• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Orlando Magic have suspended power forward Glen Davis for tonight’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Saturday’s game against the Indiana Pacers because of what team officials are labeling ‘conduct detrimental to the team.’ Davis had an outburst during the team’s shootaround this morning at Amway Center as the team went through some of the Cavaliers’ plays on the team’s practice court. Davis and coach Stan Van Gundy ultimately got into an argument. Van Gundy would not discuss many of the details of what happened, but Van Gundy and a witness said the disagreement never turned physical. [...] That said, Davis has developed a reputation within the Magic organization as an intensely emotional player. In December, the Magic and Davis agreed to a four-year deal worth about $26 million, and the Magic acquired Davis and swingman Von Wafer in a sign-and-trade deal with the Boston Celtics for power forward Brandon Bass. Davis’ play so far this season has been up and down. At times, he has provided the bone-crunching screens, the hustle plays and the rebounding the team coveted when it acquired him. But at other times, Davis has migrated too far from the basket and attempted jumpers that are out of his range.”
• Ish Smith is looking forward to playing in his first game with the Orlando Magic.
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Magic still believe Howard leaves the door open to staying at times, and felt good about the possibility…. until the team lost six of eight games in a recent stretch. The Magic are still banking on the fact that Howard’s ability to make $30 million more in Orlando (bigger raises for a player who re-signs with his own team) plays a major role in his decision.”
• Head coach Stan Van Gundy is complimentary of Kyrie Irving.
• Jason Richardson will play against the Cleveland Cavaliers after sitting out the last two games.
• Should the Magic call Dwight Howard’s bluff of leaving money on the table? Jerry West, a consultant for the Golden State Warriors, thinks so.
• More on Glen Davis’ two-game suspension.
• Jared Dubin of Hardwood Paroxysm: “While the Magic attempt to stave off a Dwight-induced self-destruction, Cleveland is looking to prove that they belong in the playoff conversation in the East. Kyrie Irving is having one of the best rookie seasons in NBA history, Anderson Varejao is off to the best start of his career and the Cavs are winning much more than anyone had any right to expect.”
• Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie on Howard’s appearance in the All-Star Game: “By all accounts, he’ll still be with the Magic by the time the All-Star game tips off on Feb. 26. And Magic fans, mindful of the nationally televised audience and their own team’s dodgy future, will no doubt give Howard the biggest standing ovation he’s ever heard as he’s introduced. That’s how fans work. They’ll save the boos and hisses for when Howard eventually leaves the team this summer. And he will leave this team. Which will make the ovation — as a recruiting tool — a needless exercise. Sad.”
• More from Dwyer: “We were in favor of Smith trying to get something, anything, for Howard last fall. But after needlessly re-signing Jason Richardson and Glen Davis to two too-big deals, the Magic have to drag Howard along as long as they can and either hope for that slim chance that he’ll return, or take whatever cap freedom they’ll get with a clean break. This team could get a “clean break” by offering Howard up later this month for all expiring deals, but why waste the income and run of a potential play into May just for what you’re about to get for Howard anyway plus some potential draft picks in the low first round?”
• Davis has been strange this season for the Magic.

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Smith, 23, signed with the Magic on Thursday as a free agent and is expected to provide immediate help at point guard. Coach Stan Van Gundy said Smith will “definitely” play Friday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Smith is by no means ready, but Van Gundy has little choice. Starting point guard Jameer Nelson will miss the game against the Cavs because of concussion symptoms. Nelson is not expected to play until Monday at the earliest. The Magic released veteran combo guard Larry Hughes after Wednesday night’s win against the Washington Wizards to make room for Smith, a true guard. Van Gundy hopes Smith, 6-foot, 175 pounds, can help the Magic advance the ball up the floor. Teams have been pressuring the ball lately, forcing turnovers and causing the Magic to get into their offense late.”
• More from Robbins: “As tipoff approached Wednesday night, Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said he had no doubt his players would begin their game against the Washington Wizards with plenty of energy. Something concerned him, though. He worried what would happen if the Wizards went on a run. Would the Magic’s fragile confidence shatter? Would everything snowball out of control, just as it had several times within the last week? Would the Magic lose a fifth consecutive game for the first time in Van Gundy’s tenure? The Magic wound up passing the test. But not without a struggle. Fueled by their 3-point shooting, Orlando overcame a turnover-filled first half to beat Washington 109-103 at Amway Center.”
• Jameer Nelson is recovering well from a concussion.
• Head coach Stan Van Gundy is trying to persevere as the Orlando Magic try to snap out of their losing ways. To say it’s been a struggle for Van Gundy is putting it kindly.
• Ish Smith is eager to make an impact with the Magic.
• Tom Ziller of SB Nation states that Dwight Howard is a volatile scorer: “Howard, surprisingly, is right behind ‘Melo. Seeing a big man so high on the list fights conventional wisdom, which is that since big men tend to have higher shooting percentages, their production is more reliable. While Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge all seem to bolster that hypothesis with relatively low volatility marks, Howard — a regular near the top of field goal percentage rankings — is a blinking signal of doubt. One possible explanation: Dwight earns so many free throw attempts and shoots them so poorly that if he has a bad day at the stripe, he’s likely to have a bad day in the scoring column. (That the season has been short and that he had a monster scoring game against Golden State could affect things too, though the game didn’t throw his average too far away from expectations.)”
• Orlando is a roster filled with volatile scorers.
• Noam Schiller of Hardwood Paroxysm blames the Magic’s slow descent into irrelevance due to the decline of aging veterans like Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson: “If you add these two and a half improving youngsters to what used to be a solid array of role players and semi-stars, this should be a far better Magic team than last season. Maybe not Chicago or Miami level, but as close as it gets out East. Of course, that’s contingent on the non-youngsters as well. And that’s where, umm, sad.”
• Recapping Orlando’s win last night.
• Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk: “After four straight losses Magic will take the win, even if they let the team with the worst offense in the NBA put up 103 on them. The Magic’s defense was bad (except on John Wall who hit just 1-of-12 shots but did have 10 assists). Their offense was good enough to counter it — Dwight Howard and Ryan Anderson each had 23, J.J. Redick had 21.”

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Jason Richardson and Jameer Nelson will not play for the Orlando Magic tonight against the Washington Wizards. That’s the word from coach Stan Van Gundy, who spoke to the press moments ago following the Magic’s shootaround. Richardson will sit out his second straight game. Richardson originally suffered what team officials are calling a bone bruise on Jan. 12, missed several games and then returned to the lineup on Jan. 20. But Richardson continues to experience some weakness in the knee, and it’s difficult for him to get the knee loose after he goes to the bench in a game and after halftime. Magic officials don’t want his injury to linger. Nelson suffered two hits to his head on Orlando’s loss Friday night in New Orleans, and he has suffered from concussion-like symptoms since then. His return will be subject to the NBA’s new concussion policy, which was adopted in December and is being overseen by neurologist Jeffrey Kutcher. Van Gundy said Nelson’s symptoms have started to subside and that Nelson appears to be on track to play Monday.
• Head coach Stan Van Gundy is curious to see how the Orlando Magic respond to adversity.
• Chris Broussard of ESPN Insider: “If left up to Howard’s camp, the Magic would have been informed about Howard’s clear desire to leave before the new year. His representatives want him to force his way out of Orlando now. But Howard has kept them at bay. He’s refused to rescind his trade request, but he’s also refused to upgrade it to a trade demand. The Magic view that as hope they can keep him. But it’s more likely Howard doesn’t want to hurt the city’s feelings and turn all of Orlando against him. And as long as Howard leaves even an inkling of doubt about his intentions, he’ll remain on the team.”
• The Magic have slumped offensively as of late. Why?
• Three trade ideas involving Howard and the Chicago Bulls.
• Nate Drexler makes an appearance on TrueHoop TV to talk about Orlando.
• Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk: “There is a Howard trade rumor void because the Magic are not looking to move him right now, they are trying to convince him to stay. Which seemed a lot easier a couple of weeks ago when the Magic were playing well. But Orlando has lost four in a row and is playing without energy or execution. Normally this is where a team leader like Howard steps up and holds teammates accountable, but is anyone going to listen to a guy with one foot out the door?”
• After an 11-4 start to the regular season, the Magic are now pretenders.
• What should Orlando do with Howard?
• Mark Heisler of SheridanHoops.com: “At 12-5, press says Dwight should finish season there. At 0-4 since, with Dwight ripping teammates for not handling his situation better, will press say Magic should: a) Trade him now, b) Waive him, or c) Suspend him for season?”

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “It’s not a new tradition, but some teams’ fans start games standing on their feet, only sitting after the home team scores. Now I realize Magic fans might risk suffering from corns and bunions by the time the cold-shooting Magic find the basket during this slump. But why not pump up the struggling Magic right out of the box Wednesday night against the Wizards? Give them a standing ovation at tip-off. Let loose. Occupy Amway Center. Go crazy. Treat it as a playoff game. The Magic are having troubling summoning energy, so provide some for them in this marathon schedule. Leave the wine bar and get to your seat before tip-off. Act like Duke fans, the Cameron Crazies. Yell, stomp your feet, applaud, razz the Wizards, impact the game. Bring back the wave.”
• General manager Otis Smith doesn’t plan on making any moves right now.
• Andrew Lynch of Hardwood Paroxysm: “Two things here, Orlando. First, the league was a lot more fun when it seemed like you were a good team capable of challenging the Heat and Bulls in the playoffs if everything went your way. I don’t want to overreact to a handful of games, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt for now, but knock it off. Immediately. Second, your little quarter-season swoon made it a lot harder to defend the Sixers as a legitimate team (whatever that phrase means; it’s the question people ask all the time). Getting a win against the Magic meant something two weeks ago. Now? Not so much.”
• Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “The Magic will never respond to Howard again, and that’s on him. They’re lost in a brutal five-out-of-six-games debacle, and Howard’s public proclamation calling out Magic teammates last week has compounded issues. Despite his inability to separate the get-me-out-of-town Dwight and the I’m-your-leader Dwight, the organization knows one thing for sure: They’re the same guy.”
• What should the Orlando Magic do with Dwight Howard?
• John Hollinger of ESPN Insider proposes the Magic trade Howard to the New Jersey Nets: “Because of Kris Humphries’ involvement it couldn’t be consummated until March 1 and can’t be done on the Trade Machine, but the deal is Dwight Howard, Chris Duhon and Hedo Turkoglu to New Jersey for Brooks, Humphries, Brook Lopez and Mehmet Okur. The Nets could actually get a $3.1 million trade exception for Lopez as well, while the Magic would get one worth $3.2 million for Duhon. In addition, New Jersey can include four first-round picks: Its own picks in 2012, 2014 and 2016, and a pick owed to it by Houston from the Terrence Williams trade. It’s the best way to get Orlando out of its salary-cap mess and give it the pieces to rebuild, and obviously it puts New Jersey in great shape with a Howard-Williams core.”
• The losses are piling up for Orlando.
• Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk tries to examine the Magic’s woes: “The bigger problem is leadership — someone needs to step up and hold people accountable in the locker room. But can Howard, with one foot out the door and flirting with other cities, really be that guy? Teammates seemed to have tuned his rants out. Someone else will need to fill that role. Don’t expect a sudden Dwight Howard trade move either. The scenarios are out there, but as we have been saying the feeling around the league is the Magic are not going to trade him this season, but if they do it will be after the All-Star break the last weekend of February.”
• Would the Chicago Bulls be wise in going all-in for Howard?
• A look back at Orlando’s loss against the Philadelphia 76ers.
• Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “As bad as it looks, I caution you to look at the calendar before you try to pinpoint what has sickened the Magic. Six games in eight nights is no time for a sweeping diagnosis, and it doesn’t get much better from here. On Wednesday, the good news is that the Magic get the Wizards at home. The bad news is, it’s the start of a stretch of five more games in eight nights. Onward they all go, in the dementia-inducing, post-lockout NBA. The only thing we know for sure is that more losses, whatever the culprit, will spawn more Dwight drama, more headlines and the kind of pressure that would splinter any locker room. Given the circumstances, the relentless schedule that is taxing everyone, this long free-agent good-bye has the potential to end even uglier than the last two we’ve endured.”
• The Magic are getting exponentially worse by the week.
• Apparently, Stephen Jackson may be the ticket for a team to trade for (and keep) Howard.
• A Fran Vazquez update.
• Derrick Rose is indifferent with Howard joining the Bulls.
• The trust between Howard and his teammates is gone for the Magic.
• Zach Lowe of The Point Forward: “Here’s how bad the Magic’s offense has been: In four of those eight games, they scored at a per-possession rate lower than the Wizards, the league’s least efficient offensive team. (They managed this in one other game before this stretch — against Chicago on Jan. 6.) In two others of those eight games, they barely edged out Washington’s average scoring rate, according to Hoopdata. Six recent games, six performances on par with the very worst scoring team in the league. But some of those performances were really bad, beyond just Wizards bad. In four of those recent games, the Magic failed to crack 87.5 points per 100 possessions — a barrier that sits a full 12.5 points per 100 possession below the league’s average, and well below the Wizards. Those truly awful performances, including three that are just completely off the scoring map, are where Orlando’s season begins to separate itself from the run-of-the-mill struggles every good team goes through.”

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Something ails the Orlando Magic. Is it fatigue created by a brutal schedule? Or is something deeper at work? Whatever the case, the team looks awful right now. The Magic lost for the fourth time in five games Sunday, falling 106-85 on their home floor to the Indiana Pacers. Even Orlando’s normally placid fans rained boos down on the Magic during the final period, and the crowd had plenty of reasons to feel frustrated. The defense looked uninterested at times. The offense struggled to protect the ball. And, worst of all, the Pacers flat-out outhustled the Magic. [...] His team looks to be in freefall right now. In the last four losses, the Magic were clobbered by 31 points by the Boston Celtics, relinquished a 27-point lead to Boston, were routed by 26 by the hapless New Orleans Hornets and were annihilated by 21 by the Pacers. Tough to believe the Magic held an 11-4 record on Jan. 20.”
• For whatever reason, the Orlando Magic struggle to bring the ball up the court.
• Ryan Anderson agrees with Dwight Howard’s criticisms with regards to players for the Magic playing with a lack of effort when they’re on the floor.
• The Super Bowl is having an affect on Orlando’s ability to travel.
• Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie has more on the Magic’s traveling snafu: “The compromise? The Magic will fly from Cincinnati on Sunday. Which sounds about right, until you consider the fact that the same sort of weather issues that would be preventing a flight from placid Florida on Sunday into potentially-snowy Indianapolis are still going to be in place flying from Cincinnati to Indianapolis. Perhaps worse, even. Planes have mechanical hiccups in Orlando just as often as they do in Cincinnati, but it snows way, way more in Cincinnati than it does in Orlando.”
• Orlando is about ready to implode.
• Howard is open to playing for the Chicago Bulls.
• John Hollinger of ESPN Insider: “Yes, we’re evaluating the team after a particularly ugly five-game stretch, and I suspect this is about as badly as the Magic can play. But that doesn’t raise the water level enough to wash away the inescapable conclusion: These Magic, even with Howard, aren’t good enough to contend for anything important. And if that’s the case, it follows that Orlando’s hopes of persuading Howard to stay by fielding a contending team around him are similarly kaput. This has been suspected for some time, of course, but the optimism spawned by those first 15 games left openings for doubt. The last five games have crushed those hopes like a grape, with Howard’s comments questioning his teammates’ effort after the New Orleans debacle providing the hammer.”
• Marc Stein of ESPN.com: “Wasn’t it just one Monday ago that the Magic were actually feeling sneaky good about their chances of making one last run in an East with D-Rose ailing and only six teams above .500? Must feel like a year ago after what SVG aptly described as Orlando’s worst week since he started coaching there in 2007.”
• Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk: “As we have talked about before, Howard is stealing a page from the Carmelo Anthony/LeBron James “force a trade out of town playbook.” Part of that is saying you are open to playing anywhere for any team, just being vague and saying that your agent or God or someone else is in charge but not you. Which is a load of crap. If Howard wanted to force his way to Chicago he could (or at least could try), but that city was not on the list presented to the Magic. (Those teams were the Lakers, Mavericks, Nets and later the Clippers were added.)”
• The Magic are freefalling.
• Matt Moore of CBSSports.com thinks Howard is smart to consider the Bulls as his new team: “But Howard would be wise to consider Chicago — both for himself and the franchise he’s likely dumping. A trade with the Bulls would be easiest to facilitate because they have quality veteran players to package in exchange for Howard, which the Magic are said to covet. With a full stock of draft picks, young players and sub-stars like Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah, the Bulls could take on Howard’s salary and one of the Magic’s overpaid contracts. For Chicago, putting Howard next to Rose would be phenomenal — and giving Tom Thibodeau the best defensive player in the league could create the best defense in league history, depending on whether Luol Deng were sent away in such a trade.”
• Orlando is stirring up plenty of drama that’s worthy of reality television.
• A list of teams that Howard would be willing to play for.
• Could Chris Kaman be a player the Magic could trade for to serve as a back-up center?
• Orlando isn’t very good right now and that’s not Howard’s fault.

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Howard remains the league’s best center by a large margin, but you can make the argument that every aspect of his offensive game except his passing has regressed. His free-throw shooting, now at 46.9 percent, is less accurate this season than it’s ever been, and it prevents him from becoming a go-to guy down the stretches of games. Plus, his comment about the Magic getting “caught up with the refs” reflects directly upon himself. He has earned five technical fouls this season, and his tech last night was for complaining about a non-call. If he wants his teammates to maintain their composure, he must, as a co-captain, keep his own composure. That said, Howard has perceived a lack of toughness with the rest of the Magic at least since their 2010 Eastern Conference finals loss to the Celtics.
• The Orlando Magic need to avoid being labeled a “soft” team.
• The Magic lost composure against the Boston Celtics in last night’s loss.
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “Howard wants to change teams. There’s no question about that. But wins or losses during the regular season don’t factor heavily into his decision, given he’s made up his mind and wants to go to a big market.”
• The Celtics have proven that they are in the Magic’s heads.
• Jared Dubin of Hardwood Paroxysm: “The Magic wilted under the pressure of a stingy Celtics defense in the second half. They shot 6-for-17 in the third quarter and followed that up by going an embarrassing 2-for-17 in the fourth. They let a 27-point lead disappear and came away with nothing to show for it. They had no answers once they Celtics started getting up inside them and they let it get under their skin. It really looked like this team self-destructed in the second half, and it could wind up being a sign of things to come. Worst of all, they gave the Celtics life when they could have put them in the ground. Nope, wait. The worst part is Dwight Howard says they have to ‘change.’ Read that however you like, friends.”
• Orlando has a chance to bounce back and win a game against the New Orleans Hornets later tonight.
• Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston: “Outside of the Kevin Garnett-less 2009 playoffs, the Orlando Magic simply haven’t had much success against the Celtics in recent years. The old way of thinking suggested that the Celtics had an ability to match up Kendrick Perkins on Dwight Howard one-on-one, allowing Boston to smother the outside shooters and neutralize the Magic’s typical plan of attack (where opponents often had to double Howard, freeing the perimeter players). Well, the Celtics didn’t even have Jermaine O’Neal on Thursday night and still limited Howard to a manageable 16 points and 16 rebounds.”
• Plenty of numbers to pore over from the Magic’s loss last night.
• Orlando struggled to defend Boston’s pick-and-pop sets in the fourth quarter.
• Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk: “Are we in the media parsing out everything Howard says right now? Yes. The best center on the planet (no matter what Shaq thinks) could be a free agent. It’s a big deal. For the record, as we approach the All-Star Game and head into the trading deadline all of this is only going to get worse. Just a warning.”
• A lot of questions left to be answered for Orlando after yesterday’s defeat.
• Notes from last night’s game between the Magic and Celtics.
• Beckley Mason and Ethan Sherwood Strauss of HoopSpeak get in the minds of Orlando and Boston players.
• Digging through the rumble and making sense of Howard’s words following the Magic’s loss.
• Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “It always depends on the deal. If Howard can be had for a price that’s less than Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, then the dialogue could catch fire pretty quickly. But unless Orlando completely goes in the tank — and they haven’t been playing well lately — I see no signs that Otis Smith and Alex Martins are going to consider anything less than an all-out blockbuster offer for Howard. There’s one caveat: If the realization of losing Howard for nothing hits the Magic organization like a freight train on March 14, it’s impossible to predict now how they’ll react.”
• A look back at Orlando’s collapse.
• The Celtics have proven to be the Magic’s kryptonite.
• Should Orlando trade for Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler?

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Magic need Nelson to flip the script tonight. Nelson finished with just five points and had five turnovers in 25 minutes. Bradley only scored six points, but had three steals and set the aggressive tone. Bradley was subbing for injured Rajon Rondo, who is listed as probable for tonight’s game. Rondo is no picnic, either. But you can bet that either Bradley or Rondo will pressure Nelson even more now. Nelson has struggled most of the season, and back-up Chris Duhon is getting more playing, particularly late in games. If Nelson doesn’t start turning things around, GM Otis Smith might need to look for a point guard as well when time comes to deal Dwight Howard. Probably a good idea anyway.
• Glen Davis is ready to set some screens against Avery Bradley later tonight.
• Mickael Pietrus is excited to play at Amway Center for the first time since being traded from the Orlando Magic.
• Rajon Rondo will not play against the Magic in tonight’s game.
• Dwight Howard would be open to joining the Boston Celtics.
• Who’s the real “Superman” between Shaquille O’Neal and Howard?
• Matt Moore of CBSSports.com: “This does not mean that Boston is at the top of, or near the top of the list for Howard. He’s made his choices pretty clear. But Boston has continually dogged him in the playoffs. Joining them would be joining an organization all about winning, who he knows will be able to build around him. He’d likely have Rajon Rondo as well, since the trade package would probably include the Big 3. The Magic have reportedly been looking for veteran players who can help them win now instead of younger players. If they want old guys, Boston’s got them.”
• Ben Golliver of CBSSports.com: “Anderson, the No. 21 pick, was far and away this class’s steal. He’s putting up 16.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game now that he’s starting full-time for the Magic and he’s pumping in threes at a 42.2 percent clip. Catching him with an extension just as he is making the upswing would have been an ideal situation, outside any external forces. His is a rising stock. The ground floor was two years ago, when Orlando first acquired him, but the ascent could be quite rapid and expensive. Of course, removing external forces is impossible given Orlando’s cap situation and center Dwight Howard’s expressed desire to be traded. The Magic appear to be in “Hold on tight, let’s gun for a championship and see what happens” mode right now, and given how well they’ve played for stretches this season you can’t fault them.”
• Charley Rosen of NBA.com: “They must be motivated by their embarrassing performance in Boston — during which they scored a mere 56 points, shot a measly 24.6 percent and had nearly twice as many turnovers as assists (23 to 12) — and come out of the gate with full-bore intensity.”
• Howard had an indirect effect on Ryan Anderson not receiving a contract extension at this point in time.

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Orlando Magic General Manager Otis Smith indicated Tuesday that it is unlikely the team will extend the contract of power forward Ryan Anderson before Wednesday night’s 11:59 EST deadline to do so for members of the 2008 draft class. Anderson is on course to become a restricted free agent in July, and the Magic would have the opportunity to match any offer sheet that Anderson could sign with another team. [...] Smith acknowledged that Dwight Howard’s unsettled situation did factor into the team’s decision because the team does not know what its roster will look like in the months and years ahead. Not extending Anderson’s contract helps maintain some flexibility. Anderson said before tipoff that he wasn’t worried about the situation and that he hadn’t thought much about a possible extension.”
• The Orlando Magic will not exercise their team option for Daniel Orton in 2012-2013.
• John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com: “The Magic were historically woeful on Monday night, setting all-time franchise lows for points scored in a game (56), points in a half (20), field goals in a game (16) and shooting percentage (24.6 percent) in an 87-56 loss to the Celtics. The good news for the Magic (12-5) is that they get another shot at the Celtics (7-9) on Thursday and another shot at wiping the memory of the 56-point nightmare out of their minds. This game will be at the Amway Center and on national television, and the Magic can’t wait to redeem themselves against the Celtics.”
• There are now box scores for every game in NBA history.
• Jemele Hill of ESPN.com: “Howard said in early December that he wants to be traded, but he has been backpedaling ever since. And despite Monday night’s awful loss to the Boston Celtics — somehow, the Magic managed to score just 56 points against a team that was without five players — Orlando has been playing well, which is making Howard’s decision that much tougher. In the trade demand last month, he indicated that his biggest issue was that the Magic didn’t have the right pieces to compete for an NBA championship. But the way they’ve played so far this season, they might be a dangerous team in the playoffs. If the Magic were losing, trading him would be a foregone conclusion, and few could blame him for wanting to leave. But demanding a trade from a playoff-bound team reflects poorly on Howard, who isn’t comfortable being a villain. Checkmate, Magic.”
• Evan Dunlap of Orlando Pinstriped Post: “Smith also said Orton is ‘a big guy you don’t necessarily have to use right away.’ He could not have been more serious, as Orton has yet to play nearly two years after his selection.”
• The Orlando Magic found their shooting touch against the Indiana Pacers.
• It’s peculiar that the Magic didn’t offer Anderson an extension. This is the same team, of course, that has more than $50 million committed in Jason Richardson and Glen Davis for the next four years.
• Orlando is the 11th-most valuable NBA franchise according to Forbes.
• After surpassing Nick Anderson as the franchise scoring leader last night against the Pacers, Howard is cementing his legacy with the Magic.
• Mark Heisler of SheridanHoops.com: “Dwight, feuding once more with his caped predecessor who now has an open mike at TNT, doesn’t want to follow Shaq’s career path to Lakers. Unfortunately, D12 has yet to tell Magic he wants to be anti-Diesel badly enough to stay.”
• Another look back at Orlando’s win against Indiana.
• Tom Ziller of SB Nation: “Dwight is now the Magic’s all-time leading scorer, which sadly removes Nick Anderson from one of his last strongholds in Trivia Land.”
• Jason Walker of SB Nation: “Defense was key for Orlando, as it held Indiana to under 34 percent shooting after an 11-19 (58 percent) first quarter. That strong defense created easier basket opportunities for the Magic as they had one transition play in the first quarter and 14 the rest of the game, including nine in the second half.”

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “In their first 15 games this season, the Orlando Magic never folded, even in losses. There’s a first time for everything. The Magic unraveled Monday night, and the result was the worst single-game offensive performance in team history. They set franchise single-game lows for points scored and field-goal percentage as they absorbed a 87-56 beatdown by the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. [...] But why did it happen? Monday offered the Magic a golden opportunity to beat the Celtics. Ray Allen sat out with an ankle injury. Rajon Rondo did not play because of a wrist problem. Even Mickael Pietrus, Chris Wilcox and Keyon Dooling were hurt. And the rest of the Celtics had played the day before. The Magic not only failed to take advantage of the situation. They imploded. Avery Bradley, Boston’s second-year point guard, set the tone immediately by pressuring Nelson as Nelson brought the ball upcourt. Bradley fired up his teammates, and he also appeared to unnerve Nelson.”
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “I covered the Magic’s 84-57 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 4, 1996 in which Orlando tied an NBA all-time low for scoring. Yeah, you think, well, that’s rock-bottom. Never see anything as futile as that again from a Magic team. Sixteen years later, move over ‘96 Magic. You guys have the monkey — a monkey the size of King Kong — off your backs. [...] The ‘96 Magic were missing three starters — Penny Hardaway, Dennis Scott and Nick Anderson, all nursing injuries. The 2012 Magic were healthy, and every starter was on the floor against the Celtics.”
• Glen Davis is wondering if the Orlando Magic offer the best fit for him.
• A look at the numbers from the Magic’s 56-point outing against the Boston Celtics.
• Davis and Brandon Bass talk about being traded for each other.
• The regular season carries some importance for teams trying to win a championship.
• In case you missed it, here’s the Celtics’ tribute video to Davis last night.
• Andrew Lynch of Hardwood Paroxysm: “Holy Shammgod, do the Magic need a mulligan. Orlando got repeatedly punched in the face, figuratively, by an over-the-hill Celtics team that was without its starting backcourt yesterday, and the best thing they can do is move on and get the next game under their belt. This Indiana team, though, won’t be a pushover by any stretch of the imagination.”
• Ben Golliver of CBSSports.com: “Yes, the Magic were historically awful on Monday night but if we’ve learned one lesson over the last month, it’s that there will be the occasional super-ugly shooting night where great teams look terrible. This team has posted exceptional offensive efficiency numbers through the first month of the season; their body of work on that end is beyond reproach. They clocked the Lakers, dumped the Knicks and handled the Bobcats last week too. There’s no way there are nine teams in the NBA better than the Magic.”
• Seems like everyone has a trade idea involving Dwight Howard nowadays.
• Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk recaps Orlando’s dreadful game against Boston: “It was that kind of game for the Magic. On one kick-out to a wide-open Jameer Nelson in the third quarter he tried to go up and the ball just slipped out of his hands, and when he caught it when he landed he was whistled for traveling. The whole night just seemed to go like that. The play started to effect their effort, which got worse as things wore on. It happens, especially this season. Wash it off in the post game shower and move on.”
• Head coach Stan Van Gundy and Jeff Van Gundy will be featured on HBO Sports today.
• Franklyn Calle of SLAM ONLINE has more on the Van Gundy brothers being profiled: “Some of the highlights of the segment include the story of their first ever NBA game coaching against each other in November of 2003, when Jeff was at the helm with the Houston Rockets while Stan was the head coach in Miami. After Jeff’s team “crushed” the Heat, sending Miami to a 0-7 record, he went on to give his older brother, Stan, a philosophical pep talk–something along the lines of finding satisfaction in loses and taking pleasure in improvement–to which Stan warmly responded with an ‘F you.’ ”
• Another look back at the Magic’s loss against the Celtics.
• Howard is a darkhorse MVP candidate.
• Orlando is playing well despite last night’s clunker and Howard’s future in doubt.
• The Magic get an F for yesterday’s performance.
• Jason Richardson did something strange against the Celtics.
• Britt Robson of Sports Illustrated isn’t high on Orlando right now.

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.

• John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com: “Before Sunday, it had been months, maybe even years since Glen “Big Baby’’ Davis took his gaudy 2008 NBA championship ring out of the safe. Heck, he even thought he had lost the oversized bauble at one time when he mistakenly left it in a safe that he had given away. But on Sunday, with his Orlando Magic rolling along at an impressive 11-4 and on the verge of him returning to Boston, Davis brought the ring with him to practice to serve as motivation and a reminder. [...] Davis returns to Boston on Monday for the first time since leaving the Celtics for the Magic back in November. Technically, the Magic acquired the 6-foot-9, 290-pound Davis and reserve shooting guard Von Wafer in a sign-and-trade deal for Brandon Bass, but he wanted to play for the Magic in order for a larger role on the team. The Magic sought Davis because of his toughness, emotional nature and willingness to do some of the dirty work that the team sorely needed. Those two wants – the Magic wanting Davis to do dirty work and Davis wanting more of a primary role – have clashed at times, but Orlando has been delighted by his play of late as the Magic have won six of the past seven games.”
• Dwight Howard has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the week for January 16-22.
• There was no shootaround for the Orlando Magic before tonight’s game with the Boston Celtics.
• A must-read interview by Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel with NBA commissioner David Stern.
• John Schuhmann of NBA.com: “There’s talk that the Magic might play out the season without trading Dwight Howard. They’re playing well, but do they have any chance of knocking off the Bulls or Heat to get to the conference finals? Health will be a factor, but they’re 1-4 against Chicago and 2-2 against Miami over the last two seasons.”
• Amin Vafa of Hardwood Paroxysm: “In recent years, this matchup would be touted as a defensive slugfest and an Eastern Conference Finals preview. Today? The most notable part of the matchup is comparing Glen Davis to Brandon Bass after they switched roles. Boston is injury-hobbled and slipping on defense. Orlando is drama-hobbled, and also slipping on defense. Let’s hope it’s a good game regardless.”
• Glen Davis might cry before playing against the Celtics.
• Marc Stein of ESPN.com: “It’s not just Ryan Anderson shooting lights out: Hedo’s doin’ it under the radar, too. And as noted in the Weekend Dime, Dwight has debunked any notion of trade uncertainty impacting his production, on course to be just the NBA’s second 20-and-15 man since Moses in 1982-83.”
• A new Howard trade rumor involving Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler.
• Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston: “So the book on Bass when he arrived was that he was an upgrade offensively, but was a step backwards on defense. That’s been somewhat true, though Bass has been both far better as both a rebounder and a man-on-man defender than we originally imagined. He’s still learning the team’s help defense philosophies and has been late on rotations, but his consistent offensive contributions afford him more patience on the defensive side (where his one-on-one numbers remain spectacular).”
• The Magic’s schedule gets a little bit tougher this week.
• Would Orlando be better off with Stoudemire and Chandler instead of Howard? Probably not.
• Zach Lowe of The Point Forward opines whether or not the Magic are slowly becoming a contender again in the league: “I wrote two weeks ago that we’d learn a lot about Orlando’s legitimacy when we saw whether its offense — its undoing last season — could hold up against better competition. So far, so good. With the exception of a stinker against the Spurs on the third night of a back-to-back-to-back, Orlando’s motion-heavy system functioned well in tough games over the last 10 days against Portland, New York and the Lakers — each among the league’s top 10 in points allowed per possession. The Magic’s offense has jumped from sixth in points per possession to second over the last two weeks, and their defense, an early season problem, is creeping back toward the overall top 10. If the Magic can keep up this kind of two-way play, they are a legitimate threat — if an underdog, still — to the Bulls and Heat in the Eastern Conference. We’ll learn even more in the five-games-in-seven-days stretch that starts Monday and includes two games apiece against Boston and Indiana.”
• Marcin Gortat, formerly a back-up center to Howard for Orlando, is having a career year with the Phoenix Suns. Jared Dubin of Hardwood Paroxysm pens an excellent article explaining the reasons that Gortat is fulfilling his potential.
• The Magic are bringing in a lot of traffic to their official website.
• Gilbert Arenas, currently a free agent, still hasn’t found a home yet in the NBA.
• Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak: “Anderson, just 23 and starting for the first time in his career, came to the Magic to be Rashard Lewis’s understudy and is making a name for himself reprising and expanding Lewis’s famous role—the stretch four marksmen. Van Gundy’s offense, like so many in the NBA, seeks to spread the floor around a rotating pick-and-roll attack designed to punish defenses for deploying extra defenders to address the primary pick-and-roll action. It fixes the defense on the torturer’s rack, pulling it apart until it eventually breaks and surrenders an open shot. [...] It is at this moment, when the defense rushes to the paint like so many white blood cells to the Howard’s infecting presence, that Ryan Anderson shines. Most teams can surround a pick-and-roll attack with a couple competent shooters, but few can boast a big man with the consistent deep stroke that has made Anderson an early season sensation. Even Glen Davis, for all his flaws, is a reliable catch-and-shoot threat from 18 feet. Every time Howard rolls with his hands high, defenses facing the Magic must triage the threat, and Anderson has responded by killing those that leave him untreated.”

Eddy Rivera is the Editor-in-Chief of Magic Basketball. Follow him on Twitter.