Orlando Magic 110, San Antonio Spurs 84: The Morning After
- MAGIC: Denton: Magic-Spurs Postgame Analysis (Full)
John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com calls Vince Carter's 24-point, 4-rebound, 8-assist performance Carter's "finest of the season."
- Orlando Magic BasketBlog – Spurs coach says Magic have title team
Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel writes that San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is impressed with the Orlando Magic.
"I think they are built for championships," Popovich said of the Magic. "They have everything that it takes. . . .They have all the elements there. It’s a matter of being consistent and focused.
- Orlando Magic: The Orlando Magic hope Rashard Lewis has ended his slump after he scored 20 points in the Magic’s victory over the San Antonio Spurs
Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel writes about how Rashard Lewis broke out of his slump last night, and reports that coach Stan Van Gundy drew up the first play of the game for Lewis specifically to get him involved early.
Lewis received some additional help. Point guard Jameer Nelson told Lewis before the game that he wanted to use some pick-and-roll plays to give Lewis extra space to shoot.
"[There was] a lot more aggressiveness from him," Nelson said afterward. "He wasn't thinking as much. You could tell. He just was playing his game. A lot of people talk about this and that, and Rashard is who he is. He's going to shoot the ball. He's going to score the ball at the end of the game. He's going to have 16 to 20 points."
- San Antonio Spurs 84, Orlando Magic 110 | 48 Minutes of Hell
Graydon Gordian says the Magic's "superior athleticism and execution" makes them a tough team for the Spurs to cover.
- Carter, Magic bury Spurs' win streak
Jeff MacDonald of the San Antonio Express-News reports that Tim Duncan, who shot a career-worst 1-of-10 from the field, accepted responsibility for the Spurs' defeat, their most lopsided losing margin in over 2 years. He also says Duncan's teammate Manu Ginobili didn't think Orlando's defense had much to do with Duncan's struggles.
"It's not like they did a miracle defense on him," Ginobili said. "He just had a bad night."
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Comments
the benefits of a quick point guard, and a scorer-heavy lineup
you got the 1-2 pick and roll, then there’s this, the 1-4, there’s also the classic Jameer-Dwight combination.
VC
has looked like a superstar. every night it seems he takes less than 13 shots yet he’s score on more than half of them, and getting at least 16-25 pts. and for some reason you know he’s gonna be a beast in the playoffs. he’s been unstoppable as of late. he’s a def shooter, can take it to the rim pretty strong for a 33 yrs old guy, and can find his etammates.
im glad vc made jon barry eat his words about having a playmaker. there isnt a pass that vc cant make.vc got 8 assists, but could of easily got 15 if some guys made shots, especially that pass to barnes and the blown open layup, and the other lob to jwill where he missed a wide open layup. these were hard passes, only a player with vision and playmaking ability can make those passes.
and also the magic have nelson this year. before nelson’s injury last year, turk was struggling bad and nelson was the one running the offense.
i really think vc in the pick n roll is much more lethal than the turk pick n roll. with turk there are less options. with vc, if the defense is sagging off reall badly he can pull up from three or mid range, he can also take it to the big man. oif the defenders are showing hard he can much more easily turn around the corner aggressively than turk. if they double he can make that cross court pass straight to the man on the weak side without having to pass it to the nearest man for the hockey assist. not too many players can make that pass, and turk aint one of them.
if vc had more touches, he could easlyl be a 25,6,5 guy like he has been most of his career. but playing with three other legit allstars especially in dwight and lewis who are tow other 20 pts scorers its barely impossible for him to average that.
Vc seems locked in for the playoff push. and it was great to see shard bouce back. the guys is a lethal socrer. when he’s aggressive taking it to the rim, the fact he plays against slower and bigger Pf, and with his length and athletic ability he almost always scores on drives, wheich then opens up his 3pt shot.
people tend to forget that lewis averaged something like 22,23 pts per gamne for the sonics, and it wasnt all on 3’s. the guy can post up, drive, and shoot. the team just needs him to rebound a little better, which ius crucial. but luckily for him the magic are big at the 2 and 3, and they help him there. vc is almost a 6 reb per game career, and barnes is at least good for 6 rebs per game or more, and dwught cleans it up. its just when dwught has to help, carter, pietrus and barnes need to help shard.
what shard has done the last couple of yrs is amazing. for him to play the 4, while he’s a natural 3, is incredible. he has the length, but doesnt have the size. the only reason why its a success is because Dwight is sooo dominant.
i actually think jamison makes the cavs a much weaker defensive team. shaq cant handle the paint on his own anymore, especially against the contenders. and jamison is actually smaller than lewis. the three guys that i fear on the cavs besides lebron of course, are hickson, varaejo and mop williams. once mo gets hot he’s lethal. nelson cant leave hi side, he needs to be attached to his balls so to speak. hickson is actually amare lite. the guy finishes with authority around the rim. and varaejo is who he is, gets multpile possessions back for his team, rebounds the ball, plays defense and scores when he has too.
the magic will have to have all their players to play at their best to beat the cavs. i beleive if thats the case the magic are better. but they need dwight to dominate, vc to dominate, shard to be focused and on, the shooters like jj and pietrus to be on, nelson has to use his quickness and find his shooters with penetration, constant penetration to get them tired, and barnes will have to sag off lebron and make hiom shoot jumpers. and pietrus will be huge. i havent seen a guy defend lebron better than air france the way he did last year.
and please the debate is over vc >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> hedo. hedoe sucks now. tyhe guys absoulty exerts no effort. vc is ballin right now.
by the magicman on Mar 18, 2010 11:40 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
VC is starting to look very, very good in the Magic system. I think you’re right about VC having incredible court vision, I just think now he’s starting to gell and understand how to play inside the team system better, so hopefully we see that tho with an increase in assists by about atleast 1 or more so per game. The ball movement is starting to look very good with VC and Jameer.
It’s funny how things can change a month and a half ago there was debating about whether Vince should be benched or not.
Orlando magic fan for life
Yea, exactly. That was just a bad month, such a great example of the big picture being more important than a simple few weeks. I think I remembered wanting him resting for a bit instead actually, because he was slower and had less energy than I had ever seen him. He had a couple of nagging injuries too, tho they all seem gone or relatively pain free since then thankfully.
Eh, it was a legit argument at the time.
Vince was not adjusting his role properly and there was a point that if he cannot adjust to fitting in with the starters, he could play the role he was playing better as the main scorer in the second unit. Thankfully, he figured things out seemingly overnight and has just been great since the unholy month of January ended.
I hate Varejao.
im sure youve seen it but dwyer's write up is really brilliant and should be given some notice here
by nickswarriors16 on Mar 18, 2010 12:17 PM EDT reply actions
Needle pointing north
This ball club is headed in the right direction, biggest concern is health at the SF. That really isn’t that bad, both players have minor injuries.
FEED THE BEAST!!!
Twitter Account
http://www.dwighthoward.com/blog/2010/03/18/a-response-to-my-critics/
Dwight showing the haters what’s what.
I hate Varejao.
Glad Mr. Schmitz finally decided Vince is better than Hedo...
definitely debatable up until last night.
The real "Masters of Panic" are commenting on this blog.
There was no debate all year
He is better than Hedo (period). The only time he wasn’t playing well was after his injury. Before and after he healed he was playing great basketball. Now the biggest difference isn’t just that Vince is playing well, it is that everyone else is especially Jameer. But to say there was a real debate is still ludicrous, as has been discussed on this blog (too) many times Carter is on another level.
He was being sarcastic.
Sure, there is a “debate” nationally, but I don’t even like using the word “debate” there. That implies some kind of intelligent discourse. It’s more like squawking that Hedo is better or a “better fit” or whatever.
I hate Varejao.
PER time
Carter – 16.79
Hedo – 13.15
ZOMG BUT HEDO SO CLUTCH LOLOLOLOL
[sigh]
by eltharion_doa on Mar 18, 2010 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions
No, no.
Now that there are stats showing Vince to be more clutch, the thing is that Hedo was a “better fit”! Or a better “playmaker”.
I hate Varejao.
Or "locker room presence"
J'aime manger de grandes quantités de cire de bougie. Vraiment? Omelette du fromage monsieur!
What presence?
Hedo doesn’t speak up in the locker room. He just quietly does his thing. I guess because he hits some big baskets the media might think of him as a leader of sorts. But he isn’t.
Just joining in the sarcasm.
J'aime manger de grandes quantités de cire de bougie. Vraiment? Omelette du fromage monsieur!

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