Orlando Pinstriped Post

Tonight's Orlando Magic Game: at Washington Wizards

2010-03-13T22:00:23Z

The Orlando Magic will look to extend their winning streak to 8 games tonight when they visit Verizon Center to take on the cellar-dwelling Washington Wizards, who've lost 6 straight. Washington has the distinction of being the only Eastern Conference team not to fall to Orlando yet this season, having won each of the first two matchups after surmounting double-digit deficits. But those wins came before the Wizards cleaned house by shipping out Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, and others at the trading deadline. Further, tonight marks Washington's third game in as many nights due to its having to play a make-up game on Thursday. It would seem that the Magic indeed have all the advantages.

2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
46-20 (19-14 away) Won 7		21-42 (12-21 home) Lost 6
March 13th, 2010
Verizon Center
7:00 PM
Sun Sports / NBA TV
Probable Starters
Jameer Nelson	PG	Randy Foye
Vince Carter	SG	Mike Miller
Matt Barnes	SF	Al Thornton
Rashard Lewis	PF	Andray Blatche
Dwight Howard	C	JaVale McGee
Previous Meetings
January 8th: Wizards 104, Magic 97
February 5th: Wizards 92, Magic 91
Advanced Stats
92.6 (15th)	Pace	92.0 (18th)
109.8 (8th)	ORtg	104.5 (22nd)
102.5 (3rd)	DRtg	109.1 (19th)
Game Officials
Ed Malloy
Brian Forte
John Goble

The Wizard on whom the Magic need to focus is Andray Blatche, who's blossomed since the Wizards' roster-clearing trades, with per-game averages of 23.9 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 56.2% True Shooting, which recall those of perennial All-Star Chris Bosh. And it may surprise you to learn that he leads the entire NBA in points per post-up possession. Rashard Lewis and Brandon Bass have to attend to Blatche, whose range extends to 15 feet, not unlike Bosh. And if he sneaks free inside and draws Dwight Howard's attention, JaVale McGee figures to benefit. He dunked eight times against Atlanta on Thursday, which beats Lewis' season-long total by three.

Apart from Blatche, though, the Wizards have little offense. In theory, Mike Miller could average 20 points per game on a lottery team, but he's continued his puzzling trend of refusing to shoot even when incredibly wide-open, with his usage rate less than two-thirds what it was just three seasons ago. Al Thornton, Randy Foye, and Nick Young are all inefficient, perimeter-oriented chuckers, as long two-pointers comprise 39.2% of their combined shot attempts. We should acknowledge, though, that Foye has caught fire against the Magic twice this year, and Young can get hot in a hurry. But overall, this is a team without much firepower, and one Orlando's defense should handle easily.

The Magic have spent much of the season giving away big leads to bad teams, and ultimately losing. But not during this winning streak, during which they've raced out to, and subsequently maintained, huge leads against bottom-feeding teams. Jameer Nelson has noticed a change in attitude, telling the Orlando Sentinel, "It's a lot more serious and especially now. Everybody is focusing in on everything." Tonight's game will put his assertion to the test.

Word of the Day: Serious

2010-03-13T13:00:32Z

More photos » John Raoux - AP

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serious (adj.) - concerned with work or important matters rather than play or trivialities

Via the Orlando Sentinel:

The Magic franchise record for consecutive victories is nine, set twice, in 1994 and in 2001.
A victory against the Wizards would match the second-longest winning streak in Magic history, when the 2005-06 team won eight in a row.

"We're just trying to get better — no matter who we play at this point," center Dwight Howard said. "We just want to continue to do the things that are going to make us a lot better going into the playoffs. "Our goal is to win a championship."[...]

"There's not much joking around," point guard Jameer Nelson said. "It's a lot more serious and especially now. Everybody is focusing in on everything."

Dwight Howard's slideshow video. A visual look at Superman's career.

2010-03-12T22:35:29Z

Dwight Howard's slideshow video. A visual look at Superman's career.

Orlando Magic News for March 12th: A Look at How the Magic Have Performed Lately; Statheads Unite

2010-03-12T22:17:53Z

More photos » Ray Amati - NBAE/Getty Images

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Are the Magic as good as they have seemed since the All-Star break?
Tania Ganguli explains why the Orlando Magic have played so well lately.

Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy talked about the team’s preparation reaching a new level lately. Jameer Nelson seconded that.

"We’re preparing better; we do everything better right now," Nelson said. "… Individually we’re getting better. Early in the season we really didn’t have too many guys play together too often. Vince [Carter] goes out, Rashard’s [Lewis] out, you had guys go out. We start getting playing time together, practice time, we start jelling a little better."
Are Statheads the NBA's Secret Weapon?
David Biderman of the Wall Street Journal notes that teams with statisticians, a group which includes the Magic, are succeeding on the court. (via TrueHoop)

According to interviews with every team, The Wall Street Journal found that half the league's teams this season have at least one of these statisticians who helps make in-game, draft-day and trade-deadline decisions. Many of these teams are among the NBA's best. The list accounts for all six division leaders, including the Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks, who have a data analyst traveling with the team. These 15 teams that have invested heavily in statistics have combined to win 59.3% of their games this season. The 15 teams without such analysts have won 40.7% of their games, and only three—the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks—are on pace to make the postseason. Houston Rockets' general manager Daryl Morey, one of the pioneers of statistical analysis in the NBA, says more teams will soon come over to the quant side.

More after the jump.

NBA's statistical revolution bringing real change, more winning
Rob Mahoney of ProBasketballTalk says that the statistical revolution in the NBA is an example of the future of sports. A natural evolution.
Boston Hoops Road Trip: Sloan, Celtics and More
M. Haubs of The Painted Area paints a beautiful picture of what the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference was like. A must-read.

After attending on Saturday, I believe Sloan is more than a conference on advanced statistics - a more precise definition would be that it's a conference on New Ideas in Sports.

Certainly, advanced statistics accounts for a significant chunk of the new ideas currently in the basketball vanguard. But I was fascinated by how often the conference was about more than stats, such as when Mark Cuban talked about how advances in psychological testing, and personalized medicine - tailored to the individual athlete - were things that he was anticipating in the next 20 years. The Sloan Conference was really about what's next in sports, about what potential innovations which might give players and franchises and leagues an edge.
Context just as important as numbers in world of stats
John Schuhmann of NBA.com provides his thoughts on the Sloan Conference, as well.

Dismissing the numbers is ludicrous. Relying on them solely is ludicrous, too. To get a true understanding of the game, both an open mind and an understanding of context is needed to make it all work.
By the way, an advanced statistics dictionary should be available at Orlando Pinstriped Post in the next few days or so. I'll make an announcement when its posted on the site.
Stan Van Gundy Gives Players 'Dr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook' To Read During Road Trip
UPDATE (from Ben): Another classic story from The Onion.
Stan Van Gundy and Statistics
UPDATE 2 (from Eddy): On the APBRmetrics forum, Schuhmann crunches the numbers and shows that the Magic are the second-best team in the NBA in transition defense. Why? Head coach Stan Van Gundy doesn't put a premium on the offensive rebound. Instead, he wants the Magic to get back in transition and prevent easy baskets. It's a philosophical reason that has worked for Orlando.
Dwight Howard does Men's Health
UPDATE 3 (from Eddy): Dwight Howard is on the cover of Men's Health. Check it out.

T-Mobile Trivia Firedrill: Win Tickets to See the Orlando Magic and the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday

2010-03-12T18:00:25Z

This post is sponsored by T-Mobile.

It's time to give away a few more tickets to an Orlando Magic home game, courtesy of T-Mobile. At stake tonight? Tickets to see the Magic host the San Antonio Spurs next Wednesday, March 17th. Ordinarily, we conduct our giveaways with much more notice, but due to some extenuating circumstances that won't be the case. Please pay special attention to the rules, which follow the jump. But first, today's question.

Will Dwight Howard attempt more than or less than 7.5 foul shots in the Magic's game against the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday, March 14th?

And now the rules:

In each installment of the T-Mobile Trivia Challenge, we'll ask a question relating to a forthcoming Magic game and give you the chance to win tickets to a different Magic home game with a correct response.
If there is a tiebreaker question, you must answer it as well. I will disqualify all entries that do not address both questions.
We have four tickets to give away, but don't want the winners to have to go on their lonesome. Thus, two winners with the correct response will each receive two tickets to the game, which will allow them to bring a guest. The seats are located in section 122, row F.
Respond to the question(s) in the comments section of this post, preferably without any ornamentation or additional text. Do not comment more than once, because a) that's unfair and b) I'll disqualify you. At the end of the comment period, I will close the comments section and our ticket coordinator will pick the winners at random by drawing two numbers.
We ask that only people who are able to attend the game enter their responses.

You have from now until Sunday's tipoff--that's 6:00 PM on Sunday, March 14th--to post your response. I'll close the comments at that time. We'll announce the winners on Tuesday. Either I or our ticket coordinator will contact the winners via email with further instructions on how to obtain the tickets.

Please bear everything written above in mind before submitting your answer.

Again, you have until Sunday's tipoff to submit your answer. My apologies for the very, very short notice. Have fun.

Announcing the Winners of Our 13th T-Mobile Trivia Challenge

2010-03-12T17:00:47Z

This post is sponsored by T-Mobile.

It's time now to announce the winners of our latest T-Mobile Trivia Challenge. The two winners will each receive two tickets to the Orlando Magic's game against the Charlotte Bobcats this Sunday.

Everyone who responded correctly to the trivia question had his or her name entered into a random drawing. Here's the question we asked:

Which team will grab the first rebound of the second quarter when the Magic play the Bulls tomorrow?

Orlando's J.J. Redick corralled Jannero Pargo's missed jumper on the Bulls' first possession, which must have pleased the 39 of you who picked the Magic in this contest. Our winners are shyro25 and OrlandoRays. Congratulations. We've already gotten in touch with them, but thought we'd share the good news with the community.

Keep reading OPP for your next chance to win Magic tickets.

Orlando Magic 111, Chicago Bulls 82: The Morning After

2010-03-12T13:00:29Z

More photos » John Raoux - AP

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The Orlando Magic pound the undermanned Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night, stretching their season-high winning streak to seven games.
Vince Carter realizes that the playoffs are near.

There are 16 regular-season games remaining for the Orlando Magic. Although they haven't officially clinched a postseason spot, you can see the pending playoffs written all over Vince Carter's game face. [...]

"Been a while but I've been there [to the playoffs] and I know what it takes," Carter said. "You have to take the necessary steps to get there. Right now we're playing out best possible basketball and it doesn't matter the opponent." [...]

Carter looked invigorated. Maybe it was the playoff push. Then again, maybe it was something else. "I think had too much Red Bull before the game," he laughed.
Orlando Magic are set to scout the teams they might play in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
Brian Schmitz writes that the scouting staff for the Orlando Magic is going to start to scout possible first-round opponents as the regular season winds down.

The club went into Thursday night's game against the Chicago Bulls positioned as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race. If they held the spot, they would begin the postseason facing the No. 7 seed, which is currently a grab-bag of possibilities.

Toronto, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Miami and the Bulls are all in the mix at No. 7. The Magic might have to see how the season plays out before knowing their opponent.

"You just don't know the way teams are bunched down there," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We'll start watching them more and more intensively."

More after the jump.

Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose injured his left wrist when he collided with Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard for the second time in the teams’ last two games
Dwight Howard wishes Derrick Rose, a fellow adidas-endorsed basketball player and friend, a speedy recovery.
Magic vets to Derrick Rose: Be smart when attacking big men
Tania Ganguli gathers the thoughts of several Magic players, as they explain why Rose should be smart next time when attacking the basket against Howard or other big men in the NBA.
Derrick Rose hurts wrist in 111-82 loss
Head coach Vinny Del Negro chimes in on the play that led to Rose's injury.
Injuries play havoc with Chicago Bulls rotation
Fred Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune notes that the Bulls' rotation is becoming slimmer with each injury to one of its starters.
Sprained wrist sidelines Rose
John Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times describes the uphill battle Chicago had to face against Orlando in last night's game.

Entering their game Thursday against the Orlando Magic, the Bulls knew they would face an uphill climb playing without center Joakim Noah (plantar fasciitis in left foot) and small forward Luol Deng (strained muscle in right calf).

But when point guard Derrick Rose went down with a sprained left wrist late in the first quarter -- courtesy again of a hard foul by Magic center Dwight Howard -- the Bulls' task went from an uphill climb to an uphill climb on a sheet of ice while carrying a piano.
Howard says Rose injuries not his fault
One word: Classy.

Before the game, Rose met a 13-year-old fan from nearby Kissimmee who recently wrote a letter to him detailing how he nearly died in a bicycle accident and how looking at a poster of Rose above his bed helped him focus on getting better.

Rose took photos with Isaiah Walter and his family and took him into the locker room to meet the rest of the Bulls.
1. The Orlando Magic's One Major Flaw
Jon Barry of ESPN.com wants to talk about Hedo Turkoglu some more.

While watching the Magic clobber the Bulls by 29 points on Thursday for their seventh consecutive victory, I started thinking about the differences between this season's Orlando team and the one that reached the NBA Finals a year ago. What stands out to me is the fact the Magic might struggle in the playoffs without Hedo Turkoglu around to initiate the offense. Yes, he is playing poorly in Toronto, but he was Orlando's top player in the playoffs last year. He was their best playmaker.

In the playoffs when teams crank it up on defense, you need guys who can create on their own. You have to be able to create off the dribble. I don't see many guys on the Magic who can do that.
Bulls' nightmare comes true
Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago explains that the Bulls are having a rough go of it lately with injuries to three of their starters.
Savage & Cohen: Magic-Bulls Postgame Analysis
Dan Savage and Josh Cohen of OrlandoMagic.com provide analysis of the Magic's win.
Behind the Box Score, where Portland is all over the place
Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don't Lie recaps Orlando's victory.
Baseline to Baseline (last night's game recaps)
Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk "spares you the gory details" of yesterday's game.

Orlando Magic 111, Chicago Bulls 82

2010-03-12T08:52:45Z

More photos » Fernando Medina - NBAE/Getty Images

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With injuries to Luol Deng and Joakim Noah, the cards were already stacked against the Chicago Bulls when they faced off against the Orlando Magic in front of a nationally-televised audience. Losing Derrick Rose to a wrist injury near the end of the first quarter, when he attacked the basket and collided with Dwight Howard, just exacerbated the discrepancy of talent between two teams heading in completely opposite directions. The Magic won the game by a score of 111-82, extending their winning streak to a season-high seven games.The Bulls' six-game losing streak is slowly taking the team out of the playoff picture with 16 games to go in the regular season. Vince Carter led Orlando with an efficient 23 points (8-13 FG, 2-5 3PT). Rookies Taj Gibson, with 12 points (6-10 FG) and 9 rebounds, and James Johnson, with 13 points (5-9 FG) and 3 steals, played relatively well for Chicago.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Bulls	93	88.6	42.2%	14.5	20.5	15.1
Magic	90	123.6	61.6%	37.7	35.5	23.4
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

If there’s one thing that’s been different about the Magic during their current win streak, it’s that the team is going for the kill against inferior teams. Orlando has been notorious this year for building up big leads, letting opponents hang around, and then lose games it has no business losing. Lately, though, the Magic have been putting teams away. Last night was another example of that.

In the first half, Orlando executed its offense to near perfection. A lot of 4-out/1-in offensive sets with Howard, a lot of pick and rolls with Carter, and more.

It was clear that Chicago’s strategy against Howard when he was on the low block was to double-team him. The gameplan worked a few times, as Howard turned the ball over here and there. But overall, Howard did a great job of passing and scoring in the post. Sometimes Howard would pass the ball, to a cutting Matt Barnes, for example. Other times Howard would go baseline, away from double-teams, and either score or draw the foul on a Bulls defender. That’s smart basketball.

For Carter, he could do no wrong on offense.

SECOND QUARTER
- [10:29] Carter three-point 25’ jump shot (J.J. Redick assist)
- [9:49] Carter 12’ turnaround jump shot
- [8:30] Carter 7’ running bank jump shot
- [7:59] Carter 6’ driving hook shot
- [6:13] Carter 14’ turnaround fadeaway jump shot
- [5:15] Carter 5’ hook shot

One word: Diversity.

That’s what stands out the most about how Carter scored. Oh, and Carter did all of his scoring while at small forward. With Mickael Pietrus out for the evening with a strained neck, Carter assumed some responsibilities at that position and things turned out well for him. Carter got his points from an assortment of plays, like the 3/4 pick and roll with Brandon Bass, the 3/5 pick and roll with Marcin Gortat, the 1/3 pick and roll with Jameer Nelson, etc. That’s a ton of pick and roll variety, by the way. Nevertheless, Carter did his thing, whether it was in the post, around the perimeter, or at the rim.

With the Magic up by 34 at halftime, the remainder of the night allowed the team’s bench to play extended minutes. Out of the six Orlando reserves who saw time on the floor, Bass and Gortat made the most of their opportunities. Bass had 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks, while Gortat had 7 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Each player had a signature highlight in the game, too. For Bass, he got a monster block on Acie Law, ran down the court on the fast break, and was rewarded with the layup off a nifty pass by Anthony Johnson. For Gortat, he had two alley-oop dunks.

Ryan Anderson got some playing time, also, at power forward and at small forward with Pietrus out. It should be noted that when Anderson played the four, Bass played the five.

All in all, it was an impressive victory for Orlando. Yes, Chicago was out-manned, out-gunned, out-everything but a win is a win. And Orlando needs ‘em all, as it looks to continue to outpace the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics for the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Magic will have a chance to extend their winning streak to eight games when they face off against the Washington Wizards on Saturday night.

Post-Game Media Availability: Taking Care of Business

2010-03-12T05:52:44Z

More photos » John Raoux - AP

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Another game, another win.

With a victory against the Chicago Bulls, a depleted team that lost All-Star point guard Derrick Rose to injury near the end of the first quarter, the Orlando Magic extended its winning streak to a season-high seven games. Like its game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, the Magic took care of business in the first half and coasted to a blowout win. There’s not much else to say, other than Orlando is beating teams it should beat and doing it in impressive fashion.

I was able to speak with Stan Van Gundy amongst the media, as well as Vince Carter, Jameer Nelson one-on-one, Brandon Bass, and Dwight Howard.

Here's what they had to say:

Stan Van Gundy:

Could you talk about the bench, in terms of what they were able to bring to the table?

I thought they brought good energy I thought, particularly in the second quarter … and then I thought in the third quarter, we were really stumbling and not playing very good basketball and I thought Jason [Williams] got us going again so yeah, I was happy. I’m just happy. I think our guys – all of them – are coming in the game with a solid approach, really trying to play consistently from night-to-night and so I’m happy with that.

More after the jump.

Vince Carter:

Could you talk about the screen and roll with you and Jameer and what it makes it so effective on the court?

I mean, his ability to score as well. You have to respect it and we’re just trying to make teams try to have to make a quick decision on the fly. We try to switch it up and give it a different look every time so it doesn’t look like the same play. I mean, they know it’s coming and that’s fine, it’s just us executing.

Do you try to force the switch or what do you do?

It’s up to them. We just talk about it leading up [to the play] and just reading what’s there. Next time we run it, we kind of have an idea of how we want to attack it the next time and we just try to take what the defense is giving us.

Jameer Nelson:

I just got done talking to Vince about the screen and roll with you and him. Could you talk about what makes that play so effective?

Well, you have two guys that can score the ball so they have to make a decision whether or not to guard myself. A lot of teams switch so as a smaller guard, I just want to try to draw the double-team or vice-versa so you just try to play off of it and play your game.

Do you try to force the switch?

No, you don’t try to force the switch. I mean, my pick and roll is live so if they don’t help, I just turn the corner but nine times out of ten, teams are switching it so even if the guy doesn’t switch, [Vince] has the advantage.

Vince’s post-up game is an underrated aspect of his offense. Could you talk about that and his passing ability?

Well, normally you’re going to have an advantage in the post. He’s so good down there. He’s a great passer and he scores down there so teams are going to need to double or just let him go one-on-one and he makes great plays.

Brandon Bass:

You got a lot of minutes tonight. Are there any differences when you play the 4 or the 5, with regards to your responsibilities on the court and such?

Nah, you just … you got to rebound more, you have to be a defensive presence so like blocking shots, not let people into the paint, so you just got to play like a bigger man. That’s what I got to do when I’m out there and inside but it’s the same with anything … just defense and rebound.

Given the time of year, do you guys start to think about seeding and all that for the playoffs?

Nah, we’re just trying to play the best basketball going into the playoffs. We ain’t really looking into the seeding. We got to play somebody. We’ll be ready.

When you first came here from Dallas, is this the type of role you envisioned having with Orlando?

Yeah, I thought that early on this would be my role here but I’m cool with this role here, just bringing a lot of energy and playing defense, rebounding, and just bringing a lot of intensity out there because I think we can use that. The same way with Matt Barnes out there … Matt Barnes out there with the first group, I could be the one in the second group that just brings a tremendous amount of energy.

You’re like that glue guy. I know it sounds cliché but that seems to be what you can bring to the table.

Right, because we got a lot of shooters. We have so many shooters that I just want to be able to help us in any way I can.

Dwight Howard:

Could you talk about Jameer and Vince and how they have been playing very, very well lately?

They’re playing great. They’re playing great. Hopefully they can continue to keep that up. Hopefully they can continue to get better with Jameer and Vince and be more consistent, especially on the defensive end and also Jameer and Vince on the offensive end. When they hit shots, they’re attacking, they’re passing, [those are] all the things that we need to do for us to win.

You talk about them attacking. How much more dangerous does that make your team on offense?

When those guys attack, the guys have to make decisions whether they will stay with me and leave both of them or coming to them and leaving me open. It’s tough because you got the shooters all around and they’re attacking, you don’t want to leave them but also you got to take away something … if you take away something, then you try to exploit the next option.

Stan says that you should definitely be the Defensive Player of the Year. Does that mean a lot to you, to have the chance to win the award for a second consecutive year?

It does. I really pride myself in trying to be the eraser for our team and I think I have done a pretty good job all year of blocking shots and protecting the basket.

Do you think there’s some aspects, defensively, that some people don’t really appreciate?

Yeah, people don’t really understand. As a big, especially for me, my job is to help the guards on the pick and rolls, be the help when somebody rolls to the basket, be there to protect so guys don’t get easy layups. Just the small things and a lot of people just see the overall picture, the blocked shots, but it’s the little things that go into it.

Tonight's Orlando Magic Game: vs. Chicago Bulls

2010-03-12T00:02:39Z

2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
31-32		45-20
March 11th, 2010
Amway Arena
8:00 PM
TNT
Probable Starters
Derrick Rose	PG	Jameer Nelson
Kirk Hinrich	SG	Vince Carter
James Johnson	SF	Matt Barnes
Taj Gibson	PF	Rashard Lewis
Brad Miller	C	Dwight Howard
Previous Meetings
January 2nd: Bulls 101, Magic 93
February 10th: Magic 107, Bulls 87
Game Officials
Eddie F. Rush
Matt Boland
Kane Fitzgerald

Orlando Magic News for March 11th: New Ways to Work Out; A Look at Jameer Nelson's Passing Ability

2010-03-11T19:27:09Z

More photos » John Raoux - AP

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The Orlando Magic are finding new ways to keep their workouts competitive
Amanda Angel of ESPN the Magazine explains a workout routine the Orlando Magic conduct that helps with its defense. The purpose of the Velcro is to remain intact, which signifies good defense.

Joe Rogowski has a bag of tricks and isn't afraid to use it. "Yeah, I incorporate gimmicks," says the Orlando Magic strength and conditioning coach. To take the drudgery out of defensive workouts, Rogowski straps resistance bands around the waists of two players -- in this case, forwards Ryan Anderson and Rashard Lewis -- and links the bands with Velcro. He then designates one guy as an offensive player and the other as defensive. Next he has them go through a series of sprints and shuttle runs, with the offensive player setting the pace and making sudden moves.
NBA HD: Adjusting How We Measure and View Assists
Tom Haberstroh of Hardwood Paroxysm takes a look at how assists are measured and creates a new metric, weighted assists per game, which rewards players who distribute the basketball to high efficiency areas: at the rim and beyond the three-point line. Jameer Nelson rates well in weighted assists per game.
Orlando Magic Dunk-In
Video of Magic players dunking before a game. (via TrueHoop)

More after the jump.

Derrick Rose impressed Stan Van Gundy during the All-Star game
Head coach Stan Van Gundy praises Derrick Rose for his serious approach to the 2010 NBA All-Star Game.
Thursday Morning Shootaround
Benson Taylor of The Baseline notes that Orlando is surging.

Trending up

The Magic probably won't catch the Cavs in the East, but they are making a late-season push, having won eight of their last night games. In his last five games, Jameer Nelson is averaging 16.4 points, 7.4 assists and just 1.4 turnovers.
Book it: Cleveland vs. Orlando in East Finals
George Diaz eliminates the Boston Celtics as a threat to win the Eastern Conference championship due to age and other factors.

I feel bad for my buddy Doc Rivers, but his team has no prayer of making a deep run in the playoffs this season. Remember the pre-season chatter, when it was all about whether the Magic, the Cavs or the C’s would emerge as the Beast from the East?

Cancel one of the choices. This dogfight is down to Orlando and Cleveland.

What They're Saying Before the Orlando Magic Face Off Against the Chicago Bulls

2010-03-11T13:00:50Z

More photos » Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

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Dwight Howard is proving critics wrong by providing service with a smile. He’s a puppy dog with a bite.
George Diaz states that, despite receiving criticism left and right, Dwight Howard keeps on keeping on.

A lot of people — columnists, NBA Hall of Famers, Joe in the 27th row — have gone Dog Whisperer on Howard, suggesting he isn't fit to be the pack leader because he's just too warm and fuzzy and amiable. Howard's comeback has been to unleash the beast, and it's been pretty incredible to watch.
Orlando Magic notebook: Orlando Magic power forward Brandon Bass will continue as Rashard Lewis’ primary backup at least for tonight
Josh Robbins shares news that head coach Stan Van Gundy plans on continuing to play Brandon Bass for the time being.

"A lot of times what I've been doing now with some of these teams is having Rashard start the second quarter so I can sort of see who the other team is going to play," Van Gundy said Wednesday. "But we've won six in a row, and it's been Brandon playing. So, when you're going real well, I'm a little hesitant to sort of break up what's going on. So, he'll probably be the guy back in here again tomorrow [tonight against the Chicago Bulls]. That doesn't mean that the other guy won't get in there, but right now, I'm not going to break up what we're doing."

More after the jump.

Orlando Magic forward Matt Barnes fires back at the Los Angeles Lakers’ Lamar Odom in response to continued trash talk from Odom
Apparently, Matt Barnes has had enough with Lamar Odom.

Orlando Magic forward Matt Barnes has a message for the Los Angeles Lakers' Lamar Odom: Take this dirty diaper and be quiet.

Irked by Odom's continued trash talk, Barnes posted a message on Twitter on Wednesday in which Barnes said he might need to take one of his twin sons' dirty diapers and stick it into Odom's mouth. [...]

"He just won't leave it alone," Barnes said. "The game is over with. The game was on Sunday. It was one game, you know what I mean? And they act like the world's going to end. I've taken the high road the whole time. I've never disrespected no one on their team. I gave them all their due they need and they've earned. He just won't shut up. I was just in a funny mood this morning."
Even Chicago Bulls coach admits team in deep trouble
K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune explains why head coach Vinny Del Negro isn't too optimistic about the Chicago Bulls' chances of winning games.

That injury situation worsened Wednesday with the news that an MRI revealed Luol Deng suffered a Grade 1 or 2 strain of his right calf muscle, Brad Miller hurt his left thumb and Taj Gibson may miss Thursday's game in Orlando with plantar fasciitis.

Though Deng will accompany the Bulls on their two-game trip to Florida — they play in Miami Friday — Del Negro said Deng "is going to be out for a bit" and it's unlikely he will play in either game.

That means rookie James Johnson could start. If Gibson can't go, Hakim Warrick should start. And if Miller can't go, um, well, then what?

"We might have to bring (player development coaches Lindsey Hunter and Randy Brown) out of retirement," Del Negro cracked. "Maybe we'll play small tomorrow — real small. But it's hard to do that when you have that guy in the middle down in Orlando."

That would be All-Star center Dwight Howard, a matchup nightmare even for fully healthy teams.
Bulls mailbag for March 10, 2010
Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago answers some questions, like this one:

Victor (Monroe, La.)

Do you think the Bulls will make the playoffs this year?

I've gotten this question a lot over the last week. If you had asked me two weeks ago, the answer was easy: Yes. Now, there is a lot more doubt. I think it boils down to this -- if Noah can come back soon and play somewhat like he did earlier in the year, then yes. If he can't (which is the most likely scenario) then no.
Chicago Bulls' Luol Deng, Brad Miller and Taj Gibson miss practice
More on the Bulls' injury woes.

Orlando Magic News for March 10th: Looking Ahead to Free Agency and the Draft

2010-03-11T01:00:32Z

More photos » Jason Redmond - AP

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Stats Trump Winning in Clipperland
Tim Povtak of NBA FanHouse reports that the Orlando Magic may be interested in signing point guard Steve Blake this summer as a free agent. What's more certain is that Drew Gooden, Blake's L.A. Clippers teammate and fellow free-agent-to-be, wants to sign with Orlando this summer, having played there for one-plus seasons early in his career.

"I would love to come back and play in Orlando. I wanted to come back last summer,'' Gooden said. "But we'll just have to see what happens. This is a business, and nothing is guaranteed.''

Povtak says the Magic were interested in Gooden last summer but ultimately decided to sign Brandon Bass instead.
Magic are better than last year, yes
Brian Schmitz has another personnel note, writing that we should "look for the Magic to take a point guard in the draft," and that they might be willing to trade up.

JJ Redick Q + A
Randy Zellea of SLAM chats with J.J. Redick. Here's Redick on finding his niche in the NBA:

I think there is 420-450 jobs available and there is probably twice that many players who can play in the NBA. So the guys who stick with it find good situations and really work. There are guys Like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwight Howard that are naturally unbelievable. But for a lot of guys, you have to set yourself apart by your work ethic and what you can contribute.
NBA TV analyst Kevin McHale discusses Magic forward Matt Barnes' defense on Bryant on Sunday:

"I love seeing a guy with the grapes to walk up to a guy and say 'bring your best game.' I like when people say they are going to stop Kobe. No one is going to stop Kobe. But do you make him take a lot of shots? I like the fact that Matt Barnes didn’t back up one inch and that he stood nose to nose with him. Kobe is not backing up either because he is a competitor. I like that; I think that is great for the league. I wish there was more of that."
J.J. Redick, 'mathematicsized
Trey Kirby breaks down Redick's looks.
Orlando Magic notebook
Josh Robbins has Gooden's thoughts on Amway Arena:

"Out of all the arenas, I could close my eyes and walk in here and just smell and tell you that I'm in Orlando, because this arena has a certain type of atmosphere to it and a certain type of aroma," Gooden said.
Dwight Howard Impossible to Gameplan For
UPDATE 1 (from Eddy): Zachariah Blott of Empty the Bench writes one of the best articles I've ever read about Dwight Howard. You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't give this write-up your attention. Please do so.

Rare is the player who opposing coaches have to consider and plan around because of both parts of their game. Dwight Howard pops out as the most complete WTF-do-we-do-about-that-guy player in the league. Not only is he far and away the most intimidating defender, altering and discouraging just about everything inside of 15 feet, his capabilities define how the Magic’s offensive scheme works to a degree that only Steve Nash’s relation to the Suns’ fast break can compare.
Alston Explains Unexplained Exit From Heat
UPDATE 2 (from Eddy): Joanne C. Gerstner of Off the Dribble shares some disheartening news from former Magic player Rafer Alston.

Alston, recently relegated to the end of the bench because of ice-cold shooting, left the team last Friday without giving the front office an explanation. The team suspended him Sunday, after he was a no-show and cut off communications according to The Miami Herald.

Alston told ESPN Tuesday that his exit was prompted by his twin sister, Racine, attempting suicide. And he doesn’t know when – or if – he will return to basketball.

Practice Report: Stan Van Gundy on Dwight Howard's Defense and on Statistics; Marcin Gortat on the Playoffs

2010-03-10T21:15:17Z

More photos » John Raoux - AP

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There’s one NBA head coach who thinks Dwight Howard deserves to be the Defensive Player of the Year and that’s, unsurprisingly, Stan Van Gundy. Effusive in his praise after practice was over for the Orlando Magic earlier this afternoon, Van Gundy detailed why he thought Howard makes the biggest impact on defense out of any player in the league. Even Marcin Gortat got into the spirit of praising Howard but for a different reason and it had nothing to do with defensive skills. What did he say?

That’s what we call a teaser in journalism.

I was able to speak with Van Gundy amongst the media, as well as Gortat.

Here’s what they had to say:

Stan Van Gundy:

Could you provide your thoughts on the Chicago Bulls after the trade, in which they let John Salmons and others go?

Well, I don’t really know. I mean, in terms of … they’re still playing and starting the guys they started before [the trade]. Flip Murray has sort of taken Salmons’ role, who was a guy coming off the bench scoring, so other than [Joakim] Noah being out with the injury, I don’t think they’re a whole lot different than they were before but I do think the things that have happened is that they’ve had Noah out with injury and then they traded Tyrus Thomas and so their frontline depth is less right now.

With Vince Carter and this time of the year, do you think he’s found a happy medium in the offense at this point?

I think he’s playing very, very well. He’s been very efficient since the first of February and his shooting percentages are very, very high, both from the floor and from three. He’s making great decisions with the ball. I think he’s been fantastic.

More after the jump.

I wanted to get your thoughts on the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. In one of the panel discussions, Brent Barry was quoted as saying that "the old guard is holding back the statistical revolution in the NBA." What do you think of that?

Well, I don’t know if I agree with it or not. I actually think there are … it’s like anything. I think that there are some people that really do use the numbers. I think [general manager] Daryl Morey in Houston is a guy who really relies on a lot of that stuff. I think there are some guys that don’t think it’s worth a darn at all and then there’s a lot of people in between who want to see the numbers but don’t think they’re the whole picture, either, so I think there’s all across the spectrum. I don’t think anybody is holding it back, I just think … people have sort of built their own habits and the way they look at the game and if you haven’t come up with a real appreciation of the numbers and you’ve done it your way and you’ve had success, then you will continue to do that.

Defensively, some people stated that only 20% of the box score accounts for defense.

I don’t even know if any of it accounts for defense. Blocked shots, steals, but to me … see, everybody also got different philosophies so like steals to me or how many turnovers you forced or things like that are not something we’re trying to do anyway so I’m not interested in that. I’m looking at other things and there are things not in the box score that are a lot more important to me than what’s in the box score. There’s all kinds of numbers out there now and you can get whatever information it is that you think is valuable. One of the things I try to look at all the time is I want to see all those numbers, I’m talking about team numbers, how they correlate to winning, so I’m looking at stats. If I look at the top ten offensive rebounding teams in the league, eight of them aren’t in the playoffs, then that’s one of the things I want to know. That’s not a stat you can be all jacked up that you have a great offensive rebounding team but that doesn’t tend to be a stat that correlates to winning games and that’s my big use in numbers is. I want to find out, across the league, like what works? What things, if you do them, give you a lot better chance of winning and I think that’s what’s important.

With the box score, you talked about defense possibly being under-represented, given that Dwight Howard is a great defensive player. Do you think perception of him is lessened a little bit because people don’t look at the numbers?

I think the hard thing with defense is, even more so than offense, the story is just not told by the numbers. You get the blocked shots but you really don’t see … I look and see going into last night, we were #1 in the league in field goal percentage defense and there’s no question that it’s a team effort but the biggest factor, by far, is Dwight is really there to protect the basket. Even his ability to defend his own guy in the post and then to be able to defend pick and rolls, he’s just such a key part of every part of our defense and he really doesn’t have a defensive weakness. Maybe a little bit, at times, some fouls that are needless but you have to really nitpick to find weaknesses defensively and I think he’s just gradually gotten better, in terms of being more and more consistent with his effort and energy on the defensive end of the floor. I don’t think that there’s anybody in the league, that I’ve seen, that approaches his impact on a team defensively the way he has. I think he makes the biggest impact defensively of anybody in the league and I think he should be, barring some major change over the last 17 games here, in my opinion he should be the Defensive Player of the Year. Hopefully pretty easily.

Do you think he is the complete package, defensively?

Yes, plus he’s just extremely intelligent. I mean, he can pick up on what’s going on the floor ahead of the play. You can make adjustments with him. He’s got all the physical abilities, the quickness, the jumping, he’s strong. He’s come to where he can really move his feet. He’s gotten to where he plays at a more consistent intensity level and then there’s not many people in the league smarter than he is, so mentally and physically he’s the complete package.

Marcin Gortat:

It’s almost playoff time and you guys are gearing up for that, do you think there’s a more sense of urgency with the team in terms of the focus and everything else?

Yeah, I think it’s the 64th of 65th game right now. We’re starting to get this feeling of the playoffs already. I think the team finally plays the way everybody wants us to play and I got to tell you, we look really good. We feel strong, we feel powerful, we got guys who are coming off the bench doing their job and definitely feel like … our rhythm, everybody understands what to do and we’re ready.

In the times that you play with Dwight, what are some the things that you’ve tried to do to best compliment your skills alongside his?

Well, they just tell me that most of the time I got more energy than Dwight. When I’m getting on the floor, I’m trying to run more pick and rolls, the ball is moving a little better. Dwight is obviously trying to play in the inside more and he’s dominating inside a lot but I’m just trying to put as much energy, give the team different looks and then like I said, I’m just trying to catch the rebounds, play defense, block a couple shots, and trust me, I got more pleasure from stopping Rasheed Wallace or KG [Kevin Garnett] or Shaq [Shaquille O'Neal] than scoring 20 points in a game.

I know you got a good camaraderie with Dwight on and off the court and I know when you guys make a big play, whether it’s you with a dunk or him with a dunk and all that stuff, you guys are standing and cheering for each other. What were you thinking when Dwight got the basketball last night and led the fast break?

*laughs*

We’ve been laughing at Dwight because he said … one day he said, I think it was last year, he said that back in high school he was a left-handed point guard and obviously everybody started laughing in the locker room but I mean, the last … this year, like four or five situations where he was dribbling the ball coast-to-coast with the left hand and making plays. I mean, I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence or if he was really right so every time when he’s doing that, I’m standing up and screaming all over the place, ‘he was a left-handed point guard in high school! Everybody knows that!’ Then everybody just starts laughing at me and at Dwight so it’s fun. Especially when you’re winning by 30 points and it’s not like Dwight is 7’5’’ and he’s dribbling the ball. He’s killing big men. He’s one of the best big men in the world. He can dribble the ball and if there’s nobody who’s pressuring him, he can dribble the ball coast-to-coast not a big deal so once in a while, he can do that in my opinion.

Will you try that sometime?

I will. If there’s the opportunity, I will.

T-Mobile Trivia Firedrill: Win Tickets to See the Orlando Magic and the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday

2010-03-10T17:00:30Z

This post is sponsored by T-Mobile.

It's time to give away a few more tickets to an Orlando Magic home game, courtesy of T-Mobile. At stake tonight? Tickets to see the Magic host the Charlotte Bobcats this Sunday, March 14th. Ordinarily, we conduct our giveaways with much more notice, but due to some extenuating circumstances that won't be the case. Please pay special attention to the rules, which follow the jump. But first, today's question.

Which team will grab the first rebound of the second quarter when the Magic play the Bulls tomorrow?

And now the rules:

In each installment of the T-Mobile Trivia Challenge, we'll ask a question relating to a forthcoming Magic game and give you the chance to win tickets to a different Magic home game with a correct response.
If there is a tiebreaker question, you must answer it as well. I will disqualify all entries that do not address both questions.
We have four tickets to give away, but don't want the winners to have to go on their lonesome. Thus, two winners with the correct response will each receive two tickets to the game, which will allow them to bring a guest. I do not know the exact location of these seats, but I've been assured they are pretty good. The photo at the top of this post, courtesy of former winner GoMagicGo, shows the view from them.
Respond to the question(s) in the comments section of this post, preferably without any ornamentation or additional text. Do not comment more than once, because a) that's unfair and b) I'll disqualify you. At the end of the comment period, I will close the comments section and our ticket coordinator will pick the winners at random by drawing two numbers.
We ask that only people who are able to attend the game enter their responses.

You have from now until tomorrow's tipoff--that's 8:00 PM on Thursday, March 11th--to post your response. I'll close the comments at that time. We'll announce the winners on Friday. Either I or our ticket coordinator will contact the winners via email with further instructions on how to obtain the tickets.

Please bear everything written above in mind before submitting your answer.

Again, you have until Thursday's tipoff to submit your answer. My apologies for the very, very short notice. Have fun.

Announcing the Winners of Our 12th T-Mobile Trivia Challenge

2010-03-10T13:00:34Z

This post is sponsored by T-Mobile.

It's time now to announce the winners of our latest T-Mobile Trivia Challenge. The two winners will each receive two tickets to the Orlando Magic's game against the Chicago Bulls tomorrow night.

Everyone who responded correctly to the trivia question had his or her name entered into a random drawing. Here's the question we asked:

Will Jameer Nelson tally more than 6.5 assists in the Magic's game against the L.A. Clippers tonight?

At the 9:48 mark of the third quarter, Matt Barnes drilled a three-pointer from the right corner for Nelson's 7th assist, pushing him over the threshold. He finished with 8 assists. Our winners are snyde and Tim333. Congratulations. We've already gotten in touch with them, but thought we'd share the good news with the community.

Keep reading OPP for your next chance to win Magic tickets.

Orlando Magic 113, Los Angeles Clippers 87

2010-03-10T07:26:31Z

More photos » Fernando Medina - NBAE via Getty Images

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Coming off one of its biggest wins of the season against the Los Angeles Lakers, if there was a storyline to look at before last night’s game, it was this … how would the Orlando Magic perform versus the Los Angeles Clippers? There is an inclination, at times, for teams in the NBA to have a letdown after a victory against a marquee opponent. But head coach Stan Van Gundy made an excellent point before the game when asked if the Magic were in for a trap against the Clippers. Van Gundy’s answer, more or less, was no because Orlando has shown the ability to win games this season in convincing fashion after coming off huge victories versus teams like the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and others.

Yesterday was no different, as the Magic out-classed the Clippers by the score of 113-87. Orlando had a 10 point lead in the first quarter against Los Angeles and never looked back. Balance was the name of the game for the Magic, as six players scored in double-figures. Dwight Howard led the way for Orlando with 22 points (9-12 FG, 4-4 FT), 15 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Oh, and Howard had one dazzling assist on a fast break that sent the sell-out crowd at the Amway Arena into a frenzy. Jameer Nelson, who has been playing at a different level since the All-Star break, continued his sterling play with 17 points (6-13 FG, 3-6 3PT), 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 0 turnovers. The Clippers were led by Baron Davis, who had 16 points (7-15 FG, 2-4 3PT), 9 assists, and 4 rebounds. And general manager Mike Dunleavy Sr. was fired, to boot.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Clippers	91	95.6	47.7%	5.8	20.5	14.3
Magic	91	123.5	54.9%	13.0	23.3	8.7
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

Honestly, this game could be summed up in one sentence.

The better team won.

Orlando came away with the victory, partly because it has better players than Los Angeles, but more so because the team executed nearly flawlessly the entire game. Especially on offense. Whenever the Magic ran 4-out/1-in offensive sets for Howard, the Clippers elected to double-team him in the post, and usually he either passed the basketball to the open man or scored. Whenever the Magic dribble penetrated, the Clippers’ interior defense was forced to collapse, and that opened things up around the perimeter for spot-up shooters like J.J. Redick to knock down some jumpshots. Whenever the Magic executed pick and rolls, sometimes the Clippers would do a horrendous job of defending it and its players would be scrambling for position, only to be too late – more often than not – in their rotations, switches, etc. For example, in the second quarter, Vince Carter ran a 2/4 pick and roll and Brandon Bass made the mid-range jumper. On the very next possession for Orlando, Carter made a three-pointer with no one near him after he ran another 2/4 pick and roll with Bass and his defender, Steve Novak, inexplicably left him alone. It was one of those nights for Los Angeles.

In contrast, the Magic’s team defense was excellent.

Howard, in particular, should be praised for not committing a single foul but the Clippers should be ashamed they let such a thing happen. Howard accomplished the same feat against the Golden State Warriors last week but that’s a team that doesn’t have a low-post presence like Chris Kaman. Los Angeles does, yet he was a minimal threat to Orlando. Instead, the Clippers didn’t attack the basket a lot, settled for jumpers, and the results weren’t good aside from the three-point shooting. Before the game, Van Gundy told me that Orlando needed to do several things on the defensive side of the ball to beat Los Angeles: defend the post-ups, defend the pick and rolls, keep the basketball out of the paint, and limit the three-point shot.

Check, check, check, and … well, three out of four isn’t bad, even though Van Gundy noted that limiting threes has been the Magic's one weakness on defense this year.

Still, Orlando is hitting its stride and doing so at an opportune time. The playoffs would be the perfect time to see this type of basketball from the team but nevertheless, the players on the Magic are gaining confidence as the sense of urgency grows and the postseason looms closer.

Kudos to Bass, by the way, who arguably played one of his best games in an Orlando uniform and is looking better on defense. Bass still has some kinks he needs to work on and he’s still adjusting to playing defense the majority of the time at power forward instead of at center, but he’s looking better on that end of the floor.

Post-Game Media Availability: A Mature Approach

2010-03-10T04:23:21Z

More photos » John Raoux - AP

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The Orlando Magic extended its winning streak to six games after a victory against the Los Angeles Clippers. For head coach Stan Van Gundy, he praised his players for taking a mature approach to the game after a big win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. Instead of having a letdown, the Magic defeated the Clippers with relative ease.

I was able to speak with Van Gundy amongst the media, as well as Rashard Lewis, Brandon Bass one-on-one, and Dwight Howard.

Here’s what they had to say:

Stan Van Gundy:

With Brandon Bass, what was the one thing you liked most from him in tonight's game?

I thought his energy was good. That’s what we need, more than anything, is for him to come in and play with great energy and give us a boost there and I thought he did that. We know he can score and we know that he can put the ball in the basket. Again, I’m a broken record on this. It’s a matter, with he and Ryan [Anderson], better defensive rotations, better rebounding the ball, and giving us that energy.

More after the jump.

Rashard Lewis:

Would you say that games like these are beneficial, in terms of getting a little extra rest?

Yeah, it helps to get rest, especially with the starters. We’ve been going on a lot of minutes this year. We're trying to get some of the guys on the bench a little more experience because when the playoffs come, we’re going to need everybody on the bench.

A few times, it seemed like Drew Gooden was losing track of you a little bit when you were shooting threes in the corner. Given the position you play …

Yeah, I mean, we spread the floor. We have Dwight [Howard] down low. Our job is to spread the floor and knock down threes and try to get him one-on-one match-ups because he’s so dominant.

Brandon Bass:

With the amount of consistent playing time you’ve been getting lately, how has that been able to help you out?

I mean, it’s a process for me just to get comfortable with the team and everything but I just really want to be out there. I’m just going to bring a whole lot of energy and a whole lot of effort on both ends of the floor.

With the playoffs coming up, are there any specific things that you, or perhaps the team, are really focusing on at this time of the year?

Just continue to get better in every aspect of the game. We could use help in every aspect but to me, the team is just showing a lot … it’s just smooth. I understand what coach [Stan Van Gundy] was talking about earlier in the season and we’re getting better at it. Hopefully we just continue to grow.

Dwight Howard:

With the playoffs coming up soon, are these type of games beneficial for you guys in terms of getting extra rest?

Well, with the playoffs coming up, we just want to make sure that we get ourselves prepared by challenging ourselves every night to get better and that’s what we did tonight coming off a big win against the [Los Angeles] Lakers. Our team could have very easily came in tonight and not focus on the right things, but we came out tonight, we was ready to go from the jump, and we got the win.

At this time of the year and with you guys playing the Chicago Bulls on Thursday, do you see that as a possible playoff matchup? Do you start to think about that?

I couldn’t tell you our record. I couldn’t tell you where we stand. I just know at the end of the year, we want to be holding up the [Larry O’Brien] trophy. That’s the only thing that matters.

Today, it’s Adonal Foyle’s birthday. What type of impact has he made in your career?

I think Adonal is just another mentor. He’s just been telling me night in and night out, ‘Dwight, I know you got this in your game, work on it tonight. Work on doing it tonight.’ He’s always been like a person telling me, ‘Dwight, you can do more. You can do better. I like what you’re doing out there.’ And then at the same time, he’s able to come back and tell me, ‘Dwight, I need you to be more mature. We need you to take a greater leadership role with the team.’ He’s done an excellent job with that. I think after the talk we had as a team and after the talk he and I had in January, as a team and for myself individually, we’ve gotten a lot better.

Does he talk to you in games?

He does. During games, he tells me what he sees on the floor. He tells me ways to attack. The biggest thing that guys always tell me, the coaching staff, Adonal, ‘just be patient.’ Have patience on the court. If you don’t get the shots you want, you just have to be patient.

What’s the first word you think of when you think of Matt Barnes?

Tenacious.

Tonight's Orlando Magic Game: vs. Los Angeles Clippers

2010-03-09T22:00:27Z

Two days after escaping the L.A. Lakers' late rally at Amway Arena, the Orlando Magic will host the Clippers, L.A.'s other team, and look to extend their win streak to six games. The Magic beat the Clippers in L.A. earlier this season, but that came with both teams using much different rotations. The Magic didn't have Jameer Nelson available at point guard, so Jason Williams started and Anthony Johnson came off the bench. Also, Matt Barnes had yet to wrest the starting small forward gig from Mickael Pietrus. L.A. still employed Marcus Camby, Al Thornton, and Sebastian Telfair, whom they've since shipped out for Drew Gooden, Travis Outlaw, and Steve Blake. They also relieved Mike Dunleavy of his coaching duties, though he's still their GM, and replaced him on the sidelines with Kim Hughes. Another thing that's changed is the Clippers' fortune: prior to playing the Magic in December, they had a decent record at 9-11. But mediocre play since then, culminating in a 6-game slide in mid-February, has ended their playoff hopes. To compound that misfortune, they've lost 25 games by double-digits, tied with Indiana for the league's third-highest total. Thus, their point differential indicates they're worse than their record indicates. Their record stands at 25-38, but their differential suggests they should be 20-43, which would place them ahead of only Minnesota and New Jersey. Yikes.

2009/2010 NBA Season
	@
25-38 (7-24 road) Lost 3		44-20 (25-6 home) Won 5
March 9th, 2010
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Fox Sports Florida
Probable Starters
Steve Blake	PG	Jameer Nelson
Rasual Butler	SG	Vince Carter
Travis Outlaw	SF	Matt Barnes
Drew Gooden	PF	Rashard Lewis
Chris Kaman	C	Dwight Howard
Previous Meetings
December 8th: Magic 97, Clippers 86
Advanced Stats
92.4 (19th)	Pace	92.6 (15th)
103.4 (26th)	ORtg	109.4 (9th)
108.9 (18th)	DRtg	102.9 (4th)
Game Officials
Derrick Stafford
Kevin Fehr
Leon Wood

I always caution against taking any team too lightly, and with the Clippers that's no different. Baron Davis is still an unrivaled chucker, launching 4 three-pointers per game at 27.9%, sure, but his size and post-up skills make him a tough cover for Nelson. Eric Gordon might not play due to a sore leg, but he's a tremendous talent as well, scoring 17.2 points per game on 58.2% True Shooting at age 21. Rasual Butler shot 34-of-75 on three-pointers last month. And the trio of Chris Kaman, Gooden, and Craig Smith can score inside fairly efficiently.

Against Dwight Howard, though? The Clippers--although with different personnel, as I noted above--shot just 15-of-31 at the rim against the Magic last time out, due largely to Howard's presence and, uh, 7 blocked shots. As Steve Perrin writes, Kaman actually hasn't had a bad game against Howard in his career, but he hasn't exactly been great, either. If Kaman and Gooden can hold their own in the post, and if they do a reasonable job crashing the offensive boards--Gooden's the league's 11th-best offensive rebounder--L.A. stands a chance tonight. I really believe that, especially if the Magic continue to misfire on their three-pointers. Discounting their absurd 15-of-23 performance against Philadelphia last week, Orlando has connected on just 33% of its treys in its winning streak.

Tip's at 7. Eddy'll be at The Am to cover the whole thing.

Pre-Game Media Availability with Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy

2010-03-09T22:59:07Z

More photos » Steve Yeater - AP

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Before the Orlando Magic face off against the Los Angeles Clippers tonight, I was able to speak briefly with head coach Stan Van Gundy amongst the media.

Here's what he had to say:

What type of challenges do you anticipate the Los Angeles Clippers giving your team in tonight's game?

Well, I mean, first of all they've made a dramatic turnaround. I mean, through the first 52 games of the year until they made the trade, they didn't shoot many threes, didn't make many threes, and they didn't shoot them very well. I mean, they were one of the worst shooting teams in the league and then all of a sudden, changing philosophy maybe coaching-wise, plus the addition of [Travis] Outlaw and [Steve] Blake in the trade, [Al] Thornton - who didn't shoot many threes - going out, they've now over the last 11 games been one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league.

They've gone from making under five a game to making eight and a half a game, which would put them third or fourth in the league if it were over the course of a year. They've gone from shooting 31% from three to 38% from three so they've really added a huge element of three-point shooting to a great low-post game, which is also been improved, so they've added a low post guy ... [Chris] Kaman is already there, and now they've added [Drew] Gooden who you have to come down on, and now they've added more shooting, Blake in place of [Sebastian] Telfair, Outlaw getting minutes in place of Thornton, so offensively they're a much, much better team than they were before the trade so we've got to do a good job on their post-ups, we've got to do a good job on obviously Baron [Davis'] pick and rolls, and try to keep the ball out of the paint but then the element that's been added is you go to do all that and then you have to be able to close and limit their three-point shots, which has obviously been a big problem for us over the course of a year. The only real, on a consistent basis, bad part of our defense.

You've been adding some plays to your offense recently, like the pick and roll with Jameer Nelson and Vince Carter. Do you anticipate adding any more plays before the playoffs start?

Yeah, you always add stuff and we'll continue to add. Quite honestly, most of what you put in doesn't work and so you add it, then you get rid of it. You just keep trying to find stuff that might actually help you a little bit so some of what I've put in, I like, and then other stuff I'll see it a couple of times, I don't like it, and I'll put in something else.