Schmitz: Orlando Magic "Lean" and "Hungry" in Quest for Championship

This must be the first positive piece I’ve ever read from Brian Schmitz. He’s so negative all the time and tries to do nothing more than stir the pot. However, it doesn’t surprise me that he along with Mike Bianchi are on the Magic’s bandwagon. I hope we take home the Larry O’Brien so I won’t be reading either one of their, “I told you so!,” columns come seasons’ end.

….is their ball movement. It’s quite flawless at this point and makes them a solid offensive threat. No one player is bigger than the team on the Magic’s roster and it shows in the way they win.

And their record since the all star break…and the teams they’ve beat since then…forget about it.

Swept the team with the leagues best defensive rating, with an average winning margin of 9.25.

Won 3 straight with the team with the leagues second best offensive rating, holding them to an average of 81.3 points per game and an average winning margin of 29 ppg. Holding their All Star Franchise player to 9 ppg below his season average.

13 straight wins. 27-3 over the last 30 games.

 If these guys can pull it together they could have a chance.

I don’t want to discard Boston so easily just yet. But I do like LAs chances against the Suns. It’ll still be LA in the end, and they will be the hardest to beat. Gasol literally outplayed Dwight, scoring on Dwight easy, Fisher plays excellent team D and clutch 3s (dropped 20pnts last nite), Odom also for the most part outplayed Lewis. The Magic must want revenge and to impose their confidence on offense always. They weren’t as experienced last year, and even looked a bit like deer in the headlights.

I am very impressed that the Magic have won against two quality opponents, and two opponents with vastly different styles. We won a tough slow grind out game against the Bobcats fighting against tough defense and our center in foul trouble half of each game. Now we are winning against an athletic team likes to run and gun.

I think the Hawks issues besides the Magic’s offense being too overpowering is that the Magic are one of the best at transition defense, which is what the Hawks are most suited to do. Take away that and their half court offense doesn’t have a prayer.

I am predicting a sweep of the hawks. Also i am predicting a sweep of the celtics! the Celtics will beat cleveland in 7 games also.

Its great to be here finally. after years of reading this stuff….BTW wher’es JFFRICKENGLY dude? you know the 12 year old calling everyone “SON” and always says “NEXT” after he makes stupid predictions.

BTW, what does “NEXT” mean anyway? Time for him to go back to his crayolas.

This goes to show everyone in ESPN nation what was missing last year in the playoffs….“NELSON!!” Rondo has showed the world that Cleveland CANNOT repeat CANNOT guard a team with a quick point guard.
     Rondo is not only quick but also has a keen sense of smell for the ball as well. But this year we have NELSON and Cleveland……if they make it that far , does not have a chance against the magic! Now lets not forget how good Rondo is , but i believe NELSON can slow Rondo down. mark my word we will shut the Celtics down when we play them..why? because the BOBCATS…bless their souls , gave us all we could handle with their defense, and WE HANDLED THEM WELL! So well that any other team in the league will get shut down by the magic! BANK ON IT

Yeah this one made me smile………(from rashard lewis)

“I’ve been in the league 12 years, had my ups and downs, made an all-star team. What’s left besides winning a championship?”

Maybe a title — and a touch of Just for Men.

Forget the deodorant….I SMELL A CHAMPIONSHIP!!

The team’s going so well now, it’s not hard to varnish a layer of awe upon them.

The guy had a great 4rth quarter with just 1 eye. I’m very happy that PHX finally got passed the Spurs, especailly the way they did it.

…when asked the question “Will LeBron’s Cavs make the NBA Finals?”

“LeBron James’ elbow is hurting, Shaq is no longer Kryptonite to Dwight Howard’s Superman act and the Magic possess too many perimeter threats. Howard is becoming one of those classic big men who doesn’t receive enough credit for how skilled – and game-changing – he is. He’s beyond a defensive force.”

Yes sir i know it wont be easy, we know it wont be easy, assuming i thought it would be easy is not a fair assumption because nowhere in my wording did i ever say that.
     But i totally understand what your getting at but heres the way it is. These games are more mental than anything, if you put 5 guys that have to play their hearts out or they will die, and five guys that have to play their hearts out or they will not have to die, i guarantee the ones that have to die will play harder because it could cost them big. This is the sense of urgency this magic team has because they actually felt they should have won last year.

But i understand what everyone is getting at.

My belief is the magic and celtics have a fierce series with the game going into overtime twice and eventually the magic pulling it out in FOUR GAMES! But like i said….it wont be easy whatsoever.

JUST MY OPINION…GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAGIC!

This is why we win games:

DEFENSE
ALTERED SHOTS
INTIMIDATION FACTOR
THREAT OF A THREE POINT MAKE
SHOT BLOCK THREAT. which results in altered shots, because of the intimidation factor because of defense…etc etc etc.

Do you all understand that all these unquantifiable statistics cannot be measured in a normal sense but can be FELT before, during and after games. If we play two identical magic teams with one team missing dwight howard and three point shooters and this other team contains post up players only and an Andrew Bynum type center that can shoot, But plays average defense also. Most likely the team we have now will dominate the former team mentioned because of the unquantifiable stats above.

THIS IS WHY WE WIN FOLKS………Most of the leagues teams have a makeup of the Andrew Bynum led magic team.

One more science subject:

Have you all noticed that playing against this magic team, if this team makes 10 or more three pointers the team wins 80 plus percent of the time??

ITS LIKE GOING INTO A 3-0 series deficit in the playoffs and thinking you can pull it off…..nearly impossible!
This team is capable of beating the Michael Jordan led Bulls of 1995 and the Shaquille O’neal led magic of 1995-1996 because of these factors above and also these below:

Since april, they have a had a +17 point differential win loss ratio vs opponents. 13 game win streak since regular season……note better than a regular season win streak because of the difficulty of the post season. They also have an exceptional tactical coach, (he crunches numbers folks). Excellent team architect GM in Otis Smith (he knew what was missing to build a championship contender). +84 points in the last 8 games vs hawks. Outscored Atlanta by 101 points in the last 4 games!

NOTES: This team has just beaten 1) the best defensive team in the league in the bobcats with their DEFENSE. 2)beaten the top offensive team i the league with their OFFENSE.

So whoever gets the magic in the ECF is going to have their hands full. Whoever said the magic will have all they can handle in the ECF, i disagree, the reality is the CAVS/CELTS will have all they can handle with the MAGIC.

PLUS WE HAVE GIANT KILLER NELSON!

Have a great playoffs folks…………………….congrats to VINCE, he now has gone to the ECF for the first time!