Tonight's Game: Atlanta Hawks at Orlando Magic
by Evan Dunlap on Oct 29, 2008 3:37 PM EDT
in 2008/2009 Previews
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PrintAtlanta Hawks at Orlando Magic, Oct 29, 2008 7:00 PM EDT
| 2008/2009 NBA Regular Season | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
@ |  |
| 0-0 | 0-0 | |
| October 29th, 2008 | ||
| Amway Arena | ||
| 7:00 PM | ||
| Sun Sports | ||
| Probable starters: | ||
| Mike Bibby | PG | Jameer Nelson |
| Joe Johnson | SG | Mickael Pietrus |
| Josh Smith | SF | Hedo Turkoglu |
| Al Horford | PF | Rashard Lewis |
| Zaza Pachulia | C | Dwight Howard |
Please see the updates below - BQR
That's right: the season's finally here. And yes, that's right, Zaza Pachulia figures to start tonight against the Magic, his former team, because incumbent starter Marvin Williams will serve a one-game suspension for this brutal hit on Celtics guard Rajon Rondo in last year's playoffs. This move may benefit the Hawks in the long run, as their beefier frontline gave Magic center Dwight Howard fits in these two teams' last preseason meeting; although he scored 29 points, he also committed 7 turnovers and shot a woeful 13-of-22 from the foul line.
What I'm most interested in tonight is the Magic's attitude. Orlando has an opportunity to make a statement by beating an inferior Hawks team that has surprisingly given them trouble over the last several seasons. The Magic will count on Mickael Pietrus, whom they signed to replace current Hawks reserve guard Maurice Evans in their starting lineup, to shut-down Hawks All-Star guard Joe Johnson. He's a top-shelf scorer and Pietrus needs to make sure the Hawks have to look elsewhere for their offense.
Offensively, the Magic will look to establish Howard inside, but can't neglect to let Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu go to work on the outside, either. Lewis will probably have an expanded role in the Magic's offense this season, vowing to be more aggressive and to not defer to his teammates as often. Nearly half of his field-goal attempts last season came from beyond the three-point arc, and although he connected at a blistering 40.9% clip, he also needs to make use of his underrated post-game. He may be able to work on his sharpshooting tonight if matched-up with the slower, less athletic (not to be confused with "slow" and "unathletic") Horford. If the Hawks elect to sic Josh Smith, a versatile defender, on Lewis, all bets are off, and the Magic will lean more heavily on Turkoglu to get buckets.
Keep an eye on how the second units of both teams fare tonight. Neither team has an a-list bench, but neither is totally deficient, either. Anthony Johnson, the Magic's backup point guard, spent part of last season with Atlanta and could give his new teammates insight into the Hawks' plays. If he gives good advice, the Magic could force turnovers and get easy buckets. But that street goes both ways, as Evans could give the Hawks similarly beneficial information.
Tip's at 7 PM. Look for the Magic to honor eight members of their inaugural team during the game. Go Magic.
UPDATE:
- Brian Schmitz says Stan Van Gundy will go with an eight-man rotation tonight. Tony Battie, Anthony Johnson, and J.J. Redick will probably be the first players off the bench. Where's Marcin Gortat? I don't know, but I hope we see some of him tonight;
- The Magic won tonight's game in 78% of Accuscore simulations;
- However, Schmitz thinks the Hawks might pull off the upset.
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Will the Magic be hoisting the banner for winning the Southeast division tonight? I hope so :3 If my mom can’t get off work in time, it looks like I’ll be joining my dad tonight at the game!
Banner
.. yeah, that’s pretty much standard in all major sports.
It’ll be nice to see another banner up there. Last year should be just the beginning.
Contributing Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website.
Class of 2009 - DePaul University
Good luck tonight
I’m most looking forward to Woodson sending in Mario West to guard JJ Redick in an end-of-the-quarter, final possession situation.
It’s the greatest basketball league in the world, I tells ya.
I mean, goodness
From Basketbawful:
The guy appeared in 64 regular season games and averaged around four minutes per. He saw so little PT that there are only two pictures of him on his Yahoo profile page…and both of those photos show him on the bench sporting crisp, clean warmups.
Of those 64 games, he played less than one minute in 20 of them. Of those 20 games, he played 10 seconds or less in 11 of them, including games of 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds (three times), 5 seconds, 6 seconds, 8 seconds (twice), 9 seconds, and 10 seconds.
Mike Woodson, everybody!
Nice 16-2 run by the Magic to get back in the game, but the Hawks have scored 7 in a row to get their lead back to double digits.
by Mike from Illinois on Oct 29, 2008 8:04 PM EDT reply actions
Halftime stats...
are not very pretty for the Magic. They are very fortunate to be down only by 7. Magic are shooting only 15 of 42 (35.7), including a horrific 2 of 14 (14.3) from three point range. The Magic are also struggling from the free throw line, shooting just 8 of 14 (57.1%).
Atlanta, meanwhile, is shooting 20 of 45 (44.4%) from the field, including just 2 of 12 from three point range and 5 of 9 from the free throw line. They are outrebounding the Magic 27-20, and have a 10/10 assist/turnover ratio, with the Magic at 5/9.
Nice job by Pietrus and Lewis, who each have 11 points.
by Mike from Illinois on Oct 29, 2008 8:26 PM EDT reply actions
"championship"
I don’t want to hear Dwight mention a championship until they can beat the Hawks. Can I read an amen?
If you're not having fun, stop participating.
by redandblue on Oct 29, 2008 9:26 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Uh ..
… ain’t it a little too early to criticize Dwight for that statement? Besides, Detroit and Boston look to Atlanta at home in the regular season and I recall their seasons went pretty well.
Contributing Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website.
Class of 2009 - DePaul University
Wish I Could Edit My Mistake ..
… *Detroit and Boston lost to Atlanta early last season at home in the regular season.
Contributing Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website.
Class of 2009 - DePaul University
this team is awful.
what is svg thinking? bringing in pietrus over the summer to put on guys like johnson, yet bogans is on him in crunch time.
hawks got every rebound, loose ball, lucky bounce, etc. completely outplayed, terrible start to the season.
www.last.fm/user/mhetrick04
Relax
… it’s one freakin’ game. A terrible start to the season is like … a 0-10 start. Goodness, ya’ll are a little too overreactive.
Contributing Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website.
Class of 2009 - DePaul University
oh, and someone tell anthony johnson that on a pick and roll involving howard, throwing the ball at his ankles while he rolls isn’t the best idea.
and stop shooting.
pietrus was busting his ass out there, and johnson was playing hard despite the mistakes, but the rest of them need to man up.
www.last.fm/user/mhetrick04
super dramatic time!
A truly painful, miserable game to witness live. I can’t even express it in words how awful it was to watch that game. Turnovers, horrible shooting, horrible FT, horrible scrambling for the ball as if we’re in the NFL, horrible horrible horrible.
So let’s get this game out of our systems and forget it ever happened.
And yes, they had the Southeast division banner up.
Yeah it’s definitely a little premature to blast the magic, but granted, it did come against a hawk team that isnt nearly as talented top-to-bottom. Ridiculous performance, these are the types of games we are supposed to win, especially opening night on the 20th anniversary. C’mon boyz!
Hawks
… you need to take into account two things.
1.) This is typical for the Hawks. In the beginning of every season for the past few years, they can apparently beat anyone. Once the season drags on though, the cats out of the bag.
2.) Like I alluded to earlier, the Hawks beat both Boston & Detroit on their home-courts to begin the season last year. So, I think the Magic can be excused a “bad” loss in that sense …
Contributing Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website.
Class of 2009 - DePaul University
The Hawks
didn’t beat either Detroit or Boston at all during the regular season last year much less beat either on the road, the latter limitation carrying over to their playoff series against the Celtics.
Hawks
… yeah, you’re right. I was thinking of 2006 when Atlanta beat Boston/Detroit at home. Good catch, my mistake.
Contributing Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website.
Class of 2009 - DePaul University
Most of the Magic’s critics say that the Magic are weak at guard and have a weak bench. Those two factors came into play tonight as Jameer Nelson had just 2 assists in 32 minutes along with 4 of 12 field goal shooting. Meanwhile, the Hawks bench outscored the Magic bench 27-11.
I do agree that we shouldn’t panic, even as bad as the loss was. The Magic can learn and improve from this. SVG will work the guys hard in practice before the Memphis game.
by Mike from Illinois on Oct 29, 2008 11:32 PM EDT reply actions
… bleh, those same critics sang the exact tune last year for Rondo, so even though I’d like to have a better PG, we can surely win with Nelson.
As for the ‘weak bench’, that’s a bunch of BS. I’m comfortable with J.J., Battie, Lee, Bogans, Gortat, hell, even Anthony Johnson. I think that criticism will be off this year, as I think our bench will be alright. They don’t need to save the world or anything, just give our Big 3 a blow.
Contributing Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website.
Class of 2009 - DePaul University
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