Ten Truths About the Orlando Magic
by Steve Weinman on May 17, 2009 8:00 AM EDT
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One of the bonuses of the NBA playoffs for fans is getting to know each playoff opponent more intimately than we did during the regular season. Even for those who monitor the entire league over the breadth of the year, watching one's beloved team spend consecutive weeks focusing on playing and preparing for one squad (and thus reading, watching and perhaps even writing hours worth of speculative analysis) offers a new level of familiarity with the enemy du jour.
Tonight, for the fourth time in six series over the past two postseasons, the Celtics will take that relationship to its maximum length as they enter a decisive seventh game. As we noted in a similar situation 15 days ago with the Chicago Bulls, by the time midnight comes around in the East, emotions, knee-jerkiness and revisionist history are all likely to be running hot no matter the outcome of tonight's contest. So as we did with the Bulls in the first round, we present you today with ten parting thoughts on the team the Celtics will meet for the final time in the 2008-09 campaign tonight, the Orlando Magic:
- Dwight Howard is the best rebounder the Association has to offer. We brought this particular stat up earlier in the week, but it's ridiculous enough to note once more: In addition to leading the NBA in rebounds per game and rebound percentage for the second consecutive season, D12 is pulling down 26.8 percent of available rebounds in this postseason. More than one out of every four caroms ends up in his hands. Mind-boggling.
- Dwight Howard is a very good shot-blocker who will become a great shot-blocker when he realizes that there is more value in trying to keep the ball in play and direct it to a teammate than there is in trying to hit the highlight reel home run into Row Q.
- Rashard Lewis is a terrific athlete with a versatile set of basketball talents, and that makes him the type of guy who is consistently good to very good but would always leave me wanting a bit more if I were a Magic fan.
- Mickael Pietrus doesn't defend as well as James Posey, doesn't have the same knack for the big-moment shot as James Posey (but their career field-goal and three-point percentages are nearly identical), doesn't give bear hugs or pursue loose balls with the "I'll kill you" streak that Posey does and is a flat-out bad foul shooter. But with the exception of the bear hugs, he does a nice job doing a bit of everything off the bench, namely defending multiple positions, shooting the three at a decent clip (his 28.9 percent mark for the playoffs belies a 35.9 percent figure for the season) and attacking the rim a bit. He will be doing those things through this season and the three that follow for a total of $21.2 million.
- Courtney Lee is going to be a thorn in the side of shooting guards in this league for a long time to come.
- Marcin Gortat is headed toward receiving a semi-significant sum of money from someone other than the Magic, and we'll get to find out just how well his high shooting efficacy and per-minute rebounding and block production carry into a bigger role.
- Hedo Turkoglu is a fine offensive player mired in a two-rounds-long shooting slump. He isn't the first to experience that.
- Stan Van Gundy is a successful regular season coach with a few playoff series wins on his resume who provides animated sound bites and does a good job preaching defense but may need to reshape his relationships with several of his players in order to avoid a quicker-than-expected discharge from the home of Disney.
- Rafer Alston is a miserably inefficient shooter and a mediocre point guard.
- Nobody on this Magic team has anything on his face that comes close to posing reasonable competition to John Salmons' killer goatee.
Good (but not too good) luck to the Magic and their fans tonight, especially the fine group over at Third Quarter Collapse. I've chatted plenty with editors Ben Q Rock and Eddy Rivera, and I can't say enough good things about the work they do and the community they have built over at 3QC.
But that won't make me any less thrilled to (hopefully) see their team's season end tonight. Go green!
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out of all the 7 game series we have been in, this has been the most boring, and really theres no way it should be going 7. both teams are missing key ingredients, both teams are incompetent with leads, and both teams have no chance against cleveland
Boring? No way
This isn’t a boring series by any stretch of the imagination. I’d agree with a description of “frustrating”, “infuriating” or “luckiest” (since the Magic have had a shot at closing this out in 5 games if they had made a few more plays)
WRONG
I strongly disagree – Chicago was a ridiculously high standard for any series to live up to, but this has hardly been boring. Good defense, which has appeared on both sides causes the sloppy stuff. Oh well, maybe made shots are prettier, but watching good D can be exciting, and after the last three close games, I’d say this series IS exciting. I agree with the admins over at TQC – excellent work they do over there – Orlando matches up better against the 12 musketeers, but this is the playoffs, where moment to moment heroics overwhelm statistics and single plays win games. I think that if Boston advances, we have a chance against Cleveland, albeit a longshot.
cleveland
it would be fun to see a game 7 where both teams are defending well AND making some more exciting, creative offensive plays …contrary to popular belief, the two are not mutually exclusive. We have seen bits of the former, and VERY little of the latter. And as someone said, you feel a bit for the Magic as they’ve certainly enjoyed athletic/talent upper hand in this series and should have grabbed this thing by now.
prior to game 6 i had two betting options with interesting odds. one was to take Boston in Orlando as i felt Boston could continue to capitalize on a demoralized Orlando team and just put it away even though Vegas had orlando by nearly 5. good bet. the second is to parlay two orlando wins. and their victory in game 6 bodes well for a 7th game in boston as it was their first legit come from behind victory and will help them immensely with their psyches going back to the garden for game 7.
additionally, apart from that no show in game 2 in which orlando was still in awe of stealing game 1, they have easily hung with Boston at the garden, in fact sometimes i would look at these dazed looks on Orlando’s face suggesting “we are playing like shit, can’t shoot the ball and we are still up by 5 at Boston.”
granted, being at home gives Boston a bit of an edge but i think orlando’s new found “we can do this attitude” negate;s that and we have about as even of a game as you can find.
prediction if Howard has another game like 6, orlando wins. simple.
if not, it will be a down to the wire shoot out.
orlando 93- boston 90.
by lakersbluedevil on May 17, 2009 9:21 AM EDT reply actions
CLEVELAND
Spoken well from a LAKERS FAN? How could we ever expect a LAKER fan to pick BOSTON…….Oh well, at least you tried to make a good point for it. What about BOSTON hanging around and playing Orlando pretty darn good in Orlando, especially given the fact that most people (CRITICS) picked Orlando to win this series from the start. If you ask me, Boston has done a pretty damn good job. I believe that Orlando has more talent than Boston, however, you can never under estimate the heart of champion and warrior. JUST LOOK AT THE LAKERS:)
ah if the lakers play D like they did today
they are some tough business.
by lakersbluedevil on May 17, 2009 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions
Faker Fan - uhh, nice post...
I think you’ve got too much faith in Patrick Ewing’s prognosticating abilities… but I know what ya mean about the line… I screwed up and did NOT bet on game 5, then bet on the C’s in game 6. I’m done until we’re in the finals… lol…
Celts have been gallant warriors, and I do hope I`m wrong...
But, I have a real bad feeling the ride will end tonight.
The Celts are running on fumes.
How many more miracle finishes {Games 4 & 5} is a team entitled to?
If you`re honest, it cannot be denied : Other than Game 2, Boston has not looked good.
I love how magic fans think that missing Jameer Nelson, a borderline questionable all-star at best, 4th best player on his team, is equivalent to losing the reigning defensive player of the year, a probable top ten player of all time, shoe-in first-ballot hall of famer and current all-defensive team (despite missing much time) in Garnett.
well, it is.
even this celtics fan can see it.
its very very clear that jameer nelson is their leader both on and off the court, I know it might be hard to believe, but to a man on that magic team, they all have said it, so it must be the truth.
and KG being a hall of famer, former MVP really has nothing to do with it…KG was probably having his worst season of his career, and had taken a tiny step back defensivly from last year…I know it doesnt want to be heard but…the magic missing jameer is just as big for them as no KG for us…but missing leon as well really sucks
Equivalence-schmivalence...
OHC is right on. I don’t think it’s accurate to compare stats as a basis for ‘missing element’ arguments. Systems theory has something to say about this type of factor. When considering whole systems, like teams, each element is assigned a valuable, and then each valuable is assigned as many variables as there are elements, denoting that no value is to be considered without taking into account that elements dependence on the other elements for it’s overall value. Sorta like, you can take the player outta the magic, but you can’t take the magic outta the player…
Some things to consider about Jameer Nelson.
Maybe he was a “questionable all-star” this year, but midway thru the season he was being considered by some experts as a serious candidate for Most Improved Player of the Year. Nelson was the guy putting some order in the court, and had taken over Turkouglu’s position as the “go-to guy” late in close games. For some reason he is the co-captain of the team with Dwight Howard.
I also disagree that he was the 4th best player in the team… before his injury he was 2nd best. Turkoglu has not been the same he was last year, and Rashard, while consistently good, really only started to pick it up in the playoffs.
Magic fans are not comparing Nelson to Garnett’s history (and his future as a Hall of Famer) but what both players meant for their respective teams this year.
Rafer Alston certainly was the best replacement the Magic could find/afford, and he helped save the regular season, but has been somewhat of a disappointment in the playoffs.
Magic Fan since the 1992-1993 Season.
by North of the South on May 17, 2009 7:41 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree with most of what you said
But Garnett is not Boston’s 2nd best player. He’s their best player, easily their biggest winning factor because of how much better the defense is when he’s on the court. I mean, this team was forced to change their entire philosophy – from the best defensive team in the league to a team which is more focused on outscoring their opponents.
Anyway, I don’t think it’s important, injuries are part of the game.
actually
a better comparison would be losing garnett for the celtics being equal to losing dwight for the magic.
both dominate the post, both are great defensive players, and both anchor the defense for their respective teams. now how far would the magic go without dwight?
Best player
In KG….Boston lost their very best & most important player.
KG was the one player they could not have afforded to lose, yet they did.
They went way further than Cleveland w/o LeBron…Magic w/o Howard….or LA w/o Kobe ever could have imagined going!
PP too
I think you could put PP in that same discussion with KG in terms of importance to the team. Losing PP for the series would put the C’s in a major disadvantage
Confucius on Truth and the Chan Family
Honorable self: “I want an explanation and I want the truth”.
Number one son: “Make up your mind, Father, you can’t have both”.
by charlie chan on May 17, 2009 1:15 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Thanks for the kind words, Steve.
The feeling is reciprocated on our end. Keep up the great work at CB. It’s been fun chatting it up with you, Jeff, and countless other members of the community. Good luck to everyone tonight, and may the best team win.
I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.
"Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgement." - Michael Corleone
Now, Steve. You know how much it upsets the rank and file to read the name of the evil James Posey.
And you know that a backup at the 3 cannot, under any circumstances, be worth 21 large.
:-)
Excellent points about Pietrus. I’ve thought at times how nice it would have been to have him coming off our bench.
The only reason I want the Celtics to win tonight is so the Cavs can sweep them like they did Atlanta and Detroit.
by NBA FAN on May 17, 2009 6:59 PM EDT reply actions
Fine points
TQC is a quality blog, I absolutely agree – plenty of posters and commentators that know the game and a respectful environment.
Just to add my perspective on 2 points (all the others are on spot, IMO):
4 – Pietrus will probably miss half of the games in those remaining 3 years (he already missed a decent part of this season) and is playing way above his head this series. Props to him for stepping up when needed, but I’m still expecting him to make a string of stupid, suicidal mistakes tonight. It’s due.
6 – I’m fairly confident that Gortat will be able to handle those additional minutes and responsibilities successfully.
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