The Magic lose to the Miami Heat, 98-93, in the final game of the year. The Magic were missing the usual suspects and the Heat were without Shaq and Dwayne Wade. The Magic led most of the way but could not close out the game in the fourth quarter. The Heat went on a 14-3 run to finish the game. Without a doubt, the inability to get Dwight Howard the ball in the closing minutes allowed the Heat to take control.
In today's Orlando Sentinel, Steve Francis placed a full page ad on the back page of the sports section. In the ad, Francis apologizes for the teams performance, talks about the off-season and the excitement of next year. There are mixed feelings about the intentions of the ad and why it was placed. I will let you read it before I make my comments.
The Magic beat the pacers tonight, 92-88, on a good defensive effort. Both teams played a great game. The Pacers were looking to secure the sixth seed in the playoffs and the Magic were looking to end the season with some momentum. With less than a half minute in the game, Steve Francis put up the game-winning basket, leaving only 10 seconds on the clock.
While the Magic will finish the season where I realistically expected to them, I would have to say I am disappointed with the progress throughout the year. After the Magic went 13-6 to start off the year, I think every fan was thinking playoffs. Towards the middle part of the year, we could almost smell first round home court advantage. This is where the team began to make the biggest mistake of the year.
The Magic played a little better tonight, however they could not manage to pull out the win in the end. The Milwaukee Bucks capitalize on the Magic's 20 turnovers and win the game, 113-103. Dwight Howard posted 19 points and 15 rebounds and Brandon Huner recodrs a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
One would think the Magic would try to end the year on a high note, but they get hammered by the Chicago Bulls 117-77. Losing is one thing; losing by 40 is ridiculous. Any margin over 20 tells me that the team gave up and did not want to finish the game.
More of the same tonight as the Magic lose their fifth game in a row to the Detroit Pistons, 103-94. The Magic were killed on the boards tonight without the services of Kelvin Cato, 49-35. Dwight Howard only pulled in 6 rebounds in 36 minutes and Tonhy Battie had 4 rebounds in 28 minutes. The Magic big men were off tonight and there was not much of a defensive effort put forth.
Pat Garrity is a proud new father of a baby boy and DeShawn Stevenson is also a new father of a baby girl. Both are in Orlando today and will miss tonight's game in Detroit.
As the season winds down, we will undoubtedly hear the fair share of coaching rumors. To start things off, we have some lame local sports authorities throwing out all kinds of garbage. We have heard names like Phil Jackson, Bill Lambier, Pat Riley, Brian Hill, Eric Musselman and Flip Saunders.
After jumping to an early lead, the Magic fade in the second quarter and drop another game in their "playoff run." The Cavaliers win in Orlando, 114-106 to stay alive in the playoff hunt. Lebron James played all 48 minutes, putting up 33 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assits for the Cavaliers. Rookie Dwight Howard had 23 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks.
The Magic announced today that they have signed Andre Barrett for the rest of the season. The Magic were awarded an injury exception for Grant Hill who is out the rest of the season rehabbing his injured shin.
After consulting with the medical staff at Duke University, Grant Hill will sit out the rest of the year with a bruised left shin. While the injury is not affecting his surgically repaired ankle, the Magic and Hill want to be cautious and avoid any further injury.
With Jameer Nelson going down with a chest/rib injury, the Magic released forward Mark Jones from his ten day contract and signed rookie point guard Andre Barrett to a ten day contract. Barret started the year with Houston before being released early in the year.
