Toronto Raptors 108, Orlando Magic 103: The Morning After
by Evan Dunlap on Jan 7, 2010 8:00 AM EST
in The Morning After
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PrintThe Orlando Magic dropped their third straight game last night, 108-103, to a resurgent Toronto Raptors team that could wind up being their opponent in the first round of the playoffs. The losing skid has Magic players, coaches, and fans scratching their heads. Orlando certainly doesn't look the part of a championship contender, which is what every reasonable NBA observer would have labeled them before the season started. Let's take a look to see what everyone is saying.
- Magic Struggle to Re-Discover Chemistry
Tim Povtak of NBA FanHouse makes the locker-room situation sound pretty dire.
When the Orlando Magic revamped their roster last summer, changing five of their top 11 players, they became deeper and more talented, but they lost the delicate chemistry that led to the finest season in franchise history.
"We're out of sync and unsure of ourselves right now,'' said point guard Jameer Nelson after a 108-103 loss to Toronto. "The effort, intensity, the focus, just isn't there.''
Povtak contends that Courtney Lee and Hedo Turkoglu were positive forces in Orlando's locker room, and that replacing them with Vince Carter and Matt Barnes has harmed the team's once well-regarded chemistry.
- Orlando Magic wake up too late, lose to Toronto Raptors
Brian Schmitz passes along this quote from Magic GM Otis Smith, always one to keep an even keel.
"We'll figure it out," he said. "The sky's not falling."
- We've got more questions than answers after Orlando Magic drop third straight
The team's current losing streak prompted Zach McCann of Orlando Magic Daily to ask a few questions. His response to "What is this team's biggest problem?" definitely merits consideration on our part. He also notes that Vince Carter's 7-of-37 shooting during the slump is the worst stretch of his career.
- Denton: Magic-Raptors Postgame Analysis
John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com says coach Stan Van Gundy had this message for his team.
"We’re not playing very well and for most of the game we’re not playing very hard," Van Gundy said. "Until that changes, it’ll probably keep going like this. We’re just not putting enough into it for long periods of time.
"My point is this isn’t happening to us. Some things happen to you and it’s out of your control. But we’re the ones doing this," Van Gundy continued. "We’ve got to change that around and it’s not going to just miraculously happen one night. It will happen because we go out and make it happen."
- Do the Magic need an energetic, vocal leader among players?
Tania Ganguli wants to know if Orlando needs a locker-room leader--apart from Van Gundy--in order to curb the recent trend of getting off to poor starts:
But there’s a difference between a coach yelling at his players and a player yelling at his teammates. Think Drew Brees screaming in the pregame huddle. Or a guy like Kevin Garnett, for an NBA example. I can’t help but wonder if that would help solve this intangible problem they’re having. It’s a matter of intensity and effort at the beginnings of games. Every guy in there acknowledges that, they just don’t know how to fix it.
For north-of-the-border reaction, make the jump.
- Raptors hold off Magic for 108-103 win - thestar.com
Dave Feshcuk of the Toronto Star attributes some of Orlando's fourth-quarter run to lopsided officiating.
And the referees, who called 10 fourth-quarter fouls on the visitors before they called one on the home team, aided the charge (although Toronto certainly didn't help matters by refusing to attack the basket in the final frame).
- Efficient Raptors solve Magic mystery
Raptors Republic also thinks the officiating was a little fishy late in the game.
[Andrea] Bargnani did as well a job as you can on [Dwight Howard] in single-coverage and came up on the short end of the stick on the fouls yet again. Three of his six fouls was rubbish calls made only because defenders usually foul Howard in those situations, the officials need to actually see the play and not make judgments based on how things "usually" go.
- Raptors Rapid Recap: Toronto 108 Orlando 103
Raptors fans like Defensive Stance took no end of pleasure in seeing Carter shoot poorly.
It was also very satisfying to see Vince Carter’s shooting woes continue. VC shot a miserable 2-7 from the field and was never a factor.
- Is Chris Bosh officially a Top 10 Player?
Prior to last night's game, Scott Carefoot wanted to know where Chris Bosh stood among the NBA's elite players. Carefoot's conclusion? That Bosh must be better than three of the following players to make the cut: Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, Brandon Roy, and Josh Smith. It's interesting to me that Carefoot lists Howard as a second-tier player.
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What's Potvak taking a swing at Matt Barnes for?
Seriously?
Spreading that Calgary Flames, Montreal Expos, The U, and Orlando Magic love.
You can take Potvak out of the OSen, but you can't take the OSen out of Potvak.
Dwight Howard still misses best friend Courtney Lee, who was traded to New Jersey. And his body language suggests it. They all miss Hedo Turkoglu, who took his goofiness as a free agent to Toronto. The addition of veterans Vince Carter, Jason Williams and Matt Barnes gave them experience, but it also changed the locker room.
“This is a different team. This is a totally different team, and we’re just going through a tough stretch right now,‘’ Howard said. "But we’re still close, real close.’’
Makes numerous unsupportable assertions in the 1st paragraph (Dwight’s body language?!) and then uses a quote from Howard in the 2nd paragraph to completely contradict them. Great writing, Tim.
"We'll figure it out. The sky's not falling." ~Otis Smith
What's the show on SNL? Lowred Expectations?
I have lowered my expectations..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xLsRI7-hBs
FEED THE BEAST!!!
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Re: Carefoot's post on Bosh
Personally, I’d put him 12th among the players mentioned in his blog – ahead of Roy and Smith, but behind the others listed and Garnett.
"When you make your final stand
I'll be right there
I'll never leave
And all I ask of you is
Believe"
I agree he is the 15 range.
If I could have him or Garnett on the Magic, I would take Bosh.
FEED THE BEAST!!!
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If it was a multi-year contract, I'd take Bosh
If it was a one-year rental? I’d lean more towards Garnett. I think Garnett can contribute more this year, but Bosh will be a bigger contributor starting next season.
"When you make your final stand
I'll be right there
I'll never leave
And all I ask of you is
Believe"
I hear you.
Either way, I would take Bosh, I don’t trust KG’s health. If I was guarnteed they were both healthy, then I would take KG as a rental.
FEED THE BEAST!!!
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I thought they were playing better in December
then they lose to Boston and seems that they have played bad since then. 6 Big games this month: both Atlanta games(playoff seeding), Denver, Lakers, Boston, and Detroit. Detroit sucks this year but if we lose again, they should just forfeit their next game to them.
Magic should be ready for Toronto tho. I bet we face them in the first round.
"It's all part of the plan." Jeff Moorad and The Joker in the Dark Knight.
"I don't feel this team can beat us four times," Mo Williams 5/21
Orlando is just in a swoon right now.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
Tough..
It is tough being a Magic fan on the West Coast. Usually I am at work when they play, so I don’t get to see the games or the games aren’t televised here.
I had a couple of questions for anyone who saw the game.
Did we drive the ball?
What does VC’s shot selection look like?
D12 had 9 TO’s, Was he getting stripped, making bad passes? Basically how did it happen?
Jameer had 8 Assist, Did they come in the 4th during the come back or consistent all game?
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Jameer was consistent all game.
I was upset he didn’t get back in the game sooner in the 2nd quarter when Toronto was making a run to push that lead up to 6-8 points.
VC’s shot selection was a mix of iso fade-aways or spot-ups. I’m cool with the spot-ups, but he’s not even hitting those anymore.
Dwight made TO’s in every way possible.
Yes, we drove the ball. Looking at the efficiency, offense wasn’t the problem (aside from the 3-point shooting and Dwight’s TO’s). Our defense was not getting it done. We just can’t put together a complete game right now. Oh, and DeMar Derozan was 6-7 with all of them mid-range jumpers, the shots you want him taking. Another CJ Miles/Johnny Flynn/Derrick Rose situation.
Carter and Barnes, I find it hard to blame it on them.
I know Carter has the bad reputation of being a quitter (on bad teams) and too soft, but what is Barnes history? I remember when the Magic got Rafer Alston last year many were worried because he was known to be a troublemaker but, not counting the little slap incident, it went very well.
I can understand that a single player can disrupt the locker room, but only when this player is a dominant personality, like say, Iverson. Neither Barnes or Carter strike me as that type of player.
To me, it looks more like EVERY player believes they can win the game with minimum effort, just cause they are that good, and they were in the Finals last year.
Magic Fan since the 1992-1993 Season.
by North of the South on Jan 7, 2010 1:10 PM EST reply actions
What I've seen.
In the time I’ve spent in the locker room, I saw nothing but good interaction between Barnes, Carter, and the rest of the players. I talked to Matt about the team’s chemistry before and he told me that it can rival/rivals the type of chemistry the 2007 Warriors had when it upset the Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs.
So I don’t know. Of course, I haven’t been around the team lately so things may have changed.
I write for Orlando Pinstriped Post and have a Twitter account.
"The second unit is kind of crazy because the second unit is only white guys." - Marcin Gortat
To answer your questions...
Yes, we drove the ball, but mostly in the first quarter, which we won. It was close, but we were doing pretty good an all those little things like ball movement, feeding the Beast inside, dropping the occasional 3-pointer, tight defense and stripping away the ball.
Then it seemed that we forgot all of those goodies and reverted to our lazy, loose defense, individual ways and BOOM: They just rolled over us, actually stretching their lead in the third, which has ALWAYS been OUR strong quarter. By the time we finally decided to play, at around the 7-minute mark of the final Qt, it was too late.
Vince HAD some good looks; just a couple of long bombs. The point is: He’s NOT making ANY shot, even short jumpers and lay-ups. BAD KARMA!
Dwight tried too hard to make something happen by forcing the ball through impossible situations: He should protect the ball; make the SAFE out-pass. Plus, he got stripped of the ball when making his move: He just takes TOO MUCH TIME to start his dribble, by which time, EVERYBODY knows what he’s going to do, and HOW! There are some key fundamental skills missing in his game, which I will get to in a second…
Lewis, Redick and Nelson were the high points of the night. Jameer had a pretty consistent game, although most of his points DID come during that key 4th Qt comeback; the 8 assists were evenly distributed.
On a Team level, it’s obvious that we’re only putting in about 15 minutes of GOOD balanced play during each game; with about 5 of those coming at the end of the 4 Qt, and coming up empty at that… We THINK we can pull it off; but we CAN’T because we no longer have a CLOSER. We SHOULD; but we don’t. Vince IS better than Turk; just NOT right NOW! Instead, he has become the NBA’s Invisible Man. Who would have though of Radick taking the last-gasp shot to tie the game? He missed… but the point is… he should Not have been in that role; it’s ALWAYS been Turk or Lewis. Can’t ask more of Redick: he scored 22, even when NOT shooting very well (another reason NOT to give him the ball in a do-or-die situation). Instead, he ADAPTED, drove to the basket consistently and was rewarded with foul shots, which he converted. Now, THAT’S smart play… you CHANGE your play to FIT the needs of your team and take advantage of the other team’s weakness!
Which brings me to my post game conclusions.
Nelson, Barnes, Lewis and Redick have SHOWN that they CAN change their game to fit the flow of the game and the needs of the team. Most of the team has NOT.
You know; the Dinosaurs became extinct because they could NOT adapt to changing climatic conditions.
The Magic have TWO outstanding modern-day dinosaurs on the Team. Howard will NOT get rid of those nasty, BAD habits, like bringing the ball down on rebounds, or when receiving a pass. He will NOT take advantage of his superior speed and agility on any CONSISTENT basis. Instead, he gives opposing teams PLENTY of opportunities to strip the ball away and he misses even 6-foot shots! Right now; ANY TEAM can stop Howard offensively. He’s STILL is King in the rebound department; although still unable to get that do-or-die final second rebound to save a game… mmmmmm.
He’s NOT a motivational leader on the locker room either…
Finally, the last dinosaur is STG, who makes changes in the PRE-GAME lineup, but REFUSES to make KEY, SUBTLE CHANGES DURING the game, when they’re mostly needed. Like, last night during that furious 4 Qt burst… we needed EXTRA firepower AND rebound strength. He brought in Bass; great! But he NEVER brought Anderson, who’s shooting close to 40% 3-point shots, to beef up hi his still-struggling offense. Just ONE 3-pointer at THAT TIME, would have changed the game around. And that’s just typical Van Gundy… he did it LAST YEAR, during the Finals and he keeps on doing it to this very day!
Now… If we don’t reverse this MENTAL STATE; we COULD be looking at a VERY LONG LOOSING STREAK. Washington has a GOOD chance of beating us, even WITHOUT Arenas; and right now, we don’t have a PRAYER’S chance of beating a solid Atlanta either! Time to meditate DEEPLY and MAKE CHANGES… FAST!!!
Sharing a brain
The Magic have TWO outstanding modern-day dinosaurs on the Team. Howard will NOT get rid of those nasty, BAD habits, like bringing the ball down on rebounds, or when receiving a pass. He will NOT take advantage of his superior speed and agility on any CONSISTENT basis. Instead, he gives opposing teams PLENTY of opportunities to strip the ball away and he misses even 6-foot shots! Right now; ANY TEAM can stop Howard offensively. He’s STILL is King in the rebound department; although still unable to get that do-or-die final second rebound to save a game… mmmmmm.
^^
Can someone edit a video of Gasol and Hakeem, so D12 can see what you are supposed to do around the basket? In 2 1/2 years, Ewing hasn’t done much to improve his game.
I agree we have some problems, but I looked over the standings, we are still well with-in striking distance, and 3rd place in the East. Once it clicks watch out. I truly believe we are too talented for it not to click, but right now we are almost unwatchable.
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