The Magic lay down a butt-kickin tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers, winning 102-73. The team got a great contribution from the bench tonight. It looks as if Brian Hill is finally living up to his promise of playing those who come out to play. Coach said he would play those who earned it in the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, we're just now seeing a good rotation of players. There were games earlier in the year where he was only playing 7 or 8 guys and you cannot win games in the NBA like that.
As for the game, the Magic played great. They were a little shaky in the first quarter, but they settled down and played defense the rest of the way. No one player really stood out tonight except for maybe Tony Battie and Bo Outlaw. Outlaw scored 12 points off some hustle plays and Battie notched a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Carlos Arroyo and Darko Milicic continue to impress me. I think going into this offseason, we have some decent pieces to build around. We might not win a championship next year, but I bet we'll at least be around .500 all year. Arroyo finished with 17 points and 7 rebounds - much to the delight of the fans. You can definitely tell the fans like having Arroyo around - and I am glad to see it for once. I don't know if the fan base is changing or they just care more about the game - but I'm glad to see it either way.
Team goodness - 44 rebounds, only 12 turnovers, almost 60% from the field and 75% on the free throw line. The Magic are doing a lot of things right the last couple games. They just have to buckle down, play defense and close games out.
