MH: Does this game even register anywhere on the look-ahead radar? I’ve maintained all season that, for the teams at the top, individual games are fairly meaningless when predicting playoff series and I think today’s game meant relatively little if the two teams meet in June.

LOF: I don’t really think this means much to the Lakers in terms of a potential Finals rematch with the Magic other than we might have to send DJ Mbenga and his black belt in akido after Matt Barnes if he starts up with those antics again.  It was a close game and I don’t think anyone expected it not to be.  The Lakers know full well that Orlando is a formidable opponent and aren’t going to beat themselves up over losing a game to them.  However, the Lakers are reeling a bit right now, losing three straight for the first time since they acquired Pau Gasol over two years ago.  If this loss did anything, it cemented in everyone’s minds that the Lakers are very vulnerable and not at all a lock to repeat.

How does today’s win change the Magic’s mindset when it comes to facing the Lakers?  A lot?  A little?

MH: I can’t imagine it changes it much. A loss might’ve hurt in that there could’ve been nagging doubt; all this does is eliminate that doubt. The Magic still believe they match up – whether they actually do is absolutely up for debate.

How many expletives did Matt Barnes cause you to utter during the game? Kobe laughed it off as he should because he sees that type of play everywhere, but I know I’d be pretty steamed at him if I were on the other side.

LOF: The expletive count was well into the double-digits, but for two reasons.  For starters, he was playing like a punk and just being a general pain in the ass.  Second, he was GETTING AWAY WITH IT!!!!  I don’t know how the refs let so much of his dirty tricks go uncalled even though he was doing it right in front of them, especially the illegal screen (and it was, don’t even try and argue) he set on Fisher near the end of the game that drew the double fouls.  Then again, the refs let him get away with about 11 illegal screens before that, so I wasn’t too surprised.  What really bugs me about him though is that he isn’t a Laker.  I remember Barnes vividly from the Golden State Warriors’ upset of Dallas in the playoffs a few years ago and thinking he is the exact kind of hard-nosed, energizing agitator that is so valuable in the post-season.  I’ve wanted the Lakers to scoop him up ever since Golden State cut him loose and they haven’t and now they finally paid for it.

MH: Who scares you more out of the East: Cleveland, Orlando or Boston? All games have been played against those three so you have some idea of how matchups will play out (although Cleveland has changed theirs a bit).

LOF: Boston doesn’t scare me in the least right now.  I know there is the historic rivalry and everything, but that team got old overnight and I just don’t see all their AARP-card carrying “Big Three” being able to go up against the Lakers for a seven-game series.  To be honest, the same goes for Orlando.  The Magic aren’t going to be able to top the Lakers in the Finals without Vince Carter producing like he did tonight in every game.  It sure looked to me like VC could only muster up the courage to attack the basket for one half of play tonight, so I don’t really think that is going to scale to well in a seven-game series.  Cleveland is easily the scariest team in the East.  Ron Artest has been playing some good D recently but isn’t a stopper every game (as we saw yesterday), so I don’t see how he is going to contain LeBron.  The Jamison addition really made them scary though because the Lakers can’t guard perimeter-forwards to save their life, especially if the Cavs can use him off the screen and roll effectively.  Ultimately, the biggest threat to the Lakers right now is themselves, they just aren’t playing well on either end of the floor right now and need to get their act together over the next month, otherwise they might not even make the Finals.

Remove his foul troubles from the equation, and Andrew Bynum seemed to do a very good job of defending Dwight Howard.  In the Finals, Bynum was 80% healthy at best, but this year he is healthy and holding his own against Howard, any concern there that Superman might have met his Kryptonite?

MH: Bynum has the size to handle Howard and I think he did well in the Finals also. I wouldn’t call him Kryptonite yet until they are even up on all stats but, as someone who can hold Howard down, maybe. Sunday’s game told us nothing as far as that goes though.

LOF: Does it concern you at all that the Magic barely won this game?  If Kobe’s final shot goes down, the story of this game very well could have been how Orlando choked.  Let’s face it, the Magic caught the Lakers at one of their lowest points of the season, got an uncharacteristically aggressive game from Vince Carter, saw multiple Lakers get into foul trouble and had to rely on Matt Barnes going Ric Flair (Lamar Odom’s words, not mine) to pull out a two-point win at home.  I know a win is a win, but I don’t know if Magic fans should be planning a parade just yet.

MH: No, 20 turnovers, 6 more than the season average (and a -13 deficit to LA, which is unusual), Howard in foul trouble early and only getting 31 minutes, typical Magic getting a lead and then losing it, “interesting” refereeing on both sides (no complaints about the illegal screens, just like I’m sure you wouldn’t justify Kobe throwing an elbow at the neck), etc., etc., etc. That’s why I don’t like single games as indicators. There are way too many variables to take anything from it. I would count on Barnes doing that going forward – how the refs deal with it will dictate how far it goes. I’m not sure you can count VC’s game as uncharacteristic – when he’s attacking, everyone sees why the Magic signed him. I would take that as a worrying sign for the Lakers – if they have to deal with that VC, then it could be trouble, otherwise, the Lakers still hold the edge. Anyway, no parades here, we have too many roadblocks to book tickets to the Finals.

Thanks again to Garrett and I hope we get a chance to do this in June.

Other than that, it was one game. I’m with SVG on this – it’s not a statement game, it’s just a game. We didn’t learn much about a potential Finals matchup – Howard was in foul trouble in the first half and then the second half turned into a wrestling match. The Lakers are used to the Nuggets going physical on them so this was nothing new – for them.

As a Magic fan, it’s a sight for sore eyes.

The two games against Cleveland were good as an indicator of things to come. When Dwight doesn’t get in early foul trouble, his presence gives even LeBron a hard time. John Schuhmann of NBA.com wrote up a piece on Dwight’s impact on LeBron. One point to notice from the article is that almost half (48.6%) of LeBron’s shots come from within eight feet when Dwight is out of the game and just over a third (37.4%) when Dwight is in. Depending on how quick playoff whistles are, Dwight will have to be careful.

Antwan Jamison is going to be trouble for the Magic. To argue anything else is foolish. Last year, LeBron had no one that the Magic really feared. Shaq has been better than I expected although I wonder if this injury is good or bad. It will give him time to rest his legs but maybe he loses conditioning as well. I find it laughable the common thought is that the Cavs must get Z back to be able to match up – Dwight owns Z so I welcome him back to the wine and gold.

The wins have kept coming and Dwight has been impressive. The double-doubles have been consistent (although the 20-20s have disappeared) and the defense has been dominating. Yet still, there are critics who say he hasn’t improved his offense or his free-throw shooting or that his overall demeanor isn’t mean enough. Anyone who has actually watched games know that Dwight’s repertoire has improved and that’s not even counting the 15-footer he’s started to attempt. The footwork is better, the variety of moves is improved and he simply is harder to defend. He’s passing out of double-teams better and just is harder to stop. The foul shooting is up 2% from last year – to expect a 10% jump is ridiculous for reasons I’ve detailed before. It sounds like Adonal Foyle did his job by reining Dwight in a little and telling him to be a bit more businesslike. Dwight’s smile hasn’t disappeared but he’s a little more serious and the Ts have gone down too.

We’ve got 22 games to go – being 6.5 back of Cleveland likely means they won’t be caught but the Magic have won in Cleveland before. I don’t anticipate Boston being able to keep pace with the Magic as they are looking their age. Atlanta can likely keep pace but they have more holes than Orlando so the Magic likely have the #2 seed locked down.

Peja Stojakovic was fun to watch. There was one crossover, step-back, three from the corner that was the worst shot in the world to take but when it goes in, you just shake your head in admiration. Rookie Darren Collison had 27 points, nine assists and four steals and looks to be a force to be reckoned with in the future. David West was a force all over the place; he was too strong for anyone thrown at him but Howard who was finally able to slow him down.

However, all that pales in comparison to the show Vince Carter put on. This was the one game Magic fans have been waiting for and I’m willing to say this was going down as a loss without Carter’s 48-point effort.

All the pieces were there: drives to the basket, step-back jumpers, 24-foot threes and even those scratch-your-head threes with 20 seconds still on the clock. He was 19-for-27 and 6-for-10 from three. I think the important part of VC’s resurgence has been his repeated attempts to go to the basket; those make everything else easier.

I’m not willing yet to say that VC’s totally back and will be everything the team’s been looking for but I am willing to say that the string of performances we saw in January may be done.

Or so I’m told anyway.

I watched the first half and got disgusted as normal as the Magic pulled one of their standard disappearing acts against Boston. After halftime, I watched about a minute and then stepped away for ten minutes. In that short span of time, the Magic turned an eleven-point deficit into a ten-point lead. Of course, for those of us with superstitious natures, that meant I was not allowed to watch any more until the tide turned again. I went out of the room again and would check in every five-ten minutes but the Magic maintained the lead. I finally sat down and watched the final 51 seconds but I missed the fun of the comeback and keeping Boston down.

No need to thnak me, though. I’m sure there’s plenty of times I’ve messed up on the superstitious end to cost games.

With that, Orlando ties Denver for the second best record in the league, wins the season series against Boston and the possibly all-important tiebreaker against the Celtics. If Cleveland was showing any weakness, they would have made up some ground, but eleven straight wins by the Cavaliers has allowed them to extend their lead. We’ll see if we can cut into the lead on Thursday.

Was Hedo a good fit for the Magic? Absolutely, no question about it. His size at the three created mismatch problems and his ball-handling abilities helped the offense flow a little.

However, the Magic would’ve been stupid and flat out nuts to bring him back. This year would’ve likely worked out fine and it’s conceivable the Magic would be leading the conference if he had remained. What do you do next year or the year after when the body starts to break down? What kept Hedo off the Magic was his demand for a five-year contract. With Vince Carter, the team is obligated to one, maybe two years and then they can look elsewhere, while the core of the team is still young. If the Magic had Turkoglu’s five-year contract hanging over them, their personnel decisions would be severely hampered for the next five years. This way, it’s only a couple, at worst.

I still think VC will come around by the times the playoffs kick off. I’d like to have a one seed, but unless Boston gets completely healthy by the playoffs, I’m not positive they’re as big a threat as I previously thought.

The goal of every team is to win championships. That said, it’s not worth tying your franchise up for half a decade to take a shot at one.

Part of me thinks if they put five 10-year-olds in Pistons jerseys out there, we’d struggle. (thanks to Orlando Sentinel’s Tania Ganguli for the quote)

As I said last night on Twitter in the win over Atlanta:

Magic mentally own Hawks right now. Eerily similar to how Pistons always had Orlando’s number.

The only difference is that now the Magic are winning these games, even when they shouldn’t really. Orlando had a 25-10 lead with a little over five minutes left in the first quarter but Detroit was able to fight back and tie it up right after halftime. Detroit went on to lead by seven by the four minute mark in the third quarter and this one had the feeling of an Auburn Hills collapse.

However, JJ Redick contributed 14 more points from that mark to total 17 and the Magic were able to clamp down enough to push past the Pistons. For as bad as the karma is against Detroit, the fact remains that the Magic have taken two out of three from them. Of course, with that said, I don’t think anyone really wants to see them in the playoffs; at 15-31, I’m not sure that’s a real concern though.

Jameer Nelson went out with a hyperextended knee and Mickael Pietrus left with a turned ankle. There’s no news on their availability for Tuesday night’s game against Milwaukee.

I need to do some research to find it but the Magic’s record can not be good when Dwight Howard has to leave the game early with two fouls. Howard picked up his second when he was backing down in the post and Kevin Garnett threw his aims up flailing like he’d be shot. Boston is always more interested in playing games than playing basketball. Some call it “crafty”; it’s just cheap.

It’s tough to know what to point out in this game:

• Matt Barnes playing the role of bodyguard – after Paul Pierce flagrantly fouled Howard, making no play on the ball, Barnes got right in Pierce’s face. They both drew technicals.
• JJ Redick hitting a clutch three to put the Magic up by two – I’m probably the last person to jump on the JJ Redick bandwagon and I’m not there yet. I’m getting close though.
• Winning despite hitting only 30% of threes – Boston hit twice as many threes and shot 46% from three. Tell me that before the game and I assume we were blown out.
• SVG going with a Twin Towers config with Howard at the 5, Gortat at the 4 and Lewis at the 3. It seemed to slow Boston down – be interesting to see if that shows up in the playoffs.
• Vince Carter going 2 for 13 – oh, wait, that’s normal

Anyway, it’s just one win. You can’t get too high over it just as you can’t get too low over individual losses. Now, hopefully, the game Saturday against Atlanta will go equally as well, but also hopefully, a little easier on the body.

Just as this team was probably not as good as its 17-4 start, neither is it as bad as the slump it recently went through. The truth is somewhere in-between and likely a lot closer to the 17-4 than the losing streak.

Dwight Howard had 19 points and 15 assists with two minutes left in the third. If he had played his normal allotment of minutes in the fourth, it’s likely he would’ve broken the 20-20 mark again. For all the pundits calling for Dwight to carry the team, the problem isn’t Dwight. It’s not even close to being Dwight. He may need to demand the ball more publicly and detractors will always say he’s having too much fun and not working on his free throws enough (11-for-12 tonight, btw)…

Dwight Howard does his best Charles Barkley impression for EJ, Kenny, CWebb and Charles 1.21.10 from Turner Sports on Vimeo.

Don’t count me in that group. I don’t expect players to eat, drink and sleep basketball, even during the season. It’s a long season, no one can maintain a high level of concentration that long. No amount of money helps you concentrate more.

VC is another problem. I’m still trying to take a wait-and-see attitude; he doesn’t have to be in sync with everyone else until the playoffs but he just looks lost. The sequence that bugged me against the Lakers was that he jacked up crap early in the clock when the Magic were starting to lose the lead. Later, with two minutes to go, the Magic down and trying to come back, he passed up an open three and dribbled around for 15 seconds before taking an off-balance runner that missed. That points to me that he just is lost and doesn’t know what to do.

We’ve got half a season to go but he needs to find it in the next 20 games in order to be fine-tuned for the playoffs.