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Denton: Magic Look to Close Out Hawks
By John Denton
May 10, 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.
ATLANTA – With his Orlando Magic possibly on the verge of their second four-game sweep in as many weeks, small forward Matt Barnes was asked on Sunday about the prospect of recreating Moses Malone’s famous ``Fo’, Fo’ Fo’’’ prediction.
``Yeah, Moses Malone, baby,’’ said Barnes, one of the players old enough to recall the 27-year-old prediction. ``That would be great, wouldn’t it? It’s a lot easier said than done, but that’s what we’re going for.’’
Malone, one of the game’s greatest center, predicted before the 1983 playoffs that his Philadelphia Sixers would sweep through three rounds of the playoffs (following a first-round bye). That Sixers team did sweep New York in the second round and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals, but it lost a game in the Eastern Conference Finals after jumping ahead 3-0 in the series. That, of course, prompted Malone to revise the run to ``Fo’, Fi’, Fo.’’’
The Magic have been equally impressive so far in these playoffs, blanking the Charlotte Bobcats in the first round of the playoffs and doing the same against the battered and broken Atlanta Hawks. In taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, Orlando has won games by 43, 14 and 30 points. Those margins made the Magic just the fourth team ever to win two games in a series by at least 30 points – and the series might not extend past tonight’s Game 4.
A Magic team that is 7-0 in the playoffs, making it the only undefeated squad in the postseason, will go for the kill shot tonight at Philips Arena against Atlanta. This season alone, the Magic have beaten the Hawks six of seven meetings. Now, a seventh win would give the Magic another convincing playoff sweep against a solid foe.
``We just want to do the job every night and go out and dominate people,’’ Magic guard Vince Carter said. ``We’ve tried to go out and take the life from whoever was on the floor across from us.’’
The Magic have been able to break the will of Charlotte and Atlanta with their ability to build a lead and then dramatically add upon it. Part of the reason is Orlando possessing four all-star starters and the deepest bench in the NBA. But another factor is Orlando’s rising maturity and expanding killer instinct.
Against Atlanta alone, the Magic took a two-point first quarter lead in Game 1 and turned it into a 20-point spread by halftime and a 44-point bulge by the end of the third quarter. In Game 2, they rallied from down nine points with a third-quarter burst and were never threatened in a double-digit victory. And in Saturday’s Game 3, Orlando stormed ahead by 19 in the first half and pushed the lead to as much as 34 points.
``That’s something that we didn’t always do in the past because we’d get a big lead and then we’d kind of relax and let down our guard,’’ said Magic forward Rashard Lewis, one of the Game 3 heroes with 22 points and four 3-pointers. ``Now, when we get a lead get keep our intensity and try to build on it. We did that (on Saturday) and were able to get some rest.’’
Rest is on the minds of the Magic players now. After sweeping Charlotte and waiting for Atlanta to emerge from a seven-game series against Milwaukee, the Magic got three days off and practiced for days. If Orlando can close out the Hawks tonight, they could be looking at another extended break what with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics locked into a 2-all series on the other side of the bracket.
In the past 12 years, four teams have swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs. The negative, however, is that three of those teams lost in the next round and failed to reach the NBA Finals.
But the Magic are willing to take their chances, hoping they can go fo’ (in the first-round series), fo’ (in the second-round series) and fo’ (as in days off this week).
``What we’ve done so far is just show that we’re steadily improving and trying to get better every game,’’ said Barnes, who has held Atlanta’s Joe Johnson to 25.8 percent shooting in the series. ``More than anything we’re looking at it as if we win we get some time off. But whether we win the series or sweep the series, we know that Boston and Cleveland still have some work to do and we’ll have some time to relax because this time of year everybody is banged up. But we want to try and close out this series as quickly as we can.’’
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 Denton
May 10, 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.
ATLANTA – With his Orlando Magic possibly on the verge of their second four-game sweep in as many weeks, small forward Matt Barnes was asked on Sunday about the prospect of recreating Moses Malone’s famous ``Fo’, Fo’ Fo’’’ prediction.
``Yeah, Moses Malone, baby,’’ said Barnes, one of the players old enough to recall the 27-year-old prediction. ``That would be great, wouldn’t it? It’s a lot easier said than done, but that’s what we’re going for.’’
Malone, one of the game’s greatest center, predicted before the 1983 playoffs that his Philadelphia Sixers would sweep through three rounds of the playoffs (following a first-round bye). That Sixers team did sweep New York in the second round and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals, but it lost a game in the Eastern Conference Finals after jumping ahead 3-0 in the series. That, of course, prompted Malone to revise the run to ``Fo’, Fi’, Fo.’’’
The Magic have been equally impressive so far in these playoffs, blanking the Charlotte Bobcats in the first round of the playoffs and doing the same against the battered and broken Atlanta Hawks. In taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, Orlando has won games by 43, 14 and 30 points. Those margins made the Magic just the fourth team ever to win two games in a series by at least 30 points – and the series might not extend past tonight’s Game 4.
A Magic team that is 7-0 in the playoffs, making it the only undefeated squad in the postseason, will go for the kill shot tonight at Philips Arena against Atlanta. This season alone, the Magic have beaten the Hawks six of seven meetings. Now, a seventh win would give the Magic another convincing playoff sweep against a solid foe.
``We just want to do the job every night and go out and dominate people,’’ Magic guard Vince Carter said. ``We’ve tried to go out and take the life from whoever was on the floor across from us.’’
The Magic have been able to break the will of Charlotte and Atlanta with their ability to build a lead and then dramatically add upon it. Part of the reason is Orlando possessing four all-star starters and the deepest bench in the NBA. But another factor is Orlando’s rising maturity and expanding killer instinct.
Against Atlanta alone, the Magic took a two-point first quarter lead in Game 1 and turned it into a 20-point spread by halftime and a 44-point bulge by the end of the third quarter. In Game 2, they rallied from down nine points with a third-quarter burst and were never threatened in a double-digit victory. And in Saturday’s Game 3, Orlando stormed ahead by 19 in the first half and pushed the lead to as much as 34 points.
``That’s something that we didn’t always do in the past because we’d get a big lead and then we’d kind of relax and let down our guard,’’ said Magic forward Rashard Lewis, one of the Game 3 heroes with 22 points and four 3-pointers. ``Now, when we get a lead get keep our intensity and try to build on it. We did that (on Saturday) and were able to get some rest.’’
Rest is on the minds of the Magic players now. After sweeping Charlotte and waiting for Atlanta to emerge from a seven-game series against Milwaukee, the Magic got three days off and practiced for days. If Orlando can close out the Hawks tonight, they could be looking at another extended break what with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics locked into a 2-all series on the other side of the bracket.
In the past 12 years, four teams have swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs. The negative, however, is that three of those teams lost in the next round and failed to reach the NBA Finals.
But the Magic are willing to take their chances, hoping they can go fo’ (in the first-round series), fo’ (in the second-round series) and fo’ (as in days off this week).
``What we’ve done so far is just show that we’re steadily improving and trying to get better every game,’’ said Barnes, who has held Atlanta’s Joe Johnson to 25.8 percent shooting in the series. ``More than anything we’re looking at it as if we win we get some time off. But whether we win the series or sweep the series, we know that Boston and Cleveland still have some work to do and we’ll have some time to relax because this time of year everybody is banged up. But we want to try and close out this series as quickly as we can.’’
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.
