Fernando Medina/Orlando Magic

Via the Orlando Magic:

When it opened last October, Orlando’s Amway Center was widely hailed as the finest arena not only in the NBA, but in all of North America. And largely because of the dazzling new facility – not to mention the game-day promotions and friendly, accessible environment – the Orlando Magic’s overall stadium experience was lauded recently by ESPN The Magazine.

ESPN’s ninth annual Ultimate Standings ranked the Magic’s stadium experience the best in the NBA and fifth overall among all teams from the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA. The Magic beat out Portland, Memphis, Chicago, San Antonio and Dallas for top honors in the NBA. They trailed only the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins and Pittsburgh Penguins in overall stadium experience among all professional teams.

The Magic continued to score well in the overall rankings and continue to be one of the best franchises in all major sports when it comes to serving their fans.

The Magic ranked as the 16th best franchise overall and fourth best in the NBA when it comes to measuring how much a franchise gives back to fans in exchange for the time and money that they invest. The rankings were devised based on factors such as bang for the buck, fan relations, ownership, affordability, stadium experience, players, coaching and being on track to win a championship.

The Magic continued to earn high marks in several key categories – bang for the buck (fifth among NBA teams), fan relations (sixth among NBA teams), affordability (seventh among NBA teams), stadium experience (first among NBA teams), ownership (seventh among NBA teams), players (12th in the NBA), coaching (ninth in the NBA) and being on a title track (ninth in the NBA).

The Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers won the overall award – one in which the Magic were ranked second a year ago. The San Antonio Spurs were the highest ranked NBA team in the overall standings, ranking fifth this year.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

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Via the Orlando Magic:

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, winner of the last three Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Awards, headlines the NBA All-Defensive First Team, the NBA announced today. Howard totaled 56 points overall, including 27 First Team votes.

Howard earned the 2010-11 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, becoming the first player to win the award three straight seasons. He led the league with 66 double-doubles, while ranking second in rebounds (14.1 rpg) and fourth in blocks (2.38 bpg). He recorded at least 1,000 rebounds and 100 blocked shots for the sixth straight year; since blocked shots were officially tracked in 1973-74, only Moses Malone has done it more (seven seasons). With Howard manning the middle, the [Orlando] Magic allowed 93.5 ppg, ranking fourth in that category.

Also selected to the All-Defensive First Team are guard Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics (39 points), forward LeBron James of the Miami Heat (38 points), forward Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics (33 points) and guard Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers (33 points). Garnett and Bryant each earn All-Defensive First Team honors for the ninth time, tying Michael Jordan and Gary Payton for the most in NBA history.

The NBA All-Defensive Second Team consists of guards Tony Allen of the Memphis Grizzlies and Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets, center Tyson Chandler of the Dallas Mavericks, forward Andre Iguodala of the Philadelphia 76ers and forward-center Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls.

The voting panel consisted of the NBA’s 30 head coaches, who were asked to select NBA All-Defensive First and Second Teams by position. Coaches were not permitted to vote for players from their own team. Two points were awarded for a First Team vote and one point was awarded for a Second Team vote.

AP Photo/John Raoux

Via Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel:

A week has passed since the Orlando Magic exited the playoffs with a Game 6 first-round loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

Haven’t gotten over it?

Neither has the Magic’s chief executive officer, Bob Vander Weide.

“We didn’t get to our goal, so it’ll take me a while and I’ll deal with it,” Vander Weide said today.

“As we get prepared to get through the summer and some of the business issues, we’ve got to keep thinking how do we get better and how do we improve this club and how do we not fall short of our goals? Everyone that works for the Magic feels the same way. We never, ever thought we’d be out in the first round. No, I’m not over it and I won’t be for a while.”

Magic fans would nod their heads in agreement.

The expectation entering the season for the Orlando Magic was to avenge last year’s series defeat in the 2010 NBA Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics and try to make their way back to the Finals.

With the Miami Heat and Celtics jostling for supremacy in the East, as well as the Chicago Bulls in retrospect, there was an understanding that the task at hand was going to be difficult but no one expected the Magic to lose in the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs.

Nevertheless, that’s what happened. Now Orlando has to pick up the pieces.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Via ESPN.com:

Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose is the youngest Most Valuable Player award-winner in the history of the NBA.

The 22-year-old Rose was officially announced as MVP on Tuesday after leading the Bulls to a 62-20 record and No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

Rose finished with 113 first-place votes and 1,182 total points. The [Orlando] Magic‘s Dwight Howard finished second with three first-place votes and 643 points. The Heat’s LeBron James was third with 522 points, including four first-place votes, and the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant was fourth with 428 points and one first-place vote.

The Chicago-born point guard had a breakout third season, averaging 25 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds. After a summer with the U.S. National team, Rose made a significant leap.

During the Bulls’ media day in September, Rose wondered aloud in front of the media why he couldn’t win the MVP award. Eight months later, Rose answered his own question.

• Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy inadvertently disclosed his master plan for slowing the Atlanta Hawks tonight in Game 5 of the teams’ first-round playoff series. It involves Dwight Howard. ‘I don’t want to give away a big secret here before the game,’ Van Gundy told the media, ‘but he’s not going to get a lot of rest.’ Hey, at least Van Gundy has a sense of humor even with his team trailing three games to one and facing elimination. At the top of the Magic’s to-do list tonight: Shoot the ball better, defend the perimeter better and start much better than they have recently. ‘If we get one win, we’re gonna win the whole thing,’ Howard said. ‘We just need one win, stay confident, keep believing, just play hard for the 48 minutes. Usually when you do that great things happen.’ ”
• Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel: “Gilbert Arenas put together his most memorable game as a member of the Orlando Magic Sunday night, scoring 20 points off the bench in the Magic’s 88-85 Game 4 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. He did the majority of his damage running high pick-and-rolls with Dwight Howard, scoring 15 points (7-of-13 shooting) in such situations. And a majority of those points came when attacking the hoop after using the screen. For Magic fans, it was a welcome sight to see someone besides Dwight Howard attacking the rim. He still lacks the explosiveness and jumping ability from early in his career, but at least he’s willing to go strong at the hoop to score or draw a foul. That’s a big reason why many fans are hoping to see more from Arenas tonight, even though they’ve been dogging the guy for the past five months. But things won’t be so easy for Arenas in tonight’s Game 5.”
• Jason Richardson vows to be smarter on the court.
• Eight teams in NBA history have recovered from a 3-1 series deficit and won.
• Zach Lowe of The Point Forward: “A win Tuesday might not change the long-term picture for Howard, and it doesn’t necessarily mean GM Otis Smith was wrong to think the Jason Richardson/[Hedo] Turkgolu/Arenas combination might give the Magic a better chance to win it all this season. Marcin Gortat was always going to be a role player in Orlando, Vince Carter hasn’t exactly killed it in Phoenix, and Rashard Lewis was an injury-prone non-factor in Washington. They might have fit Stan Van Gundy’s system a little better than the guys the Magic received — Vince Carter can still work a pick-and-roll, and a healthy Lewis is probably better all around than his power forward replacements — but Orlando’s current situation might not be much different today had Smith declined the trades.”
• John Schuhmann of NBA.com: “This isn’t the first time Collins has had success in defending Howard. In 591 career games in which he’s played at least 25 minutes (including postseason), his two lowest scoring games came against Collins and the Nets. Collins held Howard to two points on 1-for-5 shooting on March 13, 2005 and to one point on 0-for-6 shooting on Jan. 20, 2007. The Collins Effect goes beyond Howard’s numbers. By defending Howard one-on-one, Collins allows his teammates to stay at home on the perimeter. The Magic are shooting a league-low 29.1 percent from five feet or beyond in the postseason, and just 26.5 percent when Collins is on the floor. If the Magic are going to extend the series with a win tonight in Game 5 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV), they’ll need to start making some shots. But that’s proven to be difficult with the Hawks’ no-stats MVP on the floor.”
• Head coach Larry Drew is confident.
• Austin Link of ESPN Insider: “Based off of their regular season shooting prowess, there was only about a 1-in-300 chance of the Magic shooting that poorly from 3-point land so far. Put another way, if Orlando had simply matched its regular season long ball form so far, it would be 42 points better in a series in which its overall scoring margin is only -11 points across all four games to date. If they can turn the shooting around and Howard continues to exert his influence, the Magic can not only get through the first round, but could even challenge the Chicago Bulls in the second. Right now we give the Magic only about 25 percent odds of a comeback, however, so the chances that they’ll get the opportunity to face the Bulls aren’t good.”
• Jemele Hill of ESPN.com thinks Doc Rivers should replace Stan Van Gundy as head coach of the Orlando Magic: “As good a tactician as Van Gundy is, the Magic play like a team that can’t go any further under his direction. When Orlando traded for Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu and Gilbert Arenas this season, the hope was that the new faces would spark a return run to the NBA Finals, where Orlando lost in five games to the Lakers two years ago. Instead, the Magic have flat-lined. Orlando’s flashes of brilliance have been undermined by even larger stretches of underachievement.”
• John Hollinger of ESPN Insider: “You’d be excused for thinking Atlanta was the one with the better scoring margin based on the first four games of this series. The Hawks would already be prepping for the second round if not for some bizarre coaching choices in the second quarter of Game 2, thanks to a shockingly good defensive effort against the league’s 10th-best regular-season offense.”
• Nate Drexler makes an appearance in ESPN.com’s 5-on-5 writer roundup.
• The Magic and San Antonio Spurs share a lot of similar philosophies on both ends of the floor, which has allowed both franchises to be successful, but they’re close to reaching the end of the road in the 2011 NBA Playoffs much earlier than expected.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Before the playoffs started, I previewed Orlando’s first round matchup using data from Synergy Sports Technology. Last week, we looked at the playoff games in Orlando. Today, let’s examine the results from the contests in Atlanta.

Game 3

PPP = Points Per Possession

Orlando offense
Orlando’s spot-up game finally produced in Game 3. In Games 1 and 2, Orlando never cracked 0.5 PPP in spot-up. In Game 3, it was Orlando’s best play and they obtained 1.4 PPP. The performance far exceeded their season average of 1.05 PPP, which ranked as the 5th best in the NBA.

The ball handler’s in the pick-and-roll were used extensively Game 3, but their production was the worst among their playoff games. Through three post-season games, Orlando’s pick-and-roll PPP hasn’t matched their lofty production in the regular season.

The Magic utilized roll men four times in Game 2 but reverted to little use in Game 3. Orlando only used their most potent play on one occasion, a Hedo Turkoglu lob to Dwight Howard in the 1st quarter.

The post-up game for Orlando was successful for the third straight game. The indomitable force, Dwight Howard, was responsible for all seven of Orlando’s post-up buckets. He made four hook shots over Jason Collins, two with each hand. Brandon Bass and Jason Richardson used the other three attempts.

Orlando only managed a single And 1 attempt for the second straight game. Dwight Howard was fouled by 2003 Magic draft pick Zaza Pachulia with two minutes left in the first half.

Orlando was the best team in the NBA after they secured an offensive rebound in the regular season and they have continued this trend through three playoff games. Orlando averaged 1.25 PPP after offensive rebounds in the first game in Atlanta.

One particularly bad area for Orlando was their percentage on transition three-pointers. The team went 1-6, and Quentin Richardson’s make over Pachulia was the only successful attempt.

Hedo shot 3-11 overall and went 1-6 beyond the arc. Among players with 600 or more attempts, only three active players (Ron Artest, Jason Kidd, Stephen Jackson) have a lower career FG% than Hedo does in the playoffs.

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If there is one thing we know about Stan Van Gundy, it’s that he’s a pretty quiet guy, reticent to speak his mind to the media, and wholly above speaking publicly in any way that might ruffle fans’ or players’ feathers. That’s why we can be certain that earlier this week, when he made the following comments, Stan had no sort of ulterior motive or objective in mind:

“There’s no matchup for [Dwight Howard] that creates the excitement,” Van Gundy said. “If you got back to when the centers were king, you have Chamberlain-Russell and people say ‘Wow, that’s a match-up you look forward to.’ Now people look forward to Chris Paul against Derrick Rose.”

What Stan was saying, subtext aside, is that the lack of a nemesis is keeping Dwight Howard’s hype factor down. Well, is he right? There are a couple of different ways to approach this. First, let’s look at a crude measure of the league marquee, the 2011 All-Star rosters. Yao Ming aside, there are only three players who were listed either as centers or forward/centers. One of them was Kevin Love. Another was Al Horford. The third was Pau Gasol, who could be seen as a bona fide A-list big man, but I’m not sure that most people think of his battles in the same way they do LeBron/Kobe or Rose/Paul. The other big man on the list who might qualify is Kevin Garnett, and the popular narrative about the Celtics has been that Kendrick Perkins did the heavy lifting when it came to guarding D12. So, on the face of it, taking as limited a sample as I guess you could, it seems like Stan is right: there are currently no direct match-ups for Dwight that seem worthy of the hype that wing or point guard matchups might garner.

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