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.
At some point, the Magic have to start looking towards next year. I believe management already has an idea of who will be back next year. They should focus on that core group and start playing games with the team in mind. Howard got the ball a little more tonight than he has been, but there were no designed plays. The Magic should be running the offense through Jameer Nelson and down into the post, spotting up the perimeter for the kickout or slashing cuts to the basket.
In all honesty, as big a fan as I am - it is getting hard to watch these last few games. Last year was bad enough, but this group is capable of so much more. They gave us so much at the beginning of the year and now, they just go through the motions every night.
Two road games and two home games left in the year. I was hoping this time of the year would be full of promise. Instead, its full of disappointment. The attitude and identity of the team is not like it was at the beginning of the year. It will take the summer to get it back. Let's hope management makes the right decisions to get this thing turned around and heading in the winning direction we got spoiled on in the beginning of the year.
