Off-Day Open Thread: Where Do The Orlando Magic Stand?
by erivera7 on Dec 24, 2008 2:30 PM EST
in Off-Day Open Thread
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The battle deciding who's playing third fiddle to the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers is still being fought.
AP Photo/Reinhold Matay
Merry Christmas Eve everyone!
With the Magic's recent flurry of home wins against West heavyweights (San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers) this past week, it's worth checking out (in case anyone here has missed it) where the power rankings place Orlando and determine whether the critics are right or wrong.
ESPN (Marc Stein): 4th
Wanted to bump the Magic up to No. 3 after quality wins (at last) over the Blazers, Spurs and Lakers. If the Lakers weren't 10-3 against the rest of the top 15 -- closer than anyone to Boston's 9-1 -- we would have.
ESPN (John Hollinger): 4th
Is it too outlandish to say the top three teams in basketball might all be in the same conference?
The Magic are now within less than 0.1 of the Lakers in the current Power Rankings, and finish only one win behind L.A. in today's Playoff Odds , so certainly they have a case.
Sports Illustrated (Chris Mannix): 4th
Another week, another whooping of the Western Conference. With victories against Golden State, San Antonio and the Lakers, Orlando improved to 11-4 against the West. That's a far cry from 2007-2008, when the Magic were only 14-16 in interconference games.
Yahoo! Sports (Ball Don't Lie): 3rd
You could argue it away, say that this sort of production is the logical extension of what we saw in 2006-07, and that last year was a fluke. Hardly matters. Jameer Nelson (about 17 points and five assists) is killing it in only 32 minutes a night. Maybe Dick Vitale was right. I'd make a bad follow-up joke ("Nah..."), but it does burn a bit.
It's obvious the Magic are, at minimum, the 4th-best team in the NBA, but now with a victory over the Lakers .. the question is, can Orlando be regarded as the 3rd-best team in the NBA? It's certainly a topic worth debating.
What are everyone's thoughts? Should the Magic be considered a top three team following a head-to-head victory over the Lake Show? If not, would a victory over the New Orleans Hornets tomorrow afternoon make a difference? Or .. does it matter where Orlando currently stands amongst the elite teams (the Spurs theory)?
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Sure it’s fun ranking teams, but its absolutely meaningless. Beating the Lakers does not mean we are better than them, because there are so many variables that change from game to game. But it did show that we can compete with anyone, and thats all you can hope for during the regular season.
Good point
.. I tend to agree. Regular season games mean (almost) nothing, but can be used as a barometer to measure where a team stacks against the competition. The fact we all know the Magic can compete with anyone in the league is all that matters, in the grand scheme of things.
Senior Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website
I think the big thing for the Magic is that they're playing well enough to be considered at the fringe of championship contention
But at the same time, they can still improve as a team can’t they? They’re still not playing at their total peak yet have they? (Although, this team peaked in the regular season early last year didn’t they?)
No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on
Magic can still improve
Aside from Nelson’s unconscious play and Dwight’s concerted effort to dominate on BOTH sides of the court, the Magic can still improve. Lewis is playing well but he’s capable of more .. ditto with Turkoglu. Bogans’ numbers are down this season .. he can certainly pick it up a bit.
The defense is there (3rd in efficiency), but it’s the offense (ironically) that is down a bit this season (8th in efficiency). Certainly Orlando can pick it up a bit offensively. If that were to happen, then the Celtics and Cavs would need to watch out.
Senior Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website
I think this is the real Hedo
bad shot selection, bad shooting percentage. I love his ability to drive the ball, but it seems like he is doing that less. Just my opinion, but I think last year was a fluke. I hope he proves me wrong though.
This 1st quarter has to be a fluke, too
Hedo is shooting a career low. He’ll find a happy medium before the year is out, and that will mean better efficiency for the Magic offense.
'Coach, Dwight is a nice guy. Dwight don't hit anybody. But Superman will knock the crap out of you.' - D12
by Eyriq the Red on Dec 25, 2008 9:56 AM EST up reply actions
By 1st quarter, I mean 1st quarter of the season obviously
'Coach, Dwight is a nice guy. Dwight don't hit anybody. But Superman will knock the crap out of you.' - D12
by Eyriq the Red on Dec 25, 2008 9:57 AM EST up reply actions
Yeah, last year Hedo was a fluke but the sharp decline in numbers is a fluke too … he should veer back to the mean eventually this season. When? Hopefully sooner rather than later, though I wouldn’t mind him peaking at playoff time. That’s when we’ll need him the most anyway.
Senior Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website
Interesting you guys are sort of selling Hedo down the river
Cuz as Kings fans, we’re doing the same to Brad Miller because he came into the season out of shape. And part of that is because he just hasn’t been consistently as good as he was last season.
Interestingly enough though, there are quite a few fans interested in Hedo around Kings land. Hopefully, Petrie doesn’t make a play for Hedo. But, that’s me.
No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on
I think it is relevant
And fun too. Very rarely do teams sneak up on a championship. Even the Spurs never did that. If you take point differential and strength of schedule into account than you have a good sample from which to predict future playoff success.
It is early and there will still be some movement in the various power rankings. As things stand right now I’d have to say that having us a close 4th is accurate.
With Meer and Dwights dominance, the complimentary play of Hedo and Shard, and a deeper than anticipated bench, the Magic are looking really legit as a championship contender. Not just a mere dark horse like last year. I think that MP will be the x factor that can put us over the top.
'Coach, Dwight is a nice guy. Dwight don't hit anybody. But Superman will knock the crap out of you.' - D12
All that matters to me...
Is that Boston is better than we are. Personally, I think we are ahead of the Lakers and on the same level as Cleveland. All in all, if we aren’t better than Boston than none of this matters. Time to shape this team into the Spurs, not the Suns.
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