Finally, Everyone Can Relax About the Orlando Magic
1-liner, NBA January 23rd. 2009, 9:30amBoston 90, Orlando 80: Can the hype finally cease? We get it – Dwight Howard is a stud (3 million All-Star votes!) and everyone’s really pulling for him to win a title … but Orlando’s got to win that game. It’s more about confidence than anything. The Celtics are 2-0 against the Magic after last night’s win, and Howard was held to 11-11. So can we all go back to Cleveland and Boston being the premiere teams in the East? It definitely ain’t Philly – even though Elton Brand’s due back anyday now – and Detroit may just implode with this Rip Hamilton 6th man experiment.
41 Responses to “Finally, Everyone Can Relax About the Orlando Magic”
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January 23rd, 2009 at 9:33 AM
Howard only shot 40%, hope he does better than that in May/June…
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:33 AM
I have no excuses this morning. Orlando got beat by the better team. Stan Van Gundy took the blame for the loss.
I wouldnt say they are done in the East TBL. way too early for that. They play Cleveland next week so we will see.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:37 AM
Beating LAL and SA doesn’t make them elite, but losing an equally “meaningless” game to Bos means they’re toast?
Got it.
Detroit is fucking awful, btw.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:39 AM
The #3 seed in the East is probably playing Miami in the first round which could spell trouble.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:39 AM
trading Billups was an awful decision
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:39 AM
Well, if Orlando is done after losing to a good team like Boston, then Boston might as well quit after the losses they had in the last couple weeks.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:41 AM
Whatever, when your two best players have a shit game this happens, its only January. Wilbon said it yesterday, nothing Orlando does in the regular season matters at this point, we know they’re good, they just have to win a few big playoff series to start getting some respect.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:42 AM
It definitely ain’t Philly
who you picked to be better than Orlando this year dont forget
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:42 AM
I don’t think you can cast off the Magic after the way they’ve handled the Western Conf. They looked bad last night but they’ll push either Cleveland or Boston in a playoff series, so no use reading too much into it. They handled Boston and Detroit in the regular season last year (either tied or led the season series) and exited early in the playoffs. They’ll be a factor in June.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 AM
and you link to the first game they do implement it, and they blow Toronto out. well done. I would have had Iverson come off the bench, but somebody needed to not named Stuckey.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Despite the attempts to spin it to contrary, one game in January is meaningless, regardless of the result. I have no idea why “Orlando’s got to win that game”.
A word about the 76ers…the fanbase doesn’t really want Brand to hurry back, they have clearly played better without him.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:52 AM
The game is meaningless. However, I said that they didn’t stand a chance of winning the game if Jameer played poorly. Rondo shut him down.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Detroit will be the team to beat by the time April and May rolls around.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:56 AM
AI being on the All Star team is a travesty
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:57 AM
irish-agree. Iverson does not belong.
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:59 AM
@sparty- what are you going to tell me now about Dwight getting the most votes? are you going to tell me to wait until the votes from NY to come back again? Remember you just had to say something to me that morning when Dwight had the early lead
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Irish – I respect the “no excuses” mantra. Very well executed defensive gameplan by the Celtics.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:12 AM
i am going to tell you that it shocks me. but…these are the same fans that voted Iverson in.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:13 AM
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:16 AM
Well, even more disgraceful than Iverson getting in, is the fact that the #3 place F in the East was Yi, and the #3 place F in the West was Bruce Bowen (who came damn close to Amare).
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Serial, Jay?
link?
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:18 AM
+1 Nick
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Why are people so obsessed with the all star game? It is just a popularity and name recognition contest. Let it go. It does not matter.
Regarding the Pistons…as sparty said…Hamilton coming off the bench just might work. They won a bunch of games when Rip was hurt and immediately started losing when he came back. It just wasn’t working with the 3 guard starting lineup.
Of course, they have been good enough to beat the “great” teams of San Antonio, Cleveland, Orlando and the Lakers this year.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:24 AM
And also good enough to lose to Oklahoma City, Charlotte, the Knicks, Minnesota, and New Jersey.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:26 AM
Nick…
http://www.nba.com/2009/allstar2009/01/22/allstar_final.allstar09.20090122/index.html
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Here’s a link. That’s garbage about Bowen. He hasn’t even been average in 3 years.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Yeah. Bowen’s only been the best perimeter defender regardless of tactics in the NBA for the last 8 years, but he’s average. Okay. And Bruce Lee beating out STAT would’ve been the greatest S.A. beatdown of a Phoenix player since…shit. Every fucking year. Who are we kidding? Phoenix sucks.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:36 AM
Regardless of whether Bowen is good or not, who the hell would vote him to an all-star game? He and his team are boring as shit and everyone hates him. That said, Scalabrine held Amare to like one point and one rebound in 30 minutes the other night.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Detroit is going through the transitions of replacing their starting PG with a young player, adding a perennial All Star into the lineup, sitting down a longtime starter, and doing all of this under a first year coach, they will have their ups and downs. They made the right decision in sitting down Hamilton because Iverson is the better player. Many players can carry a team for a game or 2. Only a few can carry a team for an entire series or even an entire postseason. Iverson can and has. That’s what Detroit has been missing.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:40 AM
His D has been on a steady decline in recent years, and his O remains as piss-poor awful as ever.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Enough attempts at legitimizing Detroit. They are the team that no #4 seed wants to play in the first round, and that’s about it.
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Iverson can and has
8 years ago
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:49 AM
sucks the magic lost…and sucks even more that paul pierce still plays in the league.
and yea, detroit is pretty awful.
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:09 AM
that awful detroit team beat the cavs, when they were short-handed.
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:28 AM
i dont think the Magic are done; i just think all the hype needs to be tempered. big-time.
even if orlando is 2 and boston is 3, i’d still take the celtics in that series.
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:33 AM
It may have been 8 years ago, but it is something that within those 8 years only 2 players have proven they can do; the other one is LeBron the year the Cavs went to the Finals.
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:35 AM
I love Piston fans and Iverson apologists… Iverson has been an immense talent, especially with his dimunitive stature. However, he has been and always will be a chucker. He shoots until his arm falls off. His defense is marginal, at best. He is definitely not a point guard. And now, he is older which decreases his ability to get to the rack.
Detroit is the 4th or 5th best team in the East. They have no chance to be better than the top 3. Their window is done, thankfully. Good run, but over…
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:54 AM
What’s wrong with shooting? That is how you score isn’t it?
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:38 PM
i just think all the hype needs to be tempered. big-time
what hype are you talking about?
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:39 PM
TBL- you have watched probably 2 Orlando games this year. Last nights game and the christmas day game. Am i wrong?
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:51 PM
i dont know the exact amount of times i’ve seen orlando this year. i do have relatives down there, read plenty about them, and i even voted for d howard for the all-star game.