Dwight Howard had a big game tonight with 17 points and 20 rebounds. Howard's performance could not bring enough energy to the Magic though as they lose another game. Toronto wins 106-96. Steve Francis and Hedo Turkoglu had decent games, but the Magic bench had nothing for the Raptors tonight.
Our defense was pretty poor all night except for a few good one-on-one moments. The team is just not playing team defense. As much as I want to pin this loss on our bench, the starters put the team in the hole early on in the game. With Grant Hill out, Coach has elected to use Turkoglu in the starting lineup. With our bench struggling as they are and Turk not playing defense, I think DeShawn Stevenson or Stacey Augmon would be better suited to start in the absence of the shooting guard or small forward. We would see better defense to help limit the opposing team from scoring early on and we would still get the scoring punch off the bench that Turkoglu brings.
At some point though, the Magic bench will have to step up. There are nights when we get decent production, but it is not consistent. We need Pat Garrity to step up. We need more consistent minutes for Stevenson. And something has to be done with Kelvin Cato and Tony Battie. Cato complains way too much, is often throwing lazy passes and way off on his defensive assignments. He does manage to make some nice plays, but ends up committing as many turnovers or missed assignments. Tony Battie and Howard seem to play very well together, but Battie can be inconsistent.
Even with the recent 3 game win streak, the Magic have yet to show consistent team chemistry. One night they are pumping each other up and playing extremely well and the next, well, they could lose a pickup game with the Handy Way janitors. Playoffs or not, I am ready for next year. We have some nice pieces - but I expect half the team will be replaced and a new coach will be hired. We're almost there. Even with the team now, we're playing better than the .500 ball we've seen for the past 4 years.
