Posts Tagged → Stan Van Gundy
April 29th, 2011
Recap: Atlanta Hawks 84, Orlando Magic 81
AP Photo/John Amis
The Atlanta Hawks were able to defeat the Orlando Magic by the score of 84-81, winning the series 4-2 and exacting revenge from last year’s sweep in the 2010 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals. For the Magic, this is the first time they’ve lost in the first round of the playoffs during head coach Stan Van Gundy‘s tenure with the franchise. The last time Orlando got bounced this early was in 2007. After trailing by as many as 11 points in the game, the Magic made a furious charge in the fourth quarter and were able to cut the deficit to 82-81 with 34.3 seconds left in regulation after a layup by Jameer Nelson. However, being out-rebounded was the prime culprit for the loss and it was exemplified on the ensuing possession. Marvin Williams missed a three-pointer that would have iced the game for the Hawks but he missed the shot, and Joe Johnson was able to get the offensive rebound. Thus forcing Orlando to foul. Jamal Crawford made the two free-throws, which meant the Magic need a game-tying three-pointer to extend their season. J.J. Redick got a clean look thanks in large part to Van Gundy’s play design coming out of the timeout. But Redick missed. However, Al Horford stepped out of bounds after he rebounded the basketball, which meant Orlando had one more chance to tie. Yet Josh Smith was able to block Jason Richardson‘s three-point attempt and just like that, the Magic’s season was over. Atlanta was led by a balanced attack, as five players scored in double-figures. Johnson finished with 23 points (on 10-of-25 shooting from the field), 10 rebounds, and four assists. Crawford contributed with 19 points and two steals. Horford chipped in with 10 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists, while Kirk Hinrich had 11 points and Williams had 10 points. Dwight Howard finished an exemplary series by tallying 25 points, 15 rebounds, and three blocks but it wasn’t enough to save Orlando from elimination. The lack of consistent production from the Magic’s supporting cast was largely to blame for the series loss, undermining Howard’s brilliance.
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in Recaps • 8 Comments
April 28th, 2011
Thursday’s Magic Word
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “J-Rich scored just four and eight points in the first two games, and then was suspended for Game 4 and is averaging just 10.8 points per game in the playoffs. Most importantly, they need [Jason] Richardson to prevent Hawks all-star Joe Johnson from getting the shots he wants and dominating the perimeter. This is just as big a moment for Johnson. He took the money in a wild free-agent derby last summer — re-signing with Atlanta for $100 million — instead of perhaps finding a stronger contender. Now the eyes are on Johnson to justify his deal in either Game 6 or 7. Johnson fizzled in Game 5 in Orlando, held to five points after scoring 20 or more in three of the four previous games. The outcome tonight likely will rest on whomever dominates this match-up.”
- Head coach Stan Van Gundy jokes around about receiving the dreaded “vote of confidence.”
- Josh Smith reacts to an article in the Orlando Sentinel.
- Gilbert Arenas needs to continue his recent stretch of good play.
- Grant Hill talks about what went wrong with his ankle when he signed with the Orlando Magic as a free agent in 2000: “I don’t think anybody really knows I started to have ankle problems at the end of the 1999-2000 season, probably mid-March. I was still able to go out and play. I still played well, but I was getting a lot of treatment. It was certainly bothering me. As we got closer to the end of the season, my ankle was really getting worse. I was missing practice. To the point where we had a nationally televised game against Philadelphia and I just pulled myself. My ankle was just killing me. We get back, we get an MRI. They say it’s a bone bruise. It’s still bothering me. I pull myself in the third quarter. They put me on some heavy medication and we had a long break between Game 1 and Game 2. While I was on this medication I felt great. Obviously it was masking the pain. Went out and played in Game 2 and I felt a pop in the second quarter, continued on in the third quarter and couldn’t go on. When we got back, we found out it was broken.”
- Make sure to check out the remainder of Hill’s explanation. It’s revealing.
- Trey Kerby of The Basketball Jones chimes in on Hill’s story.
- Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie: “Nearly every road game of Hill’s final season as a Detroit Piston saw countless writers ask Hill about his plans for the summer of 2000, when Hill himself didn’t know where he was eventually headed, and the whole experience took its toll on a middling Pistons team. So much so that Hill, ever the professional, likely ruined his career in order to avoid of-their-day charges that he was taking it easy in his potential final days as a Piston. Detroit was in the running for a playoff spot deep in the 1999-00 season when Hill came up lame with an ankle injury, and immediately the on-record catcalls wondered aloud as to the severity of the injury, and whether or not it was just the free agent to-be’s way of guarding himself as the big pay day approached in the summertime.”
- Matt Moore of CBSSports.com previews Game 6 between the Magic and Atlanta Hawks: “The Magic really showed they were a better team when the shots were falling in Game 5. That has to put the fear of God into Atlanta. If the Hawks don’t get a break and have the Magic miss a few early ones, Atlanta could come undone. This is a deciding game in this series, and not just because the Magic remain on the edge of elimination. A loss and the Hawks enter full-on meltdown mode. Just like that, a series that looked to be theirs can wind up firmly in Orlando’s grasp.”
- Had Hill been healthy with Orlando, history would have changed.
- What are the odds that Dwight Howard remains with the Magic beyond 2012? Moore thinks Howard should stay: “You want to be an all-time player? You want to win a championship? Be the building block of the franchise. Otis Smith has shown he’s willing to do what it takes to make it happen. Bail and you’re just another attention-seeking bandwagon jumper. It’s his right to leave. Doesn’t mean he should.”
- Do the Magic need to rebuild? Chris Broussard of ESPN Insider makes his case that they do.
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in News • No Comment
April 28th, 2011
Sneak Preview: Orlando Magic at Atlanta Hawks, Game 6
Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Stan Van Gundy reached into his bag of rhetorical tricks Wednesday — all the way back to his seventh-grade phys-ed class. Van Gundy and his classmates were about to do a six-minute run as part of a physical-fitness test, and one of Van Gundy’s friends asked, ‘Coach, how do we pace ourselves in this?’ The P.E. teacher responded, ‘Gentlemen, go out as fast as you can and gradually increase your speed.’ Van Gundy recounted that anecdote as the Orlando Magic prepared to face the Atlanta Hawks in Game 6 Thursday night at Philips Arena. The Magic trail the series three games to two and need to win to stave off elimination. [...] If there’s been any commonality to the Magic’s road losses in this series — aside, that is, from Orlando’s awful shooting and poor perimeter defense — it’s been slow starts by the Magic. In those defeats, the Magic didn’t meet the Hawks’ energy level early on. The result: Orlando never led in the first quarter and never led by more than two points in either of the games. Those poor beginnings spurred the Hawks’ notoriously late-arriving fans and made Philips Arena a tough venue for the Magic.”
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “Whether the Orlando Magic win or lose their first-round series to the Atlanta Hawks, coach Stan Van Gundy and General Manager Otis Smith both will be coming back next season. Magic CEO Bob Vander Weide told the Sentinel on Wednesday that he and owner Rich DeVos‘ family feel comfortable and confident in Van Gundy and Smith. [...] Smith and Van Gundy received contract extensions last summer through the 2012-13 season. The Magic’s struggles against the Hawks, plus their slide to 52 wins this season after two questionable mid-season trades, drew speculation about job security for Van Gundy and Smith — Smith in particular.”
- John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com: “With his Orlando Magic seemingly down on their luck and desperate to somehow save their season, owner Rich DeVos made his way to the locker room to offer up what just might have been the biggest assist of the night. DeVos, one of the richest men in the world, told the Magic players down in the series against the Atlanta Hawks about a time when he could relate to their plight as frustrated and feeling hopeless. With his Amway empire still in its infancy, DeVos told the players of how he unsuccessfully traveled to China three different times in an attempt to grow his fledgling business. Just as he was about to give up, DeVos gave it a go for a fourth time – and this time the results were dramatically different. ‘The fourth time, we got it going and now we have a $5 billion business in China,’ DeVos told the team. The message applied to the Magic because they were down 3-1, but responded Tuesday night to stave off elimination by whipping the Atlanta Hawks 101-76 at the Amway Center. Clearly, the message about perseverance resonated with the Magic. Franchise center Dwight Howard’s eyebrows raised and Chris Duhon audibly muttered the word, ‘Wow!’ when DeVos talked about the powers of simply sticking with a pursuit.”
- Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “There’s the history of the NBA playoffs, and there’s the recent chronicles of the Hawks. The former gives the Magic just a 4 percent chance to win their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series against the Hawks after trailing 3-1. The latter is a story of postseason basketball that includes blowout losses, letdowns and series with promising starts followed by excruciating finishes. One bad night in Orlando encapsulated all of that. It’s not just that the Hawks lost Game 5 on Tuesday, it’s that they folded once the Magic surged to a commanding early lead. The nature of the 101-76 defeat is why the Hawks were queried about their state of mind, despite still leading the series 3-2 entering Game 6 on Thursday at Philips Arena.”
- Jeff Schultz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “This much is true: The Hawks did not lose game five to Orlando by 25 points solely because Johnson made only two of 12 shots, at least when we even noticed he was on the floor. They all stunk. But Johnson didn’t do nearly enough to prevent the loss – or even collective team humiliation – from happening. And yes, he does deserve a greater share of the blame than Josh Smith or Jamal Crawford or anybody else on the roster because more is expected from him. Such are the little inconveniences that come with a $123.7 million contract.”
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in Sneak Preview • 1 Comment
April 27th, 2011
Second Look: Orlando Magic 101, Atlanta Hawks 76
Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “For the first four games of this playoff series, the Orlando Magic could depend on only one player: Dwight Howard. No one else hit shots consistently. No one else defended game-in, game-out effectively. And no one else brought the necessary intensity at the beginning of games. But with their team facing elimination Tuesday night, the rest of the Magic finally had Howard’s back. On an evening Howard faced early foul trouble, his much-maligned supporting cast turned Game 5 — and perhaps the series itself — on its ear. J.J. Redick, Jason Richardson and the rest of the roster propelled the Magic to a 101-76 thrashing of the Atlanta Hawks at Amway Center. Still, there actually was a time Tuesday when it seemed like the Magic might not force a Game 6. [...] Howard committed his second personal foul on a reach-in with 5:40 remaining in the first quarter and the Magic leading only 10-8. Coach Stan Van Gundy had to pull Howard out of the game. When Howard has been off the floor earlier in the series, the Magic played like Samson without his hair. But not this time. Led by Redick, the Magic closed out the quarter on a 16-5 run.”
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “If there was any Magic player who actually would dare to offer shooting tips on his website, it had to be J.J. Redick. The way Magic players were misfiring jumpers during the series against the Hawks, they should have been taking advice — and taking out liability insurance. Redick does have an instructional shooting video on the market (“Better Basketball With J.J. Redick), and gives folks some pointers on his site in ‘J.J’s Shooting Drills.’ Redick, though, wasn’t exactly coming through as a company spokesman until it counted most — in Tuesday night’s elimination game. J.J. helped break the game open in the first quarter, hitting five straight baskets to ignite the wipe-out, the first a driving, reverse layup. [...] He finished making 6-of-8 shots for 14 points. He oddly found a way to beat the Hawks’ defense that hugged the 3-point line — J.J. didn’t take any. He relied more on pick-and-rolls and curl patterns to spring him free, shades of his Duke days.”
- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “With the Magic season hanging in the balance and the future of the franchise at stake, Orlando needed somebody to step up and help out Dwight Howard Tuesday. Guess what? Somebody didn’t step up. Everybody did. Howard scored 46 points and pulled down 19 rebounds in Game 1 and the Magic lost by 10. He had his worst statistical game of the series (8 points, 8 rebounds) Tuesday and the Magic won by 25. Go figure. J.J. Redick ignited the Magic by scoring 10 straight points at one juncture in the first half when Howard was on the bench with foul trouble. Jason Richardson returned from his one-game suspension to lead the team with 17 points. Gilbert Arenas was a major contributor yet again. And the Magic, who shot miserably from beyond the arc during the first three games of this series, hit 11-of-26 treys in Game 5.”
- Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Orlando Magic played their best defensive game of the playoffs during Tuesday night’s 101-76 win over the Atlanta Hawks, holding the Hawks to a series-worst 36.2 shooting percentage and 76 points on 91 possessions. The Magic’s defense has held the Hawks in check for the most part in this series, but they took it to another level in Game 5, swarming the perimeter and protecting the rim almost flawlessly. The Hawks had very, very few easy baskets and seemingly had a Magic player crowding the ball at all times. Jamal Crawford and Joe Johnson — averaging a combined 44 points per game for the series coming into the game — scored just 13 total points on 20 percent shooting. It’s difficult to imagine the Magic playing much better on defense.”
- John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com: “On a night when even the team’s mascot, Stuff, banked in a halfcourt shot during a timeout skit early in the game, the Orlando Magic finally found their shooting strokes from afar and breathed some life back into this best-of-seven series. The Magic battered Atlanta early and often by raining in 3-pointers from all corners of the Amway Center to win 101-76 going away in send-a-message style to the embarrassed Hawks. Orlando staved off elimination, pulled within 3-2 in the series and set the stage for what could be an epic Game 6 in Atlanta on Thursday night.”
- Evan Dunlap of Orlando Pinstriped Post: “Tonight’s game represents what some folks expected might happen in this series: the Magic tear the Hawks apart with Howard inside and the three-point shooters outside, while Atlanta clanks jumper after jumper. That summation is a bit reductive, I admit, but when one considers the Magic’s convincing sweep of the Hawks last season, as well as the Hawks’ six-game losing skid to end the regular season and their negative point differential, it’s not too terribly far off the mark. But nobody could have counted on Orlando’s unbearably bad three-point shooting to date, even accounting for the Hawks’ fourth-ranked three-point defense. Nor could anyone have known Crawford would become the first reserve in six seasons to score 20-plus points in four straight games, or that Hedo Turkoglu would shoot worse than every volume-volume shooter since 1995. All those factors set the stage for the Magic fighting to stay alive Tuesday in just their fifth game this postseason.”
- Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “After taking a beating from the Magic, the Hawks return to Atlanta facing familiar questions about how far they have really come. Down 3-1 in the series and facing elimination, the Magic struck back for a 101-76 victory at Amway Center. The Hawks still have home-court advantage and history on their side. They can win the series with a victory in Game 6 on Thursday at Philips Arena, and only eight of 194 NBA teams that have faced a 3-1 series deficit have rallied to win. But Tuesday the Hawks looked nothing like the focused, poised group that had won six of eight games against the Magic this season. The Hawks instead resembled the group that Orlando swept by an NBA-record margin of 101 points in the second round of the 2010 playoffs.”
- Jeff Schultz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Remember these guys? This is what you feared. Not a game, but a cartoon. Not a loss, but four quarters of exploding body parts. For most of four playoff games against Orlando, we saw what the Hawks were capable of. Then we saw what we already knew they were capable of because they showed it all too often during their bipolar season. Before the game was half over Tuesday night, the Hawks trailed by 10, then 15, then 25, and then everybody pretty much stopped paying attention. Now the doubt is back in Atlanta, and the hope is back in Orlando.”
- Bret LaGree of Hoopinion: “It’s just one game and some history still awaits the Hawks if they can win at home on Thursday or even in Orlando on Saturday but the chance to record an, if not outright impressive, at least a feel-good series victory likely passed them by tonight. The Hawks took bad shots, their head coach created foul trouble where none yet existed, that choice put an inferior defensive unit on the floor for long stretches of the first half, the Hawks fell way behind, and they tried to catch up by taking more bad shots. A familiar tale for the 2010-11 Hawks.”
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in Second Look • 3 Comments
April 26th, 2011
Tuesday’s Magic Word
- 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.
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in News • No Comment
April 26th, 2011
Sneak Preview: Atlanta Hawks at Orlando Magic, Game 5
AP Photo/John Bazemore
- Zach McCann of the Orlando Sentinel: “At some point Jamal Crawford has to cool off, right? The Atlanta Hawks shooting guard has torched the Orlando Magic in the first four games of this playoff series, averaging 24 points and shooting 56.5 percent from three-point range. In a series defined by ugly offense and hard-nosed defense, Crawford’s finesse and efficiency shooting the basketball have stood out. And the frustrating part for the Magic is they’re keeping a defender nearby and in his face — he’s just connecting on the jumpers, anyway. [...] Crawford’s remarkable consistency — he’s scored 25, 23, 25 and 23 points in the four games — has carried the Hawks. The Magic assumed the law of averages might help limit Crawford, but that hasn’t worked. His shooting percentage (47.1 in the playoffs compared to 42.1 in the regular season), three-point percentage (56.5 to 34.1) and points per game (24 to 14.2) are far above his usual performance. He’s not going to just start missing on his own, as the Magic may have hoped. So on Monday at practice, the Magic focused on stopping Crawford (and Joe Johnson, who’s averaging 20 points per game this series).”
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “The doors to Amway Center’s practice court opened around 3:45 Monday afternoon, and visitors looking to interview coach Stan Van Gundy witnessed something that’s been absent this postseason. Orlando Magic players made shots. Lots of them. Ryan Anderson, Chris Duhon, J.J. Redick and, later, Brandon Bass attempted shot after shot after shot — and made most of them. Staccato bursts of the sport’s prettiest sound filled the air. Basketballs fell through hoops and touched only the nets. Swish! Swish! Swish! The Magic need to duplicate that success when they host the Atlanta Hawks tonight in Game 5 of their playoff series. Trailing three games to one, Orlando must win to avoid elimination. [...] In Sunday’s Game 4 loss, the Magic went 2-for-23 from 3-point range. Van Gundy and his assistant coaches analyzed those attempts, and they found that if they excluded tries that came at the end of a quarter or just as the shotclock expired or were simply bad shots, the Magic went 2-for-15 from beyond the arc. Of those 15, eight were wide-open. The Magic made just one of those eight wide-open attempts.”
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “About seven months ago, the Magic were star tenants in the spectacularly giddy grand opening of Amway Center. They certainly don’t want their season to close at their hoops palace Tuesday night with a final, farewell performance. Trailing the Atlanta Hawks three games to one in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series, the Magic look to avoid curtain-closing elimination. This could either be the start of an historic run for the Magic or the stunning end to a disappointing season, with repercussions possibly resonating through the summer. The futures of coach Stan Van Gundy, General Manager Otis Smith and superstar Dwight Howard could be affected. An early ouster obviously wouldn’t sit well with Howard, a five-time all star who can leave the Magic after next season as a free agent. He has had to carry the club this postseason, desperate for help from his lackluster supporting cast. Smith’s reputation as a front-office executive who built a contender has taken a hit. His two blockbuster trades in mid-December dramatically changed the team, but not necessarily for the better, and improving the already expensive roster will be difficult. And Van Gundy will be under scrutiny if the Magic are dispatched in the opening round. They tumbled to a 52-30 record this season after back-to-back 59-win seasons under the fiery coach. He has seen his offense, which relies heavily on the 3-point shot, fizzle against the Hawks.”
- John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com: “Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy was his usual load and vocal self after Sunday night’s Game 4 to the Atlanta Hawks as he searched for positives to encourage his frustrated basketball team. The gist of message was this: Nothing about the Magic’s plight – other than being in a must-win situation – has changed despite being in a 3-1 hole. The Magic still hope to protect their homecourt against the Hawks in Tuesday’s Game 5 at Amway Center. If they can force a Game 6 on Thursday, they still have to find a way to win in Atlanta, something that has been a reality since losing Game 1 in Orlando last week. And to do both of those things they still must figure how to get some sort of offensive flow going in a series where points and made shots have been tough to come by. And, oh yeah, the fourth-seeded Magic have to do it right away come Tuesday night or a season filled with so much promise could be over at the hands of the fifth-seeded Hawks.”
- Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Now that his sizzling scoring has helped put the Hawks on the verge of advancing past the Magic into the Eastern Conference semifinals, the praise is flowing for Jamal Crawford. But Crawford remembers the tags critics not so long ago used to hang on him. He was a scorer but needed a lot of shots to get his points. He put up big numbers but he did so while playing for bad teams. His one-on-one style was good for highlights, bad for winning. [...] Most of those criticisms fell by the wayside last season, when Crawford joined the Hawks via trade and had the most efficient scoring season of his career. Atlanta won 53 games and Crawford was voted the NBA’s Sixth Man Award. He further bolstered his credentials last spring when he was Atlanta’s most consistent scorer in his first postseason appearance. That hardly gained notice, though, because the Hawks wheezed past Milwaukee in the first round before getting summarily swept by Orlando. Now Crawford is doing it again and more people are taking notice, especially Magic coach Stan Van Gundy.”
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in Sneak Preview • No Comment
April 25th, 2011
Second Look: Atlanta Hawks 88, Orlando Magic 85
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “In the Orlando Magic‘s postgame locker room Sunday night, Stan Van Gundy turned to his assistant coaches and asked a question. Should they take their players directly from Orlando International Airport to Amway Center upon arrival in Florida and shoot baskets until their teamwide shooting woes disappear? Van Gundy was only half-joking. An atrocious shooting slump, poor perimeter defense and a tendency to start games slowly has the Magic one loss away from elimination after they dropped Game 4 of their first-round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks 88-85 Sunday night at Philips Arena. Only eight teams in NBA history have accomplished what the Magic will try to do now: win a best-of-seven series after trailing three games to one. Dwight Howard boiled down the talk ahead to a simple message to his teammates. [...] Appropriately enough, Game 4 ended on a missed 3-pointer. The Magic inbounded the ball to Gilbert Arenas with 10.5 seconds left, and Arenas swung the ball to Hedo Turkoglu. The Hawks’ Al Horford knocked the ball away, and although Turkoglu recovered it, he had no choice but to take a desperation shot. It clanged off the back left side of the rim, sending the announced crowd of 19,490 and the Hawks into a frenzy.”
- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Hate to say it, but it might just be time for the most dreaded four words in the Magic playoff vernacular: Gentlemen, start your razors. Before the Magic began the 2011 NBA playoffs, players vowed not to shave until the postseason was over and fans throughout Central Florida began the rallying cry … “Fear the Beard!” Now, after yet another nail-biting, heart-breaking loss to the Atlanta Hawks that has put the Magic in a nearly hopeless 3-1 hole, it’s getting closer and closer to a time when “Fear the Beer” might be a more appropriate mantra. After all, it probably won’t be long now before Magic fans everywhere are drowning their sorrows following what is quickly turning into an depressingly disappointing season. But there is one positive. Hey, Magic fans, did you see Gilbert Arenas Sunday night? What’s it tell you about this series when the Magic can’t beat the Hawks when Dwight Howard scores 46 points in Game 1 and when Arenas rises from the ashes to score to score 20 in Game 4? Maybe it’s just not meant to be. Maybe just maybe the Hawks, who have now beaten the Magic six of eight times this season, are just the better team.”
- George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel: “The Atlanta Hawks are programmed to beat the Orlando Magic. Three out of four in the regular season. Now three out of four in the playoffs after Atlanta took a commanding 3-1 Sunday night. Magic fans can scream all they want about the clank-clank perimeter shooting of Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, Ryan Anderson and J.J. Redick (at least he has a doctor’s excuse — he’s been hurt). The problem is that the Magic are very beatable when no one doubles down on Dwight Howard. The Magic aren’t very good about creating their own shots or driving to the basket. They are very good in working the ball around and getting good spacing on the floor to set up their perimeter game. But that’s not happening because the Hawks aren’t double-teaming Dwight Howard. The Hawks are bigger and squeezing the Magic out of their comfort zone. They are still getting jump shots, just not where they want them.”
- John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com: “Much like in this increasingly frustrating series, the Orlando Magic could never get over the hump on Sunday night against the Atlanta Hawks. Now, trailing 3-1, the Magic are faced with overcoming a mountain of odds to save their playoff lives. The Magic dug their way out of an early hole and twice got Game 4 tied in the fourth quarter on Sunday night, but they could never take the lead and had to stomach a crushing 88-85 loss to the Hawks that dropped them into a 3-1 deficit in the best-of-seven series. To get out of the first round of the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season, the fourth-seeded Magic must now beat the fifth-seeded Hawks three straight games. Game 5 is Tuesday night in the Amway Center. Counting regular-season play, the Hawks have now defeated the Magic in six of eight games this season, including all four times at Atlanta’s Philips Arena.”
- Evan Dunlap of Orlando Pinstriped Post: “About all that’s changed is the sudden emergence of Arenas, who had, at least on this night, the look of a useful NBA player again. Arenas earned a Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision in Game Three as coach Stan Van Gundy called on Turkoglu to play point forward, but he elected to give Arenas a go tonight. The Magic’s big-name midseason acquisition delivered, to a degree, pouring in 20 points in 22 minutes, the sort of high-pressure outing Magic fans had hoped for. Only he and Dwight Howard (a game-high 29 points) could score consistently.”
- Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “It took a lot of hard work for the Hawks to take homecourt advantage away from the Magic in their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series. They nearly gave it back with several mistakes in the final moments of Game 4 on Sunday night before finally putting away the Magic. Guard Joe Johnson made four free throws in the final 20.2 seconds to secure Atlanta’s 88-85 victory over Orlando at Philips Arena. The Hawks can win the best-of-seven series with a victory at Orlando on Tuesday. Jamal Crawford scored a team-high 25 points and Johnson had 20 for the Hawks.”
- Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Say what you will about these Hawks, and by now we’ve said it all, usually with a few choice words interspersed. That they’re sloppy with a lead. That they often act as if basketball was a sport scored on degree of difficulty. That they lead the world in keeping both teams in the game. But here’s something we haven’t been able to say about any Hawks team since 1970: That it leads a best-of-seven series 3-1. Also this: That it’s one game from winning a playoff series in which it didn’t hold the homecourt edge for the first time since 1996.”
- Bret LaGree of Hoopinion: “Either prolonged exposure to this series is creating an illusion of coherence or Game 4 was the most Hawks/Magic game of this Hawks/Magic series. There were the requisite 88 points scored by the winning team, the terrible shot selection (both teams), the terrible shot-making (Orlando only), the improbably great yet perfectly representative, in kind if not frequency, shot-making of Jamal Crawford, a routine 29 and 17 from Dwight Howard, Jason Collins fouling, 19 unproductive minutes from hideously unqualified Hawk frontcourt reserves, the Hawks building a significant lead despite not playing very good offense, the Magic erasing that lead despite not playing very good offense, and the Hawks prevailing through some combination of the aforementioned Crawford and Collins plus an inefficient but impressive Al Horford, Joe Johnson being efficient but unimpressive for long stretches, Kirk Hinrich making Hawks fans so happy Mike Bibby’s gone, and Josh Smith being inexplicable but not completely useless. “
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in Second Look • 1 Comment
April 24th, 2011
Sneak Preview: Orlando Magic at Atlanta Hawks, Game 4
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “[Orlando] Magic GM Otis Smith will take applications for the backup center position behind Dwight Howard for 2011-12. Can a kid who logged zero minutes and seldom practiced with the team win the job? Is Daniel Orton that guy? ‘I believe I am,’ Orton told me. ‘I believe I am for so many reasons, but I’d rather not say because it would only raise expectations higher. I’m not a sayer. I’m a doer.’ As the Magic’s first-round pick out of Kentucky, Orton, 20, couldn’t do anything this season as a rookie but watch. He didn’t get on the floor after battling a lingering left knee injuries, which eventually required surgery in late December. He partially tore the ACL as a junior in high school, and tore his meniscus as a senior, undergoing more surgery. He underwent arthroscopic surgery after playing his second game of a D-League stint with the New Mexico Thunderbirds. Physically, Orton says his knee is sound, but he won’t go full bore until sometime this summer.”
- Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel: “Maybe familiarity really does breed contempt, because the first-round playoff series between the Orlando Magic and the Atlanta Hawks is becoming downright chippy. On a day the NBA handed down one-game suspensions to Orlando’s Jason Richardson and Atlanta’s Zaza Pachulia for fighting each other, both teams escalated their posturing for officials and had increasingly harsh words for each other. Stan Van Gundy complained that Hawks centers Jason Collins and Zaza Pachulia hit superstar Dwight Howard at every opportunity but flop to the court whenever they face minimal contact. Meanwhile, Collins and Pachulia said that Howard dishes out at least as much punishment as he receives. And the Magic stewed that Richardson received the same punishment as Pachulia.”
- Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: ” This could be your big chance, Gilbert Arenas. Tonight’s the night. Don’t blow it. Starting shooting guard Jason Richardson has been suspended from tonight’s crucial Game 4 of the Magic’s playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks. This could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for, Gilbert, to get back into the rotation and earn that $18 million salary Magic fans believe is the biggest waste of money since frozen coffee drinks. {…] If ever there was a time for Agent Zero to become a Magic hero, this is it. Call me Mr. Melodrama if you want, but there isn’t just one game riding on tonight’s outcome; the season is riding on it. The future of the franchise could be riding on it. This is as close to must-win as you can without actually being mathematically eliminated from a series completely. Let’s face it, does anybody really think the Magic can afford to go down 3-1 to the Hawks – a talented and athletic team that has beaten the Magic 5-of-7 times this season? If the Magic lose tonight, the chances of them winning this series are about the same as the chances of Van Gundy being invited to be on ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ This could be Gilbert’s grand opportunity to not only save the Magic’s season but to save good friend and Magic GM Otis Smith’s reputation – and perhaps even his job.”
- John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com: “Orlando Magic guard J.J. Redick flashed the bright, red wound on the inside of his left arm, offered to show the matching strawberry abrasion on his hip and admitted on Saturday that there are still times when he feels a stabbing pain from an abdominal strain injury. But with his Magic shorthanded because of a suspension, rattled somewhat by a shooting slump and peering out of a 2-1 playoff hole courtesy of the Atlanta Hawks, Redick knows that now is no time for pity. He said his team should be feeling the urgency to deliver its finest performance come Sunday’s Game 4 at Philips Arena in Atlanta. A Magic squad that’s struggled to score in the regular season and playoffs against the Hawks will be playing Sunday night without shooting guard Jason Richardson, Orlando’s second-leading scorer this season. He was suspended a game for Friday’s fourth-quarter fight with Atlanta center Zaza Pachulia. Richardson said the Magic clearly got the worst of that swap.”
- Steve Hummer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The Magic center, by way of tiny Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, stands as the single largest — 6-foot-11, 265 pounds to be exact — obstacle between the Hawks and Round 2 of these NBA playoffs. Against the Hawks, Howard has been a transcendent force, playing all but five of 144 minutes of the first three games, despite a rotation of Hawks big men hanging from him like anchor chains. His scoring has dropped with each game (46 to 33 to 21), yet within this star-laden postseason, he entered Saturday ranked first in scoring (33.3 per game), rebounding (17.7 per game) and minutes per game (46). Orlando so needs him on the floor that his coach, Stan Van Gundy said, ‘It’s very hard to even let him get a drink of water.’ He is a soloist, the Yo-Yo Ma of post play, while Orlando aches to hear from the rest of the orchestra. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series looms Sunday at Philips — the Hawks up 2-1 and the stage set for further friction. Hawks center Zaza Pachulia came out of Game 3 on Friday looking as if he had spent the evening locked in a cage with an angry wolverine, scratches covering one arm. Howard has banked two postseason technical fouls already, both of them involving Pachulia. He flung the Hawks’ backup big man to the court in Game 1, and on Friday flailed at Pachulia after a hard foul, catching him across the neck.”
- Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Losing Zaza Pachulia hurts the Hawks. Losing Jason Richardson hurts the Magic more. It’s pretty simple why. Zaza is a sub splitting minutes at center, where the Hawks have other choices: Jason Collins is the starter in this lineup, and Al Horford has had some success at the position, having twice made the All-Star team. Richardson is a starter and was, at least during the regular season, the second-leading scorer on a team starving for options beyond Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson. Howard has averaged 33.3 points in this series, up nearly 10 over his regular-season yield. Of Orlando’s 92 baskets, he has 33. Nelson has 19. That means 56.5 percent of the Magic’s offense is coming from two players. That’s why the Hawks lead 2-1. The rest of the Magic men have been, in a word, lousy.”
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in Sneak Preview • 8 Comments
April 23rd, 2011
Recap: Atlanta Hawks 88, Orlando Magic 84
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
In a crucial Game 3, which can decide a series (the winner goes on to win the series 82.2 percent of the time), the Atlanta Hawks were able to defeat the Orlando Magic by the score of 88-84 to take a 2-1 series lead in the first round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs. The game, and possibly the series, came down to two possessions for the Magic and Hawks that has defined their matchup since the start of the season. With 46.6 seconds left in regulation, Orlando was down a point and needed a basket to take the lead. The play that head coach Stan Van Gundy chose to run was a 3/5 pick and roll with Hedo Turkoglu and Dwight Howard at the top of the key — same play that sealed their Game 2 victory. This time, Atlanta defended it well. Turkoglu penetrated into the lane but didn’t have a clear look at the rim or an angle to pass it to Howard, so he passed it to Brandon Bass but he wasn’t open by any means. So Bass gave the basketball back to Turkoglu. With Al Horford defending him, Turkoglu was in the corner and after a few seconds trying to create space to put up a shot, he took a three-pointer that was contested and missed. Given that there was still time for the Magic to get a better look, it’s ironic that Turkoglu decided to take the difficult route in that scenario. Since returning to Orlando, there have been too many times in which Turkoglu passes up an easy shot in favor of a more difficult one and the same thing happened in that late-game sequence. Well, the Hawks retrieved the rebound and all the Magic needed to do was to get a stop on the ensuing possession for another crack at winning the game. However, with the ball in his hands and the shot clock winding down, Jamal Crawford was matched up against Jameer Nelson. Crawford tried to break Nelson down off the dribble as he always tries to do against his defenders, but no dice. As such, Crawford was forced to put up a contested shot like Turkoglu. However, the difference is that Crawford has a height advantage on Nelson. Even though Nelson closes out on the shot and puts his hands up, Crawford is able to elevate higher. And with luck on Atlanta’s side for most of the series, Crawford banks in the three-pointer that pushes the lead to four points with 5.7 seconds left and ends the game.
By Eddy Rivera • Posted in Recaps • 2 Comments
Dwight Howard lacking hype and a rival
Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images
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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