Orlando Magic 94, Los Angeles Clippers 85

…especially if he doesn’t shoot better than the 1 for 8 he shot against the Clippers, including 0 for 6 on threes.

It’s kind of discouraging that the Magic’s two off-season free agent signees who were both expected to improve the Magic are both glued to the bench for a whole game. It’s a long season though, and I’m sure they will get more chances and will show they can play better than they have.

On a more positive note, Jameer Nelson played his best game since returning from illness with 17 points, including 3 of 5 on threes, along with 9 assists.

All five Magic starters scored in double figures; even Lewis made it after struggling much of the game.

The Magic made 10 of their final 12 FTs to help seal the game, and were able to survive shooting just 26.1% on threes and 61.5% from the FT line.

A team where Bass takes more shots than Howard, Carter or Nelson, is a team in trouble. He is playing well, but he shouldn’t be our first offensive option, Howard and Carter need to take more shots.

But I can certainly see Williams pushing the ball a lot more, or at least making an effort to. On the other hand the second unit used to waste the whole shot clock for very inefficient shots back then (often relying on Bass to rescue the play with a drive or his jump shot).

how the mighty have fallen.

But seriously, why was Vince not used more when he clearly had an advantage over his defender? Are they trying to make sure everyone else gets involved too? Doesn’t make sense to me. If a play is working, keep going to it, until it stops.

Just my 2 cents..

But then LAC showed why their record is not indicative of their abilities since they have been able to beat teams like SA, NO and OKC. They have an enormous talent in Griffin, but like all young team go through their natural lapses and mistakes.

On a separate note, I was displeased with the offensive fouls called on Dwight, however in different ways. I think while the second one was certainly a mistake by the referee, the first one was called correctly and that was due to Dwight – I should say unnecessarily – extending his elbows which appears to be intentional pushing. These types of unnecessary moves need to be corrected because, as I recall, in close games with Boston last year, those offensive foul calls became detrimental to the end result.

and the Magic in the first quarter was pretty amazing. The Clippers showed no resistance and I was shocked they brought the lead to 9. Some other observations from the game:

-When the Clippers go to Orlando, I would advise people to go watch Blake Griffin. He is RELENTLESS. Thats all I could think of. Just an all-world talent on a god-awful team.

-The game was pretty quiet at first and I could hear Stan’s calls from across the floor and up a few rows. Great stuff. Also, watching Dwight mimic Stan was pretty funny.

-Before the game, I noticed the Clipper bigs(Cook, Jordan, Collins) practice elbow extended jumpers. It seemed that the coaching staff wanted to bring Dwight out so he wouldn’t man the paint. But Brian Cook does not equal defense and like Evan said, Dwight ate him up. Although he did block Carter’s dunk attempt, I’m not sure if it was Vince not having it or actually good d.

-Jason Williams court vision is remarkable. Watching his eyes, he is constantly looking one way and then will pass in the complete opposite direction. He is constantly talking to his teammates, and the guys really seem to respect him. I’m really glad Otis re-signed him.

-So a friend of mine got the tickets through someone that works for the Clippers. We met up with him afterwards, and I asked if Sterling was a jerk to everyone. He said that staff will have to lock up their offices because he will go to their office and steal their stuff. Jerseys, hats, memorabilia; anything he sees that he likes he will take because he feels he owns EVERYTHING in the builiding.

A win is win and hopefully, the offense can get more consistent.

i remember about 2 or 3 months ago someone on this blog made a fan post about j will jumping ahead of duhon in the rotation and practically everyone here including myself thought he was crazy. I remember that poster having a total bias towards j will, but damn, chris duhon is just so bad me may end up being correct. or did i miss something and duhon is just injured?

As if that isn’t obvious to everyone in this blog. Now if we can just find a way to keep everyone we like while landing CP3 and Carmelo, life would be good. Let’s throw in Chris Bosh for good measure.

Offensive and defensively I guess we’ll randomly have to deal with Dwight drawing unnecessary fouls and limiting his time on the court. It could have cost us this game and if it had, losing your 5th straight game, and to the Clippers no less, would have unleashed fan fury. I know he’s done better recently but you never know when his lapses in judgment will kick in or his frustrations will boil over and he’ll swing some elbows high or slam a struggling defender to the floor. Moments like that can end a team in the playoffs where one game can mean the difference between moving on and going home. I hope he can keep that in control when it counts. Perhaps a new strategy he should try is silence with the refs. Go 10 games without arguing a single call. My guess is that the refs aggravation with his endless bitching would start to subside and he might get more of the “superstar” calls that he’s always been deprived of. In fact, I’m sure of it. The bad part is he’d never be able to go 10 games let alone 10 minutes without jabbering in the direction of a referee. Therefore he’ll continue to get the short end of the stick. Oh well.