October 2003 Archives

Overall, this was a great game to attend in person. Announcers stated there was a good crowd - I thought the participation was average. I could go into the bad officiating - but it balances out throughout the year. The same three players (Lue, Howard, McGrady) stepped up big tonight along with Gooden and Williams. I'm glad to see a little more balance through the box score. I really thought we had the game in the bag - but our defense kind of broke down towards the end of the game.

I hardly ever question Doc's coaching - but tonight I have to. With about 6 minutes left in the game, DeClerq fouls out. Doc sends Howard back in with 6 minutes to go and 5 fouls. I would have like to have seen Zaza out on the floor for 2-3 minutes. We were getting knocked around and I think that would have made the difference in the game. Zaza could have provided us with a brief three minutes of banging and use up a couple fouls.

Next up is Detroit at home on Saturday at 7pm.

Darrell Armstrong returns to town for the first regular season game to face his old team. The game starts at 7pm. Doc should go with the same lineup as the New York game. I will be at the game and hope to see a few things that the television coverage does not pick up.

The difference in last year and this year - Lue and Howard. The end of the game was awesome. I may be a bit biased - but I think Tracy McGrady is the greatest player in the NBA. To play as badly as he and the Magic did, throughtout the game - and then pull off a victory in New York, on the road - is beyond incredible. Howard played tremendous help defenese tonight. He definitely brings points and rebounds to the table - but like I have said - it is the little things that he does that makes the Magic a better team. With Lue, you know he is going to miss a few shots every now and then - but everytime he shoots - you feel damn good that it is going in. I like the group we had on the floor at the end of the game. We had good defenders that can shoot the ball when needed.

One last note, Britton Johnsen - this kid is going to be a good player in the NBA. I don't know if he is going to be a great player - but he hussles up and down the floor every play. We need guys like this on our team. He makes other players around him play harder. At the end of this game, you could tell the Magic wanted to win the game and played hard enough to do that.

The Magic play the Knicks tonight, game starts at 8pm. Starting lineup should be Lue, McGrady, Johnsen, Howard, Gooden.

The Magic play the Utah Jazz tonight for the second time this preseason. The game is on Magic Television Network (MTN, aka UPN) starting at 7pm.

Jeryl Sasser was let go immediately following the Hawks game on Wednesday. It was an expected cut in preparation for the final roster. I do not think there are many out there that will be surprised by this move.

Who do you think will be the next player cut? The general thought is Sasser will be the next player waived from the team but who will be the final cut before the season starts. My personal choice is for them to cut Steven Hunter. This guy has hardly produced any results in his 2 years. I have watched him dance around on the court too many times without pulling a rebound down to keep this guy on the team. If you want an example of effort, you watch for Britton Johnsen to make the team and bust his ass on every play.

Orlando drops another game, this time to the Atlanta Hawks. The final score was 91-83. This was a good game to get a second look at what I pretty much already knew. Britton Johnsen wants to play basketball, Steven Hunter does not.

The first half of the game went pretty well. McGrady had zero points but played tremendous defense. He was able to get other players involved early in addition to pulling down a few rebounds and posting a couple blocks. Johnsen played with energy and was all over the court. I really like the effort this guy puts into the game.

The second half was pretty much down hill. Howard and Gooden are playing good basketball and fighting for almost every rebound. I cannot wait for the season to start and see these guys play when the games are on the line. Hunter plays a little in the third and more in the fourth. I have the feeling he will be cut soon. He is not getting back on defense and is horrible at putting back a rebound when he actually manages to get one. Steven's attitude is awful. At one point, he picked up a silly touch foul and just acted upset that he was called for a foul. Mature players will blow off the call and get focused back on the game, Hunter is becoming an eye sore on the court.

Bright spots of the game are Britton Johnsen, Gooden/Howard playing well together and the dynamic point guard duo of William/Lue. Both point guards increased their assists and points tonight. This was the first game that they looked comfortable with the team. Low spots are beginning to sound like a broken record. Hunter played horrible again, turnovers and the points from turnovers and fast breaks made a difference in this game. I expect the Magic to clean a little when the season starts, but the turnovers and rebounding will be continuous topics when the Magic lose.

One more week until the first game of the season.

Magic play Atlanta tonight. After a few days off, watch for Doc to play the 4 members on the bubble to see which ones will be staying to start the year.

Alton Ford has been released by the Magic. The move was not unexpected as the Magic make a move to trim the roster for the start of the season. Sasser will most likely be the next player released. The final spot is up for grabs, I am expecting Doc to cut Steven Hunter.

The Magic play former team member Mike Miller tonight in Memphis. Too bad this game is not on television for the Florida fans - it would be nice to see Mike in action.

Magic win 90-86 with McGrady scoring 27 points in 33 minutes. Still waiting for the box score to be released. From the news, it appears to be a balanced effort by the Magic team with 4 players scoring in double figures. Steven Hunter had 1 rebound, 1 block and 1 point in 12 minutes. Zaza had 3 rebounds in 6 minutes and McGrady had 4 blocks. Something is seriously wrong with this picture. Can the Magic's real center please stand up? Damn.

The Magic take on the Utah Jazz tonight at 8:30pm. We might have Zaza and Drew back for tonights lineup. The game will be played in St. Louis. This will also be the first time the Magic have faced the Jazz without Stockton (retired) and Malone (signed with Lakers).

I am not going to harp on the subject, mostly because it is preseason. However, the Magic have got to start leaving a little more on the court each night. I finally saw a few bright moments from Steven Hunter, though there were plenty of times he stood around waiting. If Hunter could put the energy into each possession that Drew Gooden does - he could be one heck of a player.

Donnell Harvey. I like his effort on the court. On the bench, I really have to question his motivation. We heard the report from a previous game that he was talking on a cell phone. During the Hornets game, I watched him converse with a man in the audience about getting post game passes. Take into consideration this was late in the game and everyone thought we might not see him play for the rest of the night. He did play though, and after he took off his warmup - a timeout was called. The thing that irks me - he did not participate in the team huddle until the very end.

Overall, the team effort was a D+. I only give it the plus because they bench showed a little promise at the end of the game. I was upset that once again Darrell Armstrong proved that it does not matter if you are 7 foot or 6 foot( which I still question), but if you put effort into the game - you can rebound the ball. On two occasions, the smallest guy on the court grabbed two crucial rebounds with less than 3 minutes to go in the game. I consider that to be the difference in the Win/Loss column.

One bright spot worth mentioning, Juwan Howard. At one point he was in the paint, McGrady up top. Doc directed Juwan to move up just as McGrady was driving. Howard was able to pick off McGrady's defender. The difference, McGrady had one player tugging on him as he drove to the basket instead of two. This did not happen last year as everyone was too busy watching McGrady create. Howard never saw the end of the play, he just did his job.

Last thing, thanks again to Magic Rep Leonard Edwards. About 10 minutes before the game, he caught up with me and took us down to right behind the bench. That was one of the best games I have ever been to because I was right there in the action and could hear the bench and the court. I had a great time at the game and I hope to have that opportunity again sometime in the future. Leonard - thanks for the upgraded seating arrangement - I'll catch you at the next game!

Darrell Armstrong returns to the TD Waterhouse Centre tonight to face his old team for the first time. A lot of Magic players sat out Saturday nights game - so let us hope we have a full team for this game. Even though it is the preseason, you can expect Darrell to come with full energy. I know they will play again at the start of the season, but I still think this will be a big preseason game.

I will be at the game tonight thanks to Leonard Edwards, account executive from the Orlando Magic. There was a small mixup over the summer league games, and Mr. Edwards made sure that the Magic family was aware of the problem and more than made up for the incident. If you still need tickets, call your account representative or Mr. Edwards at (407) 916-2907. See you at the game!

Box Score

The Orlando Magic play intrastate rival Miami Heat tonight at 7pm in the TD Waterhouse Centre. Expect Tracy McGrady, Zaza, Pat Garrity and possibly Donnel Harvey to not play tonight.

The Magic play the second game of the preseason and a back-to-back game tonight at New Orleans. Darrell Armstrong will be playing tonight - so expect him to be fired up. With last nights lack of defense and rebouding, watch for the team to really step that effort up tonight. Doc was openly disappointed with the defensive effort. Now that the young team has the first game out of the way, expect Doc to try push a little harder on them

Rebounding the basketball is going to be a huge factor if the Magic are going to have any kind of success this year. Rebounding shows how much energy and enthusiasm a team has. Tonight, it just was not there. The core group played well, considering it was a preseason game. Steven Hunter looks better - but I am still personally unhappy with where this kid is at and his effort. I hope he picks it up and can become a viable option for us - but I will hold off any further comments until I see some effort.

T-Mac was his usual self, just warming up and getting ready for the season. Howard was active, a quiet night by his numbers - but that will change when the games mean something. Giricek and Gooden were awesome, picking up where they left off last year. Gooden looks bigger and showed why we traded for him. Giricek showed up and played a great game. These two guys are going to be huge this year. Harvey played a good game and I expect he will only get better throughout the season.

The biggest difference that I saw tonight in the team was the depth they could with on the floor. Granted they are young, but they have talented players that can contribute deep on the bench. Basically, you can take the last four guys in the rotation and stick Gooden, T-Mac or Howard with them - and they can play. Last year, we could barely survive a game going to the bench.

I cannot wait to see more of this team and get a better idea of where we stand with the players we have. I think the last two spots are pretty much up for grabs with Bogans and Williams standing out. I could go on all night about what I liked and dislike - but we will give the guys a couple more games before I really get into it.

Quote from the game

The first preseason game is tonight. The Magic are playing at Dallas, tipoff is at 8:30pm. I expect this to be a big game for both teams. Watch for Doc to use a standard rotation early, but switching to mismatched rotations later in the game. This will be our first NBA caliber type matchup for a lot of new guys we currently have on our team.