Denton: Magic-Celtics Postgame Analysis
By John Denton
January 28, 2010
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
ORLANDO – The original play design fell apart badly when Vince Carter couldn’t shake free for the ball and it looked destined for failure when J.J. Redick was trapped some 30 feet from the basket.
But sometimes even the most dire situations can turn to bliss when playmakers like Rashard Lewis do their thing.
Lewis salvaged a shaky situation when he aggressively dribbled around Boston’s Kevin Garnett and laid the ball in with 1.3 seconds remaining to lift the Orlando Magic to a 96-94 defeat of the Celtics Thursday night.
``They’re a great defensive team and I turned the corner and I saw no guys collapsing in and I was most definitely shocked,’’ Lewis admitted of the final, frantic play. ``I was getting ready to make an outlet pass, but then I had a layup.’’
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy drew up the final play for a struggling Vince Carter because ``he had been in that situation hundreds of times before.’’ But when Paul Pierce denied Carter of the ball, Redick fed it to Lewis, who has made several regular-season and postseason game-winners for the Magic in his 2 ½ seasons in Orlando. Lewis dribbled four times around the corner and finished over Boston’s Rasheed Wallace.
Cracked Magic point guard Jameer Nelson: ``That’s why Rashard is here, to do things like that. The play wasn’t for him, but sometimes the ball has a way of finding its master.’’
Lewis’ basket capped a furious rally in which the Magic dug their way out of a deficit that swelled to as much as 16 points and was at 14 points early in the fourth quarter. But an Orlando team that made just 12 of its first 40 shots did a 180-degree turn-around and remarkably sank 20 of 33 down the stretch.
``I feel like we grew up as a team because we didn’t give up,’’ said Magic center Dwight Howard, who had 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. ``In the second half our will was so strong and we didn’t want to lose.’’
The Magic, 30-16 and winners of four of the past five games, face another team ahead of them in the standings on Saturday when they host the Atlanta Hawks. Orlando throttled the Hawks 113-81 two weeks ago in a game that it once led by as many as 38 points. The Magic are 2-0 this season against Atlanta, having also beaten the Hawks on Thanksgiving in Atlanta.
But before we move ahead, here’s a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly from one of the most bizarre Magic victories of the season:
THE GOOD
---- Van Gundy went with two centers much of the second half to combat Boston power forwards Kevin Garnett and Wallace. And the Magic got a tremendous lift from reserve Marcin Gortat, who stood up to Garnett in the post and played his best game of the season.
Gortat played well early in the game when Howard was in foul trouble, grabbing six rebounds and swatting three shots. He then made four of six free throws in the fourth quarter, and unquestionably his biggest moment of the season came with 4:52 when he made a 12-foot bank shot to give the Magic their first lead of the night at 84-83.
``I really believe that I can shoot the ball from the outside, but my role with this team is to play inside,’’ Gortat said. ``It was a great opportunity for me and I was happy that I showed I was ready.’’ Van Gundy said after the game that he’ll consider using a lineup of Howard at center, Gortat at power forward and Lewis at small forward more in the future against bigger teams.
---- Lewis did more than just hit the game-winner; he carried the Magic’s offense for long stretches.
Realizing how the Celtics had closed out on his 3-point shot in the previous two games, Lewis made a concerted effort to drive the ball more Thursday night. As a result, he got in the lane time and again and hit eight of 13 shots for a game-high 23 points.
``Rashard has been putting the ball on the floor more and these last seven games he’s back to averaging about 17 points a game and back to where he was last season,’’ Van Gundy said. ``He hadn’t been very aggressive or energetic and we talked about it. But he’s a guy who takes responsibility and he’s gone out and done something about it.’’
---- Howard started slowly because of foul trouble, but he was as good offensively in the second half as he’s been in two seasons against the physical defense of Kendrick Perkins, Wallace and Garnett. Howard scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, hitting several hook shots with both hands.
``Instead of being physical with Kendrick (Perkins) I tried to move him side to side,’’ Howard said. ``I watched some film on him (Thursday morning) and I know how he tries to root me out of the paint. But I just tried to move him around more.’’
---- With Carter again struggling, Redick came though in a big way for the Magic late in the game. He converted three free throws with 4:12 to play to put Orlando into the lead. Then, after Orlando fell behind by three, Redick drilled a 3-pointer to knot the game at 94-all.
Muttered Boston coach Doc Rivers: ``The one thing we said in the timeout, we don’t care if they get a dunk, but we don’t want to give up a three. Don’t back off. J.J. Redick, we backed off of him. I don’t know if we should back off J.J. Redick. He’s a pretty good shooter.’’
---- Nelson gave the Magic a nice spark at the beginning of the game, scoring 10 of Orlando’s first 13 points.
From the start, Nelson was in attack mode – long a point of emphasis from Van Gundy – aggressively attacking the lane and seeking out shots. When he scored 10 consecutive points in a 3-minute stretch, Boston had to retreat into a timeout.
THE BAD
---- The night was again a puzzling one for Carter, who seemed disengaged from the offense for long stretches and struggled when he was seeking out shots.
Carter re-entered the game with 1:21 to play and the Magic trailing by one point, but he had a driving layup blocked out of bounds and then he lost the ball when Wallace slapped it out of his hands. For the game, Carter made just two of 13 shots, dropping his shooting percentage to 38.5 percent for the season and 30.2 percent from 3-point range. But he said afterward that his stats were of little relevance in a game in which the Magic won.
``We won the game. I don’t understand where this is coming from,’’ Carter said of the questions about his offensive struggles. ``Why? This team is winning. I understand when we’re losing games and you look to find reasons, but we won the game.’’
---- The refereeing crew of Greg Willard, Kevin Fehr and Leon Wood twice overturned Eddie House 3-point shots, dropping them down to two-pointers.
House had what he believed to be a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter, but it was determined that his foot was across the 3-point stripe. Following a review, the referees changed the shot to a two-pointer.
The same thing happened midway through the fourth when House hit what seemed like a dagger of 3-pointer off a dribble hand-off play from Garnett. But again, House’s left foot was across the line and the original call of a 3-pointer was overturned at the next stoppage in play.
Those points ultimately proved to be the difference in the game.
THE UGLY
---- The Magic’s offense was once again a mess in the first half against Boston. Orlando hit just 12 of 36 shots when they often had to take contested tries at the end of the shot clock.
Making matters even worse, the Magic couldn’t even shoot themselves back into the game from the 3-point line. Orlando missed nine of its 10 tries from beyond the arc in the first half, while Boston made seven of its 11 tries. Wallace and Allen didn’t miss on 3-point shots in the first two quarters, combining to hit all five of their tries.
---- Howard put his teammates in a bad spot when he once again got in early foul trouble and was on the floor just 8 minutes.
Howard was whistled for a reach-in foul against Kendrick Perkins three minutes into the game and then picked up his second foul on the offensive end of the floor with 7:23 still left in the first half.
He made it just 3:26 in the second quarter before being called for his third foul on a steal attempt 25 feet from the basket. Howard had five points and two blocked shots in the first half, but clearly the Magic’s struggling offense needed him to be anchored in the low post.
Howard was happy to see teammate Matt Barnes confront Boston’s Paul Pierce following a hard foul early in the game. Howard said that fight showed by Barnes coursed through Thursday’s game and ultimately helped them win.
``I like that we didn’t down at all,’’ Howard said. ``Matt showed that we weren’t backing down. You’ve got to have a team that isn’t going to back down in games like this and we didn’t go away.’’
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard each week on ESPN 1080 AM. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
By John DentonJanuary 28, 2010
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
ORLANDO – The original play design fell apart badly when Vince Carter couldn’t shake free for the ball and it looked destined for failure when J.J. Redick was trapped some 30 feet from the basket.
But sometimes even the most dire situations can turn to bliss when playmakers like Rashard Lewis do their thing.
Lewis salvaged a shaky situation when he aggressively dribbled around Boston’s Kevin Garnett and laid the ball in with 1.3 seconds remaining to lift the Orlando Magic to a 96-94 defeat of the Celtics Thursday night.
``They’re a great defensive team and I turned the corner and I saw no guys collapsing in and I was most definitely shocked,’’ Lewis admitted of the final, frantic play. ``I was getting ready to make an outlet pass, but then I had a layup.’’
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy drew up the final play for a struggling Vince Carter because ``he had been in that situation hundreds of times before.’’ But when Paul Pierce denied Carter of the ball, Redick fed it to Lewis, who has made several regular-season and postseason game-winners for the Magic in his 2 ½ seasons in Orlando. Lewis dribbled four times around the corner and finished over Boston’s Rasheed Wallace.
Cracked Magic point guard Jameer Nelson: ``That’s why Rashard is here, to do things like that. The play wasn’t for him, but sometimes the ball has a way of finding its master.’’
Lewis’ basket capped a furious rally in which the Magic dug their way out of a deficit that swelled to as much as 16 points and was at 14 points early in the fourth quarter. But an Orlando team that made just 12 of its first 40 shots did a 180-degree turn-around and remarkably sank 20 of 33 down the stretch.
``I feel like we grew up as a team because we didn’t give up,’’ said Magic center Dwight Howard, who had 19 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. ``In the second half our will was so strong and we didn’t want to lose.’’
The Magic, 30-16 and winners of four of the past five games, face another team ahead of them in the standings on Saturday when they host the Atlanta Hawks. Orlando throttled the Hawks 113-81 two weeks ago in a game that it once led by as many as 38 points. The Magic are 2-0 this season against Atlanta, having also beaten the Hawks on Thanksgiving in Atlanta.
But before we move ahead, here’s a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly from one of the most bizarre Magic victories of the season:
THE GOOD
---- Van Gundy went with two centers much of the second half to combat Boston power forwards Kevin Garnett and Wallace. And the Magic got a tremendous lift from reserve Marcin Gortat, who stood up to Garnett in the post and played his best game of the season.
Gortat played well early in the game when Howard was in foul trouble, grabbing six rebounds and swatting three shots. He then made four of six free throws in the fourth quarter, and unquestionably his biggest moment of the season came with 4:52 when he made a 12-foot bank shot to give the Magic their first lead of the night at 84-83.
``I really believe that I can shoot the ball from the outside, but my role with this team is to play inside,’’ Gortat said. ``It was a great opportunity for me and I was happy that I showed I was ready.’’ Van Gundy said after the game that he’ll consider using a lineup of Howard at center, Gortat at power forward and Lewis at small forward more in the future against bigger teams.
---- Lewis did more than just hit the game-winner; he carried the Magic’s offense for long stretches.
Realizing how the Celtics had closed out on his 3-point shot in the previous two games, Lewis made a concerted effort to drive the ball more Thursday night. As a result, he got in the lane time and again and hit eight of 13 shots for a game-high 23 points.
``Rashard has been putting the ball on the floor more and these last seven games he’s back to averaging about 17 points a game and back to where he was last season,’’ Van Gundy said. ``He hadn’t been very aggressive or energetic and we talked about it. But he’s a guy who takes responsibility and he’s gone out and done something about it.’’
---- Howard started slowly because of foul trouble, but he was as good offensively in the second half as he’s been in two seasons against the physical defense of Kendrick Perkins, Wallace and Garnett. Howard scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, hitting several hook shots with both hands.
``Instead of being physical with Kendrick (Perkins) I tried to move him side to side,’’ Howard said. ``I watched some film on him (Thursday morning) and I know how he tries to root me out of the paint. But I just tried to move him around more.’’
---- With Carter again struggling, Redick came though in a big way for the Magic late in the game. He converted three free throws with 4:12 to play to put Orlando into the lead. Then, after Orlando fell behind by three, Redick drilled a 3-pointer to knot the game at 94-all.
Muttered Boston coach Doc Rivers: ``The one thing we said in the timeout, we don’t care if they get a dunk, but we don’t want to give up a three. Don’t back off. J.J. Redick, we backed off of him. I don’t know if we should back off J.J. Redick. He’s a pretty good shooter.’’
---- Nelson gave the Magic a nice spark at the beginning of the game, scoring 10 of Orlando’s first 13 points.
From the start, Nelson was in attack mode – long a point of emphasis from Van Gundy – aggressively attacking the lane and seeking out shots. When he scored 10 consecutive points in a 3-minute stretch, Boston had to retreat into a timeout.
THE BAD
---- The night was again a puzzling one for Carter, who seemed disengaged from the offense for long stretches and struggled when he was seeking out shots.
Carter re-entered the game with 1:21 to play and the Magic trailing by one point, but he had a driving layup blocked out of bounds and then he lost the ball when Wallace slapped it out of his hands. For the game, Carter made just two of 13 shots, dropping his shooting percentage to 38.5 percent for the season and 30.2 percent from 3-point range. But he said afterward that his stats were of little relevance in a game in which the Magic won.
``We won the game. I don’t understand where this is coming from,’’ Carter said of the questions about his offensive struggles. ``Why? This team is winning. I understand when we’re losing games and you look to find reasons, but we won the game.’’
---- The refereeing crew of Greg Willard, Kevin Fehr and Leon Wood twice overturned Eddie House 3-point shots, dropping them down to two-pointers.
House had what he believed to be a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter, but it was determined that his foot was across the 3-point stripe. Following a review, the referees changed the shot to a two-pointer.
The same thing happened midway through the fourth when House hit what seemed like a dagger of 3-pointer off a dribble hand-off play from Garnett. But again, House’s left foot was across the line and the original call of a 3-pointer was overturned at the next stoppage in play.
Those points ultimately proved to be the difference in the game.
THE UGLY
---- The Magic’s offense was once again a mess in the first half against Boston. Orlando hit just 12 of 36 shots when they often had to take contested tries at the end of the shot clock.
Making matters even worse, the Magic couldn’t even shoot themselves back into the game from the 3-point line. Orlando missed nine of its 10 tries from beyond the arc in the first half, while Boston made seven of its 11 tries. Wallace and Allen didn’t miss on 3-point shots in the first two quarters, combining to hit all five of their tries.
---- Howard put his teammates in a bad spot when he once again got in early foul trouble and was on the floor just 8 minutes.
Howard was whistled for a reach-in foul against Kendrick Perkins three minutes into the game and then picked up his second foul on the offensive end of the floor with 7:23 still left in the first half.
He made it just 3:26 in the second quarter before being called for his third foul on a steal attempt 25 feet from the basket. Howard had five points and two blocked shots in the first half, but clearly the Magic’s struggling offense needed him to be anchored in the low post.
Howard was happy to see teammate Matt Barnes confront Boston’s Paul Pierce following a hard foul early in the game. Howard said that fight showed by Barnes coursed through Thursday’s game and ultimately helped them win.
``I like that we didn’t down at all,’’ Howard said. ``Matt showed that we weren’t backing down. You’ve got to have a team that isn’t going to back down in games like this and we didn’t go away.’’
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard each week on ESPN 1080 AM. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
