Friday’s Magic Word

• 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.

Thursday’s Magic Word

• 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.

Wednesday’s Magic Word

• 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.

Tuesday’s Magic Word

• 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.

Monday’s Magic Word

• 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.

Friday’s Magic Word

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Jameer Nelson is struggling largely because of the constant talk that Dwight Howard would love to play with Deron Williams or Chris Paul. That’s the opinion of Orlando Magic General Manager Otis Smith. [...] Nelson has started this season poorly, averaging just 8.3 points per game on 39 percent shooting. It’s still early in the season, but both are career-lows for Nelson. Nelson made just two of his 16 shot attempts in Wednesday’s 85-83 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Nelson and Howard are the Magic’s co-captains. Howard has asked the Magic for a trade, and that trade request still stands. Howard has said publicly that he has been displeased that the team’s front office has not acted on more of his personnel suggestions. One of the three teams Howard has specified as his preferred trade destinations is the New Jersey Nets, who have Williams as their point guard. According to Smith, all the talk about Howard’s future has backed up on Nelson.
• Hedo Turkoglu will not play against the Los Angeles Lakers tonight. Jason Richardson might.
• Dwight Howard fires back at Shaquille O’Neal’s criticisms.
• Ryan Anderson will likely receive a contract extension soon.
• Could Steve Nash be a trade target for the Orlando Magic?
• More on the possibility that the Magic could make a go after Nash and other gems of information from Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “League sources say Orlando has not ruled out making a play for Steve Nash in the event the Suns decided to trade the point guard to a contender before the March 15 deadline. Nash, even at 37 and even on a rental basis, could push the Magic back to the NBA Finals at a time when the Celtics are faltering and the Heat are showing signs of wear and tear. As for what happens if the Magic get to March 15 and Howard still has not renounced his desire to be traded, along with the accompanying threat that he could leave outright as an unrestricted free agent? Magic officials have not made a decision of what course of action they’ll take at that point, but the options are clear: Trade Howard at the deadline for fear of getting nothing if he walks July 1, or call his bluff.”
• Even on a back-to-back, the Lakers are favored to win in tonight’s game.
• Jameer Nelson is fading into oblivion. Zach Lowe of The Point Forward explains why: “Nelson is shooting a career-worst 39 percent, including 25 percent from three-point range. A jump in turnovers has sunk his ability to create looks for teammates — already middling for starters at his position — to below-average levels.”
• The assertion that Andrew Bynum is better than Howard is a laughable one.
• Check me out at ESPN.com, ESPN Los Angeles, and Forum Blue & Gold, where I talk about all things concerning Orlando and Los Angeles both in the present and future tense.
• Kobe Bryant and Howard have been talking.
• Additional thoughts on the possibility that Nash is traded to the Magic.
• Bryant has let it be known to Howard that if they join forces, it’s still his team.
• Ben Golliver of CBSSports.com on the Howard-Bynum comparison: “Of course, there’s no contest. Howard, 26, averages more points, grabs more rebounds, dishes more assists, gets more steals, blocks more shots and shoots a better field goal percentage than Bynum. Howard has missed seven games in 7+ NBA seasons while Bynum has repeatedly been sidelined with injuries. Here’s a statistical side-by-side if you need convincing. Howard is a 5-time All-Star, 3-time Defensive Player of the Year, 4-time All-NBA first team. Bynum, 24, is having a career year and will make his first All-Star game, but his best individual achievement to this point was making the 2005 McDonald’s All-American game. He’s probably the league’s second-best big man, but he’s a distant second.”
• Shaun Powell of NBA.com: “Obviously, it’s really not up to the Lakers; Orlando must pull the trigger, although Bynum is about the best the Magic can expect in a trade at this point. But the Lakers would be foolish to keep Bynum over Howard. As good as Bynum looks right now, he’s not in Howard’s league defensively (who is?), and other teams don’t have to gameplan for Bynum as they do for Howard. Besides, Howard stays in terrific shape and mainly injury-free. Do you trust Bynum’s knees in the long run? Thought so, too. Bynum is only 24, but his body seems much older.”

Thursday’s Magic Word

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Stan Van Gundy plopped down into his chair for his postgame press conference and groaned. This loss hurt. If just one or two little things had gone differently, the Orlando Magic could have beaten the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night. Instead, the Magic lost 85-83 in overtime. Van Gundy blames himself for not making key adjustments quickly enough. Von Wafer missed a foul shot that would have tied the game late in the extra period. And although J.J. Redick swished a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the end of overtime, he released the ball just a fraction of a second after the final buzzer. [...] The defeat ended the Magic’s five-game winning streak, and it also ended a grueling stretch in which the team played three games in three days. Playing without injured starters Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu, the Magic used 10 players. But Nelson still wound up playing just over 38 minutes, and Van Gundy said afterward that was too much. But the Spurs (10-5) were playing their 10th game in 15 days, and they also were without injured guard Manu Ginobili. They also had not won on the road in five tries this season.
• J.J. Redick’s running diary of the Orlando Magic’s one and only back-to-back-to-back of the regular season. It’s a must-read, especially since it contains this tidbit from Redick from last night’s gut-wrenching loss to the San Antonio Spurs: “We were down in the final seconds when Stan drew up a high pick-and-roll play for Jameer Nelson, and he found Ryan for a pretty good look from 3-point range. The shot was off, but Dwight got the rebound – as he did most of the night. It was about 3.4, 3.5 seconds when Dwight turned and threw the ball at me. I shot-faked and it was 1.8. If I shot the ball right away, the defender was so high I wouldn’t have gotten off a good shot so I really had two options. One was to jump into him, which looking back, it was kind of at an angle so I would have had to lean in. Two-tenths of a second was basically what I needed. I could have rushed that escape dribble a little more. If I could do it again, that would probably be it.”
• After getting called for a foul trying to stop Richard Jefferson from connecting on an alley-oop play, Glen Davis pulled down his shorts and earned a technical foul.
• Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie on Penny Hardaway’s recent interview with SLAM Magazine: “As a high schooler, writing online back during Penny’s time in Orlando, I made plenty of Hardaway jokes while suggesting (not unkindly) that Darrell Armstrong take over as Magic point guard — moving Hardaway over to the less-strenuous off-guard position in the starting lineup. And because he didn’t tear up his knee in a publicized, Bernard King-sort of way, I’m definitely amongst the “we” when I tell you that we didn’t give Penny the respect his injuries deserved. And to understand, years later, that he was one of the first that had to undergo microfracture surgery in order to sustain his career? We all should have been bonding with Penny at the time, so to speak.”
• Is Ryan Anderson in the same stratosphere as Dwight Howard when comparing their numbers? Well, let’s just say that the question isn’t as ridiculous as it might seem.
• Danny Nowell made an appearance on ESPN.com’s Daily Dime, where he provided his take on the Magic’s loss against the Spurs: “As the Magic stood poised to vault the Spurs on Superman’s shoulders, two thrilling, if disappointing, plays proved the difference. With 16 seconds left in overtime, surprise standout Von Wafer hit a driving layup while being fouled to give the Magic a chance to tie, only to miss the free throw. It seemed as if he might get off the hook when Howard gathered a Ryan Anderson miss and kicked it to the perimeter with time expiring, but J.J. Redick’s swish was half a second too late. It was that sort of night for the Magic — a gutty fight to the final seconds, but a fraction too little a second too late.”
• Another look back at Orlando’s loss against San Antonio in yesterday’s game.
• Despite a monster game from Howard, the Magic couldn’t eek out a win against the Spurs.
• Sebastian Pruiti of Grantland breaks down a key play from last night’s game between Orlando and San Antonio.
• Howard had the line of the week in the NBA with his 45-point, 23-rebound performance against the Golden State Warriors.
• A look at the possibility of Howard teaming up with Deron Williams in Dallas.
• Quentin Richardson can be a good defender even when he’s not playing. Confused?
• Also, make sure to check out Nowell’s insightful take on Carmelo Anthony at HoopSpeak.

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

Wednesday’s Magic Word

• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “While back-to-backs and back-to-back-to-backs are brutal, the compressed schedule did diminish an often-despised exercise of NBA life: the morning shootaround. Players got something to celebrate from the lockout after all. So many games in so few days have forced teams to reduce workloads, saving the sleepy-eyed (or, ahem, blood-shot eyed) from having to report for 10 a.m. workouts on some game-days. Piling into buses and heading into cold arenas on the road just to hear Stan Van Gundy yell is not the way to start your day, apparently.The Magic will not hold shootarounds during this three-game stretch, and it’s a wonder Van Gundy isn’t convulsing. Van Gundy is a big believer in practice, unlike Allen Iverson, although the short sessions that primarily focus on the night’s opponent sometimes have turned into lengthy, full-blown practices for the Magic. This produces grumbling by players seeking more Zs, not Xs and Os.”
• Von Wafer and Glen Davis were the unsung heroes in the Orlando Magic’s win against the Charlotte Bobcats last night.
• Hedo Turkoglu won’t play against the San Antonio Spurs in tonight’s game (back spasms).
• The Magic go for a rare back-to-back-to-back sweep.
• Dwight Howard and Davis are skillful at resuscitating each other.
• Turkoglu is one of the reasons why Orlando is off to a 10-3 start.
• How could Howard land with the Los Angeles Clippers? Here’s how.
• Andrew Bynum compliments Howard.
• Zach Harper of HoopSpeak: “Again, as long as Dwight Howard is in an Orlando uniform, this is one of the best teams in the entire NBA. The defense hasn’t been great this season (just 19th in the league) but the offense is nearly as good as we remember it from the Finals run days. Ryan Anderson and J.J. Redick have been as good as you can hope from them. Anderson is not only filling the void Rashard Lewis left when he stopped being good, but he’s better in the stretch-4 role than Lewis ever was.”
• A recap of the Magic’s win against the Bobcats yesterday.
• More on Bynum praising Howard.
• Howard as a Harlem Globetrotter? You don’t say.
• Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk: “Charlotte hung in this one — they were up three at the break and it was tied heading into the fourth — as the Bobcats didn’t double Dwight Howard and stuck with guys on the perimeter, and Orlando could only knock down 31.8 percent of its threes (Howard’s foul trouble didn’t help). Orlando needs those threes. It eventually got them. While Dwight Howard led the way with 25 points on the night it was Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkoglu and Von Wafer — yes, Von Wafer — who each had 8 points in the fourth quarter to help the Magic pull away.”
• Rob Mahoney of the New York Times’ Off the Dribble blog praises Ryan Anderson’s efficiency: “Anderson’s per-minute stats had previously hinted that he was capable of a scoring explosion if given the appropriate playing time, but his performance this season has exceeded even those projections. Anderson ranks 10th in the league in per-minute scoring, ahead of Rose, Wade, Blake Griffin, Dirk Nowitzki, and oodles of other prolific scorers. Yet Anderson is only able to score those points with the help of his teammates; 80 percent of Anderson’s made field goals this season were set up with an assist, a shockingly high mark for such a consistently effective scorer. Anderson needs to have his shots created for him, but even with that precondition, his accuracy and ability to find open space have made him tops among Magic players in per-minute scoring this season.”
• Andrew Lynch of Hardwood Paroxysm: “It’s been over a decade now, but the meetings between these two teams will always remind me of how close Tim Duncan was to signing with the Magic and completely changing the landscape of NBA history.”

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

Tuesday’s Magic Word

• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Hey, Magic fans, you might want to show up at the Amway Center tonight just to say a potential goodbye to the Big Fella. Chances are he’s not going to be around much longer. When they announce his name, give him a standing ovation. Show him how much he is appreciated for what he has done. Thank him for loading a small-market team and a devoted town onto his broad shoulders and uplifting them and making them feel good about themselves and showing them that love and loyalty really do mean something in today’s self-indulgent sports world. I wish I were talking about Dwight Howard, but I’m not. I’m talking about Tim Duncan, who will be in town tonight with his San Antonio Spurs — a non-glitzy, unglamorous team he elevated into a champion. He is what Magic fans always hoped Dwight would be — the rock-solid foundation of a franchise and the enduring cornerstone of a community. That’s apparently not going to happen now. You know the story. Dwight told the Magic long ago he wants outta here. Wants a bigger market, a more glamorous lifestyle. Wants to make movies and records and reality TV shows.”
• General manager Otis Smith has not been informed by Dwight Howard about his interest in the Los Angeles Clippers.
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Dwight Howard trade-me saga is playing out exactly as expected. Another day, another report. This time, it’s Chris Sheridan, a former ESPN NBA writer who reported on his website that that Howard is adding the L.A. Clippers to his list of teams he’d agree to join, along with the Nets, Mavs and Lakers. Hours later, ESPN.com came back with a rebuttal, saying that there have been no “serious” discussions between the Magic and Clips. And so it goes.”
• Will a player for the Orlando Magic compete in the Three-Point Shootout on NBA All-Star Weekend?
• A look at Ryan Anderson’s career-high 30-point performance against the New York Knicks.
• Teams should probably stop leaving Ryan Anderson open behind the three-point line.
• Orlando is enjoying a relatively clean bill of health in the early stages of the regular season.
• Howard has added the Clippers to his wish list.
• The Magic used a zone to beat the Knicks in yesterday’s game.
• With the trade rumors swirling, Howard is keeping his cool — for now.
• Another recap of Orlando’s win against New York.
• Royce Young of CBSSports.com: “Orlando might’ve picked up its best win of the season Monday in New York and the Magic did it behind Ryan Anderson’s scoring barrage. Anderson has emerged as a legit option for the Magic and with Dwight Howard inside, Anderson, a finesse power forward, can afford to play on the perimeter. It’s really a pretty perfect pairing, much in the way Rashard Lewis worked well playing alongside Howard. Anderson went for 30 against the Knicks and did it with seven 3-pointers.”
• The Magic are handling the uncertainty surrounding Howard’s future about as good as they can.
• Britt Robson of Sports Illustrated: “Neil Paine had an excellent post at Basketball Prospectus on Friday comparing stretch power forward Ryan Anderson’s season to those of the great outside shooter Peja Stojakovic in his prime. Even before he erupted for a career-high 30 points and went 7-of-13 from three-point range in Monday’s victory at New York, Anderson was improving the Magic offense by more than 17 points per 100 possessions when he was on the court compared to when he sat, according to Basketball Value. He is also spearheading the NBA’s most efficient offense and prolific long-range game, with Hedo Turkoglu likewise shooting better than 44 percent and J.J. Redick hitting 38.6 percent from beyond the arc.”
• Is Howard putting forth a full effort defensively? John Hollinger of ESPN Insider isn’t so sure: “Orlando has historically been a top-five defensive team with just OK offensive output, but not this year: The Magic lead the NBA in offensive efficiency thus far. To an extent, roster moves have aided that push — Orlando began to play more offensively when it traded Rashard Lewis a year ago, and moving The Grenade Launcher into the starting lineup this year doubled down on that decision. The concern in Orlando, however, is that its previous success was built mostly on the defensive dominance of Dwight Howard, and he hasn’t been as impactful this season. He’s also been noticeably more reticent to contest shots when he has fouls, which may be a tactical decision. However, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to connect the other dots — at times he looks like a guy who is playing just hard enough to avoid being compared to Vince Carter. Howard is so good that he can get away with it most of the time, but the stat sheet shows he’s not impacting the game defensively as he did a year ago.”
• Howard is sour on joining the New Jersey Nets.
• Is it possible that Howard’s trade demand is affecting Orlando from an emotional standpoint?

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

Friday’s Magic Word

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Orlando Magic already have completed one-sixth of their regular season, and enough games have passed to start drawing some conclusions. As coach Stan Van Gundy surveys his team, he sees plenty of valid reasons for concern. But even the unabashed worrier sees something that he loves about this group of players. They fight. That intangible quality came into full focus as Orlando won all three of its games on a successful West Coast road trip, including Thursday’s 117-109 victory over the Golden State Warriors. Although two of those victories came against admittedly lower-echelon teams, the Magic encountered adversity and overcame it. [...] Those positive moments included a performance against the tough Portland Trail Blazers in which the Magic perhaps played better on the offensive end than at any time since they clobbered the Chicago Bulls on Dec. 1, 2010. Orlando’s ball movement has improved, at least for now. Small forward Hedo Turkoglu, plagued by maddening inconsistency last season, has heightened confidence and made key clutch plays down the stretch of the wins over the Blazers and the Warriors. And the team’s offense has shown admirable efficiency as a whole.”
• Jason Richardson’s knee injury, which occurred against the Golden State Warriors, is deemed not serious.
• If Von Wafer wants to earn more playing time, he’s going to need to improve his defense according to head coach Stan Van GUndy.
• Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel on Dwight Howard: “Can the Magic contend? That’s the question. They have no cap-space flexibility to attract another star, but you know who can change all that? Dwight. If Dwight really wanted to play the part of GM, he can try. All he has to do is turn the tables on the Nets, ask Williams to force his way to Orlando in a trade and see what the two can do here with better pieces than the Nets have (along with better weather and no state income tax.) He can be a one-team, one-town man who becomes the franchise hero forever, which is essentially the sales job that owner Rich DeVos told me he used when talking to Dwight. Howard is putting his reputation on the line at the trade deadline, what he stands for as a player, as a competitor.”
• A look back at Howard’s record-breaking night against the Warriors.
• It was a successful road trip for Howard and company.
• Head coach Mark Jackson’s Hack-a-Dwight strategy backfired.
• With every win, the possibility that the Magic gamble and keep Howard past the trade deadline grows. Marc Stein of ESPN.com has more on the scenario: “In the surprise of the week on this scorecard, I heard officials from two teams insist that Orlando’s keeping Howard past the March 15 trade buzzer is the scenario they actually expect … even if that means exposing the Magic Kingdom to the prospect of being leveled again by a repeat of Shaquille O’Neal’s defection without compensation to the Lakers in the Olympic summer of 1996. Could GM Otis Smith and Magic ownership really dare to let the trade deadline pass and risk the sight of Howard’s leaving not only for the 2012 London Games in July but also for a new full-time team … while getting nothing back in return? Just to show fans they exhausted every concept they could concoct to try to keep Dwight?”
• John Hollinger of ESPN Insider: “Here’s the thing about Hack-a-Dwight, or Hack-an-anybody: The player has to be an exceptionally bad foul shooter for this strategy to have much merit. Emphasis on exceptionally. It works with Ben Wallace or DeAndre Jordan. With just about anyone else, it’s highly questionable. Take Thursday night, for instance. Dwight Howard is a career 59.5 percent foul shooter and has done slightly better than that each of the past three seasons. But let’s take 59.5 percent as his chances of converting any given free throw. Sending him to the line for two shots produces an expected return of 1.19 points from the foul shots, a scoring rate better than that of any offensive team in the history of basketball. Just sending him to the line time after time is one of the worst percentage moves a team could possibly make.”
• Golden State had no one to stop Howard offensively in last night’s game.
• Howard isn’t interested in being traded to the Warriors.
• Howard’s 39 free-throw attempts stole the show in Orlando’s win yesterday.
• J.J. Redick enjoyed his time in Portland.
• More on Howard’s lack of interest to play for Golden State.
• Chris Bernucca of SheridanHoops.com: “You are the GM of an NBA team. It is the start of training camp, and your owner wants a championship this season. Every player is a free agent who can be signed to a one-year contract. Who is the first player you sign? I might sign Howard, who is the most dominant player in the league at his position.”
• Zach Lowe of The Point Forward provides his take on Jackson’s ill-fated decision to intentionally foul Howard throughout the game between the Magic and Warriors.
• Steve Perrin of SB Nation: “To be fair, Jackson was dealt a bad hand in this game, facing the most dominant big man in the NBA in the Warriors’ first game since losing Kwame Brown for the season with a pectoral tear. With his best and biggest low post defender sidelined, the Warriors were down to Biedrins and a bunch of smallish power forwards to try to contend with Howard. Jackson may have felt that Howard was going to score more against his team straight-up than he would at the line. Even so, it was the wrong strategy on every level — statistically, from an entertainment standpoint, for the game itself, and eventually on the scoreboard.”
• Hack-a-Dwight has spawned other “hyphenated player-specific NBA defensive strategies.”
• Tom Ziller of SB Nation with some revealing numbers: “In the fourth quarter, when Golden State fouled Dwight the most, Orlando scored 37 points in 24 possessions, or 1.54 points per possession, which is like Max Roach-level rhythm.”
• Howard was more efficient when he shooting from the free-throw line as opposed to when he was shooting from the field against Golden State.
• Similarities between Ryan Anderson and Peja Stojakovic.

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