Denton: Magic-Bobcats Postgame Analysis
By John Denton
March 14, 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 – There are, of course, no excuses in big-boy basketball known as the NBA, but Orlando Magic stars Dwight Howard and Vince Carter could see what happened Sunday night coming from a hundred miles away.
There are back-to-backs, and then there are tricky back-to-backs like the ones the Magic encountered Sunday night. The pitfall for the Magic went something like this: Spring forward, fall back.
Having played Saturday night in Washington, the Magic didn’t get home Sunday morning until 3:15 a.m., an hour later than normal because of the hour lost due to Daylight Savings Time. Further complicating matters, Sunday’s game started at 6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. and the surging Charlotte Bobcats had the previous night off.
Orlando was within three points of the lead with 4:13 to play Sunday night, but maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Magic died down the stretch of an unsightly 96-89 loss to the Bobcats at Amway Arena.
``That’s pretty tough with the couple of hours of travel, the time change and then playing an hour earlier than normal,’’ said Carter, who scored 23 points and hit three 3-pointers. ``That’s pretty tough on guys 30-plus (years old) – whoever that is.’’
Apparently eight is enough when it comes to the Magic’s winning streak, one that stretched from Feb. 26 to March 14. Orlando missed out on a chance to tie the franchise record of nine consecutive wins set twice previously in 1994 and 2001. The Magic also missed out on a chance to clinch a playoff berth.
Unlike much of the past three weeks, the Magic (47-21) looked like a flat team most of the night. Charlotte whipped them on the boards 46-34 and without ace defender Matt Barnes the Magic had no answer for Stephen Jackson (28 points and three 3-pointers). Charlotte (34-31) won for a sixth consecutive time.
``Our defense wasn’t very good at times and our offense was even worse,’’ said J.J. Redick, who surprisingly played just 10 minutes after starring in the Washington victory Saturday night. ``You can’t really win when that happens.’’
THE GOOD
---- Howard was very good once again despite constant double teams from the Bobcats. He scored a career-best 46 points against Charlotte last spring when Larry Brown refused to double-team him.
Charlotte doubled on almost every possession Sunday night, and still Howard had 27 points on 12 of 14 shooting and added in 16 rebounds and two blocked shots. The one negative for Howard was his three of 10 free throw shooting with five of the misses coming in the fourth period. Howard wasn’t making any excuses afterwards, but he did wonder what effect fatigue might have had on the Magic Sunday night.
``You never want to use fatigue as an excuse because we’re NBA players and we train to do our jobs, but we were a little tired,’’ Howard said. ``They capitalized on it, they ran and moved the ball well.’’ Here is a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly:
---- Mickael Pietrus made his first start since Christmas Day, opening up in place of Barnes (sprained big toe). He poured in 20 points and aggressively sought out shots, making five of seven 3-pointers. He played 42 minutes, but had few answers against Jackson.
``They called my name and my shot was hot, so I wanted to continue to focus on being aggressive on both ends of the floor and help my team,’’ said Pietrus, who played well on Saturday and Sunday. ``Hopefully, we’ll come back strong on Wednesday.’’
THE BAD
---- Magic point guard Jameer Nelson has played like an all-star for the past six weeks, but Sunday night’s game was one to forget.
He was able to get into the lane against Charlotte’s Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin at will, but once there Nelson had trouble finishing around the rim.
Shot-blockers Theo Ratliff and Tyson Chandler gave the 6-foot Nelson fits and played a major role in the Magic point guard missing four layups in traffic.
For the game, Nelson made just two of 10 shots and missed all three of his 3-point tries. He had just four points.
---- Whether or not it was fatigue or not, the Magic’s defensive rotations were a mess early in the game. Charlotte routinely burned the Magic on pick-and-roll plays to stay within striking distance in the first half.
Charlotte had 24 points in the paint in the first half by making 12 of 17 shots. A couple of them were uncontested dunks for Tyson Chandler and Tyrus Thomas.
Said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy: ``We weren’t very good at anything today. We didn’t rebound, didn’t take care of the ball, we didn’t shoot well and we didn’t defend. We just weren’t very good at anything.’’
THE UGLY
---- There will never be any questioning of Rashard Lewis’s toughness and his ability to knock down huge game-winning shots, but the Magic’s converted power forward is in the throes of a slump.
He missed his first six shots, five of them coming from beyond the 3-point line. He did bury a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left with the game, all but over, but the night was another struggle for Lewis.
It’s no secret that Lewis isn’t enthralled about the lack of plays he has called for him, but he isn’t one to speak up too much. He had one pin-down post-up play in the third quarter, but that shot rimmed out and was dunked by Howard.
In his last six games, Lewis has made just18 of 56 shots (32.1) and eight of 29 3-pointers (27.5 percent). And he’s failed to score in double figures in three of those games.
``We’ve won eight in a row, so why would I be frustrated?’’ Lewis said. ``It’s frustrating losing a game to a team we felt like we most definitely could have beaten and we should have beaten. But it happens just like Dallas Mavericks win 13 in a row and lose the New York Knicks. It’s just something that happens.’’
---- The Magic were clearly missing a wing stopper Sunday night because of the toe injury to Barnes.
Barnes jammed the big toe on his left foot in Saturday’s win in Washington and he walked with a noticeable limp Sunday night before the game. Barnes said that he had surgery on the toe while in college at UCLA and the digit causes him problems when it’s inflamed.
Orlando clearly could have used Barnes’ size and nastiness on the wings against Charlotte’s Steven Jackson, who had 28 points, six rebounds and six assists.
---- Orlando’s longstanding success against Charlotte took a hit Sunday night. The Magic entered Sunday having beaten Charlotte 10 of the last 11 times and seven straight.
Also, the Magic had beaten the Bobcats nine consecutive times, a streak dating all the way back to 2005.
``Big win is an understatement,’’ Jackson said.
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard each week on ESPN 1080 AM. E-mail John at jd41898@aol.com.
By John DentonMarch 14, 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 – There are, of course, no excuses in big-boy basketball known as the NBA, but Orlando Magic stars Dwight Howard and Vince Carter could see what happened Sunday night coming from a hundred miles away.
There are back-to-backs, and then there are tricky back-to-backs like the ones the Magic encountered Sunday night. The pitfall for the Magic went something like this: Spring forward, fall back.
Having played Saturday night in Washington, the Magic didn’t get home Sunday morning until 3:15 a.m., an hour later than normal because of the hour lost due to Daylight Savings Time. Further complicating matters, Sunday’s game started at 6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. and the surging Charlotte Bobcats had the previous night off.
Orlando was within three points of the lead with 4:13 to play Sunday night, but maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Magic died down the stretch of an unsightly 96-89 loss to the Bobcats at Amway Arena.
``That’s pretty tough with the couple of hours of travel, the time change and then playing an hour earlier than normal,’’ said Carter, who scored 23 points and hit three 3-pointers. ``That’s pretty tough on guys 30-plus (years old) – whoever that is.’’
Apparently eight is enough when it comes to the Magic’s winning streak, one that stretched from Feb. 26 to March 14. Orlando missed out on a chance to tie the franchise record of nine consecutive wins set twice previously in 1994 and 2001. The Magic also missed out on a chance to clinch a playoff berth.
Unlike much of the past three weeks, the Magic (47-21) looked like a flat team most of the night. Charlotte whipped them on the boards 46-34 and without ace defender Matt Barnes the Magic had no answer for Stephen Jackson (28 points and three 3-pointers). Charlotte (34-31) won for a sixth consecutive time.
``Our defense wasn’t very good at times and our offense was even worse,’’ said J.J. Redick, who surprisingly played just 10 minutes after starring in the Washington victory Saturday night. ``You can’t really win when that happens.’’
THE GOOD
---- Howard was very good once again despite constant double teams from the Bobcats. He scored a career-best 46 points against Charlotte last spring when Larry Brown refused to double-team him.
Charlotte doubled on almost every possession Sunday night, and still Howard had 27 points on 12 of 14 shooting and added in 16 rebounds and two blocked shots. The one negative for Howard was his three of 10 free throw shooting with five of the misses coming in the fourth period. Howard wasn’t making any excuses afterwards, but he did wonder what effect fatigue might have had on the Magic Sunday night.
``You never want to use fatigue as an excuse because we’re NBA players and we train to do our jobs, but we were a little tired,’’ Howard said. ``They capitalized on it, they ran and moved the ball well.’’ Here is a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly:
---- Mickael Pietrus made his first start since Christmas Day, opening up in place of Barnes (sprained big toe). He poured in 20 points and aggressively sought out shots, making five of seven 3-pointers. He played 42 minutes, but had few answers against Jackson.
``They called my name and my shot was hot, so I wanted to continue to focus on being aggressive on both ends of the floor and help my team,’’ said Pietrus, who played well on Saturday and Sunday. ``Hopefully, we’ll come back strong on Wednesday.’’
THE BAD
---- Magic point guard Jameer Nelson has played like an all-star for the past six weeks, but Sunday night’s game was one to forget.
He was able to get into the lane against Charlotte’s Raymond Felton and D.J. Augustin at will, but once there Nelson had trouble finishing around the rim.
Shot-blockers Theo Ratliff and Tyson Chandler gave the 6-foot Nelson fits and played a major role in the Magic point guard missing four layups in traffic.
For the game, Nelson made just two of 10 shots and missed all three of his 3-point tries. He had just four points.
---- Whether or not it was fatigue or not, the Magic’s defensive rotations were a mess early in the game. Charlotte routinely burned the Magic on pick-and-roll plays to stay within striking distance in the first half.
Charlotte had 24 points in the paint in the first half by making 12 of 17 shots. A couple of them were uncontested dunks for Tyson Chandler and Tyrus Thomas.
Said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy: ``We weren’t very good at anything today. We didn’t rebound, didn’t take care of the ball, we didn’t shoot well and we didn’t defend. We just weren’t very good at anything.’’
THE UGLY
---- There will never be any questioning of Rashard Lewis’s toughness and his ability to knock down huge game-winning shots, but the Magic’s converted power forward is in the throes of a slump.
He missed his first six shots, five of them coming from beyond the 3-point line. He did bury a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left with the game, all but over, but the night was another struggle for Lewis.
It’s no secret that Lewis isn’t enthralled about the lack of plays he has called for him, but he isn’t one to speak up too much. He had one pin-down post-up play in the third quarter, but that shot rimmed out and was dunked by Howard.
In his last six games, Lewis has made just18 of 56 shots (32.1) and eight of 29 3-pointers (27.5 percent). And he’s failed to score in double figures in three of those games.
``We’ve won eight in a row, so why would I be frustrated?’’ Lewis said. ``It’s frustrating losing a game to a team we felt like we most definitely could have beaten and we should have beaten. But it happens just like Dallas Mavericks win 13 in a row and lose the New York Knicks. It’s just something that happens.’’
---- The Magic were clearly missing a wing stopper Sunday night because of the toe injury to Barnes.
Barnes jammed the big toe on his left foot in Saturday’s win in Washington and he walked with a noticeable limp Sunday night before the game. Barnes said that he had surgery on the toe while in college at UCLA and the digit causes him problems when it’s inflamed.
Orlando clearly could have used Barnes’ size and nastiness on the wings against Charlotte’s Steven Jackson, who had 28 points, six rebounds and six assists.
---- Orlando’s longstanding success against Charlotte took a hit Sunday night. The Magic entered Sunday having beaten Charlotte 10 of the last 11 times and seven straight.
Also, the Magic had beaten the Bobcats nine consecutive times, a streak dating all the way back to 2005.
``Big win is an understatement,’’ Jackson said.
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard each week on ESPN 1080 AM. E-mail John at jd41898@aol.com.
