Orlando Magic News for April 7th: "It was our worst game of the year"

by Ben Q Rock on Apr 7, 2008 12:57 PM EDT in News Comment 8 comments

Per the Associated Press, Stan Van Gundy's comments on last night's loss to the Knicks:

"It was our worst game of the year by far. Both ends of the floor, no energy," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We did an awful job. I did an awful job leaving those guys in the game. I should have gone with some other people in a game like that because the guys out there either couldn't or wouldn't.

"We were awful. It was embarrassing. We shouldn't be tired. We played a game yesterday, so what? It's the NBA. You can't use that as an excuse. It was just an awful, awful night."
Brian Schmitz and Kelly Dwyer agree that Van Gundy should have given his starters a breather. It's hard to disagree with that statement. Now that it's assured the third seed in the playoffs, the team has nothing left to play for except pride and a chance to reach the 50-win plateau. Stan could have started the normal lineup, but pulled it after a few minutes and let the second-stringers finish the game.
Posting and Toasting is not overly impressed with the Magic:

The Magic sure didn't look like a real contender tonight. Poor from the field, trigger-happy from downtown, and terrible from the line. Throw in some pretty relaxed defense and they really look like a potential first round upset opportunity.

Indeed, the Magic need look no further than last night's game to understand why teams are fighting for the chance to face them -- rather than Boston, Detroit, or Cleveland -- in the first round of the playoffs.
Despite the Knicks' win, Marc Berman of the New York Post isn't happy. He didn't appreciate Nate Robinson's exclamation-point dunk (NBA.com video), or the celebration that followed it, with under a minute to play. I don't have a problem with it. The Knicks outplayed us and as such earned the right to showboat a little bit, as far as I'm concerned. Then again, they only shot 37% from the field...(HT: HP)
Queen City Hoops, a must-read Charlotte Bobcats blog, has Round 10 of the Blogger MVP and RoY rankings. Chris Paul is pulling away with the lead in the MVP category, grabbing 13 first-place votes to Kobe Bryant's five.
Congratulations are in order for Magic assistant coach Patrick Ewing, who learned today he will be inducted into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

0 recs | Comment 8 comments

Comments

blech

What a depressing game. I couldn't watch after a while. :| We're certainly not the first +.500 playoff-bound team to lose to poor teams (yes, even the Celtics), so while this was a disappointing loss that really shouldn't have happened, I'm not overly concerned about it. Let's just hope we pull off wins over the Bulls this week and reach 50.

The guys are obviously tired. To be honest, I expected the Magic to be leading by double digits last night and then for Stan to rest the starters and let the bench play the remaining of the night. I don't think he anticipated having to struggle so much against such a poor team, hence why he kept in the starters--he probably thought the Magic had a better chance of winning that way.

Sigh.

by TheGiantSquid on Apr 7, 2008 1:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: blech

My guess is Stan may choose to rest the starting frontcourt this Friday versus Minnesota. It's our last game against a dreadful Western Conference opponent, and the other games on the schedule are against Eastern teams, so that seems like the best time to rest the starters.

by Ben Q Rock on Apr 7, 2008 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe

For some reason I get the feeling Stan's gonna pull a Doc Rivers and keep starting the guys for whatever reason. Did you notice Hedo was playing with a weird black wrap thing on his ankle last night? D: That's not good. I know he landed on it awkwardly at the end of the Cavs game, but I didn't hear anything about it otherwise.

But you're right, it would be way way better to play the bench more against Minnesota than the Bulls or other Leastern teams.

I just want them to hit 50! I was 12 the last time that happened! Come on, guys! You can do it!

by TheGiantSquid on Apr 7, 2008 3:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bench

Gotta give someone else Garrity's minutes. He's not even playing that bad but it is just painful to watch. If Cook is still out during the 1st round than we are in trouble.

by Eyriq the Red on Apr 7, 2008 4:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Bench

Yeah, but who? Garrity's having an awful year, without question, but his range makes him a better fit for this offense than James Augustine and Marcin Gortat. That said, the young guys absolutely need more playing time, just so we can evaluate them fairly.

by Ben Q Rock on Apr 7, 2008 7:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

What a mess

As ugly a game as they've played all season and usually that kind of effort keeps up pretty far away from triple digits.

I have no confidence that we can even make a deep push (Conference Finals) into the East after seeing how Detroit and Boston show up better for each game. You never get the sense that they're lethargic because KG/Cassell or Sheed would generally never let their teammates slack off. We come into so many games looking like Stan just sent someone to their room without dinner.

Our funk is purely mental right now and I hope that something brings us out. It's the same kinda malaise you see on the Cavs and no one on the West playoff front besides Denver.

by evan on Apr 7, 2008 5:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: What a mess

I'm not sold on Detroit's focus. For all the talk they do, they've only won one title in their seven years as an elite-level team. And they suffered a beatdown against the Knicks even more embarrassing than ours was last night. If we can get out of the first round -- that's not a guarantee at this point -- I wouldn't write us off against Detroit in the semifinals.

by Ben Q Rock on Apr 7, 2008 7:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

About Detroit

I'm not sold on our ability to get motivated as it's been on neutral since Dwight's public admonishment by Stan before the break. Playing well seems to spark them, but there are a lot of games that go to shit if the first half isn't looking peachy. Though they could pull out of it, they'll settle for jump shots and hope the three bails it out.

I'd be far more confident if we were able to get a semblance of balance between the different styles of play. Otherwise, we become a less talented version of the Denver offense which are five games of one-on-one.

by evan on Apr 7, 2008 10:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs