Denton: Magic-Hornets Notes
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 – The Orlando Magic are scheduled for a 1 p.m. flight on Tuesday to snowy Chicago, but the pending blizzard conditions could alter the team’s travel plans.
The Magic play the Bulls on Wednesday and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night, and snowy conditions will likely follow them along on the trip. The Magic’s flight on Tuesday could be moved up because of the snowstorm.
A Winter Storm Warning went into effect in Northern Illinois on Monday night and is expected to extend through Wednesday at noon. According to the National Weather Service, the Chicago area is expected to receive anywhere from nine to 18 inches of snow.
``I hope we can get in (to Chicago), but I just want to make sure that we can get out,’’ Magic coach Stan Van Gundy joked. ``That’s the fear. Getting in is one thing, but the worry is that you don’t get out.’’ The NBA had to cancel last Saturday’s Atlanta-Washington game because of blizzard-like snow in the D.C. area. The league rescheduled that game for March 11.
LEWIS CLUTCH: Magic forward Rashard Lewis has been on quite a run of late with his clutch play in the tense moments of games, drilling one big shot after another.
He made a tough layup around Boston’s Kevin Garnett in the final seconds back on Jan. 28 for the game-winner. He hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with four seconds remaining Friday night against Washington, only to watch Caron Butler top his effort with a shot with five-tenths of a second remaining.
Then, on Sunday against the Celtics in Boston, Lewis hit a tough pull-up jumper with 18 seconds remaining that sealed the victory for the Magic. However, it was the degree of difficulty of the shot that made it even more impressive.
``I had K.G. (Kevin Garnett) kind of hanging on me on one side and then Paul Pierce ran up under me trying to draw a charge,’’ Lewis said. ``But we really needed a basket there and I got the shot to fall.’’
ETC: Van Gundy and New Orleans interim coach Jeff Bower are old friends from their days as college assistant coaches in the late 1980s. Van Gundy worked at Fordham and Bower was an assistant at Marist, and the two would often ride together to games when their teams faced off. Said Van Gundy: ``Jeff and I are fellow nobodies. I mean that sincerely – guys that are still trying to figure out how it is that we got into this league.’’ … The Magic’s win in Boston on Sunday gave them a 3-1 edge in the season series. Combined with Orlando’s playoff win against the Celtics last spring, it would seem to suggest the Magic are the better team. But apparently there’s still confusion in the Celtics’ locker room. ``Like one of our guys said, `We’re better than Orlando,’’’ Boston coach Doc Rivers said. ``And I said, `No you’re not. That’s a bunch of (expletive). They beat you three games, two at your place. They’re better. They knocked you out of the playoffs last (spring). Orlando’s better than us right now. Atlanta is better than us right now. L.A.’s better than us right now. Those are teams that have beaten us. That doesn’t mean we can’t be better than them at some point. But right now, those teams are better than us.’’ … Magic center Dwight Howard got a chuckle out of 5-foot-8 New York guard Nate Robinson blocking a shot by 7-foot-1 Cleveland center Shaquille O’Neal recently. Said Howard, who is close friends with Robinson: ``Nate has blocked a lot of 7-footers, but he hasn’t blocked mine. I’m not letting him block my shot.’’
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 – The Orlando Magic are scheduled for a 1 p.m. flight on Tuesday to snowy Chicago, but the pending blizzard conditions could alter the team’s travel plans.
The Magic play the Bulls on Wednesday and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night, and snowy conditions will likely follow them along on the trip. The Magic’s flight on Tuesday could be moved up because of the snowstorm.
A Winter Storm Warning went into effect in Northern Illinois on Monday night and is expected to extend through Wednesday at noon. According to the National Weather Service, the Chicago area is expected to receive anywhere from nine to 18 inches of snow.
``I hope we can get in (to Chicago), but I just want to make sure that we can get out,’’ Magic coach Stan Van Gundy joked. ``That’s the fear. Getting in is one thing, but the worry is that you don’t get out.’’ The NBA had to cancel last Saturday’s Atlanta-Washington game because of blizzard-like snow in the D.C. area. The league rescheduled that game for March 11.
LEWIS CLUTCH: Magic forward Rashard Lewis has been on quite a run of late with his clutch play in the tense moments of games, drilling one big shot after another.
He made a tough layup around Boston’s Kevin Garnett in the final seconds back on Jan. 28 for the game-winner. He hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with four seconds remaining Friday night against Washington, only to watch Caron Butler top his effort with a shot with five-tenths of a second remaining.
Then, on Sunday against the Celtics in Boston, Lewis hit a tough pull-up jumper with 18 seconds remaining that sealed the victory for the Magic. However, it was the degree of difficulty of the shot that made it even more impressive.
``I had K.G. (Kevin Garnett) kind of hanging on me on one side and then Paul Pierce ran up under me trying to draw a charge,’’ Lewis said. ``But we really needed a basket there and I got the shot to fall.’’
ETC: Van Gundy and New Orleans interim coach Jeff Bower are old friends from their days as college assistant coaches in the late 1980s. Van Gundy worked at Fordham and Bower was an assistant at Marist, and the two would often ride together to games when their teams faced off. Said Van Gundy: ``Jeff and I are fellow nobodies. I mean that sincerely – guys that are still trying to figure out how it is that we got into this league.’’ … The Magic’s win in Boston on Sunday gave them a 3-1 edge in the season series. Combined with Orlando’s playoff win against the Celtics last spring, it would seem to suggest the Magic are the better team. But apparently there’s still confusion in the Celtics’ locker room. ``Like one of our guys said, `We’re better than Orlando,’’’ Boston coach Doc Rivers said. ``And I said, `No you’re not. That’s a bunch of (expletive). They beat you three games, two at your place. They’re better. They knocked you out of the playoffs last (spring). Orlando’s better than us right now. Atlanta is better than us right now. L.A.’s better than us right now. Those are teams that have beaten us. That doesn’t mean we can’t be better than them at some point. But right now, those teams are better than us.’’ … Magic center Dwight Howard got a chuckle out of 5-foot-8 New York guard Nate Robinson blocking a shot by 7-foot-1 Cleveland center Shaquille O’Neal recently. Said Howard, who is close friends with Robinson: ``Nate has blocked a lot of 7-footers, but he hasn’t blocked mine. I’m not letting him block my shot.’’
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.
