Trips Down Memory Lane: ESPN Remembers Two Magic/Bulls Playoff Games

I've come to accept that, even with Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard, the Magic aren't on most sports fans' radar, and haven't been for quite some time. That's why I was delighted to see these two items on ESPN.com recently.

First, and rather depressingly, is Kelly Dwyer's look back at Game 1 of the Magic's Eastern Conference Finals series against Chicago. The Bulls crushed us by 38 points, we went on to lose the series, Shaquille O'Neal left us that summer, and we still haven't fully recovered. Still, Magic fans can look forward to reading Dwyer's shots at Brian Hill. This one was my favorite:

3Q, 11:50: Things are about to fall apart for Orlando. Pippen grabs an offensive rebound after a Jordan miss, stops on the baseline (with a live dribble) some eight feet away from the hoop, and every Magic defender runs away from him. Pippen gets an uncontested layup. Hardaway throws it away on the next possession - the Magic were trying to post up Dennis Scott on Ron Harper. That's Brian Hill's answer. More post-ups for Dennis Scott.

But the Worldwide Leader did have some good news for Magic fans. The ever-loathsome Bill Simmons has selected the Magic's Game 6 victory over Chicago from 1995 as the last of seven games to replayed on ESPN Classic on Wednesday nights leading up to the 2007/2008 NBA season. The series starts this Wednesday with a Cavs/Celtics game from 1992 and runs through the Magic/Bulls game on October 24th. Get your DVRs ready!

But Simmons wouldn't be Simmons if he weren't disparaging cities for no real reason. In his NFL picks this week, he details why fans in Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, and Miami hate him before writing this nugget of joy about the City Beautiful:

(Next up: Orlando! If you ever wanted to know why the terrorists hate us, just spend a week there and it will all make sense. I've been there twice and there won't be a third time. No wonder Shaq fled for L.A.)

Feel free to send him a nasty email. I have better things to do than to personally respond to the musings of a hack writer with unwarranted grudges.

A final note of mild relevance: the Nuggets have agreed to trade Reggie Evans and the draft rights to Ricky Sanchez to Philadelphia for Steven Hunter (remember him?) and Bobby Jones. This move ensures the Magic won't be acquiring Evans, one of the league's premier rebounders, despite rumors that they had been talking to Denver about a possible trade.

NBA Schedule Unkind to Magic

I came home from work today fully intending to write a long-winded post about the Orlando Magic's 2007/2008 schedule, but when I opened my RSS aggregator, I saw that Four Free Throws beat me to it (rated PG-13 for language). Here's an excerpt that illustrates how hard this season will be:

If those 11 away games in November aren't enough, then the fact that we play 14 of our 30 games against Western Conference opponents in the first two months should sway your opinion against the NBA's scheduling geniuses. Oh, and 9 of those games are AWAY games. Yes, that's right, almost TWO THIRDS of our away games against the western conference are in the first two months. That's brutal.

To add insult to injury, the Magic will be featured on national television exactly once: April 5th against the Cavaliers in Cleveland.

I understand that the Magic aren't a big-market team, but shouldn't the addition of Rashard Lewis to the team draw some sort of national interest? Shouldn't the opportunity to see Dwight Howard dunk all over people make people want to see the Magic? It's like we were a mediocre team last year or something.

Oh, wait.

Anyway, here is a list of ten eleven Magic games to look forward to next season:

Date	Opponent	Time	Comment
2 Nov		7:00 PM	Our first shot at revenge against the team that beat us 8 times last season.
10 Nov		7:00 PM	Fans in Orlando get their opportunity to boo Grant Hill and his Suns teammates into oblivion.
18 Nov		6:00 PM	The Garnett/Allen/Pierce trio makes its Orlando debut.
21 Nov	at	8:30 PM	We'll find out just how well the Magic measure-up to the world-champion Spurs.
24 Nov		7:00 PM	Stan Van Gundy tries to outcoach his teacher as his Magic take on divsion-rivals Miami Heat
26 Nov	at	10:00 PM	Dwight Howard vs. Greg Oden. 'Nuff said.
15 Dec		7:00 PM	The Magic's first opportunity to crush Darko Milicic's soul.
31 Dec	at	2:00 PM	We get our first crack at Chicago, one of the East's top teams.
2 Jan		7:00 PM	We ring in the New Year against New Jersey, a team against which we'll be vying for playoff position.
4 Feb		7:00 PM	The Mavericks come to town to face us as part of a five-game homestand against teams that made the playoffs last year. The season could hang in the balance.
16 April		7:00 PM	We close out the season against Washington, a tough divisional opponent. Given how evenly matched we are with them, this game could have huge playoff implications.

UPDATE: In my haste to get this entry posted, I forgot to add one important link. You can click here to purchase 2007/2008 Orlando Magic season-ticket plans. I'll let you know when individual game tickets can be purchased.

Are the Magic a Playoff Team? Discussion From Around the Web

• Unsilent Majority: "Tough break [sic] Orlando"
  
• Ballhype: The Magic are a team "Expecting to make playoffs but probably won't"
• Basketbawful: The Bucks and Magic will fight a losing battle for the final playoff spot.

(Kudos to Henry Abbott of TrueHoop for publishing this wrapup, from which the above quotes came)

Yes, the Trade To End All Trades has occurred, prompting every NBA fan with a pulse and a keyboard to make their playoff picks for next season. Nevermind the fact that the playoffs are eight-and-a-half months away.

Kevin Garnett's arrival in Boston may have knocked the Magic out of playoff contention.
Photo by Charles Krupa, the Associated Press

I should note that not all bloggers are taking a negative view of us. J.E. Skeets writes:

Who makes the playoffs? Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, and Boston are locks. Miami, though they'll still sneak into the playoffs, won't even be the best team in Florida. Simply put: '06-07 Magic + Rashard Lewis - Brian Hill (!) = approximately 10 more wins. Yes, I think Orlando will win 50 games this year. Book it.

Brendan Sonnone of Believing in Magic also, uh, believes in us. Homerism? Perhaps. Worth reading? Yes.

So, with rare exception, most bloggers aren't giving us a chance. But ESPN's experts are a little kinder:

Does the addition of Rashard Lewis make the Magic a postseason lock?

Abbott: Like Boston, I feel the Magic need a top-flight point guard before they can be considered a reliable top Eastern team. And again, I'm feeling that barring a surprise there aren't a lot of Eastern spots up for grabs.

Hollinger: Again, not so fast. The Magic lost nearly as much as they gained between Hill, Darko and Diener, and their neighborhood just got tougher.

Stein: A lock, yes. Just because Lewis is way -- W-A-Y -- overpaid doesn't mean I don't like the idea of pairing Rashard with Dwight Howard. As long as we're only talking about finishing in the top eight, sure. Howard and Lewis aren't enough to lift Orlando to contender status, but those two get you in the playoffs in spite of some obvious holes around them.

Thorpe: Barring injury, probably yes. Especially with the new coach. They can play big or small effectively, and Dwight Howard should only keep growing as a player. Jameer Nelson is obviously a key, as is getting production from J.J. Redick. I like both to have better seasons this year.

Bucher: No lock, but I like their chances, as much because they hired Stan Van Gundy as having added Lewis to a team that squeaked into the playoffs last year. Boston is the only certifiable lottery team from last year joining the playoff mix and with the Wizards still a mixed bag and huge question marks about Miami, the Magic have as good a shot as they did last year. Which was good enough.

So they aren't singing our praises, but they aren't hanging us out to dry, either. But I get the feeling that it won't matter what we do when the season starts; we'll be disrespected no matter what. Let me explain: last year, we got off to a scorching 13-4 start, beating the Western-leading Jazz in Utah along the way. We were the toast of the league. Seriously.

Our season unraveled soon thereafter and we just squeaked into the playoffs, where we were summarily pounded by Detroit. We won a combined 10 games in December and January; to put that misery into perspective, we got our 10th overall victory three-and-a-half weeks into the season. The bottom dropped out. We were laughingstocks.

Dwight Howard couldn't have been satisfied with the way last season played out.
Photo by Gary W. Green, the Orlando Sentinel

So, even if we get off to a hot start this season, everyone will say we won't keep it up, pointing to last season as evidence. If we get off to a cold start, everyone will say we're paying the price for overpaying Rashard Lewis. And if we get off to a lukewarm start... it's still lukewarm. We won't get any respect.

All that lead me to write this entry. I'm playing the disrespect card and I'm not afraid to do so. The stuff the bloggers at the top wrote? That's bulletin-board material. We know that all too well. Remember when T-Mac said "now that we're in the second round" after going up 3-1 on the Pistons, only to lose out the rest of the way? You think that quote wasn't plastered all over the Pistons' locker room?

I don't claim to be read by anyone remotely connected with the Magic, so this entry won't motivate the team. What it should do is motivate its fans to stand and cheer, loudly and proudly, for their team. Let them talk smack about us. Let them write us off. We'll show 'em.

It worked for Golden State.

Photo by Ben Margot, the Associated Press

It can work for us.

So, what do you think? Are we a playoff team next year? I posed this question in a poll, but Blogger is goofing-up on me and it won't work, so it's stuck at the bottom of the page below my picture until further notice.

End of an Era, Such as it Was: Darko Milicic, Orlando Magic Part Ways

The Orlando Sentinel's Brian Schmitz reported earlier this afternoon that the Magic have broken off contract discussions with Marc Cornstein, who represents Magic free-agent Darko Milicic. The impasse ends any chance that Milicic will re-sign with the Magic.

"We've moved on and Darko's moved on," Magic General Manager Otis Smith said.

Moved on from what, exactly? Oh yeah, the idea that Milicic would pair with franchise cornerstone Dwight Howard to form the NBA's most formidable frontcourt since Robinson/Duncan and dominate the Eastern Conference for the next decade. They showed glimpses that it could be accomplished. Consider the Magic's defeat of the Chicago Bulls on February 26th of this year: Milicic and Howard combined for 35 points, 32 rebounds, and 7 blocked shots. The Bulls, as a team, had only 31 rebounds, making the duo's totals even more impressive.

Darko Milicic and Dwight Howard will never get the chance to dominate the East side-by-side.
Photo by Gary W. Green, Orlando Sentinel

Yeah, well so much for that.

I don't know what to make of Darko's time here. For every brilliant performance, like the one against Chicago to which I alluded, there was a boneheaded one, like the one against Toronto in which he played seven minutes, scored no points and was ejected after receiving his second technical foul for arguing a call made against him.



The fact that we paid a high price to acquire him only added to the frustration with his inconsistency: we gave up Kelvin Cato's valuable expiring contract and our first-round draft choice this season. The draft choice turned out to be two-guard Rodney Stuckey, who has played well in summer-league action. Along with Darko, we received point guard Carlos Arroyo.

Essentially, we Magic fans have to deal not only with our hypothetical questions, but also the fact that the team is now down a first-round draft pick in a talented draft class and $8 million -- the value of Cato's contract -- in cap space. The net return? A backup point guard whose contract will expire after one more season... at only $4 million.

If the Magic are unable to shore up the power-forward position, and/or Darko Milicic develops into an All-Star, Otis Smith is going to have a lot of explaining to do to Magic fans, who are no stranger to botched free-agency periods. But this is not the place for a discussion about Shaquille.

It's amazing how often I can run this picture and not have it lose its relevance.

When Grant Hill left, I wished him good luck; the team and the city got the chance to know him over the course of seven seasons. His reputation as a nice guy preceded him anyway. With Darko, I can't offer such wishes. It's not that I dislike him; it's just that he's as enigmatic a player as this team has ever had, and there's no telling what he wants.

And to tell you the truth, I don't think he knows either.

ESPN's Chris Sheridan: Shaq Nearly Took Scott Skiles' Head Off

As a diversion from the Magic's 2-0 playoff deficit to the Pistons, I thought I'd pass along this article about Scott Skiles and Shaquille O'Neal by Chris Sheridan, an ESPN NBA Insider. In light of tonight's playoff game between the Chicago Bulls, who are coached by Skiles, and the Miami Heat, for which O'Neal plays, Sheridan decided to investigate a fight that took place between the two when they were members of the Magic. Here's a primer:

"[Skiles] always got under my skin. He was like a little gnat," O'Neal said. "He just used to talk too much. Talk about nothing."

O'Neal gave me that quote with a sly grin on his face, no doubt remembering the time the two of them wound up wrestling on the floor at a gym in Los Angeles back in 1994 when Skiles was a wily old veteran and O'Neal was in his second season as a pro, playing for the Orlando Magic.

"He swung, but I ducked under it and ended up in kind of a headlock," Skiles told me Monday morning when I asked him to retell the story of the day Shaq threw a punch at him and he lived to tell about it.

It's an interesting and hilarious read. I wish I were old enough to remember those days.

Hold On For Dear Life: Magic 88, Celtics 86

If there's a textbook definition of "backing in to the playoffs", I imagine that tonight's white-knuckle victory over Boston matches it almost exactly. After pummeling the Celtics 30-19 in the third quarter to take a 19-point lead into the fourth, the Celtics stormed back and nearly stole one from us.

Well, maybe I should check that. The Celtics didn't so much as storm back as much as we gave them an engraved invitation to beat us. We didn't hit any shots over the last 6:44 of the period, only mustering three free throws over that span. Meanwhile, we messed around with the ball so badly that it nearly cost us the game. The full play-by-play is available here, but a summary of our miscues in that stretch is shown in this chart:


If there's a better case for why the Magic need a go-to scorer, I'd like to see it. Jameer Nelson, who has made himself our top clutch option this season, committed the most actions that resulted in a Boston possession. He had an otherwise good game before melting down here, which is exactly what he needs to AVOID if he is going to carry this team for the future.


It also occurs to me that Grant Hill is conspicuous in his absence from that chart; he didn't even take a shot. As the veteran leader, you'd think that he'd be getting the ball in these tight situations. I put some of the blame for Hill's lack of usage on Jameer; after all, it's his job to GIVE TEAMMATES THE BALL when they need it. At this point, I'm about 85% sure that Carlos Arroyo should be playing more minutes. He has more experience. The entire population of Puerto Rico has been saying this for the past month.

I know I sound angry and bitter, but I assure you that I'm glad we made the playoffs. It's been entirely too long, and it'll be good for the youngsters to get some postseason experience. We're virtually locked in to the 8th seed, which means a first-round matchup with Detroit, which means a fairly early trip home. Nonetheless, It's good that we'll be playing more than 82 games this season.

What I'm most concerned about now is momentum. The bottom dropped out tonight, and I can only hope that we're able to duplicate our otherwise solid play this month. Look at it like this: we were two last-second Hedo Turkoglu blocked shots away from going into overtime with the Celtics in a game we lead by 19 points. OMINOUS.


Anyway, we visit Washington on Tuesday, which got thumped badly by Chicago earlier today, so the Wizards will certainly be pumped up for that game. We can't afford to let up now that we've clinched because there's still a chance, however slim, that we could leapfrog them in the standings and thus draw a more favorable first-round playoff opponent. So, sadly, it appears as though we've seen the last of James Augustine and Travis Diener.

Bill Walton Would Be So Proud: Magic 116, Grizzles 89

Anyone who has watched a nationally televised NBA game in the past 15 years has heard color commentator and former NBA player Bill Walton say his catchphrase at least 28 times: Throw it down, big fella!

The Magic sure heeded Walton's advice last night in a big victory over the Grizzlies. Dwight Howard, who leads the league in dunks, got 9 slam opportunities against a team not interested in boxing out, defense, or anything else in particular. But it wasn't just Dwight getting in on the action; Trevor Ariza threw down a pretty reverse on a fast break after a great steal, Darko Milicic dropped a tomahawk after getting a beautiful pass from Hedo Turkoglu, Grant Hill wound back the clock and slammed a tomahawk down, and Tony Battie managed a nice two-handed stuff in traffic. Simply put, the Magic were scoring at will. Granted, it was against the league's worst team, but let me repeat: the Magic were scoring at will.


One can point to any number of reasons for tonight's offensive outburst: defensive disinterestedness on the part of the Grizzlies, several players just "feeling it" from the field, etc. But what interests me most is that the Magic were running hard and playing well in transition. I have to wonder how well this team would have fared this season if they adopted a run-and-gun style earlier, which would minimize the its deficiency at point guard because it wouldn't be working out of a set halfcourt offense. That said, some teams are able to dictate the pace of games and would be able to prevent the Magic from running: Miami, in particular, can force even the high-octane Suns into an ugly, grind-it-out defensive struggle. But with just six games left, it seems like it'd be as good a time as any to experiment with a more free-flowing style of play. What do the Magic have to lose? A playoff berth?

Oops.

Yeah... about that. Despite the win, the Magic were unable to gain any ground on the New Jersey Nets for the 7th seed in the East, nor were they able to create any separation from the 9th-place Indiana Pacers. Both of those teams won their games last night and thus the playoff picture remains unchanged. Does that fact minimize the meaning of this game somehow?

The answer is, perhaps surprisingly, no. The Magic's past 3 losses were all soul-crushing: a double-OT loss to Boston, an OT loss to Minnesota, and a loss to Toronto in which the Magic lead by 13 after the first period. A game such as last night's can lift a team's spirits. It's not just that they won; it's that everything went their way. The easy dunks were not the only things that went right for Orlando: Dwight Howard banked in a free throw, Keyon Dooling hit jump shots at the closing seconds of both the first and third quarters, Grant Hill's dunk came during the waning seconds of the first half, and all twelve players scored.

What does the past tell us about how the Magic might perform tonight? Admittedly, not much. The Magic are 4-4 in games played subsequent to victories in which the margin of victory was 15 or greater. In the most recent case, the Magic lost at home to Chicago by 24 points after beating Milwaukee by 18, a turnaround of 42 points. As I documented in an earlier entry, the only constant in this Magic season has been consistent inconsistency.


Tonight's game against Milwaukee is of the utmost importance. Win big, big fellas.

Eponymous Minds: Raptors 111, Magic 108

If you had told me yesterday afternoon that the Magic would score 37 points in the first quarter of their game against Toronto, I would have laughed. The Magic's offense has been, well, offensive throughout the season, ranking 29th out of 30 teams in terms of points scored per game. Further, if you had told me that their 37-point first quarter would establish a 13-point lead on Toronto, I would have laughed harder.

But if you had told me that the Magic would end up losing the game because they couldn't hang on to the basketball and they couldn't defend the three-point line, I would have no trouble believing it. Those were the storylines in recent losses to Boston and Minnesota, and they were the storyline in last night's game as well. Say what you will about the questionable loose-ball foul called on Grant Hill after scrapping for a rebound with Raptors All-Star Chris Bosh, which lead to two made free throws and established the final margin, that didn't lose us the game. No, what cost us the game were turnovers and poor three-point defense. Again.

See the short guy on the left? That's Jameer Nelson watching as the man he is supposed to be guarding, T.J. Ford, blows by him and passes the ball out to the wing for a likely three-point attempt. Great D, Jameer.

The Magic committed 23 turnovers -- six more than their league-leading season average of 17 -- which lead to 31 Toronto points. More than half of those turnovers can be attributed to the tandem of Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu, both of whom had otherwise good games; Howard broke out of an offensive slump for 18 points and also grabbed 15 rebounds, and Turkoglu scored a career-high 37 points to go with 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. What's astonishing about these turnovers is just how good this club would be if it could cut down on them. Imagine briefly that the Magic committed their season average of 17 turnovers. That's a high total, yes, and certainly far from ideal. However, when consider that the Raptors scored 1.37 points off each turnover, then multiply that figure by 17 and subtract the difference from the actual total, you'll see that the Raptors would have scored 8 fewer points and thus would have lost the game.

The three-point shot also felled the Magic. They allowed Toronto to shoot 9-of-19 (47.4%) from downtown. The Magic shot a better from long range at 50%, but that number is deceptive because the Magic made and attempted fewer three-pointers, going 6-of-12. Thus, the Magic were -9 on three-pointers in a game they only lost by three points.

So the Magic waste another precious home game; a career night from Hedo Turkoglu; a 52% team field-goal shooting performance; and a strong effort on the glass, outrebounding Toronto by a 41-27 margin. What does this game mean for the playoffs? The Nets' thumping of the Hawks solidified their lead over the Magic for the 7th playoff spot in the East and a likely first-round matchup with either Cleveland or Chicago, both of which the Magic have beaten so far this season. As it stands, the Magic have the 8th and final seed and would face Detroit, a team they have failed to beat this season. And as Brian Schmitz pointed out in his game recap, the Nets effectively have an extra game on the Magic because they own the tiebreaker.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the eerie accuracy of this blog's name as it pertains to last night's game. The Magic finished the first quarter with a 13-point lead, then watched as it dwindled to 5 points at the end of the first half, then watched as Toronto outscored them 32-22 in the third quarter to take the lead for good. The Magic shot well in the 3rd, going 7-of-13 for 53.8%. However, they also had 8 turnovers in the quarter, which lead to 11 Toronto points.
Third quarter collapse, indeed.
Postscript - As if Brian Schmitz's blog entry about Darko's unhappiness didn't tell us enough, the erstwhile Human Victory Cigar further demonstrated his displeasure by picking up two technical fouls for arguing a dubious foul call and thus earning himself an ejection. All three of Darko's technicals this year have come against the Raptors, and last night's ejection was the first of his career. He finished the game with no points (0-0 field goals), two rebounds, and three personal fouls in 7 minutes.