Denton: Magic-Hornets Postgame Analysis
By John Denton
February 8, 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 – Now this is the Vince Carter that the Orlando Magic thought they were trading for all along, the Vince Carter they thought could give them an unstoppable, unflappable scorer on the wing.
Carter promised when January turned to February that he would be re-inventing himself as a player and a leader. And after his latest spectacular showing – a 48-point effort masterpiece with 34 in the second half and 18 in the fourth quarter – he looks very much true to his word, if not re-born from the player who just recently turned 33 years old.
Carter made 19 of 27 shots, drove hard in the lane for 10 layups, hit six 3-pointers and made all four of his free throws to lift the Magic to a thrilling come-from-behind 123-117 defeat of the New Orleans Hornets.
Carter delighted the sold-out Amway Arena crowd with the finest scoring night by a Magic player since Tracy McGrady’s 62-point effort back on March 10, 2004 against Washington. He narrowly missed his career high of 51 points – done twice in his career – and playfully wagged his head as the crowd begged him to take a shot as the final seconds ticked away.
``It was a great feeling and it’s always a great feeling when you’re shooting like that,’’ said Carter, who was mobbed by his teammates in the locker room in the immediate moments after the game. ``To get it rolling like that for your team, that’s what you play for. This team has so many weapons so I never imagined that I’d have this kind of game.’’
And not many imagined Carter was capable of this kind of game either considering the depths of his struggles in the month of January. In 14 games last month, the all-star guard averaged just 8.7 points on 28.4 percent shooting and 22.4 percent 3-point accuracy.
But he’s shown signs of breaking out of it of late. In the four games so far, he’s scored 17, 21, 20 and 48 points (26.5 a night) while improving to 52.9 percent from the floor and 60 percent from the 3-point stripe.
``That was incredible. I mean, that was unbelievable,’’ Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. ``… Most of them didn’t even hit the rim. That was absolutely incredible. Everybody wanted to get him the ball. He was phenomenal and we needed it.’’
Having rallied on Sunday in Boston with a stunning 19-0 third-quarter run to beat the Celtics, Orlando (35-17) needed another stirring second-half rally to erase a deficit that had ballooned to as much 17 points.
The Magic got 25 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks from Dwight Howard, a season-high 10 assists from Jameer Nelson and 18 points from Rashard Lewis, but they were all reduced to footnote status in Carter’s enormous wake.
Carter knew it was just a matter of time before he shook his January blues and went back to being the dynamic scoring machine that the Magic wanted when they traded for him last June.
``It’s a new month and we have new things now. The past is the past and it’s going to be better for me now,’’ he said. ``I can think back to all 11 of my years (in the NBA) and I’ve had rough months and this is the way it goes. I know the expectations for me here and I’ve worked so hard to have an impressive resume. I know what’s expected every night and I understand that and I’ve never gotten down because of struggling. Now, I know what I can do and what I bring to the table. I was just going to play and sooner or later, I knew it would fall.’’
The Hornets (27-25) were without all-star point guard Chris Paul, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last week and is expected to be out four-to-six weeks. His replacement, rookie Darren Collison, looked much like Paul what with the way he ran the offense beautifully with 27 points and nine assists.
Peja Stojakovic hit five 3-pointers and added 29 points and nine rebounds, while David West scored 27 points.
The Magic now embark on a tough two-game trip to snowy Chicago and Cleveland before breaking for the NBA All-Star Game. Thursday’s game in Cleveland against the Cavs is a nationally televised game by TNT.
Here is a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly from Monday’s back-and-forth thriller:
THE GOOD
---- Carter’s night will be mostly remembered for his six 3-pointers and the nifty fade-away jumper off one foot with 1:28 remaining that sealed the game. But he laid the groundwork for his monstrous scoring night by getting to the rim for 10 layups.
There’s no official count of course, but Carter might not have had 10 made layups in all of January. But on this night there was no disputing Carter’s aggressiveness and willingness to attack.
``(The layups) were mostly just there,’’ he said. ``One time there would be a jump shot and they would come up so I’d try and get to the basket. I just wanted to be aggressive – whatever that meant. I just wanted to stay aggressive and make them make decisions and then us taking advantage of the situation.’’
---- Carter had it rolling so much so that his teammates seemed to enjoy the performance as much as the 17,461 fans inside the arena did. Each Carter basket brought his teammates up off the bench and during one timeout Matt Barnes faked fanning him to cool him off.
``I thought it was Vinsanity out there tonight,’’ said Howard, referring to Carter’s nickname from earlier in his basketball life.
Nelson said during one particular stretch of the second half he personally called Carter’s number on six consecutive possessions. Said Nelson: ``And he scored six times in a row. He’s here to score and that’s what he did.’’
---- The Hornets absolutely shredded the Magic’s defense in the first half, making 60 percent of their shots and six of nine 3-point shots (66.7 percent).
West beat up the Magic inside, Stojakovic torched them from the perimeter and Collison did a little bit of both by converting several hard drives and hitting shots when the Magic double-teamed and left him wide open. All three of them had 16 points in the first half.
``We are a team of professionals,’’ West said of his team enduring without Paul in the lineup. ``We just go out there and do our job. We understand that we’re not going to blow anybody out, but we have to scrap and fight and we will put ourselves in position to win a lot of games.’’
THE BAD
---- The Magic allowed a staggering 70 points in the first half. TNT reported that the 70 points were the most the Magic have allowed in a first half since 2004.
The 70 points eclipsed the 66 points that Cleveland scored in Orlando on Nov. 11 earlier this season.
---- Howard lost his cool yet again in the fourth quarter when he was whistled for his 13th technical foul of the season by veteran official Bob Delaney.
Howard can get only two more technical fouls the rest of the regular season or he will be suspended one game following a 16th technical foul.
THE UGLY
---- Emeka Okafor, the player chosen No. 2 overall behind Howard in the 2004 NBA Draft, had yet another disastrous game in Orlando.
He missed all four of his shots and committed four fouls in just nine minutes on the floor. New Orleans coach Jeff Bower ultimately just benched Okafor and went mostly without a true center much of the game – one of the reasons Carter could get to the rim so easily.
---- The Hornets’ green, yellow and purple three-tone ``Mardi Gras’’ uniforms are abysmal. At first glance, they look like the uniforms that an opponent of the Harlem Globetrotters might wear.
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 DentonFebruary 8, 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 – Now this is the Vince Carter that the Orlando Magic thought they were trading for all along, the Vince Carter they thought could give them an unstoppable, unflappable scorer on the wing.
Carter promised when January turned to February that he would be re-inventing himself as a player and a leader. And after his latest spectacular showing – a 48-point effort masterpiece with 34 in the second half and 18 in the fourth quarter – he looks very much true to his word, if not re-born from the player who just recently turned 33 years old.
Carter made 19 of 27 shots, drove hard in the lane for 10 layups, hit six 3-pointers and made all four of his free throws to lift the Magic to a thrilling come-from-behind 123-117 defeat of the New Orleans Hornets.
Carter delighted the sold-out Amway Arena crowd with the finest scoring night by a Magic player since Tracy McGrady’s 62-point effort back on March 10, 2004 against Washington. He narrowly missed his career high of 51 points – done twice in his career – and playfully wagged his head as the crowd begged him to take a shot as the final seconds ticked away.
``It was a great feeling and it’s always a great feeling when you’re shooting like that,’’ said Carter, who was mobbed by his teammates in the locker room in the immediate moments after the game. ``To get it rolling like that for your team, that’s what you play for. This team has so many weapons so I never imagined that I’d have this kind of game.’’
And not many imagined Carter was capable of this kind of game either considering the depths of his struggles in the month of January. In 14 games last month, the all-star guard averaged just 8.7 points on 28.4 percent shooting and 22.4 percent 3-point accuracy.
But he’s shown signs of breaking out of it of late. In the four games so far, he’s scored 17, 21, 20 and 48 points (26.5 a night) while improving to 52.9 percent from the floor and 60 percent from the 3-point stripe.
``That was incredible. I mean, that was unbelievable,’’ Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. ``… Most of them didn’t even hit the rim. That was absolutely incredible. Everybody wanted to get him the ball. He was phenomenal and we needed it.’’
Having rallied on Sunday in Boston with a stunning 19-0 third-quarter run to beat the Celtics, Orlando (35-17) needed another stirring second-half rally to erase a deficit that had ballooned to as much 17 points.
The Magic got 25 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks from Dwight Howard, a season-high 10 assists from Jameer Nelson and 18 points from Rashard Lewis, but they were all reduced to footnote status in Carter’s enormous wake.
Carter knew it was just a matter of time before he shook his January blues and went back to being the dynamic scoring machine that the Magic wanted when they traded for him last June.
``It’s a new month and we have new things now. The past is the past and it’s going to be better for me now,’’ he said. ``I can think back to all 11 of my years (in the NBA) and I’ve had rough months and this is the way it goes. I know the expectations for me here and I’ve worked so hard to have an impressive resume. I know what’s expected every night and I understand that and I’ve never gotten down because of struggling. Now, I know what I can do and what I bring to the table. I was just going to play and sooner or later, I knew it would fall.’’
The Hornets (27-25) were without all-star point guard Chris Paul, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last week and is expected to be out four-to-six weeks. His replacement, rookie Darren Collison, looked much like Paul what with the way he ran the offense beautifully with 27 points and nine assists.
Peja Stojakovic hit five 3-pointers and added 29 points and nine rebounds, while David West scored 27 points.
The Magic now embark on a tough two-game trip to snowy Chicago and Cleveland before breaking for the NBA All-Star Game. Thursday’s game in Cleveland against the Cavs is a nationally televised game by TNT.
Here is a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly from Monday’s back-and-forth thriller:
THE GOOD
---- Carter’s night will be mostly remembered for his six 3-pointers and the nifty fade-away jumper off one foot with 1:28 remaining that sealed the game. But he laid the groundwork for his monstrous scoring night by getting to the rim for 10 layups.
There’s no official count of course, but Carter might not have had 10 made layups in all of January. But on this night there was no disputing Carter’s aggressiveness and willingness to attack.
``(The layups) were mostly just there,’’ he said. ``One time there would be a jump shot and they would come up so I’d try and get to the basket. I just wanted to be aggressive – whatever that meant. I just wanted to stay aggressive and make them make decisions and then us taking advantage of the situation.’’
---- Carter had it rolling so much so that his teammates seemed to enjoy the performance as much as the 17,461 fans inside the arena did. Each Carter basket brought his teammates up off the bench and during one timeout Matt Barnes faked fanning him to cool him off.
``I thought it was Vinsanity out there tonight,’’ said Howard, referring to Carter’s nickname from earlier in his basketball life.
Nelson said during one particular stretch of the second half he personally called Carter’s number on six consecutive possessions. Said Nelson: ``And he scored six times in a row. He’s here to score and that’s what he did.’’
---- The Hornets absolutely shredded the Magic’s defense in the first half, making 60 percent of their shots and six of nine 3-point shots (66.7 percent).
West beat up the Magic inside, Stojakovic torched them from the perimeter and Collison did a little bit of both by converting several hard drives and hitting shots when the Magic double-teamed and left him wide open. All three of them had 16 points in the first half.
``We are a team of professionals,’’ West said of his team enduring without Paul in the lineup. ``We just go out there and do our job. We understand that we’re not going to blow anybody out, but we have to scrap and fight and we will put ourselves in position to win a lot of games.’’
THE BAD
---- The Magic allowed a staggering 70 points in the first half. TNT reported that the 70 points were the most the Magic have allowed in a first half since 2004.
The 70 points eclipsed the 66 points that Cleveland scored in Orlando on Nov. 11 earlier this season.
---- Howard lost his cool yet again in the fourth quarter when he was whistled for his 13th technical foul of the season by veteran official Bob Delaney.
Howard can get only two more technical fouls the rest of the regular season or he will be suspended one game following a 16th technical foul.
THE UGLY
---- Emeka Okafor, the player chosen No. 2 overall behind Howard in the 2004 NBA Draft, had yet another disastrous game in Orlando.
He missed all four of his shots and committed four fouls in just nine minutes on the floor. New Orleans coach Jeff Bower ultimately just benched Okafor and went mostly without a true center much of the game – one of the reasons Carter could get to the rim so easily.
---- The Hornets’ green, yellow and purple three-tone ``Mardi Gras’’ uniforms are abysmal. At first glance, they look like the uniforms that an opponent of the Harlem Globetrotters might wear.
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.
