Halfway, as good as it gets

Each year, we all get excited in the offseason about the upcoming season. What moves will the Magic make? Who will we draft in the offseason? Who won't be with the team come opening night? And each year, we all speculate on what the Magic need and what we would do if we were King for a day.

However, this past offseason was pretty quiet. We drafted Courtney Lee, signed a couple backups and let Carlos and Keyon walk away. No offense to Mickael Peitrus and Anthony Johnson, but I don't think any Magic Fans were terribly excited over that free agent news. Here we are now, sitting at the halfway point, wondering how we got to be the leagues best team at the halfway point. I say that not just because of the Magic's win/loss record but because of the way other coaches are responding to the Magic's season. Out west you have George Karl wondering how his team is going to defend the Magic and in the east, Doc Rivers publicly saying the Magic are playing better than any other team. Respect is earned from your peers, not from the media or armchair coaches/gm's. The fact that other coaches and players are noticing how the Magic are winning, not just that they are winning, that shows respect.

So, exactly how are the Magic earning this respect? By learning how to win each and every night. Sure Dwight Howard is Dwight Howard. Jameer is doing his beat Chris Paul impersonation. Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis are having easy nights to go with their good nights. But it's the rest of the team that is playing better. When Howard goes out, I no longer hold my breath. If Hedo twists an ankle, I'm not going to hole up in my room for 3 days contemplating if we can hold ont to the sixth seed. It's Lee, Keith Bogans, Marcin Gortat and the others that are holding leads and outplaying the other team's bench. It won't always show up in the stat sheets in terms of rebounds, points and assists, but the effort we get from our bench is solid every night.

Are we better than the Lakers, Spurs, Cavs and Celtics? I think so. Next time the Magic are down to the wire in a close game, look at which players are frustrated and which players are playing. When the Magic put their head down and play their game, they frustrate opponents into taking bad shots and making mistakes. I'll follow-up with a series of posts on each player with my thoughts on how they're playing, what they can do better and why they're valuable to the team.