The Orlando Magic

[killa3312]

Seriously, Ginobili is a great player, but it's fucking annoying how many calls the guy gets. That sixth foul he drew on Howard was laughably bad.

 

[CHIMOCHIS]

MANU .. one of the best players to ever play

 

[Karma]

Another post crying foul over Howard clocking up 6 fouls, shocking.

If the playoffs start right now, Orlando have the toughest matchup first up in the East. Charlotte will be pesky although I see orlando progressing. Boston will be stoked if Miami cling onto 5th, Atlanta likewise with the Bogutless Bucks, and whoever finishes 8th will likely forfeit.

Looking forward to Charlotte frustrating the hell out of the Magic, albeit in vein.

 

[ButterMPancakes]

Another post crying foul over Howard clocking up 6 fouls, shocking.

If the playoffs start right now, Orlando have the toughest matchup first up in the East. Charlotte will be pesky although I see orlando progressing. Boston will be stoked if Miami cling onto 5th, Atlanta likewise with the Bogutless Bucks, and whoever finishes 8th will likely forfeit.

Looking forward to Charlotte frustrating the hell out of the Magic, albeit in vein.

Without Bogut, the Bucks could very well drop to the 7 seed.

 

[ButterMPancakes]

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I bet Wince looked around for LeBron before trying it.

 

[Karma]

Without Bogut, the Bucks could very well drop to the 7 seed.

The Bucks are sweep material. All four home teams will be hoping for them. Toronto, who should hold onto 8th are dangerous enough to snatch a win. Miami might take a game or two at most off a Boston or Atlanta. It is Charlotte that you don't want. You (meaning whoever plays them) may get through in 4-5 games but it'll be a dog fight.

 

[Zog]

The Bucks are sweep material. All four home teams will be hoping for them. Toronto, who should hold onto 8th are dangerous enough to snatch a win. Miami might take a game or two at most off a Boston or Atlanta. It is Charlotte that you don't want. You (meaning whoever plays them) may get through in 4-5 games but it'll be a dog fight.

I would be surprised if we lose a game to Toronto. They're dead last in the league in defensive efficiency (meaning worse than NY, GS). They simply try to outscore you. That won't work against good teams in the playoffs. Perhaps if they were matched up against Boston or Atlanta they could steal a game.

I agree Charlotte is the last team any of the top 4 would want. They actually play defense and their grind-it-out style is what you want to do in the playoffs.

 

[Absinthe]

Charlotte will likely win two games against whoever they play. That's what happens when a team plays hounding defense. They'd be a top four Eastern conference team if they had any other scoring options besides Stephen Jackson.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Honestly, the only way I play Z is against the Lakers and the MAgic if and only if they play their two big guys. If we are to face the Raptors and the Hawks it will be very difficult to watch Z guard Bargnani and/or deal with the athleticism of the Hawks.

Z actually has always and will always continue to give Atlanta problems. Horford cannot handle Z's length and usually isn't very effective against him. There's a reason they tried so hard to sign him.

 

[wuck]

Now that it's official...

Go Bobcats.

 

[rabman_gold]

Wow...

Even with the Heat winning, if the Bucks didn't have such a more profound conference record, then it would still be a race. So Charlotte is facing Orlando...

Plus, even if the Lakers win the last two games, because they tied the series, it would go to their respective conference records. Orlando has done much better, so they get the homecourt against the Lakers too.

This is the team that will challenge us terribly. I don't feel I'm over-estimating a team that got us good last year. I don't trust anything. I think it could be a series we win, but it'll be very close. And once we get past that, then we may face the Lakers in another classic...

Damn. How the hell did Larry Bird manage to keep playing 7 game series in the later rounds and STILL win championships? That's the battle LeBron will have to suck up to right now. Oh well. Let the battle begin when it comes.

 

[ButterMPancakes]

So, I FINALLY got around to watching the Cavs v. Magic game (the 3rd one), and um... what happened to Shaq playing Howard 1 on 1? Was Shaq in foul trouble the entire game?


- I'm only watching bits of the 3rd and 4th quarter, but in the 3rd and 4th I picked up about 5 plays were Shaq was on Howard and the Cavs doubled. I can only assume he was either in foul trouble or a giant hypocrite.

 

[pimppuffweet]

So, I FINALLY got around to watching the Cavs v. Magic game (the 3rd one), and um... what happened to Shaq playing Howard 1 on 1? Was Shaq in foul trouble the entire game?


- I'm only watching bits of the 3rd and 4th quarter, but in the 3rd and 4th I picked up about 5 plays were Shaq was on Howard and the Cavs doubled. I can only assume he was either in foul trouble or a giant hypocrite.

Had 3 fouls with 5:30ish left in the 2nd, picked up 4th in the 3rd and 5th foul early in the 4th

 

[chiefwahoo]

Simmons weighs in on the Cavs/Magic and the Turkoglu/Carter dynamic that we've been arguing about for months... his thoughts on VC mirror many Cavs fans' :chuckles:

I can prove that the 2010 Orlando-Cleveland series will be different than the 2009 Orlando-Cleveland series

Wrote it before, I'll write it again: the 2009 Magic were kryptonite to the 2009 Cavs because of the Turkoglu/Lewis duo, which could only happen because of Dwight Howard's ability to handle the shotblocking/rebounding by himself. Teams had someone to cover Turkoglu or Lewis, but not both of them. It just worked. Swapping Turkoglu for Vince squandered that trump card. Throw in Jamison, Shaq and LeBron's vengeance factor and this feels like a totally different series than last year. Of course ...

I can prove that you can't win four straight playoff series by relying on Vince Carter

You know why? Because he's Vince Carter! Ask the Nets fans about him. Ask the Raptors fans about him. They know.

I can prove that Magic fans just muttered to themselves, "We don't need to rely on Vince to win four straight series -- we had a +12.2 point differential after the All-Star Break, you jackass."

My counter to your muttering: Where are you going in the last three minutes of a tight game? Last spring, you cleared out for Hedo and let him create shots for himself or someone else. Worked all the way to the Finals. What about this spring? Dwight Howard takes ten shots a game and disappears down the stretch. According to 82games.com, Howard averaged 16.0 crunch-time points per 48 minutes, such a staggeringly low number that Al Horford (17.0) and Udonis Haslem (23.9) topped him, Andrew Bogut (16.0) tied him and Joakim Noah (15.6) nearly tied him. And that's fine. He was still the third-most valuable player in the league. (At least in my opinion.) But you can't win in the playoffs without someone creating quality shots in the last four minutes.

MAGIC NUMBERS

Orlando's "clutch" numbers according to 82games.com (4th quarter or OR, less than 5 mins left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points)

2010 PLAYER|PPG PER 48|FGA PER 48|FTM PER 48|FG%|RECORD
Vince Carter|39.8|29.6|13.4|40.0%|16-13
Jameer Nelson|23.5|22.0|4.3|38.7%|10-12
JJ Redick|21.7|12.2|8.7|42.9%|11-10
Rashard Lewis|20.9|14.1|7.3|41.9%|17-12
Dwight Howard|16.0|5.8|9.8|53.8%|20-13
Mikael Peitrus|14.1|10.3|2.6|37.5%|6-6
Matt Barnes|10.0|6.3|2.5|40.0%|10-8

2009 PLAYER|PPG PER 48|FGA PER 48|FTM PER 48|FG%|RECORD
Jameer Nelson|34.7|22.4|7.2|51.6%|12-7
Rashard Lewis|28.0|15.0|9.3|51.1%|26-13
Hedo Turkoglu|26.6|20.1|10.8|35.7%|25-12
Dwight Howard|19.7|6.3|11.9|61.1%|22-14

So where's it coming from? Jameer Nelson has slipped since his shoulder injury last season. Lewis's numbers have fallen off without Turkoglu. That leaves Vince. (See the sidebar to the right.) Is anyone buying this? What happens the first time someone gives him a hard playoff foul on a drive? What happens if he tweaks his ankle and has to play through pain? What happens if he has menstrual cramps? (Jokes! I'm joking. Stop it. Settle down.) What happens (hypothetically) in a Game 6 in Charlotte or Atlanta, with Orlando trailing 3 games to 2 and facing a giant upset, tie game, two minutes to play, win or go home? Who gets the ball? Who takes over? Who is everyone looking at and saying, "Save us?" That's right ... Vince Carter. The most disappointing superstar of his generation.

You might be an optimist. You might believe in redemption. You might believe that, after A-Rod, Manning, Duke and Kobe, the thought of Vince Carter being the top creator on an NBA champ isn't far-fetched.

I am a pessimist. At least when Vince is involved. Even playing for his most talented team ever, I can prove that he will destroy them in the end. Why? Because he's Vince Carter. Did you miss the last 12 years or something? Why do you think Orlando got him for 20 cents on the dollar? Why do you think Toronto fans still jeer him lustily even though he left six years ago? Why do you think Kidd pushed for a trade to Dallas? Orlando fans, remember we had this conversation when there's a big playoff game in a few weeks and Vince is rolling around on the floor like he's been shot as you're screaming, "Get up! GET UP VINCE! HE BARELY FOULED YOU! IT'S GAME SEVEN! GET THE EFF UP!!!!!!!!!!!!"

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/part2/100416&sportCat=nba

 

[ButterMPancakes]

Yeah, no team can rely on a guy who has made a living making clutch shots and just so happened to be stuck with shitty teams for his entire career.


Sure, the Wince gets extremely old, but to say he had a real shot at winning with the teams that he played but didn't because he gave up is just moronic. Oh wait, it's Bill Simmons... shouldn't this guy be picturing LeBron James half naked wearing an LA Clippers jersey or something?