight Howard's Status Amongst Centers in the NBA; A Few Good Lists

erivera7 — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:37:08 -0000

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Dwight Howard, Andrew Bynum on John Hollinger's lists of the top 12 young centers in the NBA
John Hollinger of ESPN Insider lists the top centers in the NBA.

1. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic
Orlando's overpowering center is unquestionably the dean of the league's young centers, leading the Magic to the Finals last season while winning the defensive player of the year award. This season he's redoubled his effort, shooting a sizzling 64.8 percent from the floor (second in the league) and ranking third in rebounding (12.0). Howard, 24, boasts the league's top defensive rebound rate among centers at 29.0, while his 10.5 free throw attempts per game rank second only to Dwyane Wade's 11.0. Sure, it would be great if Howard could make more than 58.3 percent from the stripe, but that's the only weakness in the man who has replaced Shaquille O'Neal as the league's most dominant physical specimen.
NBA Sophomore Rankings: Who's No. 1?
David Thorpe of ESPN Insider ranks the top sophomores.

7. Ryan Anderson, Magic | Previous rank: 7
With Rashard Lewis back in the lineup, Anderson's playing time has plummeted. And now so have his shooting percentages: He has made only three of his past 17 3s, and 21 of his past 58 shots overall. It typically takes years of experience to become a solid outside shooter with limited minutes and touches, but that's the task he's faced with.
NBA: Weekend Dime: Players Soon To Be Trade-Eligible
Marc Stein of ESPN.com runs down the players that will soon be trade-eligible and ranks the ones most likely to be made available by their teams. Not surprisingly, Marcin Gortat and Brandon Bass are listed.

It was widely assumed in July when Orlando retained Gortat from Poland amid a flurry of pricey offseason maneuverings that Smith had a deal in place to dispatch him after Dec. 15. You don't hear that theory anymore.

Even though Gortat is averaging a measly 6.8 minutes per game in December playing behind Dwight Howard, Smith regards him as indispensable Howard insurance.

The updated assumption in GM circles, then, is that Gortat won't be made available in trades until the summer, after the Magic see how far this high-dollar, all-in approach takes them. [...]

Rival teams say it's not Orlando's style anyway to initiate a lot of trade chatter. The Magic apparently often prefer, as one personnel man put it, to "entertain what other people propose."

So give this one time to develop.

Utah Jazz 120, Orlando Magic 111

Ben Q Rock — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:17:48 -0000

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Hot three-point shooting and excellent execution helped the Orlando Magic lead the Utah Jazz by as many as 18 points tonight, but Utah exposed Orlando's soft interior defense to work its way back into the game and eventually win it, 120-111, to snap Orlando's 8-game road winning streak and dash the Magic's hopes of improving to 18-4 for the first time in franchise history. Deron Williams became the latest point guard to exploit the Magic, carrying the scoring load--a team-high 32--with a combination of jumpers and aggressive drives while distributing the ball to tally 15 assists to 1 turnover. Carlos Boozer added 20 points and 14 rebounds for Utah, which rebounded after an atrocious loss to the L.A. Lakers last night. Vince Carter's 34 points paced Orlando, which also got solid production (47 points on 70.3% eFGs), but the Magic's inability to get a stop in the second half cost them the game.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Magic	94	117.9	55.3%	35.5	13.2	13.8
Jazz	93	128.5	53.6%	35.7	27.1	6.4
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

Orlando took its largest lead, 51-33, at the 7:11 mark of the second quarter, when Anthony Johnson drained his 7th and 8th free throws of the season. Utah closed the half on a 19-9 run, then blew the game open in the third quarter, outscoring Orlando by 38-21 to take firm control of the game.

Utah overcame that 18-point deficit with both its defense and offense. The Jazz ran extra defenders at Magic center Dwight Howard all game long, and at odd intervals, so as to keep him guessing. This approach limited Howard to 18 points in 44 minutes, and forced him to commit 3 turnovers. Utah dared Orlando's perimeter scorers to deliver, and some of them did: Carter, as mentioned, had 34, while Ryan Anderson scored 16. Reserve Matt Barnes did most of his work inside and in transition, but ultimately, the Jazz's defensive scheme worked. The Magic were out-of-sorts at times, which isn't always a problem when they're playing great defense.

But that's just it. They didn't.

Williams orchestrated the Jazz's offense beautifully. 15 assists against 1 turnover in 42 minutes? For a point guard who took 18 shots form the field and 15 at the line? He played essentially mistake-free tonight, and it showed. His teammates played well, too. They knew where they needed to be, Williams delivered the ball, and scored. Maybe that's reductive, but goodness, the Jazz made everything look easy tonight. That 18-point deficit had more to do with Orlando's hot outside shooting than it did with anything the Jazz were doing wrong offensively.

Howard was a step slow defending the paint all night, which has become a disturbing trend. Boozer and Williams hooked up on the pick-and-roll successfully numerous times. Williams' dribble-penetration also drew Magic defenders from the weak-side, freeing Jazz wingmen to sneak along the baseline for a layup.

Ultimately, the game came down to which team cooled off first. Orlando's three-pointers didn't drop in the second half, while the Jazz continued apace with their points in the paint and surprisingly effective midrange game.

The lightly regarded reserve swingman C.J. Miles scored the quietest 22 points off the bench I've ever seen, and he wound up icing the game with a three-pointer to beat the shot clock at the 1:03 mark of the game, giving Utah an insurmountable 114-103 lead.

Now, this is not the sort of game where the Magic can say, "hey, we played well, they played better." That's simply not the case. The game wasn't as close as the final margin might indicate, as the Jazz surrendered layup after layup in the waning minutes in order to keep Orlando from bombing its way back into the game with three-pointers. 8 points in the final minute for the Magic, and they were all academic.

Utah just utterly outclassed the Magic tonight. They worked harder, from tip to horn, than Orlando did. Their effort paid off when they locked down on defense, while their offense sustained. For example: Orlando is among the league's worst offensive reobunding teams, and by choice; coach Stan Van Gundy likes to send four men back after the shot's release in order to cut down on the opponent's transition game. But they're much better on the glass than the Jazz made 'em look tonight. In the second half, in which Utah outscored Orlando, 68-51, the Magic grabbed 1 offensive rebound in 21 opportunities. One-and-done for them on offense.

The Magic never really strung together any meaningful stops, and looked overmatched defensively the entire night. This is, in brief, a disconcerting loss. If there's a positive spin, it's that Barnes played solid defense on Williams during the game's closing minutes as Orlando tried to rally. I had no idea Barnes had that defensive skill in 'im, so, uh, yeah. There's that.

In a lot of ways, this game was the polar opposite of the Magic's road win over the Atlanta Hawks on Thanksgiving. Atlanta shot its way to an early lead, but the Magic's shut its offense down in the second half, worked harder in every phase of the game, and won going away. In general--and this is a subject I'd like to cover in better detail soon--the Magic tend to jump out to early leads on the road, then let the opponent get back into it. The TNT cameras cut to Van Gundy tonight after a late-first-half Jazz bucket lamenting his team's "playing the scoreboard;" I'm not an expert lip-reader, but I'm darn near 100% positive that's what he said, because it's one of his favorite phrases and because it applies. Orlando's an excellent road team, but it wasn't going to continue winning 10 games out of 12 squandering leads like that. It caught up with the Magic tonight, and maybe they'll learn from it. Maybe not.

There's no time to worry about the loss, though. Orlando plays again tomorrow night at Phoenix, one of the league's most dynamic offensive teams. Howard (44 minutes) and Carter (38) were pressed into long duty tonight, so it's up for the Magic's other players to pick up the slack, if there is any. Rashard Lewis, who managed 10 points in 27 minutes tonight due to foul trouble and personal preference, is a prime candidate.

Orlando Magic News for December 10th: Dwight Howard and Vince Carter Could Start in the All-Star Game

Ben Q Rock — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:00:25 -0000

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Kobe in West, D-Wade in East take lead in All-Star voting
The NBA released the first returns in its All-Star balloting and the Orlando Magic have done well so far. Center Dwight Howard, who set a record for total votes received last year, is again in line to start this year; he leads Shaquille O'Neal, his next closest competitor, by more than 400,000 votes. Meanwhile, Vince Carter is in line to start at guard, second at the position only to the Heat's Dwyane Wade, who leads all vote-getters in the Eastern Conference. Carter leads Gilbert Arenas is big, but not insurmountable, at just under 80,000 votes.

Rashard Lewis ranks 10th among Eastern forwards. Jameer Nelson, the other Magic player on the ballot, did not appear in the early results. Naturally, none of this damages their chances of actually playing in the game...
Chat: John Hollinger
...because as John Hollinger explains, the coaches--who select the reserves--tend to reward good teams by allotting more roster spots to their players.

Likely East All-Star team is Wade, [Chris] Bosh, LeBron [James] and nine players from the Celtics, Magic and Hawks.
Denton: Lack of Respect Motivates Magic
I enjoyed J.J. Redick's perspective on the Magic's lack of respect, which has become a fairly tired subject.

"Around the league I think we’re well respected, especially among players and coaches who know the game of basketball," Magic reserve guard J.J. Redick said. "We have three legitimate superstars and four really when Jameer (Nelson) is healthy. But we’re a small market and we’re not L.A., we’re not New York and we don’t have LeBron James.

"We’re starting to get some attention, but we don’t set out for that. We just want to win," Redick continued. "I think we’d rather be called the best team in June than the best team on Dec. 9th."
#13 Orlando Magic
Forbes.com rates the Magic as the NBA's 13th-most-valuable franchise. I found this fact particularly interesting:

This [sic] Magic's run to the finals last season, where they were defeated by the Lakers, boosted their bottom line by $5 million. The extra loot from the postseason will come in handy as the team awaits its new building, the Amway Center, scheduled to open in the fall of 2010.

It's also nice to see that the franchise has increased in value each year since 2002, and in revenue since 2004.
Stephen Jackson fits in with Bobcats, Larry Brown
Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated writes about Magic backup point guard Jason Williams, pushed into starting duty due to Nelson's knee injury. Williams came out of a year-long retirement to sign with Orlando in August.

"Sometimes when you have a long career you like it and you appreciate it, but I think it goes to another level when you have a year off," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. "He really wanted to come back. The thing we liked with him, which is a lot like what we liked with Rafer [Alston] last year, is that we had a pretty good confidence level that if needed, he could play big minutes. He just always had one of those motors that he could go a long time."
Rafer Alston rips New Jersey Nets, winning streak halted at one as Golden State Warriors romp
Alston is not happy with his teammates in New Jersey, to which Orlando dealt him in a package to obtain Carter and Ryan Anderson. In short order, Alston went from starting for an NBA Finalist to backing up the worst team in the league.

After the Nets took a 105-89 pounding from the Warriors last night at the Meadowlands, Nets reserve Rafer Alston blasted his teammates for not sticking together through the tough times.

[....] But what especially rankled Alston last night was seeing teammates fail to pull for each other before an announced crowd of 10,005 at the Meadowlands.

Alston would not have been happy here backing up Nelson, but clearly he's unhappy in New Jersey as well. The middle ground would be for the Nets to trade him to a team that needs a point guard, most obviously Alston's hometown New York Knicks. But because Devin Harris and Keyon Dooling, the Nets' other point guards, have nagging injuries, the Nets will likely hang on to Alston's expiring deal.
Fun With Numbers and Venn Diagrams
UPDATE: Ryan Schwan of Hornets 247 attempts to categorize point guards using a series of Venn Diagrams. It's interesting to see where Nelson (the scorer) and Williams (the distributor) land here.

Breaking Down the Orlando Magic with Synergy Sports

erivera7 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:00:42 -0000

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Ed. note: Fixed an error in the 'Isolation' table, as of 1:03 p.m. EST.

A little less than a month ago, I looked at the statistics for the Orlando Magic after the first 10 games in the regular season. The purpose of the write-up was to take a quick look at how some of the players on the Magic had performed at that point. I figured, now, it would be a good moment to examine the numbers for Orlando with 20 games elapsed this year. This time, I'll be looking at stats from Synergy Sports Technology. Specifically, data that is used by NBA teams.

For instance, sifting through Synergy will give you a nugget like this: the Magic rate "Excellent" in offense from the category of 'After Time Outs' (1.02 points per possession) with a percentile-based rank of 91% - statistics compared to the rest of the league, to be specific. So in this case, the numbers support the notion that head coach Stan Van Gundy does an excellent job of drawing up plays that convert into scores after timeouts.

Other nuggets of information are that Ryan Anderson does an excellent job of scoring off of offensive rebounds or that Brandon Bass is the only player on the roster, so far, who does better than average at defending post-ups.

Spot-Ups, Pick & Rolls, and Post-Ups

Excluding 'Transition' offense, the majority of the offensive plays for the Magic come from the categories of 'Spot-Up' (25%), 'Pick & Roll Ball Handler' (16%), and 'Post-Up' (15%). Orlando rates "Excellent" in 'Spot-Up' (1.06 points per possession) with a rank of 86%, "Very Good" in 'Pick & Roll Ball Handler (0.90 points per possession) with a rank of 78%, and "Average" in 'Post-Up' (0.85) points per possession) with a rank of 46% - granted, those are a ton of numbers to try to digest so let's break things down to try to make sense of all that information.

The Magic's offense is mostly known for its 4-out/1-in offensive sets and its pick & rolls, with both play-types having a number of variations to it. As such, it makes sense that Orlando would excel with its spot-up shooting because when Dwight Howard is in the post, he's the focus of the 4-out/1-in offensive set. Howard can go to himself on the offensive side of the ball or he can kick it out to one of the four shooters standing around the perimeter. One of them, then, can either attempt a shot or swing it around the perimeter. Because defenses are scrambling to cover everyone, if the ball movement is good, a player is bound to be open and have a good chance at making a bucket. Here's a list of Magic players and how each of them rates in the 'Spot-Up' category:

	Percentage of Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Mickael Pietrus	17%	0.98	59%	Good
Matt Barnes	13%	0.54	5%	Poor
Rashard Lewis	13%	1.27	92%	Excellent
J.J. Redick	13%	1.12	79%	Very Good
Ryan Anderson	12%	0.95	54%	Good
Vince Carter	10%	1.16	83%	Excellent

Vince Carter, Jameer Nelson, or Jason Williams are the primary pick & roll ballhandlers. Usually the pick & roll is used so that one of the aforementioned players engages on offense and looks to score. Fairly self-explanatory. Even though J.J. Redick isn't listed, he excels in the pick & roll, with statistics comparable to Williams (1.07 points per possession, "Excellent", 90%). Here's a list of Magic players and how each of them rates in the 'Pick & Roll' category:

	Percentage of Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Vince Carter	29%	1.04	84%	Excellent
Jameer Nelson	26%	0.97	67%	Very Good
Jason Williams	22%	1.06	88%	Excellent

Lastly, the post-up. More often than not, Howard will be posting up and it will be occurring, the majority of the time, within 4-out/1-in offensive sets. As has been mentioned before, Howard can go to himself on the offensive side of the ball and if he does, good things usually happen. Here's a list of Magic players and how each of them rates in the 'Post-Up' category:

	Percentage of Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Dwight Howard	69%	0.97	64%	Good
Brandon Bass	10%	0.92	57%	Good

More after the jump.

Say No to Isos

For the Magic, the only play-types the team is "Average" in is 'Post-Up' (15%) and 'Isolation' (7%). That's it. In every other category, Orlando rates "Good" or higher. Isolations aren't not a strength (0.87 points per possession) for the Magic, given that the squad rates in the middle-of-the-pack in that category with a rank of 50% - thanks, mostly, to Nelson (see numbers below).

Even though Orlando can score in isolation if need be, it's not the prescribed manner by which Van Gundy wants the players to execute on offense. Inside-out, not one-on-one, is the mantra for the Magic on the offensive side of the ball (thus, working the basketball through the post can't be ignored). But if push comes to shove, again, there are individuals on the team who can create shots on their own. Van Gundy has said a number of times that the best teams in the NBA have at least one player who can get shots at will and to have someone like that on the Magic, particularly Carter, is good. Here's a list of Magic players and how each of them rates in the 'Isolation' category:

	Percentage of Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Vince Carter	30%	1.00	81%	Very Good
Jameer Nelson	20%	0.74	25%	Below Average
Brandon Bass	10%	0.88	57%	Good

Pick & Rolls an Achilles' Heel on Defense, As Expected

Although the defense for the Magic has steadily improved since the start of the regular season, the defensive effort against the pick & roll could certainly improve. Last year, Orlando was one of the best squads in the Association at defending the pick & roll but this year, the Magic aren't doing as good of a job - giving up too many points (0.88 points per possession) and sporting a rank of 22%, which is "Below Average." The Los Angeles Lakers, by comparison, allow 0.78 points per possession, 61%, which falls in the "Good" strata.

The main issue, as Van Gundy told me at practice last week, has largely been the rotations. Three or four players will make the right rotation but one player will be a little bit late and the team is in trouble, as a result. When a squad like Orlando is incorporating a number of new faces to Van Gundy's defensive schemes, breakdowns like these will occur. It's inevitable. The key is looking for signs of improvement and look no further than the Magic's victory against the New York Knicks a few days ago, in which the team's pick & roll defense was excellent. Like Orlando's defensive efficiency, the pick & roll defense should improve as the regular season progresses. Here's a list of Magic players and how each of them rates in the 'Defending the Screener in a Pick & Roll' category:

	Percentage of Time	Points Per Possession	Rank	Rating
Jason Williams	29%	0.83	62%	Good
Jameer Nelson	20%	0.93	38%	Average
J.J. Redick	13%	1.10	14%	Poor
Mickael Pietrus	11%	1.00	25%	Below Average
Matt Barnes	10%	1.34	3%	Poor
Vince Carter	10%	0.77	75%	Very Good

As one can see, the issue hasn't been Howard or Marcin Gortat in defending the pick & roll, but rather the wing players for the Magic. In terms of individuals who were with Orlando last year, Pietrus and Redick aren't playing to their capabilities on the defensive side of the ball so their dip is a bit of a surprise.

Again, that aspect of the defense should improve as the regular season progresses.

Orlando Magic News for December 6th: Praise for Vince Carter; More on Marcin Gortat

erivera7 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:58:59 -0000

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Vince Carter earns praise, Ryan Anderson saddled with DNP-CD
Brian Schmitz quotes head coach Stan Van Gundy praising Vince Carter for his performance in yesterday's win against the Golden State Warriors.

"Those are the numbers I've been waiting for from him," Van Gundy said.

What Van Gundy really liked about it was Carter getting fouled taking the ball inside.

"We're at our best when he's taking it to the basket," he said.
Denton: Magic-Warriors Postgame Analysis
John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com analyzes last night's game.

"They had us on the ropes and we were struggling, but we gathered finally, gained our composure and made plays on both ends to dig it out," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "It wasn’t pretty and we didn’t play well, but I was happy we stuck with it to get a win. Anytime you win seven in a row on the road in this league you’ve got to be pretty happy."
D-League offers option for prep-to-pro players
Marc J. Spears shares a neat story about Latavious Williams, the first player to be drafted out of high school by the D-League.

Orlando Magic forward Brandon Bass knew Williams from the AAU team Bass sponsored and recommended him to his agent, Tony Dutt, when it became apparent Williams wasn’t going to attend college. Dutt had Bass work out for former Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson before deciding to represent him.
Gortat's Growing Discontent
Bethlehem Shoals of The Sporting News chimes in on the Marcin Gortat storyline that's slowly been developing these past few days.

Stay tuned, I guess. Retaining Gortat was a luxury and perfectly within the Magic's rights. You'd have figured, though, that this year would've brought us more Gortat, so it's understandable he's frustrated. Presumably talking it out will make sense of it all, because it would've been massively weird of the team to sign two backup centers if they only planned on playing Howard. If they do end up trying to move him, though, there should be takers for a young, skilled center—like maybe the Mavs?
Twitter / John Schuhmann
UPDATE (from Ben): John Schuhmann of NBA.com tweets this quick fact about Dwight Howard's lagging block totals.

Stat of the Day: Through 20 games last season, Dwight Howard had blocked 82 shots. Through 20 games this season, he's blocked 36.
Orlando Equals Franchise Record with 7th Straight Road Win
UPDATE 2 (from Eddy): Matt Steinmetz of NBA FanHouse chimes in on Orlando's road success.

"We treat home and road pretty much the same," Van Gundy said. "I never really addressed it as anything else. We get ready for road games and home games the same way and expect to win. So there's really no difference to our approach."

Orlando Magic 126, Golden State Warriors 118

Ben Q Rock — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:32:42 -0000

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In a long, wild game featuring plenty of offense, the Orlando Magic battled back to defeat the Golden State Warriors, 126-118, on the strength of a 17-4 run in the final 5:08 of action. Golden State's Monta Ellis led all scorers with 33 points, while Anthony Randolph tallied 28 points, 13 boards, 5 assists, and a steal in just 35 minutes off the bench. Yet the Magic's balanced, efficient attack proved more potent; three Magic players exceeded 20 points, with three others cracking double-digit scoring. Vince Carter had a vintage, all-around performance, by far his best since joining the Magic: 27 points on 7-of-13 shooting, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and just 1 turnover in 34 minutes. For a guy who dominated the ball in the second half against a ball-hawking team like Golden State to only cough it up once is impressive. With the victory, Orlando won its 7th straight road game, to tie a franchise record.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Magic	97	129.9	60.8%	48.6	24.1	16.5
Warriors	105	111.9	49.4%	33.7	24.4	14.4
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

When Corey Maggette made a driving layup in transition to give Golden State a 114-109 lead, I couldn't envision the Magic getting back into the game. The Warriors were simply too quick and too active, on both ends of the floor, for the Magic to handle. But the Warriors just ran out of gas, to use a well-worn phrase, at the end, and Orlando blitzed them. Anthony Johnson couldn't find any open passing lanes, so he just drove to the hole for an easy layup to start the Magic's rally. A fast-break three-pointer from Mickael Pietrus knotted the score at 114, with Carter nailing another transition three after the Warriors' subsequent miss. The Magic had scored 9 points in 90 seconds to take a 117-114 lead, which left the Warriors visibly shaken. The young team did not respond well to the pressure, turning the ball over on 3 of their next 4 possessions while the Magic added another 5 points to their lead. Tonight was a case of the better, more experienced team grinding out a win against an overmatched, yet talented and driven, opponent.

I really cannot say enough good things about Golden State's play in the first 19 minutes of the second half. Their offense never gave the Magic a chance to react. Smart passes, quick cuts, finishes in traffic. Randolph saved a ton of would-be empty possessions with offensive rebounds or dives to the floor to retrieve loose balls, while Ellis hit jumpers from just about everywhere. Orlando's a great defensive team, but Golden State's great ball movement and off-ball cuts were too much to handle. Yet at the end of the game, the offense stagnated, for a few reasons. First, the Magic started hitting their shots again, which stopped the Warriors' running game; it's hard to fast break when you're taking the ball out of your own net. Second, the Warriors were tired. Ellis played the entire game, with Stephen Curry only resting for 1:51. Weak legs. Third--and this is me playing pop-psychologist--they were just shaken up. All 3 of the turnovers I mentioned in the previous paragraph were unforced: a senseless, telegraphed pass from Curry to Vladimir Radmanovic that Carter picked off with ease; a Curry travel; and an Ellis travel. Sometimes, defenders can bait ballhandlers into a travel. Not in these instances. Curry and Ellis just shuffled their feet, for no reason, in the triple-threat position.

Orlando led by as many as 15 points in the first half on the strength of its three-point shooting, connecting on 8 of its first 9 tries from long-range. Golden State countered with a series of contested jumpers. Neither team could keep up that pace for the whole game, so it appeared as though Dwight Howard would decide the game. If all else failed, the Magic could just dump the ball to their franchise center and let him work against the Warriors, who are especially ill-equipped to handle him. He scored 12 points in the first 8:23 of the game, with Carter and Jason Williams doing an exemplary job of finding him on his rolls to the basket. He also created his own offense with some sweeping hooks, which looked excellent. It appeared as though he was on his way to a 30-point night, and that the Magic would cruise to victory.

But that's not how it happened. Saddled with foul trouble, Howard couldn't get back into the rhythm of the game. His 8 rebounds led the team, and his 4 defensive boards during the final 7:52 were key in preventing the Warriors from getting second-chance opportunities, but he was mostly invisible. His backup, Marcin Gortat, picked up 5 fouls in just 12 minutes, forcing the Magic to run their offense from the outside-in, as opposed to inside-out, as is their custom.

No problem, though. Carter was simply magnificent tonight. 27 points on 13 shot attempts, just 2 of them from three-point range. Carter was visibly in attack mode tonight. Golden State doesn't have a shot-blocking presence, and with the Magic in need of scoring, Carter took over. 19 points in the second half, 12 of Orlando's 25 points in an anemic third quarter in which they gave up the lead, to go with 7 assists and 5 boards. This game was an excellent demonstration of why GM Otis Smith sought Carter's services this summer. We've seen Carter assert himself offensively earlier this season, most notably at Boston, when he needed 29 shots and 6 turnovers to score 26 points. But tonight, he asserted himself, and did so efficiently. The Warriors play crummy defense in general, so it's easy to point to that factor as the biggest one in Carter's big night. Go ahead. 27 points on 13 shots is impressive against anyone at this level.

Which brings me to my next point: the Warriors played inspired defense in the third period, which caught the Magic off guard. Orlando had trouble setting its offense, with Carter, Williams, or even Pietrus standing 30 feet from the basket looking for a receiver with fewer than 14 ticks on the shot clock. Golden State dug in, denied the ball, and played the passing lanes beautifully; Williams may never live down the pass he threw that Radmanovic took the other way for an emphatic jam on his head, the basketball equivalent of an interception returned for a touchdown, with the scoring player stiffarming the quarterback on his way to the endzone. Not just any defense can force the steady Williams, who had committed 7 turnovers in his 264 minutes as the Magic's starting point guard prior to tonight, to commit 4 turnovers in a single game. Give the Warriors credit for really turning up their D for a big stretch of the second half.

Perhaps lost in the overall story of this game--veteran team goes updouble-digits on the road, young home team responds with a flurry of spectacular plays on both sides of the ball to take the lead, only to crumble when the veteran team regains its focus--is that Stan Van Gundy appears to have adjusted his rotation. Brandon Bass has claimed the backup power forward job from Ryan Anderson, who earned his first DNP-CD of the season tonight. Bass played just 9:25, but produced, with 4 points, 4 rebounds, and an assist in that stretch. Bass matches up well with the Warriors, who don't have anyone who can handle him on the interior. Playing Anderson, the three-point marksman, might have only fed the Warriors' fast-break game, as long misses tend to lead to long rebounds. Bass, by all accounts, handled his temporary demotion well and responded on the practice floor and in the film room. It's far too early to say Anderson has fallen out of the rotation, but this situation is one to monitor as the season progresses.

Here we are, 9 paragraphs into a fairly lengthy recap, and I've yet to mention Rashard Lewis. 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 3 three-pointers, 4 rebounds, 4 assists. A quiet, steady performance from the Magic's veteran combo forward, who's now hit 17 of his last 31 three-point attempts in the last 5 games.

A word on Pietrus before wrapping this recap up: he was clearly motivated to stick it to his former team, as he was in his only other game against Golden State, which came last season. In his 2 career games against the Warriors, he's averaged 18 points on 62.5% eFG%. Tonight, he made a spectacular, Michael Jordan-esque fadeaway from the right baseline, and drew the foul. He also sank 6 of his 7 free throws, coming into the evening shooting a mere 50% from the stripe. My favorite Pietrus moment tonight, though, came just 2 minutes into the game: Williams picked off a bad pass by Radmanovic, and Pietrus sprinted from the right sideline to the left corner, waving his hand in the air the entire time. Carter found him there, wide open, where he drained his second trey of the night, and from the exact same spot. We sometimes get on Pietrus for not playing smart, but he knew just where he needed to be on that possession. Counting tonight, Pietrus is 13-of-25 from the left corner and 10-of-24 from the right corner this season, per NBA.com's Hotspots feature.

And with that, I'm spent. A good win for the Magic. If Carter continues to select his shots judiciously, Orlando will be in great shape.

Finally, a Win For the Former Orlando Magic Players in New Jersey

Ben Q Rock — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:34:50 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

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After their 97-91 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats, the New Jersey Nets' long nightmare is over. New Jersey has its first win on the season, improving to 1-18 tonight after setting an NBA record for most losses to start a season, with 18. Brook Lopez--an All-Star in the making--tallied 31 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots in the win.

The Nets have four former Orlando Magic players, which is why I'm mentioning their win on a Magic-centric site. Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, Keyon Dooling, and Courtney Lee played a combined 600 regular-season games for Orlando. Lee played a big role in New Jersey's win tonight, with a career-high 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting, including connecting on 3 of his 4 attempts from three-point range. He added 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 steals for good measure. Battie played his first-ever game as a Net, only recording a missed field goal in 6 minutes. Keyon Dooling also made his season debut, and scored 2 points on 1-of-4 shooting. De to a sore left knee, Alston did not play.

The Magic sent Alston, Battie, and Lee to New Jersey in June in the deal headlined by eight-time Vince Carter coming to Orlando; Ryan Anderson, a 21-year-old power forward, also went to Orlando in that transaction. Dooling arrived in New Jersey as part of a sign-and-trade transaction in 2008, after the Magic were unwilling to go above the luxury-tax threshold in order to meet his salary demands.

Congratulations to Rafer, Tony, Keyon, Courtney, and the rest of the New Jersey Nets.

UPDATE: Here's Chris Sheridan's game story for TrueHoop, which includes this bit about Lee, speaking about the last time he won an NBA game:

For Lee, it had been 156 days since he won a meaningful game. "I remember, I dunked on Derek Fisher and had 13 in that game," Lee said, showing memory skills not quite up to par with his basketball skills (he scored only 4 points in that Game 3 victory over the L.A. Lakers during the finals, which he followed up with a 4-point performance in Game 4 -- part of the reason that he is no longer with the Orlando Magic).

Is Sheridan suggesting the Magic would not have traded Lee had he played better in the Finals?

Orlando Magic News for December 3rd: Magic Have Few Complaints After Winning 9 of Last 10 Games

Ben Q Rock — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:00:19 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

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Create-a-caption: This Magic moment
Orlando Magic guard Anthony Johnson and Vince Carter have a laugh in Ball Don't Lie's latest C-a-C contest. Their mood in the photo is reflective of the team's as a whole, if the subsequent links in this news post are any indication.
I love my team!!!
Magic center Dwight Howard is quite happy with the way his team has played lately, as he writes in today's blog post:

My main job as a captain was to make sure that we get better every day as a team. And I just feel like now that we’re doing that. We just want to make sure we peak at the right time. We’re taking all the right steps in the right direction to become a great team. But like I tell everybody, everything we do starts on the defensive end of the floor. The last eight games have been very good defensively and we’ve done a good job of taking care of every detail.
It’s all coming together for us
Rashard Lewis agrees with Howard about the team beginning to jell. Here, he writes about the shooting groove he got into against the New York Knicks last night, in which he scored 17 points on 5-of-5 shooting, including 4-of-4 on three-pointers:

That was just one of those zones that shooters get in sometimes. I was hoping the ball would come to me every time down the court because my shot was really feeling good. I had a really good rhythm going and it’s almost like guys were looking to me to shoot the ball because they knew I had my stroke going.
NBA's Top 50 Players: All-Star Panel Picks Kobe Bryant No. 1 Over LeBron James
I wonder if Howard and Lewis would be so happy if they knew only 2 Magic players were selected in The Sporting News' list of the NBA's best players. Howard (4th overall) and Vince Carter (30th) are the only ones to appear on the list.
Road trips haven't been a problem for the Magic
Then again, the Magic might appreciate the extra motivation. They relish being disrespected, as Tania Ganguli writes, which might contribute to their success on the road.
Denton: Magic-Knicks Postgame Analysis
John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com draws comparisons between Magic players of different eras in recapping last night's win over New York, in which Orlando wore its black throwback uniforms.

The Magic wore the jerseys modeled after the ones Orlando donned in the late 1980s and early 1990s. And if you squinted just right, Howard looked like Shaquille O’Neal dominating the paint and Lewis and Pietrus resembled Dennis Scott and Nick Anderson raining in 3-pointers.
J.J. Hickson among supporting players to emerge this season
Mark Montieth of Sports Illustrated writes that Ryan Anderson has proven to be a key role-player in the NBA this season.

Ryan Anderson, Orlando. Most people didn't pay much attention when he was tossed into the deal that brought Vince Carter to the Magic from New Jersey. They should have. After a solid rookie season with the Nets, when he averaged 7.4 points, the 6-foot-10 forward is averaging 10.9 points and hitting 38.7 percent of his three-pointers. Carter has provided a major upgrade at shooting guard, and Anderson has helped make the loss of Hedo Turkoglu go virtually unnoticed, putting the Magic in position to reach the Finals again.

To which former Magic player would you compare Anderson? Resist the temptation to respond, "Pat Garrity." Please.

Orlando Magic 118, New York Knicks 104

erivera7 — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:15:23 -0000

More photos » by Phelan M. Ebenhack - AP

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Wearing the classic black pinstriped jerseys in celebration of its past, as part of NBA Hardwood Classics Night at the O-Rena, the Orlando Magic were able to defeat the New York Knicks - a squad playing on a back-to-back - by the score of 118-104 in a game that showcased an elite team's depth more than anything else. Nate Robinson, for whatever reason, was a DNP - Coach's Decision for the Knicks. Six Magic players scored in double-figures, highlighted by efficient performances from Matt Barnes (12 points, 5-8 FG), Brandon Bass (17 points, 7-12 FG), Dwight Howard (19 points, 6-7 FG, 7-10 FT), Rashard Lewis (20 points, 6-8 FG, 5-7 3PT), and Mickael Pietrus (17 points, 6-10 FG, 5-8 3PT). Every Magic player who suited up saw minutes last night and pitched in whenever possible.

A team win, in the truest sense of the term.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Knicks	94	110.3	52.4%	19.0	27.7	19.1
Magic	94	125.2	61.5%	28.2	34.3	20.2
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

In the first quarter, as has been a recurring theme for the Magic lately, Howard touched the basketball early and often in the post on 4-out/1-in offensive sets. Knowing that David Lee couldn't guard him, Dwight got deep positioning against him a couple of instances - drawing a foul and making a layup. The times that Howard wasn't defended by Lee, he was being guarded by Wilson Chandler. Yes, Chandler, a 6'8'' forward. A few times, Wilson was caught guarding Dwight after switching on a pick and roll, for example. Needless to say, it was no contest for Howard (though Chandler did draw an offensive foul on one possession), who ended up seeing double-teams the remainder of the night once Mike D'Antoni saw that his interior D was being shredded.

New York's defense in the period was terrible, at times, to be frank. On one possession, Jason Williams executed a 1/5 pick & roll with Dwight and got a ridiculously easy layup off of it. Instead of switching or trapping or showing/hedging or going under the pick, the defenders for the Knicks did none of the above during the play sequence.

If one remembers a few days ago, I stated that if Stan Van Gundy wishes to explore the possibility, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea for Bass to play at the five when the matchups are favorable.

Last night, the matchups were favorable and it's no coincidence that Stan elected to play Brandon at the center position the majority of the time while he was on the floor (for roughly 18 minutes). In the second quarter, Bass got things going very quickly on the offensive side of the ball once he checked into the game, posting up in 4-out/1-in offensive sets and getting easy layups on back-to-back possessions. When Brandon wasn't posting up, he was hitting his mid-range jumper or getting garbage points off of an offensive rebound. To put it simply, Bass was the playmaker in the second unit and a workhorse on offense.

However, once the third quarter rolled around, it was the Rashard Lewis and Mickael Pietrus show from long distance.

After back-to-back threes from Larry Hughes of Hey Larry Hughes, Please Stop Taking So Many Bad Shots fame - sorry, couldn't resist - and Chris Duhon forced Van Gundy to call a timeout early in the period, something must of happened in the Orlando huddle because Lewis and Pietrus went bonkers following the stoppage of play. Perhaps each channeling their inner-Dennis Scott.

THIRD QUARTER

- [9:31] Lewis, three-point 24' jump shot (Carter assist)

- [8:54] Pietrus, three-point 23' jump shot (Williams assist)

- [8:00] Pietrus, three-point 27' jump shot

- [7:23] Pietrus, three-point 24' jump shot (Lewis assist)

- [6:04] Lewis, three-point 23' fast break jump shot (Carter assist)

- [4:20] Lewis, three-point 27' jump shot (Carter assist)

- [3:28] Lewis, three-point 26' jump shot (Williams assist)

- [2:38] Pietrus, three-point 26' fast break jump shot (Williams assist)

Mickael and Rashard accounted for eight of the 11 field goals in the quarter (they combined to make 10 threes in 15 attempts; the remainder of the team went 0-15 from beyond the arc). The Magic, after scoring 20 points in the second quarter, scored 41 points in the subsequent period. Perhaps Orlando was motivated to put a dent in the scoreboard and prove a point after the Atlanta Hawks (42 points in the second quarter) and the Dallas Mavericks (49 points in the second quarter) went on offensive sprees in their respective games during the evening. I'm being facetious, of course. Nevertheless, the Magic (as has been the case before) showed how explosive its offense can be when the squad is hitting on all cylinders for an extended amount of time.

By the end of the third quarter, Orlando built up a comfortable lead of 22 points. It's no surprise, then, that the Magic coasted the remainder of the contest.

Before I wrap things up, there's a few things that are worth noting from the game.

The pick & roll defense for Orlando was excellent, given that Duhon and Lee didn't do as much damage as they did when these two teams met this past Sunday. The Magic, as Van Gundy alluded to in the presser, did a much better job of being more active and rotating quicker in the pick & roll, denying the pass, and forcing the Knicks to score baskets in other ways. In essence, Orlando did to New York what it's been doing to other squads in the NBA for a while - force the team to shoot contested jumpshots. That, when getting down to the nuts and bolts of it, is how the Magic's defense excels. The team defense for Orlando, however, started out good but slowly waned in the second half.

Vince Carter had a rather pedestrian performance for the Magic but what was most impressive about him, though, was that he didn't make a bad situation worse. As the game progressed and the shots weren't falling for Carter, he scaled back his offense and looked to contribute in other ways for Orlando. Look no further than above in the play-by-play data, where Vince assisted on some threes from Rashard. Carter deserves some credit for cutting his losses, so to speak, and getting his teammates involved offensively.

Lastly, it's one game and it may or may not be a trend but it's becoming increasingly obvious that Bass should see more minutes at center - again - when the matchups are favorable. The issue with Brandon, and this has been brought up before by myself and others, has been his defense and the fact that the offense suffers when he's on the court. But the catch is that this occurs when Bass plays power forward. When Brandon plays center, things are different, especially on the offensive side of the ball. With Bass at the five, the Magic are still able to execute its 4-out/1-in offensive sets, which is important because the roster is built around that philosophy. Although Brandon isn't a better passer than Dwight in the post, his skills on offense are much more diverse (having the mid-range jumper in his arsenal being the main difference). As such, Orlando is still efficient and potent on offense. It's a perfect marriage, of sorts, because it allows Bass to play his game with effectiveness but it still allows the Magic to maintain a stretch four on the court with Anderson or Lewis. Of course, Brandon's defense is still a work in progress, but it's been better. And all of this effects Marcin Gortat, a player that might see his minutes cut a bit thanks to Bass.

Ah, the ebb and flow of NBA rotations.

With the win, the Orlando Magic will now trek to the West Coast for the team's first lengthy road trip of the regular season. For Ryan Anderson, a Cal alum, it'll be a homecoming for him. For Matt Barnes, a UCLA alum, it'll not only be a homecoming for him but also a reunion tour, of sorts, as he'll face off against three former teams - the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Clippers, and the Phoenix Suns.

Fun.

As for the competition, it should be a good test for the team.