Thursday’s Magic Word
- John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com: “[Orlando] Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, who put his team through an arduous, two-hour workout on Thursday with three 12-minute quarters of game-like action, said his team will practice on Friday as if they will play Milwaukee, “because that’s the only team we can face on Sunday.” And if the start of the next series is pushed to Tuesday – an eight-day stretch from the end of the Charlotte sweep — the Magic might take Saturday off and push Sunday’s workout back to after a Hawks-Bucks Game 7. [...] Several of the Magic players talked on Thursday about the need to keep their conditioning intact and to stay sharp mentally. Small forward Matt Barnes said Thursday’s practice “felt like we played three games in one day,” and point guard Jameer Nelson pointed out that the workout was as intense as any the Magic have had in some time. Nelson, easily Orlando’s most consistent player in the four-game sweep of the Bobcats, said the Magic are determined to not let a long layoff distract their focus from the ultimate prize of a championship.”
- Head coach Stan Van Gundy shares his thoughts on the Milwaukee Bucks.
- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel thinks the Orlando Magic should fret facing the Bucks in the 2010 NBA Eastern Conference Semfinals: “If I’m the Magic, I’d rather play the Hawks because they are a team that really has no intestinal fortitude. In contrast, the Bucks, coached by the fiery Scott Skiles, have shown they have the grit and guts to compete even when the situation looks hopeless.”
- Van Sias of SLAM ONLINE has a tip for fans of the Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento Kings, and the Golden State Warriors, three teams not participating in the playoffs — root for the Magic instead: “Probably the last team you want to pull for is the Lakers, state pride be damned, so why not take it as far out of Cali as near possible and roll with the Magic men? Dwight Howard’s always gonna get his, so you don’t have to worry about your big man not showing up. Plus, they’re already in the conference semis after putting the broom to Charlotte. Hook up with them and you’re on your way!”
- Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk: “Dwight Howard lost his head in the Charlotte series. Sure, there were some borderline calls that went against him, but he didn’t deal with it well. He kept picking up silly fouls, not just accepting some of the banging but retaliating. Then he sat. Then his teammates nicknamed him Foul on You. Watch the video and see for yourself. [...] Superman needs to sit down with the other Superman and talk about this — Shaquille O’Neal has been there. It takes some maturity as a strong, physical player to accept the cheap shots and not retaliate, to see calls that would be made on others ignored on you because your strong enough to power through them, to have other people flop and get calls. But Howard let it get into his head.”
- Are the Magic still disrespected? Ben Q. Rock of Orlando Pinstriped Post attempts to find an answer to that question.
- Trey Kerby of Ball Don’t Lie chimes in on Howard’s $35,000 fine.
