The team played with intensity and a lot of energy tonight. I like that the team is playing more aggressively. Having Keith Bogans playing like well, has allowed our defense to become better and our offense to open up a little. Big 'Z' has provided some physical toughness off the bench that we have been missing all year. Bogans played good defense most of the game, but Michael Redd eventually got hot and put up 40 points on the Magic. I think a few of those are on Gordan Giricek. It would be interesting to see how many shots are made/missed against Bogans and what portion of a players points are with him guarding them and without.
The Magic carried over the energy from the win on Monday and played a good game. Let's hope we can take this energy and get a win in Philadelphia on Friday.
Both Gordan and Bogans are good defensively on the perimeter. My guess would be that players shoot around 35% when Bogans is guarding them. Maybe lower. Since this comment is after the most recent game I can say what a great performance by Hunter. I looked at the box score and saw he played 20 minutes and I knew there would be a high number of blocks. I was right he had 4. I have said it before and I will say it again, we arent using this guy appropriately. I dont care how bad of an offensive player he is at least he doesnt move out of the way when a guy is coming. Give him a 35 minute game I bet he would put up 7 or 8 blocks. Figures Orlando wont play there best shot blocker when they are criticized for soft interior D. Common Sense.
Great performance? You must not watch the same games as I. He rarely stands in on defense - and is bad as Gooden when it comes to putting a hand in the jump shooter's face. The deal with the offense - no one expects him to score. We do expect him to be able to put back an offensive rebound from 1-3 feet from the basket - and he can't. By the way, the only reason he played - or will play in other game this season is for another team to get a look at him so that he can be traded.