| 2008/2009 NBA Regular Season | ||
|---|---|---|
 | @ |  |
| 31-41 | 53-18 | |
| March 27th, 2009 | ||
| Amway Arena | ||
| 7:00 PM | ||
| FSN Florida | ||
| Probable starters: | ||
| Ramon Sessions | PG | Rafer Alston |
| Richard Jefferson | SG | Courtney Lee |
| Luc Mbah a Moute | SF | Hedo Turkoglu |
| Charlie Villanueva | PF | Rashard Lewis |
| Francisco Elson | C | Dwight Howard |
| Previous Meetings: | ||
| November 24th: Magic 108, Bucks 101 | ||
| March 18th: Magic 106, Bucks 80 | ||
Let's turn to the blog of Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard for his thoughts on the rest of the season:
We've got to have games where we let good teams know we're for real. You do that by putting them in the hole and keeping them there. We gave Boston life. We've got to bury teams.
That's important as we go down the stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs. We want to go into the postseason playing our best basketball. That's how we're going to win a championship.
Starting tonight with our game against Milwaukee, we can't let teams off the hook when we have them down. We have to bury them. That's kind of what we did to the Bucks last week in Milwaukee and we need to do it again tonight. We have to have that mindset the rest of the way.
Beating teams and keeping them down, that's how we are going to earn the respect that we deserve. That's how teams are going to see that we are for real. We have to prove it every night we step on the floor.
There are, I believe, two ways to look at games against inferior competition as the season winds down. One is to think of them as opportunities to do things you wouldn't normally do, because hey, it's only the Wizards/Kings/Thunder/Raptors/Bucks/et al; the other is to think of them as tune-ups so you can go into the playoffs at the very top of your game. Dwight has the latter attitude, the better attitude, and I'm reasonably confident that we won't see too many letdowns from him the rest of the way.
After a three-game win streak brought the Bucks to 27-29 on the season, they've lost 12 of their last 16 games, including each of their last 3. Scott Skiles' team is on the ropes, to say the least, and they should be desperate for a win if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive. But if the Magic run the offense through Dwight, keep Ramon Sessions out of the lane, and force Charlie Villanueva to take contested jumpers, Milwaukee probably won't get that much-needed win.
Tip's at 7. Enjoy Caribbean Night at Amway Arena, and go Magic.