SB Nation User Blog: Ben Q Rock

Tonight's Game: Cleveland Cavaliers at Orlando Magic

Ben Q Rock — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:56:22 -0000

2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
4-3		6-2
November 11th, 2009
Amway Arena
8:00 PM
Sun Sports / ESPN
Probable starters:
Mo Williams	PG	Jameer Nelson
Anthony Parker	SG	Vince Carter
LeBron James	SF	Matt Barnes
J.J. Hickson	PF	Brandon Bass
Shaquille O'Neal	C	Dwight Howard
Game Officials
Dan Crawford
Courtney Kirkland
Gary Zielinski

The Orlando Magic face their biggest challenge of the young season when they, on the second night of a back-to-back set, host the star-laden Cleveland Cavaliers, who've had a four-day break heading into tonight. There are a lot of stoylines to attend to this evening, including:

the teams' first meeting since the Magic knocked the Cavs out of last year's Eastern Conference Finals in 6 games;
the Magic's first game of the season against an elite team;
and Shaquille O'Neal tangling once more with Dwight Howard and coach Stan Van Gundy.

Did I miss any?

Like the Magic, the Cavs overhauled their roster this offseason, starting with acquiring Shaq for pennies on the dollar. They also signed Anthony Parker for three-point shooting and Jamario Moon for athleticism and defense. These are good moves in theory, but the Cavs haven't quite put it together yet: they're 4-3, with their wins coming over Minnesota, Charlotte, Washington, and New York. They also lost to Toronto. Incorporating Shaq on offense appears to be the biggest issue for them, and coach Mike Brown has never been known as an offensive wizard.

More frustrating is that Brown has access to the starting lineup of a team that won 66 games last season--the most in the league--yet rarely uses it. It's a +18 in 19 minutes of use, whereas the new starting lineup with Shaq and Parker in it is at an even 0 in 88 minutes. Wow.

Brown made a change in the starting lineup for the Cavs' last game, moving second-year ~~gazelle~~ power forward J.J. Hickson in and putting Anderson Varejao on the bench. That tactic paid off. Then again, they were playing the Knicks, so it's tough to evaluate that lineup with any degree of certainty.

A word on Shaq before I conclude this preview: let's not forget that he's actually still damn good. He earned--and I do mean "earned"--a spot on the All-NBA Third Team last year, as well as an All-Star bid. And for all the flack he caught for flopping against Howard last March, which started his ugly war of words with Van Gundy, he otherwise handled Dwight fairly well. Nonetheless, if you'd like to continue hating on him, here's an Orlando Sentinel poll asking if he should still be feared, and here's a "Whack-a-Shaq" game that Matt Humphrey of the Sentinel put together.

Don't miss Brian Windhorst's preview of tonight's game for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Brian's arguably the best beat writer in the entire league, and I strongly suggest making his blog a daily read.

Orlando Magic 93, Charlotte Bobcats 81

Ben Q Rock — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:18:17 -0000

More photos » by Chuck Burton - AP

Browse more photos »

Thanks to balanced scoring and mostly good defense, the Orlando Magic defeated the Charlotte Bobcats, 93-81, to bump their record to a respectable 6-2 even with early season injury woes. Dwight Howard and Vince Carter, making his return from a sprained ankle, led the Magic with 15 points apiece; Howard also contributed team-highs with 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 turnovers. Brandon Bass and Mickael Pietrus rounded out the Magic's double-figure-scoring, with 14 and 12, respectively. Charlotte's Raymond Felton led all scorers with 18 points.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Magic	88	105.1	52.5%	9.9	23.1	15.8
Bobcats	88	92.0	45.5%	14.3	24.3	19.3

The story out of this game on most Magic fans' minds is Carter's performance after a long layoff. He hadn't played a full game since opening night, and hadn't appeared at all in exactly a week, when he tried to play through the pain in a loss at Detroit, which didn't work out for him. In any case, Carter came off the bench and looked great early, but his rust showed as the game wore on. He missed 11 of his 16 shots, and rarely looked to drive the ball to the basket. However, when he did charge to the rim, he did so assertively. The only time his soreness became apparent came midway through the fourth quarter, when he tried to throw a jump-pass to Matt Barnes off his left foot and grimaced afterward. But if you had simply shown me the game film, I would have just said Vince had an off-night, and would not have been able to discern with any degree of certainty that he had missed any time. Which bodes well for Orlando going forward.

Taking a step back, it's hard to know what to make of this game, since Charlotte's skill heavily tilts toward the defensive end; as I mentioned in the game preview, Charlotte's D ranks 3rd in the league, but its offense is dead last. If you choose to look at the game from a positive standpoint, you'll acknowledge that the Magic bested the Bobcats' usual defensive efficiency, while holding its putrid offense to just below its league-worst average, and did so without two rotation-caliber players.

If you take a more pessimistic view, you'll look at the third quarter, in which the Bobcats erupted for 30 points en route to slicing what had been a 20-point Magic lead to 6 entering the fourth quarter. And in that quarter, the Magic seemed a step slower to reach each loose ball, and to close out on the Bobcats' shooters. The rebounding differential, which was fairly comfortably in Orlando's favor during the first half, swung back to Charlotte. Just an ugly quarter for Orlando, which looked every bit like a mid-tier team that'd have to scrap and claw just to reach the playoffs.

But then, switching back to the good news, Orlando buckled down in the fourth quarter. The offense continued to wane--the Magic's scoring decreased in each quarter--but the defense was much more active and intelligent, and yielded only 10 points to the Bobcats, or one-third their output from the previous quarter. That's an impressive swing for a defense that's struggled for most of the season, and something on which to build.

We should acknowledge the strong play of some of the Magic's less-heralded players. Bass scored 12 of his season-high 14 points in the first quarter, missing none of his 6 attempts. Perhaps owing to his less-than-stellar individual defense--although he did record one blocked shot tonight--he only played 9:45 after the first period, but his ability to drain mid-range jumpers keyed the Magic's hot first quarter. Marcin Gortat, who's had a spotty season so far, chipped in with 6 points, 5 boards, and 4 blocks in only 17 minutes.

A note on Dwight Howard's passing: it looks much better this season, and his 6 assists tonight attest to that refinement in his game. Having Matt Barnes on the team has helped him immensely, as he's always been at his best hitting cutters to the hoop, most notably Maurice Evans two seasons ago. Barnes cuts even better than Evans did, and Dwight's very quick to pick up on Barnes' movement when his defender leaves him to double Howard. And although he finished with 5 turnovers tonight, only 2 of them were off bad passes. The Magic will take a 3:1 assist:bad pass ratio from their franchise center any night, and especially against the league's fifth-best turnover-forcing team.

As a final note, how bad must Gerald Wallace feel right now? He played a decent enough game, with 13 points, 9 boards, and 3 steals, but he also blew three dunks in this game. Add those 6 points to the Bobcats' total, and they would have been in much better shape. They lucked out, though, since the Magic got 0 points on possessions ensuing after Wallace's missed dunks: a missed jumper by Jameer Nelson, an offensive foul by Dwight Howard, and a missed jumper by Bass.

Overall, the Magic are nowhere near where they need to be. What we saw on the floor tonight was not championship-caliber basketball, but it was still good basketball, and it showed promise. If the defense continues to improve--and it showed flashes tonight--the Magic should return to form as an elite team, as I have no doubt that the offense will maintain its high level of play, and maybe improve, once Rashard Lewis and Ryan Anderson return to the floor.

Tonight's Game: Orlando Magic at Charlotte Bobcats

Ben Q Rock — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:29:46 -0000

2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
5-2		3-3
November 10th, 2009
Time Warner Cable Arena
7:00 PM
FSN Florida
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Raymond Felton
J.J. Redick	SG	Raja Bell
Mickael Pietrus	SF	Gerald Wallace
Brandon Bass	PF	Boris Diaw
Dwight Howard	C	Tyson Chandler
Game Officials
Ken Mauer
Brian Forte
John Goble

UPDATE: According to Matt Humphrey of the Orlando Sentinel, Vince Carter will play tonight despite not having participated in today's shootaround. The complete story is here.

Another day, another game without key players for the Orlando Magic, who'll visit the Charlotte Bobcats tonight without the services of Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson, who are nursing sprained ankles.

As one might expect from the Larry Brown-coached Bobcats, they're low on offense (scoring an incomprehensibly low 93.2 points per 100 possessions, last in the league) and high on defense (allowing 95.7 points per 100 possessions, for 3rd). But given that all three of their losses have come on the road to good-to-great teams (Boston, Cleveland, and Chicago), I'm sure they're just find with where they stand after 6 games.

I'm worried that the Magic will look at the Bobcats' anemic offense and decide to take yet another night off defensively; Gerald Wallace leads the team in scoring with 14.3 points per game on 32.1% shooting, and the team shoots a mre 32% from three-point range. But as the Magic learned Sunday night in Oklahoma City, poor offensive teams can light it up from anywhere when not defended. If the Magic come out and play with the same defensive intensity and focus they did last season, the Bobcats might have trouble topping 80 points. This outcome is what exasperated Magic coach Stan Van Gundy would prefer.

The game tips at 7. With any luck, the Magic will close this one out early, as they have an important Eastern Conference Finals rematch with the well-rested Cleveland Cavaliers tomorrow night.

Poll: Who Should Be the Orlando Magic's Fifth Starter?

Ben Q Rock — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:52:02 -0000

Imagine for a second that every Orlando Magic player is healthy and eligible to play. It's hard to imagine, given how the season has gone so far, but just bear with me. The ankles of Ryan Anderson and Vince Carter have healed, Rashard Lewis' suspension has run out, Adonal Foyle's knee has recovered, and nobody has the flu.

Now that you've entered this wonderful fantasy land, ask yourself this question:

Who starts?

You have four givens: ~~Anderson,~~ Carter, Lewis, Jameer Nelson, and Dwight Howard, the team's recent All-Stars. The fifth spot, however, is up for grabs. The contenders are either Matt Barnes or Mickael Pietrus at small forward, J.J. Redick at shooting guard, and either Anderson or Brandon Bass at power forward. Here's how these lineups would look, respectively:

Nelson / Carter / Barnes / Lewis / Howard
Nelson / Carter / Pietrus / Lewis / Howard
Nelson / Redick / Carter / Lewis / Howard
Nelson / Carter / Lewis / Anderson / Howard
Nelson / Carter / Lewis / Bass / Howard

Again, given the choice of starting any of these five lineups, which would you pick? The first two appeared to be the most likely ones when the season started, but Redick (13.3 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists per game) and Anderson (15 points and 5 rebounds per game) have played their way into the conversation so far this year. And although Bass (9.4 points, 3.1 rebounds per game) has yet to dazzle in a Magic uniform, many mainstream media figures pencilled him in as the starting power forward once the Magic made him their highest-paid free-agent acquisition this summer.

Poll

Assuming every player is healthy, who should join point guard Jameer Nelson, swingman Vince Carter, combo forward Rashard Lewis, and center Dwight Howard in the Orlando Magic's starting lineup?

Oklahoma City Thunder 102, Orlando Magic 74

Ben Q Rock — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:27:28 -0000

by Sue Ogrocki - AP

View full size photo »

In one of their ugliest performances in recent memory, the Orlando Magic fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 102-74, to drop to 5-2 on the season. Poor shooting, lazy defense, an utter lack of effort... this game is one the Magic would like to forget. Dwight Howard led the Magic with 20 points and 7 boards, while Mickael Pietrus added 15 points off the bench. Kevin Durant scored 28 points for the Thunder, who placed three other players in double-figures. Orlando allowed Oklahoma City to shoot 57.1% from the field and 56.2% from three-point range. In joking that the Magic resembled the 2003/04 squad that lost 61 games, Twitter user whatthenoelle had the best line of the season so far, writing, "The Magic apparently traveled to Oklahoma in a Delorean."

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Magic	85	86.6	39.0%	30.9	18.0	17.6
Thunder	85	120.0	63.6%	18.6	16.0	20.0

Indeed, shooting was the story. The Thunder got open look after open look against the Magic's defense, while not giving the Magic many similar opportunities at the other end. Sure, maybe J.J. Redick (2-of-11 overall, 0-of-6 on three-pointers) had some bad bounces on open shots, but otherwise, the Thunder's active defense prevented the Magic from getting anything going offensively. No rhythm whatsoever. And as Magic color man Matt Guokas pointed out, Redick's tendency to fade away on his shots didn't help his cause.

One sequence midway through the second quarter effectively turned the tide in Oklahoma City's favor, and may have prompted the Magic to pack it in. After a tremendous alley-oop connection between Jameer Nelson and Pietrus bumped the score to 35-31 in Orlando's favor, Russell Westbrook took a feed from Kevin Durant on the left wing and drilled a three-pointer. Marcin Gortat airballed a baby hook on the Magic's ensuing possession, leading to an off-balance transition three by Durant with Westbrook assisting. A Nelson dish led Gortat into the lane for a dunk to knot the game at 37, but Thabo Sefolosha--who's quicking becoming one of the league's best three-and-D specialists--swished a wide-open trey from the right wing to give Oklahoma City a three-point edge. The Thunder sank as many three-pointers in that 88-second stretch as the Magic did the whole night.

But this is a game the Magic could have won, had they matched the Thunder's defensive effort. Coach Stan Van Gundy harped on this point in his post-game comments, bemoaning his team's lack of toughness and engagement on defense. He said the Thunder would have won this game even if the Magic's missing players (Ryan Anderson, Vince Carter, and Rashard Lewis) been available. Frankly, it's hard to disagree. Even before Anderson left last Friday's game against Detroit with a sprained ankle, the Magic had played below-average defense for most of the season. Orlando won plenty of games last year with its defense, the league's most efficient. The same trend hasn't held up, and I'm in firm agreement with Van Gundy when he says his team will continue to lose games like this one until the players step up their effort.

Is it gloom-and-doom time in Orlando? Almost. There's no shame in losing to a better team--and the Thunder are the better team, when accounting for the Magic's missing players--but there is shame in mailing in a game like this one.

Tonight's Game: Orlando Magic at Oklahoma City Thunder

Ben Q Rock — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:13:51 -0000

2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
5-1		2-3
November 8th, 2009
Ford Center
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Russell Westbrook
J.J. Redick	SG	Thabo Sefolosha
Matt Barnes	SF	Kevin Durant
Brandon Bass	PF	Jeff Green
Dwight Howard	C	Nenad Krstic
Game Officials
Dick Bavetta
Matt Boland
Violet Palmer

The Orlando Magic aim to stay among the league's five one-loss teams today when they visit the Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite its sub-par record of 2-3, Oklahoma City should present the Magic with a bit of a challenge. The Thunder took the defending champion L.A. Lakers to overtime just last Tuesday, losing by 3 points when Kevin Durant's trey to send the game to a second overtime period airballed. They're also surprisingly effective defensively, ranking 7th in defensive efficiency, 2nd in turnover rate, and 7th in defensive rebound percentage. No, the Thunder aren't an opponent for the Magic to take lightly.

It doesn't help the Magic that they'll still be without several regular, as has been the case for most of the season. Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson--two opening-night starters and the team's second- and third-leading scorers are out with sprained ankles, while Rashard Lewis is still serving a 10-game steroid suspension. Matt Barnes is sick but will play, and Anthony Johnson will be available after missing Friday's win over Detroit due to personal reasons. All told, 9 Magic players will dress tonight, just one more than the league minimum. Expect to see more unconventional lineups, perhaps featuring Barnes at power forward, J.J. Redick at small forward, and Jameer Nelson at shooting guard.

The game tips at 7. Let's see if the shorthanded Magic can pull out another win against a worthy foe.

Tonight's Game: Detroit Pistons at Orlando Magic

Ben Q Rock — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:31:00 -0000

2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
2-3		4-1
November 6th, 2009
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Rodney Stuckey	PG	Jameer Nelson
Ben Gordon	SG	J.J. Redick
Jonas Jerebko	SF	Matt Barnes
Charlie Villanueva	PF	Ryan Anderson
Ben Wallace	C	Dwight Howard
Game Officials
Bob Delaney
Eric Lewis
Leroy Richardson

It's a rematch of shorthanded Eastern Conference rivals tonight when the Orlando Magic look to avenge an earlier defeat this week at the hands of the Detroit Pistons. Orlando's Vince Carter (ankle) isn't expected to play; ditto for Detroit's Tayshaun Prince (back) and Richard Hamilton (ankle). The Pistons handed the Magic their first--and, so far, only--defeat of the season on Tuesday, when their undersized, shoot-first guards attacked the lane and fouled out Dwight Howard and Marcin Gortat, the Magic's only centers, in fairly short order. The Magic, meanwhile, rarely drove the ball, and instead hoisted three-pointer after three-pointer, with poor results.

But since then, the teams have gone in opposite directions. The Magic bounced back with an impressive blowout of the Phoenix Suns in which they mixed outside shooting with aggressive takes to the basket; they also shut down the Suns' high-powered offense. The Pistons allowed 110 points to the Raptors, including 44 in the second period, to take their third overall loss on the year. They gifted the Raptors 47 free throw attempts, and 20 for Chris Bosh alone.

But throw all that out the window, right? Because when the Pistons play the Magic, nothing goes as it should, it seems. Orlando is 5-20 in its last 25 regular-season games against Detroit, dating back to 2003. The Magic are bound to break the cycle of futility against the Pistons eventually, right? Tune in at 7 to see if tonight's that night.

UPDATE: Brian Schmitz reveals this quote from Vince Carter about his injury.

"I can honestly say that throughout my career I've had little injuries and come back not quite 100 percent and just tried to fight through it," Carter said. "They don't really believe in that. I know it's just about the big picture and the long haul. They're playing for a lot here. I've sat and talked with the staff, and I agree with them. So, I'm just doing the proper things to get back and get better."

And shares some unfortunate news.

Van Gundy also said reserve point guard Anthony Johnson is out for tonight's game. Johnson's father in law died so he will be away from the team today and tomorrow and return Sunday.

Our condolences to Anthony Johnson and his family.

3QC Nominated for an Orbbie, Needs Your Support

Ben Q Rock — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:18:02 -0000

Yesterday, you may have noticed a new widget in the left sidebar (on the main page) and in the right sidebar (on interior pages). It's a badge to vote for The Orbbies, or "Orlando's Rockin' Blogs," as hosted by the Orlando Sentinel, and it looks like this:

Third Quarter Collapse is proud to announce that the Sentinel has nominated it in the Sports category. As anyone who knows me in real life can attest, I'm very uncomfortable discussing the site, and I'm always uneasy asking anyone to do favors for me. It stinks. And you guys, just by reading the site, are doing enough as it is. Nonetheless, I would really appreciate if you'd consider voting 3QC for best sports blog each day, from now until November 20th, at 5 PM. I'm sure Eddy and Jon feel the same way.

Click here for the ballot page. Thanks for your support.

UPDATE: If you can also vote us as the best overall blog, we'd appreciate it.

Tonight's Game: Phoenix Suns at Orlando Magic

Ben Q Rock — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:31:46 -0000

2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
4-0		3-1
November 4th, 2009
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Steve Nash	PG	Jameer Nelson
Jason Richardson	SG	J.J. Redick
Grant Hill	SF	Matt Barnes
Amar'e Stoudemire	PF	Ryan Anderson
Channing Frye	C	Dwight Howard
Game Officials
Tom Washington
Derrick Collins
Olandis Poole

The Orlando Magic will look to rebound tonight after their first loss of the season with a contest against the streaking Phoenix Suns, who are on an impressive 4-0 start to the season. After a disappointing 2008/09 campaign, the Suns are back to their running-and-gunning ways, and enjoying it: they're second in pace, third in offensive efficiency, and second in effective field-goal percentage on the young season. They've also posted a not-terrible defensive rating (104.5) that rates 12th in the league, perhaps due to coach Alvin Gentry's emphasis on forcing the opposing team to take jumpers. In other words, this opponent is not one the Magic should take lightly.

With Steve Nash, Amar'e Stoudemire, Jason Richardson, and Grant Hill, Phoenix has proven offensive commodities. The one starter of whom the Magic can't afford to lose track, though, is unheralded fifth-year center Channing Frye. A jump-shooting big man, Frye's extended his range beyond the three-point line, which has earned him the nickname "Deep Frye." Another such big man, Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors, gave the Magic fits on Sunday, hitting 4-of-5 three-pointers in a 26-point effort. Whoever's guarding him, be it Dwight Howard or Ryan Anderson, must not lose track of him on the pick-and-roll with Nash. All told, Frye's averaging 17 points per game, which is a mere 5th on the high-powered Suns, while connecting on 56% of his three-pointers.

As we've recounted, the Magic stunk it up last night in Detroit. No inside game, thanks to Howard's foul trouble, and no outside game, thanks to everyone else's foul touch from three-point range. An overall lazy performance. And while the Pistons outworked the Magic in Detroit, the Suns bested the Heat in Miami, with Nash scoring 30 points in 35 minutes. Maybe his custom vitaminwater flavor gave him a boost?

(Sorry. Any excuse to post that video. His delivery of "Step 2!" kills me every time.)

In case you're curious about the historical effects of playing in Miami the night before playing in Orlando, here are the facts: 6 NBA teams last season had a back-to-back set in which they played Miami on the first night and Orlando on the second. Those teams went 2-4 in Miami and 2-4 in Orlando. Oddly, the two teams to win in Miami (that'd be Boston and Denver) also won in Orlando, which means the four other teams (the L.A. Lakers, Philadelphia, Sacramento, and Utah) lost both games. In other words, it was feast or famine for teams double-dipping in the Sunshine State last year. If the Suns win tonight, that trend will have continued.

In any event, this game should be another high-scoring one, as I don't anticipate the Magic's offense taking the night off again. 250 points combined between the two teams? Certainly possible. Tune in at 7 to watch the... onslaught? Carnage? No one really knows. Which is, I suspect, why you're watching in the first place.

UPDATE: Vince Carter is out for the game (ankle). Mickael Pietrus will suit up.

Detroit Pistons 85, Orlando Magic 80

Ben Q Rock — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:03:14 -0000

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

Browse more photos »

The Orlando Magic had yet another night to forget against the Detroit Pistons, as they suffered their first loss since Game 5 of last season's NBA Finals, 85-80, thanks to sloppy and uninspired play. The Pistons' combination of 3 diminuitive scoring guards--Ben Gordon, Rodney Stuckey, and reserve Will Bynum--combined for 65 of Detroit's 85 points on 20-of-45 shooting. More importantly for Detroit, they nullified Dwight Howard and Marcin Gortat, the Magic's only centers, by driving aggressively at them and drawing fouls. The Magic's offense was out-of-sync all night, looking as bad as it ever has under Stan Van Gundy. Vince Carter returned after a 1.5-game absence due to a sprained ankle and led the Magic with 15 points, but shot just 6-of-16 from the field and, worse yet, was unable to get on the floor in crunch time as his ankle acted up on him. With no go-to scorer available, the Magic withered with the game in the balance, and Detroit escaped with a well-deserved win.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Magic	87	91.5	39.9%	15.2	22.2	17.2
Pistons	87	97.7	37.5%	43.1	22.0	11.5

Allow me to paraphrase one of my earlier Magic/Pistons recaps--I'm not sure which one it was, since all the Magic's losses to Detroit blend together in my mind--but if they aren't going to defeat Detroit when it's missing its two best players in Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, when are they going to defeat them? What's it going to take for the Magic to get over the hump against the Pistons, in general? This futility against Detroit, over the course of several seasons, has moved past the "comic" stage and into the "tragic" one.

In any case, the Magic were a disjointed, out-of-sync lot this evening. Despite their tip-to-horn poor play, they led by 3 at the half and looked to be a few made baskets away from permanently wresting control of the game from the Pistons. But "flat" doesn't adequately describe the Magic's second-half offense, which scored 39 points on 11-of-36 shooting, with 10 turnovers.

The biggest issue for Orlando, at least offensively, was its utter refusal to drive the ball to the basket. The Magic's reputation as a one-dimensional, three-point-shooting gimmick team is a bit exaggerated, thanks to the media, but tonight they played right into that stereotype. 35 of their 79 shots came from beyond the arc, while they only converted 10. Ryan Anderson was the most egregious offender, taking 11 of his 14 shots from long-range... and making just 1. Meanwhile, the Magic managed a mere 16 free-throw attempts (to the Pistons' 38). Carter and Jameer Nelson, the Magic's best perimeter scorers, took 13 threes and 0 foul shots. Just a lazy, complacent showing from the Magic, two days after they blitzed the Toronto Raptors for 17 makes in 29 attempts from downtown.

I really can't say enough about how Detroit earned this win. I've received several complaints about the officiating on Twitter, and maybe it looks bad in the box score, as the Magic committed 30 fouls to the Pistons' 17. However, none of the calls that went against the Magic were particularly puzzling, and I don't believe a few more whistles going Orlando's way would have swung the game in its favor. Tonight, the Pistons outclassed the Magic. There's not much more to it than that. And if coach John Kuester's game plan was to use his small lineup to attack the Magic's defense, get their bigs in foul trouble, and subsequently earn foul shots, bravo to him and to his team. Detroit doesn't have a credible offensive presence inside--this is a team that starts Ben Wallace at center, with noted garbageman Chris Wilcox off the bench--but counters that with aggressive guard play. It worked tonight, against the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and one of the best defensive backups in the league. Saddled with foul trouble, Howard and Gortat combined for 12 points, 12 boards, and 12 fouls this evening. The Magic might as well have just cloned Roy Hibbert twice and played those versions at center, given those stats.

As for the Magic's game plan? Didn't see much of one. Howard's foul trouble prevented them from establishing him inside, which led to an offense that stood around and looked to create one-on-one. I understand Carter's ankle isn't at full strength, but he should have at least entertained the idea of taking the ball to the cup a few times. Instead, pull-up J after pull-up J, which elicited no shortage of pithy comments from Raptors and Nets fans, who long criticized him for settling for jumpers too often.

He's hardly the only player guilty of that crime tonight, though. Stuckey and Bynum soundly outplayed Nelson, at both ends, which is worrisome. As the only star on the floor in crunch time--Rashard Lewis is suspended, Howard's disqualified, and Carter's nursing a nagging injury--and as a team co-captain, he needed to demonstrate more poise down the stretch. Poor shot selection and consecutive turnovers effectively ended the Magic's comeback bid. The loss isn't squarely on his shoulders, as nobody really played well for the Magic. But he did not acquit himself with his 7-point, 6-assist, 5-turnover outing.

I know it's only one game, out of many, so I don't want to go into "the sky is falling!" mode. But the Magic should beat any team that's missing its top 2 players, especially when it holds a 30-0 advantage on points scored from three-point range. If the Magic don't shape up offensively in a hurry, they could find themselves in a bit of a rut. Unfortunately, they don't have much time to regroup after tonight's poor performance; they return to Orlando tonight for a game against the high-octane Phoenix Suns tomorrow.