Denton: Magic-Cavaliers Notes
By John Denton
February 21, 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 – A week after saying more derogatory things about Orlando Magic superstar center Dwight Howard and perpetuating a petty spat over the ``Superman'' nickname, Cleveland center Shaquille O'Neal changed his tune on Sunday.
The two behemoth centers spent much of the day wrestling in the post with Howard finishing with 22 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots, while O'Neal had 20 points and five rebounds. After the game, O'Neal went over to Howard to congratulate him and he even said some flattering things after the game.
``Dwight is one of the only true big men left. I'm sure the game being physical doesn't bother him,'' said O'Neal, who had to play through foul trouble most of the day. ``I don't mind (physical play). You have two great, strong guys – old bull and young bull going at it – and it's a good game to watch.''
To his credit, Howard has avoided O'Neal's barbs about nicknames, legacies and comparisons to who is the better center in Magic history. Howard said his only mission on Sunday was to win the game and he could care less about any sort of relationship between himself and O'Neal.
``I'm not getting into any mind games with him; my job is to help our team win. As long as I rebound, run the floor, play defense and be effective for my team, then I'm doing my job,'' Howard said. ``I have respect for what Shaq has done for basketball and big men and how he changed the game. But playing against him you want to go right at him and that's what I tried to do.''
O'Neal said the big man rivalry is ``good for the game.'' Then, he added that ``(the media) is going to do your part when it comes to marketing and I'm sure going to do my part. I'm not concerned with (the nickname controversy). It never really bothered me. When I'm done playing I will have four, five or six (NBA titles). I'm not concerned with useless titles.''
REDICK VS. SHAQ: Magic guard J.J. Redick, all 190 pounds of him, took a hard hit and a nasty fall to the floor when he went up for a layup in the fourth quarter and collided with the 325-pound O'Neal.
Redick said he attacked the rim because he knew that O'Neal was in foul trouble and he wanted to try and get all the way to the rim. Redick was smashed in mid-air by O'Neal and caught himself as he hit the floor, a play that resulted in O'Neal's fifth foul.
``I went in to dunk the ball,'' joked Redick, who scored nine points and hit two 3-pointers. ``I wanted to make Shaq make a decision of whether to stay on Dwight or come over to me. His decision was to hammer me.''
Redick played exceptionally well in 15 minutes off the bench in relief of Carter, and so did Michael Pietrus in 16 minutes. Two nights after struggling in the loss to Dallas, Pietrus made five of six shots, hit two 3-pointers, scored 13 points and helped to defend LeBron James.
MORE FROM THE STARTERS: The Orlando Magic entered Sunday afternoon's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with not one player in the top 40 in the NBA in minutes played per game. But coach Stan Van Gundy says that statistic could be about to change over the final six weeks of the regular season.
Van Gundy plans to ramp up the minutes of Dwight Howard (35.2 minutes per game), Rashard Lewis (33.1 mpg.) and Vince Carter (30.7 mpg.) in preparation for the playoffs in mid-April. However, Van Gundy wants to keep the playing time for Jameer Nelson (28.1 mpg.) about the same because he wants the point guard fresh so that he can be aggressive and stay in attack mode when on the floor.
On Sunday, Howard played 43 minutes, while Lewis was on the floor 37 minutes and Carter was a part of 32 minutes. Nelson played 34 minutes because he was so effective, cutting into Jason Williams' time off the bench.
It's just a coincidence, Van Gundy said, that shift in philosophy comes just two days after the Magic's reserves suffered through their worst game of the season. Pietrus, Redick, Ryan Anderson and Williams made just one of 16 shots and missed all 10 of their 3-pointers in Friday's loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
``My first two years here we've usually had two or three guys in the top 30 in the league in minutes, but none this year,'' Van Gundy said. ``We've tried to limit the minutes of some of our guys, but we're to the point now where we've got to increase them. Dwight can pretty much handle whatever minutes we need from him, but we're going to have to go up with Rashard and Vince. Our second unit has been good, but sometimes they've been out there with nobody to go to.''
ETC: Little-used power forward Brand Bass played six minutes in Sunday's first half after playing only sparingly in two of the previous 11 games. Van Gundy used Bass to counter Cleveland power forwards Antawn Jamison and J.J. Hickson and he played well with four points. He scored six points in 10 minutes because he said he stayed sharp physically and mentally while not playing. Said Bass: ``I've continued to work on my game – shooting before practice, lifting after practice, coming in at night and getting up shots. I feel I can help this team and it felt good playing in a big game like this.'' … Antawn Jamison, acquired in a trade on Wednesday by Cleveland, had 19 points and eight rebounds before fouling out. But the loss of the 7-foot-3 Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the trade left the Cavs exposed at center when O'Neal was out of the game. Howard scored at will against back-up Anderson Varejao in his 19 minutes on the floor, leading to Cleveland to reluctantly double-team Howard. … Sunday's game was the Magic's 44th consecutive regular-season sellout dating back to last season. Orlando has sold out all 28 games this season. Including the 12 home playoff games last spring, the Magic have sold out 56 consecutive games at Amway Arena.
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 21, 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 – A week after saying more derogatory things about Orlando Magic superstar center Dwight Howard and perpetuating a petty spat over the ``Superman'' nickname, Cleveland center Shaquille O'Neal changed his tune on Sunday.
The two behemoth centers spent much of the day wrestling in the post with Howard finishing with 22 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots, while O'Neal had 20 points and five rebounds. After the game, O'Neal went over to Howard to congratulate him and he even said some flattering things after the game.
``Dwight is one of the only true big men left. I'm sure the game being physical doesn't bother him,'' said O'Neal, who had to play through foul trouble most of the day. ``I don't mind (physical play). You have two great, strong guys – old bull and young bull going at it – and it's a good game to watch.''
To his credit, Howard has avoided O'Neal's barbs about nicknames, legacies and comparisons to who is the better center in Magic history. Howard said his only mission on Sunday was to win the game and he could care less about any sort of relationship between himself and O'Neal.
``I'm not getting into any mind games with him; my job is to help our team win. As long as I rebound, run the floor, play defense and be effective for my team, then I'm doing my job,'' Howard said. ``I have respect for what Shaq has done for basketball and big men and how he changed the game. But playing against him you want to go right at him and that's what I tried to do.''
O'Neal said the big man rivalry is ``good for the game.'' Then, he added that ``(the media) is going to do your part when it comes to marketing and I'm sure going to do my part. I'm not concerned with (the nickname controversy). It never really bothered me. When I'm done playing I will have four, five or six (NBA titles). I'm not concerned with useless titles.''
REDICK VS. SHAQ: Magic guard J.J. Redick, all 190 pounds of him, took a hard hit and a nasty fall to the floor when he went up for a layup in the fourth quarter and collided with the 325-pound O'Neal.
Redick said he attacked the rim because he knew that O'Neal was in foul trouble and he wanted to try and get all the way to the rim. Redick was smashed in mid-air by O'Neal and caught himself as he hit the floor, a play that resulted in O'Neal's fifth foul.
``I went in to dunk the ball,'' joked Redick, who scored nine points and hit two 3-pointers. ``I wanted to make Shaq make a decision of whether to stay on Dwight or come over to me. His decision was to hammer me.''
Redick played exceptionally well in 15 minutes off the bench in relief of Carter, and so did Michael Pietrus in 16 minutes. Two nights after struggling in the loss to Dallas, Pietrus made five of six shots, hit two 3-pointers, scored 13 points and helped to defend LeBron James.
MORE FROM THE STARTERS: The Orlando Magic entered Sunday afternoon's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with not one player in the top 40 in the NBA in minutes played per game. But coach Stan Van Gundy says that statistic could be about to change over the final six weeks of the regular season.
Van Gundy plans to ramp up the minutes of Dwight Howard (35.2 minutes per game), Rashard Lewis (33.1 mpg.) and Vince Carter (30.7 mpg.) in preparation for the playoffs in mid-April. However, Van Gundy wants to keep the playing time for Jameer Nelson (28.1 mpg.) about the same because he wants the point guard fresh so that he can be aggressive and stay in attack mode when on the floor.
On Sunday, Howard played 43 minutes, while Lewis was on the floor 37 minutes and Carter was a part of 32 minutes. Nelson played 34 minutes because he was so effective, cutting into Jason Williams' time off the bench.
It's just a coincidence, Van Gundy said, that shift in philosophy comes just two days after the Magic's reserves suffered through their worst game of the season. Pietrus, Redick, Ryan Anderson and Williams made just one of 16 shots and missed all 10 of their 3-pointers in Friday's loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
``My first two years here we've usually had two or three guys in the top 30 in the league in minutes, but none this year,'' Van Gundy said. ``We've tried to limit the minutes of some of our guys, but we're to the point now where we've got to increase them. Dwight can pretty much handle whatever minutes we need from him, but we're going to have to go up with Rashard and Vince. Our second unit has been good, but sometimes they've been out there with nobody to go to.''
ETC: Little-used power forward Brand Bass played six minutes in Sunday's first half after playing only sparingly in two of the previous 11 games. Van Gundy used Bass to counter Cleveland power forwards Antawn Jamison and J.J. Hickson and he played well with four points. He scored six points in 10 minutes because he said he stayed sharp physically and mentally while not playing. Said Bass: ``I've continued to work on my game – shooting before practice, lifting after practice, coming in at night and getting up shots. I feel I can help this team and it felt good playing in a big game like this.'' … Antawn Jamison, acquired in a trade on Wednesday by Cleveland, had 19 points and eight rebounds before fouling out. But the loss of the 7-foot-3 Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the trade left the Cavs exposed at center when O'Neal was out of the game. Howard scored at will against back-up Anderson Varejao in his 19 minutes on the floor, leading to Cleveland to reluctantly double-team Howard. … Sunday's game was the Magic's 44th consecutive regular-season sellout dating back to last season. Orlando has sold out all 28 games this season. Including the 12 home playoff games last spring, the Magic have sold out 56 consecutive games at Amway Arena.
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.
