even though i’m THRILLED the the magic pulled out the win, this game make the eastern conference (minus the cavs, perhaps even the BULLS as least so far as effort is concerned) look terrible.

i guess we made history once again against these guys :-p GREAT WIN

This was a TEAM victory, and one we REALLY needed for emotional lift. Too many heroes to single out; Howard, CLEARLY, Lewis, absolutely, Gortat and JJ, splendid, even Jameer.

On Carter… I KNOW he WILL come out of THIS slump in time for the playoffs and contribute to our Championship drive, but…

It’s SAD, but clearly he’s on the way DOWN, and the MOST disturbing element is NOT his play, but his THINKING: Come CRUNCH TIME, he’s making the WORST decisions. He ALMOST KILLED us, single-handedly on that critical 4th Qt. takeaway when we had a chance to tie the game. Stan just can’t put him in during the last 3 minutes of a critical, close game: HE’LL THROW THE GAME AWAY! He can’t help it; he’s CLEARLY hurting; but, the competitor in him WILL drive him to KEEP shooting away, even 24-26 foot bombs and airballs. He’s SOO desperate to work his way out, that he just doesn’t see the BIG picture! And the Magic just CAN’T put their whole outlook, both game-to-game, and extended, into that kind of UNFIT hands…

BUT… other than THAT; the whole TEAM now seems to be OK!

…Categorizing Nelson as a “fading star” and “no longer a spring chicken” is taking it a bit too far. He makes valid points about Garnett, Wallace, and Carter, but Nelson is only 27. That is way too young for someone’s skills to start diminishing because of “old age.” His problems are due to nagging injuries. But, he has started to round back into form lately.

Also, J Will was kept in the game because he was playing well with a group that got the Magic back into the game. It wasn’t because Nelson was playing that badly. He was good in the 1st quarter and mediocre the rest of the way. He wasn’t stinking up the place.

I mean, Orlando and the Celtics have their issues. The Lakers have looked decent, but not great, and they’ve suffered some injuries as well. And yeah, the Cavs have the best record, but they’re essentially the same team they were last year, and they had the best record last year too.

To me, the Celtics are in the most trouble of those four — their stars are aging and (in some cases) out of shape, and it doesn’t appear that’s going to change for the better as the season wears on.

The Lakers? Well, Pau probably isn’t going to be injured any more. But I continue to suspect Kobe has lost a step. The stats don’t reflect any HUGE difference, but I’ve said for a long time that Kobe is going to fall very quickly when it happens. He’s a guy who’s never had great skills at getting the easy shot, but he’s been awesome at making the tough shot. Players like that rarely seem to age well. Meanwhile, Derek Fisher becomes less and less acceptable with time. Aside from Gasol, I don’t see where this team is going to improve late in the season.

The Cavs, meanwhile… they have to be relying on more minutes from Shaq, right? Who knows how that’ll turn out? Probably better than last year’s backup big man situation, but still. Beyond that, West’s various struggles have left them with a major hole at SG, and of course Varejao has upped his game. But any team with only three scorers in double digits — and one of them (Shaq) is at only 11.3 and not known as a versatile scoring force — is a big question mark in the long run.

I mean, if you want a team that’s played up to (or above?) expectations, look at Denver. The trouble with Denver is, where are they going to look better than they have? They’re 31-14 now, and that’s great, but it’s probably also their ceiling.

Going to bypass Dallas and Atlanta for now… they’re both viable dark horse candidates, but barring a trade, they simply have less raw talent than the top tier. (Even Denver, probably.) Doesn’t mean they can’t win, but they’d have to pull some upsets.

Which leaves the Magic… and listen. I’m biased, but there’s no question we’re going to get more from Lewis in the second half than we have in the first. There’s no question we’re going to get more from Nelson than we have. And it’s not really feasible to me that we’re going to get less from Carter than we have, either. Yes, Redick and Anderson (and maybe Williams) have exceeded expectations — though I would argue all three of them are performing at sustainable paces. But of the contending teams, they’re the one which most clearly has another gear they haven’t hit yet. Dwight’s got something like his ‘08-09 form going again… we’ve seen signs that Shard and Jameer are catching up.

It’s weird to argue that I like the Magic’s chances because they’ve underachieved, but there’s the arggument.