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So much for my perfect month of March. The Magic lost seven straight, Jose Canseco stole Spring Training from us, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has put me in 120th place in my pool and as it turns out Jennifer Aniston has a crush on Vince Vaughn, and not me, SO CLOSE! Oh well, better luck next year, which is something we were about to say to the Magic on April 20th if they didn't do something to shake up this team.

I'm not gonna lie to ya, when I heard Chris Jent would be taking over for Johnny Davis as Head Coach of the Orlando Magic, my initial reaction was...."Who?" I knew I had seen him during practice and even heard him on the radio, but it took me a minute to come up with a face.

Let's face it, the team should have been further along than they were when Johnny was fired, whether all the blame rests on JD's shoulders or not, I don't know, but ultimately it's the Head Coach that takes the fall every time in this league. The Magic were 31-33, losers of six straight and there were no signs of that changing anytime soon. However, if you remember back to the beginning of March the Magic beat Sacramento, New York and New Jersey and seemed to be ready to bust out a nice winning streak. Then Grant Hill is lost for three games, all Magic losses and they never recovered after that.

Is that Johnny's fault? Did he all of a sudden forget how to coach? No, absolutely not, but his team did seem to lose motivation and focus and that can't happen going into a playoff run. We heard all year from JD AND from his players that they need to play better defense. Well, that's a problem. You shouldn't be hearing the same thing all year, you have to get your players to carry it out. I don't think there's anyone in the game that knows more about the X's and O's of basketball than Johnny Davis, however, it was just too much of a struggle at times for him to get his players to actually execute those plays and ultimately that's what led to his firing. Now as is the case in any firing, the players have to also take some of the blame. How can they have no problem getting motivated and fired up to play Sacramento, Dallas, San Antonio and the Lakers, but come out and lay a dud against the Hawks, Warriors and Raptors? There needs to be a little accountability both ways, but in this business, you win or you're out and in the days leading up to Johnny's firing, his team wasn't winning.

Now the business of Hedo Turkoglu. I'm afraid to ask but what ELSE can happen to this team this season? Hedo is going up for a layup and he gets knocked on his back by a Charlotte Bobcat that averages two points a game, Bernard Robinson. The city of Charlotte shouldn't even have a team after what happened to the Hornets, so the Magic shouldn't even have been in Charlotte at all this year, therefore Bernard Robinson doesn't knock Hedo on his back and Orlando has Turkoglu for the stretch run. I'm not bitter am I? Well, this unfortunate incident hurts even more now that Doug Christie is out for the season, doing God knows what. So the slack has to be picked up by DeShawn Stevenson and Stacey Augmon at the two guard, and if the Magic have ever needed Pat Garrity to come up big, it's now. My money is on PG as the guy that elevates his game, now that he'll finally get significant minutes and the Magic WILL make the playoffs.

Before we move away from the Magic, I have to address the play of Kelvin Cato. In my mind he has been the X-factor all season long. The three games the beginning of March against Sacramento, New York and New Jersey, Cato had games of 13 points and 12 boards, 14 points and 9 boards, and 16 points, five rebounds, respectively. All three games were Magic wins. Then the seven game losing streak and I honestly don't remember if Kelvin even played. Some of it is his fault as he needs to get considerably more aggressive at times and some of it is the fault of the guards who need to get him AND Dwight Howard, for that matter, more involved. What's done is done! There are 15 games left and EVERYONE has to step up if the Magic are to make the playoffs and Grant and Steve need to see to it that everyone does step up and I'm telling you right now, they will.

Whatever your take may be on Johnny Davis is up to you, but one guy who clearly got a raw deal was Cleveland Cavalier Head Coach Paul Silas. If new Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert and GM Jim Paxson would have looked at the standings, they would have seen that their team is in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and only two games from fourth, where they would host a first round playoff series. The Cavs are only one win away from their TOTAL number of wins last season (35-47), and they're about to make the postseason for the first time since the 1997-98 campaign. Paul Silas should be paraded through the streets of Cleveland for having his team in this position . How naive is Dan Gilbert to fire the guy who was leading Cleveland to the playoffs? I don't care if they have LeBron, I don't care if they have Zydrunas, I don't even care that they have Usher, they are the CAVALIERS!!

They've fielded teams with Danny Ferry, Chris Mihm and Craig Ehlo, guys that have set the NBA back 50 years, awful teams. Yet Dan Gilbert and Jim Paxson have the audacity to get High and Mighty? How quickly we forget, Jim you should have lost your job when you let Carlos Boozer get away last summer. You then replace Boozer with Drew Gooden, a guy that goes into a coma for three out of four quarters every night. What right do YOU have to fire anyone? I also have a news flash for you Moe and Shemp, I mean Dan and Jim: Michael Jordan only went 30-52 in his second year in the league and the Bulls were hammered in the first round by the Boston Celtics. The Cavs will finish with over 40 wins and have a chance to host the first round of the playoffs, but that's all of a sudden not good enough in CLEVELAND? Gimme a break! At least you picked the right guy up there to replace him, Brendan Malone, who went 21-61 as Head Coach of the Toronto Raptors. So you got that goin' for ya, which is nice!

Thank goodness the Blazers fired Mo Cheeks! Kevin Pritchard has Portland off and running with a 1-9 record since taking over.

Dante welcomes your comments, questions and alternative opinions. E-mail him here.

Dante’s Speak is solely the opinion of Dante Marchitelli and does not reflect the views of the Orlando Magic or the NBA. Marchitelli has served as radio producer in the Orlando Magic's Broadcast department for six seasons.