Posts Tagged ‘magic’

Magic 105, Suns 89

Sunday, November 21st, 2010


A night after playing a season-low 29 minutes in a 27 point loss to the Miami Superfriends, Steve Nash watched from the bench as Phoenix were pummeled by the Orlando Magic. Without Robin Lopez, the Suns had no body inside to contain Dwight Howard (after seeing Chris Bosh score 35 pts in three quarters the night before) and the Magic’s shooters came alive.

Watching the Suns without their starting one and five was a frightful preview of the inevitable rebuilding period coming up for Phoenix. Two seasons ago, Shaquille O’Neal guided the Suns to the lottery. Last season, their 10-deep squad ran all the way to the Western Conference Finals. How will the 2010-11 season end for Phoenix? We have sixty games left to find out.

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Magic 112, Hawks 98

Friday, May 7th, 2010


The Orlando Magic came home strongly against the Atlanta Hawks to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. After a huge 18 point first quarter from Dwight Howard, the Magic watched the Hawks take the half time lead. But the Magic stormed back in the second half.

The game defining sequence occurred at the end of the third. The Magic were making a run at a three quarter lead until Jamal Crawford drained a crowd-silencing three with 5.4 seconds on the clock. With time left, Jameer Nelson took the inbounds pass, dribbled over the half court and around two Hawks’ defenders to launch a buzzer-beating three, which banked home to give the Magic an 84-83 lead. From there, it was all Orlando.

Hubie Brown said it during the telecast – Orlando plays for all 48 minutes. The series could end in Atlanta with another Magic sweep, and then the games get serious. Can the Orlando Magic be beaten four times in seven games by any team this season?

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Posted in Season 09-10 | 1 Comment »

Mavs 82, Magic 97

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

Dwight Howard rains down on Jason Kidd with a nasty putback dunk. Howard finished the game with 17 points and 20 rebounds.

Playoff Race

The playoff race in the West is heating up, with the standings two through five at April 4 as follows:

Western W L PCT GB CONF DIV HOME ROAD L 10 STREAK
Dallas 50 27 0.649 5.5 28-19 8-6 26-13 24-14 5-5 L 2
Denver 50 27 0.649 5.5 31-16 11-4 32-6 18-21 5-5 W 2
Utah 50 27 0.649 5.5 28-19 7-8 31-8 19-19 7-3 L 1
Phoenix 50 27 0.649 5.5 31-16 12-4 29-9 21-18 9-1 L 1

The Phoenix Suns had their ten game streak snapped at Milwaukee, but the importance of the game was that Phoenix carried the ten-game streak in. The Suns beat the teams that they had to, and now have five tough games to round out the schedule. Ideally, the Suns will jump to either the 2nd or 3rd seed to avoid the Lakers in the Conference Semi-Finals. Then…

With One HD broadcasting the Western Conference Finals this year, I would get my dream matchup of Suns v Lakers. But as Doug Collins says, “The playoffs is all about matchups.” And we won’t know until the last day of the season how this race will finish.

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Posted in Season 09-10 | No Comments »

Heat 102, Magic 108

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

The Orlando Magic defeated the Miami Heat 108-102 in overtime despite a poor game for franchise center Dwight Howard. Howard was plagued by foul trouble for most of the game and picked up his 15th technical foul for the season. His next technical foul will result in a one game suspension.

Dwyane Wade carried Miami through a dismal third quarter and looked to have made the go ahead play when Matt Barnes committed a touch foul on a Wade drive. However, Wade missed the free throw and the Magic wrestled the game away in overtime. It was the second consecutive overtime game for the Heat on TNT, having beaten the Lakers two weeks ago.

Most of the Heat players are auditioning for their spot on the 2010-11 Miami roster and Mario Chalmers and Dorrell Wright showed their worth with big fourth quarter plays. But both ultimately know that their tenure with the Heat will be decided as a matter of second priority when Miami go shopping for marquee free agents in the off season.

Get ready for the playoffs by using the NBA Scoreboard 2010 addon for Firefox.

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Celtics 90, Mavs 99

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

The Dallas Mavericks were trailing by nine points at half time, and the Boston Celtics looked comfortable out in front on their home court. Enter Dirk Nowitzki. Dallas’ All-star forward lead a magnificent 3rd quarter shooting display to storm past the Celtics, taking their lead to 16 points early in the 4th quarter.

The Mavs, by all reports, played terribly the night before in Toronto. And the question remains, as its has all season – which Dallas team will show up on any given night? The Mavs at TD Garden looked amazing in the second half. Nowitzki exploited his defender outside, Marion ran the break with a push from Kidd, and Dampier finished around the basket. Yet when Nowitzki’s shot isn’t falling, the whole Dallas team suffers.

The Mavericks are a playoff lock, and probably a division winner, but can this team show up in the playoffs?

Lakers 98, Magic 92

On the day that he was announced as a competitor in the NBA Slam Dunk competition, Shannon Brown glides past Vince Carter on his way to a career-high 22 points in just 21 minutes.

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Posted in Season 09-10 | 1 Comment »

Hawks 76, Magic 93

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

Dwight Howard dunkThe Atlanta Hawks surrendered the best record in the East to the Orlando Magic on Thanksgiving with a 76-93 home loss. The Hawks dropped to 7-1 at home, and rightly so, wearing red alternate uniforms more suitable for the road.

The Magic were sparked in the second half by Dwight Howard and Anthony Johnson, highlighted by a large alley-oop dunk by Howard from a Johnson lob.

I was keen to see both these teams after catching them both during One HD’s coverage of the 2009 NBA playoffs. The Magic didn’t look as good as the team that beat the Cavaliers, and the Hawks didn’t look as good as the team that beat Dwyane Wade. Having said that, the Hawks looked a lot closer to their ceiling (2nd half FG% aside) than the Magic. I won’t be surprised to see these two teams meet in the playoffs this season.

The game also wrapped up the November schedule on One HD. Be sure to check out the December schedule and then follow all the action with the NBA Scoreboard addon for Firefox.

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Posted in Season 09-10 | No Comments »