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- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “[Orlando] Magic GM Otis Smith will take applications for the backup center position behind Dwight Howard for 2011-12. Can a kid who logged zero minutes and seldom practiced with the team win the job? Is Daniel Orton that guy? ‘I believe I am,’ Orton told me. ‘I believe I am for so many reasons, but I’d rather not say because it would only raise expectations higher. I’m not a sayer. I’m a doer.’ As the Magic’s first-round pick out of Kentucky, Orton, 20, couldn’t do anything this season as a rookie but watch. He didn’t get on the floor after battling a lingering left knee injuries, which eventually required surgery in late December. He partially tore the ACL as a junior in high school, and tore his meniscus as a senior, undergoing more surgery. He underwent arthroscopic surgery after playing his second game of a D-League stint with the New Mexico Thunderbirds. Physically, Orton says his knee is sound, but he won’t go full bore until sometime this summer.”
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Maybe familiarity really does breed contempt, because the first-round playoff series between the Orlando Magic and the Atlanta Hawks is becoming downright chippy. On a day the NBA handed down one-game suspensions to Orlando’s Jason Richardson and Atlanta’s Zaza Pachulia for fighting each other, both teams escalated their posturing for officials and had increasingly harsh words for each other. Stan Van Gundy complained that Hawks centers Jason Collins and Zaza Pachulia hit superstar Dwight Howard at every opportunity but flop to the court whenever they face minimal contact. Meanwhile, Collins and Pachulia said that Howard dishes out at least as much punishment as he receives. And the Magic stewed that Richardson received the same punishment as Pachulia.”
- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: ” This could be your big chance, Gilbert Arenas. Tonight’s the night. Don’t blow it. Starting shooting guard Jason Richardson has been suspended from tonight’s crucial Game 4 of the Magic’s playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks. This could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for, Gilbert, to get back into the rotation and earn that $18 million salary Magic fans believe is the biggest waste of money since frozen coffee drinks. {…] If ever there was a time for Agent Zero to become a Magic hero, this is it. Call me Mr. Melodrama if you want, but there isn’t just one game riding on tonight’s outcome; the season is riding on it. The future of the franchise could be riding on it. This is as close to must-win as you can without actually being mathematically eliminated from a series completely. Let’s face it, does anybody really think the Magic can afford to go down 3-1 to the Hawks – a talented and athletic team that has beaten the Magic 5-of-7 times this season? If the Magic lose tonight, the chances of them winning this series are about the same as the chances of Van Gundy being invited to be on ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ This could be Gilbert’s grand opportunity to not only save the Magic’s season but to save good friend and Magic GM Otis Smith’s reputation – and perhaps even his job.”
- John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com: “Orlando Magic guard J.J. Redick flashed the bright, red wound on the inside of his left arm, offered to show the matching strawberry abrasion on his hip and admitted on Saturday that there are still times when he feels a stabbing pain from an abdominal strain injury. But with his Magic shorthanded because of a suspension, rattled somewhat by a shooting slump and peering out of a 2-1 playoff hole courtesy of the Atlanta Hawks, Redick knows that now is no time for pity. He said his team should be feeling the urgency to deliver its finest performance come Sunday’s Game 4 at Philips Arena in Atlanta. A Magic squad that’s struggled to score in the regular season and playoffs against the Hawks will be playing Sunday night without shooting guard Jason Richardson, Orlando’s second-leading scorer this season. He was suspended a game for Friday’s fourth-quarter fight with Atlanta center Zaza Pachulia. Richardson said the Magic clearly got the worst of that swap.”
- Steve Hummer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The Magic center, by way of tiny Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, stands as the single largest — 6-foot-11, 265 pounds to be exact — obstacle between the Hawks and Round 2 of these NBA playoffs. Against the Hawks, Howard has been a transcendent force, playing all but five of 144 minutes of the first three games, despite a rotation of Hawks big men hanging from him like anchor chains. His scoring has dropped with each game (46 to 33 to 21), yet within this star-laden postseason, he entered Saturday ranked first in scoring (33.3 per game), rebounding (17.7 per game) and minutes per game (46). Orlando so needs him on the floor that his coach, Stan Van Gundy said, ‘It’s very hard to even let him get a drink of water.’ He is a soloist, the Yo-Yo Ma of post play, while Orlando aches to hear from the rest of the orchestra. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series looms Sunday at Philips — the Hawks up 2-1 and the stage set for further friction. Hawks center Zaza Pachulia came out of Game 3 on Friday looking as if he had spent the evening locked in a cage with an angry wolverine, scratches covering one arm. Howard has banked two postseason technical fouls already, both of them involving Pachulia. He flung the Hawks’ backup big man to the court in Game 1, and on Friday flailed at Pachulia after a hard foul, catching him across the neck.”
- Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Losing Zaza Pachulia hurts the Hawks. Losing Jason Richardson hurts the Magic more. It’s pretty simple why. Zaza is a sub splitting minutes at center, where the Hawks have other choices: Jason Collins is the starter in this lineup, and Al Horford has had some success at the position, having twice made the All-Star team. Richardson is a starter and was, at least during the regular season, the second-leading scorer on a team starving for options beyond Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson. Howard has averaged 33.3 points in this series, up nearly 10 over his regular-season yield. Of Orlando’s 92 baskets, he has 33. Nelson has 19. That means 56.5 percent of the Magic’s offense is coming from two players. That’s why the Hawks lead 2-1. The rest of the Magic men have been, in a word, lousy.”