FanPost

Observations from the Dallas vs. Orlando game

First off, I was disappointed to hear that Stanley Robinson had been let go before the game. I just see that guy turning into a baby Gerald Wallace talent in 3-4 years. I'm not a fan of Malik Allen even deserving a roster spot, he's entirely too undersized to be the team's 3rd center.

Getting to my club seats, I say to my buddy that I didn't know Dallas had a new head coach. Couldn't believe the buzz cut job that Rick Carlisle got. Half bald up top now, half hair on the sides.

The first quarter started off with sluggish shooting from Jameer who was really trying to implement himself more into the offense but missing badly on his shot going (0-4 in 1st Q, 1-8 in game). His shot selection wasn't bad, but the 15 footer he couldn't knock down tonight.

You can tell that the defense that Dwight is seeing in the preseason will be incredibly different once the regular season and the playoffs start. On one play, Dirk literally tried to play pattycake with Dwight's shoulder for an easy and 1. Be it as it may, Dwight's 20 and 12 line was the most ho-hum 20-10 performance I have seen from him. I barely noticed D12 during the game and then when I looked up at the box score, I couldn't believe his efficiency (7-7 FG, 6-10 FT) and rebounding.

The third and fourth quarters is where the Magic's bench vs. Dallas bench really helped them pull a way. I think the real reason you are seeing so many Magic blowouts over the last 3 years of preseason is other teams don't value depth as much as the Magic front office do (i.e. shelling out starter money to Redick and Gortat).

Vince Carter kept up his hot shooting hitting 8-10 FG including being perfect from all 4 of his shots from downtown. What I especially liked was Vince backing down Ultimate White Men Can't Jump substitute Brian Cardinal and laying it up on him. Vince looks very comfortable from long range so far and I'm hoping that this won't be another case of him being Mr. October.

I was surprised at the amount of height that Dallas has on their bench inside, they've got 2 7' 2" centers that gave Ryan Anderson fits in the 4th quarter on any attempts he had of shooting in the paint.

Truly, I think this was one of Brandon Bass' poorer games. On one play in the 2nd quarter Bass had no idea where he was suppose to be in the halfcourt set. He catches a pass right next to Redick on the 3 point line and looks confused while destroying our spacing. SVG shook his head and just pointed where he should be. I'm still skeptical of how much Bass has really learned or is capable of learning in our offense and think Van Gundy may be more inclined to pull Anderson off the bench at the start of the season.

Funniest Moment of the Night: It was a bad night for cameramen at the game. Dwight in the 3rd swatted a Dominque Jones attempt so hard that he knocked a video cameraman on his back that was sitting on the sideline. However, this pails in comparison to Jameer Nelson in the 2nd quarter throwing a full on bullet pass from the top of the key that directly hit a photographer in the camera lens breaking the camera in two pieces.

This FanPost was made by a member of the Orlando Pinstriped Post community, and is to be treated as the opinions and views of its author, not that of the blogger or blog community as a whole.