by John Raoux - AP

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2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
11-16		18-6
December 16th, 2009
Amway Arena
7:30 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Jarrett Jack	PG	Jason Williams
DeMar DeRozan	SG	Vince Carter
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Mickael Pietrus
Chris Bosh	PF	Rashard Lewis
Andrea Bargnani	C	Dwight Howard
Previous Meetings
November 1st: Magic 125, Raptors 116
November 22nd: Magic 104, Raptors 96
Game Officials
Scott Foster
Kevin Fehr
John Goble

The Orlando Magic will try to ensure a season-series win against the Toronto Raptors tonight at Amway Arena. Toronto, the league's least-efficient defensive teams, suffered a 20-point defeat in Miami last night after allowing 52 points in the paint. And in two prior meetings with Orlando this year, the Raptors yielded an average of 13 three-pointers, so they're vulnerable from the outside as well. The trick with Toronto is, as always, slowing its potent offense. Chris Bosh is a perennial All-Star, and deservedly so, and yet he always manages to look even better against the Magic and his good friend Dwight Howard.

Speaking of good friends, Hedo Turkoglu, who spent the last 5 seasons with the Magic, will return to Orlando for the first time since GM Otis Smith facilitated a sign-and-trade deal to give him the long-term contract he desired. This comment from Smith, which appeared in this morning's Orlando Sentinel, caught my eye:

"I'm a Turk fan, but our mission and goal is to win a championship."

Hm.

Turk's had a decent year in Toronto, averaging 14 points and 4 assists on stellar shooting percentages (51.4 eFG%, 56.5 TS%). Yet the Raptors have not kept him in the playmaking role in which he flourished in Orlando over the last 2 seasons, as his usage rate is at its lowest level since the 2003/04 season. The decreased usage has made him a more efficient player, but it's also made him almost a standstill shooter.

The game tips at 7. Wish I could be there to hear Hedo's ovation and what figures to be an entertaining game.

More photos » by Paul Connors - AP

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• Orlando needs an enforcer

  In the wake of last night's mini skirmish between Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard and Indiana Pacers forward Troy Murphy, Austin Burton of Dime Magazine contends that the Magic need to pair Howard with "an enforcer" to discourage teams from fouling him so hard.

  [Stan] Van Gundy has a choice to make. Giving [Brandon] Bass and [Marcin] Gortat more time alongside Dwight takes a three-point threat off the floor and limits Orlando’s offense somewhat, but leaving Dwight to fend for himself is a recipe for an injury or an incident. Dwight is a lone wolf out there, and I’ve been watching enough nature shows lately to know that when a wolf doesn’t have the protection of a pack, somebody is going to get hurt.

  I'm not sure what taking a shooter off the floor would accomplish apart from making it easier for defenses to collapse onto Howard. But okay.

• Dwight Howard doesn’t think NBA ruling will change how teams foul him

  Tania Ganguli of the Orlando Sentinel talked to Howard about the rough treatment he faces on a nightly basis.

  This is something the Magic have been battling all season. Most recently, before Monday night’s game, they felt the Clippers fouled Howard above the neck, as well. Earlier this season Howard was fined for comments on his blog when he criticized officiating. Howard doesn’t think the NBA’s ruling will mean more flagrant fouls will be called on his opponents. Nor does he think that will change how opponents guard him.

  "It’s not going to happen," Howard said. "Just gotta continue to play. It’s going to happen. They can’t go away from it."

  Because he’s too big and too strong.

• Keeping calm on the court

  On his blog, Howard explains how getting hit makes him feel, and why it's important for him to maintain his composure.

After the jump, news not related to hacking, including an assessment of the Magic's decision to sign Hedo Turkoglu in 2004 and the likelihood that they trade Gortat.

Continue reading this post »

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Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard's frustration about other teams' constantly hammering him under the basket reached a boiling point in last night's win over the Indiana Pacers. Late in the third quarter, Howard got free underneath on the break. Before he could go up for a dunk, Pacers forward Troy Murphy came up from behind Howard and brought both his arms down hard around his neck and shoulders, preventing Howard from getting a shot off. Howard tried to push Murphy in retaliation as he attempted to untangle himself, which earned him a technical foul; Pacers coach Jim O'Brien unsuccessfully argued that Howard threw a punch and should have been ejected. Head official Ken Mauer ensured the Pacers would not get a free throw out of the bargain by escalating the call to a double-technical on both players, rather than just a technical on Howard.

This skirmish has set off a debate about the ethics of hard fouls, about which you can read on OrlandoMagic.com, the Orlando Sentinel, and NBA FanHouse. One side holds that Howard gets hammered far too often, and in unseemly ways; the other believes that Howard does his own fair share of bullying, and that fouling Howard hard is the only way to prevent him from scoring in certain situations. Murphy's hack indeed prevented Howard from getting a shot up, and was far more effective in stopping a score than, say Solomon Jones' weak attempt at the 3:26 mark of the second quarter, when he needlessly slapped Howard on the arm after he had dunked.

Where do you stand on this issue? Is it fair for NBA teams to base an entire strategy on "fouling the hell out of Dwight Howard," as O'Brien described it after the game? At which point does this strategy cross the line? What can the NBA do to address the problem, if anything?

For the record, we'll note that fouling Howard appears to be paying off so far. He's connected on 58.4% of his foul shots this season, the worst mark of his 6-year career. Basketball purists might suggest that Howard improve that figure in order to discourage intentional fouls, rather than complaining about the rough treatment he receives.

UPDATE: Justice appears to have prevailed in this case--depending on your allegiances--as the NBA rescinded Howard's technical foul and upgraded Murphy's technical foul to a flagrant-1.

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The Orlando Magic rode Vince Carter's offense, Dwight Howard's defense, and the superb all-around play of reserve guards Anthony Johnson and J.J. Redick to an impressive, 106-98 win over the Indiana Pacers on Monday night. Indiana raced out to a 30-point first quarter and at one time doubled up the Magic at 34-17, but Johnson and Redick keyed the Magic's 21-6 run to bring them back into the game. The Pacers, without All-Star forward and leading scorer Danny Granger, played a great offensive game for the first 42 minutes, sinking open jumpers with ease against an uncharacteristically soft Magic defense. They closed the game out with 4 points on their final 11 possessions, including 3 turnovers. Jon will have more on the Magic's defense in this game later this week, but suffice it to say that Orlando's effort in the game's waning moments more than made up for the porousness that characterized their early defensive stands.

Orlando came out of the gate looking like it was on the second night of a back-to-back, even though it had 2 days of rest after its 4-game, 8-day road trip. Indeed, Howard and Carter were the only Magic players to score until the 10:20 mark of the second period, when Matt Barnes got into the scoring column with a driving layup. Carter nearly missed the game due to a stomach ailment which kept him out of practice today and yesterday, but you wouldn't know it based on his performance tonight. He looked to get to the rim and create contact, and save for a vintage Carter no-no-no-no-yes! shot--a pull-up three on the fast break, with 5 Pacers defenders back, which he made--he didn't appear to settle too often. No, he forced the issue, to the Magic's benefit. 28 points for Carter on 10-of-21 shooting, to go with an impressive 7 defensive boards and no turnovers in 33 minutes.

Redick's strong play limited Carter's playing time a bit, as coach Stan Van Gundy couldn't afford to take Redick off the floor. Redick made plays and baskets, without making mistakes. 13 points on 7 shots, with 4 assists and no turnovers. Redick's growth into a sound all-around player has been a pleasure to watch, and he's playing his way into a decent portion of the mid-level exception when he becomes a restricted free agent this summer. We'll save the discussion about whether or not the Magic should keep him until much later this year, however.

Overall, the energy Johnson and Redick brought may have proven to be the difference in the game. Johnson has far outplayed starting point guard Jason Williams of late; Williams missed all 4 of his shots tonight and tallied 1 assist, while Johnson scored 13 and added 7 assists. He simply looks fresher than Williams, and the burden of starting 13 consecutive games during Jameer Nelson's absence appears to have taken its toll. Johnson's the sharper, fresher point guard, and while I wouldn't put him in the starting lineup ahead of Williams, I would make sure he's on the floor with victory on the line, as he has been in each of the Magic's last two games. A.J. has never really dazzled me with his passing ability, his on-point crosscourt pass to Rashard Lewis for an open three-pointer with 2:11 to play was impressive. The Pacers overloaded the right side of the floor to account for Johnson's penetration; he read the defense and threw the ball right to Lewis' shooting pocket. The shot had a certain ring of inevitability to it--play-by-play man David Steele said "He's due!" with the shot en route--and when it dropped, it gave Orlando a 5-point lead, not to mention the momentum.

Even with Indiana's strong start and the Magic's poor shooting, I never got the sense that the Pacers were in firm control, mostly because their offense didn't look sustainable. Howard locked down the middle with 4 blocks, and it never ceases to amuse me when an offensive player drives, recognizes Howard's presence, and dribbles back out to re-set, as Tyler Hansbrough did at least once tonight. But the Pacers were effectively counting on T.J. Ford, Earl Watson, Jeff Foster, and Brandon Rush to knock down jumpers if Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy were covered. That well was bound to dry-up eventually. No Pacer seemed eager to drive the ball, even if only to create contact. The result was a meager 10 free-throw attempts 2 of which came quite late with the outcome already decided. Howard shot 22 on his own, while the Carter/Redick shooting guard tandem combined for another 10.

On the one hand, the Magic needed a big rally just to beat a lottery team, on the road, missing its best player, which could be cause for concern; on the other, they looked dominant for almost every minute after the disastrous first quarter, and they won with a team effort rather than a monstrous individual one, which bears noting. Great teams rarely fall into such large holes against lesser ones, but when they do, they (usually) respond. That's what Orlando did tonight.

You know what Howard did tonight? He only rebounded the Pacers' starting frontline of Dunleavy, Murphy, and Roy Hibbert by himself, 23-15. You know, in addition to shooting more than twice as many free throws as the entire Pacers team. Howard needs to deliver more of these dominant performances, especially on nights when the offense needs a kick-start. Orlando exceeded its usual offensive efficiency despite shooting poorly, aided both by Howard's offensive rebounding giving it second-chance points as well as by everyone's taking care of the ball. Of Orlando's 7 turnovers tonight, 2 were obvious offensive fouls, and another was a shot-clock violation with 4 seconds left and nothing at stake except for stats to pad (Johnson missed a layup, Howard gathered the rebound and bungled a tip-in attempt). In other words, only 4 came due to silly passes or ballhandling errors. Sharp decision-making compensates for a lack of sharp shooting.

Overall, Orlando responded fairly well after a lackluster road trip, and can continue looking forward to playing 6 of the final 7 games of the calendar year at Amway Arena. Great to see the second unit deliver when called upon, although it'd be much nicer if Lewis, Williams, and Mickael Pietrus simply played better to begin with.

2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
8-13		17-6
December 14th, 2009
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable Starters
T.J. Ford	PG	Jason Williams
Brandon Rush	SG	J.J. Redick
Mike Dunleavy	SF	Mickael Pietrus
Troy Murphy	PF	Rashard Lewis
Roy Hibbert	C	Dwight Howard
Game Officials
Ken Mauer
Sean Wright
Gary Zielinski

It's a battle of Eastern Conference teams missing their leading scorers tonight at Amway Arena, as the host Orlando Magic have probably lost Vince Carter (stomach ailment) and the visiting Indiana Pacers will be without Danny Granger (torn plantar fascia). Additionally, Indiana will possibly not have the services of second-leading scorer Dahntay Jones (sore hip), while facing minutes limits for key contributors Mike Dunleavy and Tyler Hansbrough, who are coming off injuries of their own. Who's excited to watch this war of attrition?!

In theory, the Magic are better equipped than the Pacers to compensate for injury. J.J. Redick has proven to be a capable stopgap starter, while Mickael Pietrus has never been especially gunshy when called upon. They also have Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis, their healthy All-Stars, to attack the Pacers down low and from the perimeter, respectively. However, Indiana's Troy Murphy, T.J. Ford, and even Roy Hibbert are capable scorers, although we doubt Hibbert will do much against Howard, who's limited opposing centers to 8.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, the best such figures in the NBA.

Indy's on a two-game win streak after a six-game skid, while Orlando's dropped two straight for the first time since the last two games of the NBA Finals. How will the Magic respond in their first home game after an iffy four-game road swing?

Tip's at 7.

by Chris O'Meara - AP

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Third Quarter Collapse is proud to announce that it won the Orbbie for the best sports blog in Orlando. The Orlando Sentinel created the Orbbies, short for "Orlando's Rockin' Blogs;" you can read the complete list of winners in each category by clicking that previous link.

I'm sure I speak for Eddy and Jon when I thank all of you for supporting us. We're happy to add the Orbbie to our virtual mantel, and hope to defend the honor next year.

Again, thank you.

More photos » by Paul Connors - AP

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Trailing the Phoenix Suns by as many as 19 points, the Orlando Magic staged a furious second-half rally and took a 4-point lead midway through the 4th period, but faltered from there and lost, 106-103, giving them their first losing streak of the year. Rashard Lewis (24 points) and Mickael Pietrus (a season-high 23) carried Orlando's offense, while Dwight Howard anchored the defense and the glass. But ultimately, the Suns' efficient offensive attack was too much. Steve Nash matched the entire Magic team with 18 assists, scoring 20 points of his own. Amar'e Stoudemire led all scorers with 28 points, including a dunk with 6.9 seconds to play to preserve Phoenix's win.

Orlando showed its road-weariness early on, and one long dry spell in the first quarter may have proven to be the difference. Howard made the first of two free throws, but missed the second, which Lewis rebounded. Lewis' ensuing 3-pointer rattled out, but Howard corralled it. Stoudemire stole the ball, fueling a layup by Grant Hill in transition. His shot tied the game at 9.

So that's one possession which resulted in one point for Orlando. For the next 6:37, the Magic had 12 possessions, and did not score on any of them. 6 consecutive misses--all jumpers--followed by 6 consecutive turnovers. By the time Pietrus freed himself for an easy dunk underneath to end the drought, Phoenix had taken a 24-11 lead. No team can afford to come up empty against an offense of the Suns' caliber, and especially one that runs the fast break as well as Phoenix does. Discard that awful Magic stretch and you see they scored 103 points on 83 possessions, for an offensive rating of 124.1. Too bad the 12 abominable ones there do, indeed, count in the final score.

Mistakes late doomed the Magic as well; they weren't isolated. They yielded back-to-back, open, corner three-pointers to Jared Dudley and Jason Richardson, which gave the Suns a 101-99 lead. On some level, you're happy they covered Nash and Stoudemire on the pick-and-roll and forced the kickout. But man, those shots are backbreakers. Moments later, trailing by a single point, Nash coughed the ball up into Howard's hands, giving the Magic a transition opportunity. Backup point guard Anthony Johnson, who scored all 11 of his points in the 4th quarter to keep the Magic in the game (!), dribbled the outlet pass off his foot. The ensuing possession set up Stoudemire's offensive rebound and dunk to seal the game. You'll recall that poor box-outs cost the Magic against the Heat three weeks ago, when putbacks by Udonis Haslem and Michael Beasley gave Miami a narrow, one-point victory.

The theme here, I suppose, is that the tired team made mental errors throughout the game to lose when they might have otherwise won.

I'm sure the media will latch onto Howard's only getting one shot attempt--two minutes into the game!--in 41 minutes and make a big deal of it, especially after a game in which he got only 11 shots in 44 minutes. Fact is, Howard got his touches: 5 turnovers, 17 free-throw attempts, 2 assists, and several other wise passes out of double-teams. The Suns forced the Magic to look elsewhere. The absence of go-to-scorer Vince Carter in the second half due to a sore knee made scoring that much more difficult.

A tough loss to take any time. Orlando split its 4-game Western trip, squandering double-digit leads in three games and having to battle back in another. It's clear that the Magic aren't as sharp now as they were weeks ago, when Jason Williams first took over for Jameer Nelson as the starting point guard and could hardly do wrong. 22 assists, 11 turnovers, and 48.3% eFG% on the trip overall, and 11 assists to 7 turnovers in the last 2 games. The bloom is off the rose a bit, yes?

Orlando has plenty of time to regroup, as it doesn't play again until Monday, and will play 7 of its final 8 games of 2009 at home. The Magic are due to bounce back, but the results of this road trip certainly raise troubling questions. At least it's still December.

2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
17-5		15-7
December 11th, 2009
U.S. Airways Center
10:30 PM
ESPN / FSN Florida
Probable Starters
Jason Williams	PG	Steve Nash
Vince Carter	SG	Jason Richardson
Mickael Pietrus	SF	Grant Hill
Rashard Lewis	PF	Amar'e Stoudemire
Dwight Howard	C	Channing Frye
Previous Meetings
November 4th: Magic 122, Suns 100
Game Officials
Joe Crawford
Derrick Collins
Mark Lindsay

The Orlando Magic face a tough task this evening when they visit the fast-paced Phoenix Suns on the second-night of a back-to-back set. It'll be a chance at redemption for Orlando, which imploded after gaining an 18-point lead over the Utah Jazz last night and wound up losing. Now, the Magic head to U.S. Airways Center, where the Suns are 7-0 on the season. This will be tough.

To be fair, Orlando was on the second night of a back-to-back in November when it handed Phoenix a 22-point defeat... but Phoenix, too was also playing two times in as many nights. The Suns have had two days off, in which the most exciting things to happen were Robin Lopez's smashing a glass door after practice and Grant Hill's soliciting his Twitter followers for haircut advice.

The Suns resemble the Magic in that they really, really, really shoot well. First in the league in effective field goal shooting, leading directly to first in offensive efficiency. The curious thing is that shooting is the only offensive four factor in which they excel; they're mediocre in terms of controlling the ball, snatching offensive rebounds, and getting to the foul line.

The media have hammered the "Phoenix Suns Don't Play Defense" line into the ground over the last several seasons, but for good reason. In Mike D'Antoni's last season coaching the Suns, they were 16th in defensive efficiency, which is much better than anyone would have you believe. Last year, under Terry Porter and Alvin Gentry, they dropped to 26th. This year, they're 26th again, chiefly because they don't force many turnovers and because they allow too many offensive rebounds. To their credit, they're the best team in the league at not fouling, which prompts the cynic in me to say, "how can you foul someone if you're not anywhere near him in the first place?"

Kidding.

The bottom line is that Orlando is the more talented, more balanced team. It's shut down Phoenix's offense once before this year, albeit under different circumstances; I have a hard time imagining Hill and Jason Richardson combining to miss each shot they take and go scoreless again. And clown the Suns' D all you want to, but so far, it appears as though Phoenix's offense is good enough to bail it out. And at home? 49.7% on three-pointers. This team is scary good offensively. Orlando allowed the Jazz 128.5 points per 100 possessions last night. Phoenix is an even better offensive team. It could get ugly. Or, the Magic could do one of their signature, bounce-back performances and come home with a 3-1 road trip in hand. Fun times.

See you at 10:30.

More photos » by Steve C Wilson - AP

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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.

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.

2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
17-4		12-9
December 10th, 2009
EnergySolutions Arena
10:30 PM
TNT / FSN Florida
Probable Starters
Jason Williams	PG	Deron Williams
Vince Carter	SG	Ronnie Brewer
Mickael Pietrus	SF	Wesley Matthews
Rashard Lewis	PF	Carlos Boozer
Dwight Howard	C	Mehmet Okur
Game Officials
Bill Spooner
Mark Ayotte
Jason Phillips

The Orlando Magic wind down their road trip with their penultimate game out west, a nationally televised meeting against the Utah Jazz. Injuries to key wing players Andrei Kirilenko, Kyle Korver, as well as backup point guard Ronnie Price, have left the Jazz shorthanded; they're starting undrafted rookie Wesley Matthews at small forward, for instance. Yet they've had a decent season so far, with one of the league's most dynamic offenses. Strangely, the Jazz are effective without using the three-point shot too often; they're 28th in three-pointers attempted per game, and shoot them at a respectable 34.1% clip. They're just much more effective inside, with power forward Carlos Boozer finishing down low and their guards slashing to the rim. Magic center Dwight Howard has to be careful not to foul when his perimeter defenders give up dribble-penetration. I have a sneaking suspicion that if he's not attentive, he'll pick up 2 fouls inside of 3 minutes, in which case the disgruntled backup Marcin Gortat will get a chance to prove he deserves more playing time.

If Howard stays in the game long enough, he could spend much of the night on the offensive end shooting free throws. The Jazz, under coach Jerry Sloan's urging, foul the hell out of people; they rank 25th in the NBA in opponent free throw ratio. If Howard gets inside position on Boozer, you can bet that Mehmet Okur--or the help-side defender--will take the foul rather than let Howard dunk. I'd strongly urge the Magic to go to Howard on every possession, daring the Jazz to foul him. If that strategy works, Orlando will be in the bonus before too long, leading to parade to the foul line for its perimeter players. Utah is, quite simply, an unimpressive defensive team. Its biggest weakness is its tendency to foul; its biggest strength is its rebounding at that end on the floor, grabbing 76.4% of opponent misses, the 6th-best figure in the league. It's unclear if that'll mean anything to the Magic, who rarely crash the offensive boards in order to fortify their transition defense.

The Jazz will play with a large chip on their shoulder. They battled the reigning champion L.A. Lakers to a virtual standstill through three quarters last night before tanking hard in the fourth. As in, they scored 6 points on 24 possessions. They missed 16 of their 18 shots and committed 6 turnovers. Either that embarrassing loss will dishearten them and they'll play flat tonight, or they'll use it as motivation to stick it to another contending team at home.

Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune says Orlando matches up favorably with Utah:

We all know the difficulty the Jazz have against three-point shooting teams that can space the floor [Ed. note: Utah went 9-17 against the top effective field-goal percentage shooting teams last year.]. We also know the difficulty the Jazz have against prolific scorers, which is what the Magic added this summer in Vince Carter, who's averaging 19.3 points.

And we haven't even gotten to Dwight Howard, who's averaging 18.4 points, 12.0 rebounds and 2.05 blocks last season. If I remember last season's game in Orlando correctly, Howard had a double-double before the first quarter even was over. [Ed. note: he's right.]

Siler believes that Okur will get the assignment on Howard, leaving Boozer to chase Rashard Lewis around the perimeter. Lewis should have no trouble blowing by Boozer, and could create even more separation with a head fake to get Boozer off-balance. It's easy to see why Siler pegged the Magic as a tough matchup for the Jazz.

The game tips at 10:30. Kevin Harlan and Doug Collins will have the call for TNT.