Marcin Gortat dunks down 2 of his career-high 12 points in the Orlando Magic's 103-83 win over the Washington Wizards.
Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

The regular-season finale was everything it was cracked-up to be.

Washington benched its stars, and I get the sense the only reason DeShawn Stevenson played was to keep his consecutive games played streak alive. Meanwhile, we rested our best players: Dwight Howard didn't play after the first quarter; Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu didn't play after halftime; and Jameer Nelson didn't play at all due to a sore thumb. The result?

18 points for J.J. Redick. 12 points and 11 boards for Marcin Gortat. 8 points and 5 rebounds for James Augustine. A 20-point victory. A 52-win season.

An unmitigated success.

If anything else, this game showed two things: first, that J.J. can shoot his way out of a funk, something I wasn't sure he could do. His final total of 18 points on 14 shots isn't all that impressive, sure, but he made 7 of his last 9 shots after missing his first 5. That's a good sign. But even more encouraging is the hustle and skill Marcin Gortat displayed. The Polish rookie had 5 offensive boards, and although he missed plenty of the gimme put-backs, he showed that he might belong in the rotation someday, perhaps even as a 5-to-8 minute player next season when Howard and Adonal Foyle both need breathers.

For more on the game, check out Truth About It's liveblog over at Bullets Forever; The Orlando Sentinel's recap; and PopcornMachine's GameFlow.

Now? It's playoff time. Bring on the Raptors.

	vs.
51-30		43-38
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Antonio Daniels
Maurice Evans	SG	D. Stevenson
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Darius Songaila
Rashard Lewis	PF	Antawn Jamison
Dwight Howard	C	Brendan Haywood
Season series:
3 Nov 2007: Magic 94, Wizards 82
5 Mar 2008: Magic 112, Wizards 92
19 Mar 2008: Wizards 87, Magic 86

Neither team has anything to play for except pride. I don't expect to see too much of Dwight, Hedo, or Rashard tonight. Granted, Stan Van Gundy said after the game last night that he always prefers to be on the winning side of the scoreboard, but I don't think he'll mind losing tonight, if that is indeed the result.

Hopefully, the inconsequentiality of this game will result in PLENTY of minutes for J.J. Redick, James Augustine, and Marcin Gortat. Yes, the fans pay to see the Big Guys, but the end-of-the-bench players are easy to root for, too. Especially J.J. Let me go ahead and start the chant:

J!-J!-RED!-ICK! clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.

J!-J!-RED!-ICK! clap, clap, clap-clap-clap.

Check out SB Nation's Wizards blog, Bullets Forever, for their P.O.V. and to get another look at the SBN 2.0 platform. We make the switch this Friday.

Tip's at 7 on Sun Sports. If you're going to the game, give the guys a huge ovation. And say hi to the guy in the lower bowl who always wears a Brian Cook jersey.

Go Magic.

Maurice Evans shoots against in the Magic's 121-105 win over the Hawks on Tuesday night. Evans scored a career-high 27 points to help the Magic win for their first win it Atlanta in their past six visits.
Photo by Gregory Smith, the Associated Press

From my preview of this game yesterday...

So yes indeed, our guys need to have their focus at the foul-line tonight if they hope to earn their 51st victory of the season. They'll also have to find some way to stop Joe Johnson, whose scoring output has increased (24, 27, 34) in each game against the Magic. Maurice Evans and Keith Bogans have their work cut out for them.

So, how'd that work out? We shot 72% from the foul line and held Joe Johnson to 10 points, only 2 in the second half. Maurice Evans nearly tripled Johnson's output, with a career-high 27 points, and 15 in the third quarter alone, helping the Magic turn a four-point halftime deficit into a 9-point advantage after three periods. Kudos also to Jameer Nelson, who scored 7 of his 14 points in the period.

We needed Evans' hot shooting tonight. Dwight Howard couldn't get anything going offensively, and didn't seem too engaged in the action. He finished with 13 rebounds, but easily could have snagged 3 more had he not simply given up on them. He also seemed frustrated that the Hawks were allowed to hack him with impunity. That's fine, though. The officials let him get away with some, uh, extracurricular contact also.

It really is hard to complain about this win. The Hawks used a 14-1 run at the start of the second quarter to take control of the game, and at halftime it looked as though we were headed toward our 31st loss of the season. Fortunately, our starters were motivated in the third quarter, asserted themselves, and retook the lead. As a result, Stan Van Gundy was able to empty the bench in the fourth quarter: J.J. Redick scored 11 points on 6 shots and Keyon Dooling dished 7 assists in the period, finishing with 9 on the game. The only non-rotation player not to see action in the fourth was James Augustine, who didn't make the most of his four first-half minutes. Pat Garrity got the call instead.

Be sure to check out Brian Schmitz's recap at the Orlando Sentinel, which sheds some light on the Magic's free-agent preferences this summer. You might be surprised by what team president Bob Vander Weide thinks about Jameer Nelson.

So the Magic won and managed to rest their starters. SUCCESS. Let's see if they can do the same in the season finale against Washington this evening.

Quick notes on this stiflingly humid Friday.:

• Monday,  a panel of FanHouse writers named Hedo Turkoglu the NBA's Most Improved Player. Now, Ball Don't Lie has a poll which lets its readers decide who should win. Hedo leads the field by a wide margin, with 44% of the vote. Andrew Bynum, who would probably be the front-runner if he hadn't busted his knee, holds second place in the poll with 25%. Anyway, uh, vote Hedo!
• The Blowtorch looks at the Magic's weakest link: their back-up big men:

  Here is a list of bench players 6'9" and over that have played in games for the Magic this year:

  Brian Cook
  

  Pat Garrity
  
  Adonal Foyle
  
  James Augustine
  
  Marcin Gortat
  
  Bo Outlaw

  I'm serious. Bo Outlaw played in a real NBA game for a real NBA team this season. I don't think he's actually on the roster right now, but that's ridiculous.

• Speaking of backups, the Orlando Sentinel confirms that Brian Cook will probably miss at least the first round of the playoffs due to his broken hand.
• Dwight Howard and Chris Paul share the spotlight in this split-screen NBA Playoffs commercial. For the love of Seikaly, please let the Hornets and the Magic play each other in the Finals sometime soon. (Thanks, HP).
• Last week, SLAM gave a sneak peek of the cover to its latest issue, which features Dwight Howard. It's on sale now, and the magazine's website has a behind-the-scenes look at how the photographers made Dwight fly. And if you need any more incentive to get this issue (cop this ish? I have no idea), it also profiles D-League star Rod Benson. BOOM THO.

	vs.
49-29		19-59
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Randy Foye
Maurice Evans	SG	Marko Jaric
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Kirk Snyder
Rashard Lewis	PF	Ryan Gomes
Dwight Howard	C	Al Jefferson
Season series:
6 Nov 2007: Magic 111, Timberwolves 103

We should have no trouble with Minnesota at all. The Timberwolves are a decent rebounding team (12th in offensive rebound rate, 15th in defensive rebound rate), but don't do anything else well. They have Al Jefferson, who'd be an All-Star if he played for a team anywhere close to .500. He's one of only four players in the league this year averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds; Dwight Howard, Antawn Jamison, and Carlos Boozer are the others.

Jefferson is a poor defender, though. In an improbable victory over the Suns earlier this year, Jefferson scored 39 points, but allowed Amare Stoudemire to score 33.... on 14-of-16 from the field. Dwight Howard will destroy Jefferson tonight, provided that his teammates do a good enough job of getting him the ball.

They also have free-agent-to-be Ryan Gomes, who can play either forward position and is a solid "glue guy," the kind of role-player I'd like to see us sign this summer. But he told Hoopsworld he wants to stay in Minnesota. What a shame.

I get a feeling like we'll get to see plenty of J.J. Redick, Carlos Arroyo, Pat Garrity, and James Augustine tonight. It's our last game against a Western team, so if there's ever a time to rest the starters, it's tonight.

Go Magic. Get that 50th win, and we can all celebrate with free Dunkin' Donuts Saturday morning.

Dwight Howard must not like power forwards.

Less than a year after Tony Battie's season ended when his rotator cuff tore while trying to defend Howard, Brian Cook is also sidelined no thanks to Dwight. Both Brian Schmitz and John Denton report that a bone in Cook's right hand broke when Dwight Howard hit it during this morning's practice.

We need Cook and his three-point shooting to space the floor for the second unit -- the Magic are 10-1 when Cook hits two or more triples -- so losing him for the season weakens our already sub-par bench. This injury means more minutes for Pat Garrity and his 2.1 PER, which does not bode well for us. It also means we have extra incentive to bring Battie back before the season ends, as the team can't depend on youngsters James Augustine and Marcin Gortat in the playoffs.

It's not time to panic just yet, but it can't be good when a team worries it might not succeed without Brian Cook and his 5 points per game.

On the bright side, Jameer Nelson is expected to start tomorrow against New Orleans. Nice to know he's doing better.

A few Sunday links...

• Don't forget to register your thoughts regarding the Magic's rumored uniform change. Scroll down on the main page or click here to get to the discussion thread.
• The Magic aren't exactly sure whether they'll face Philadelphia, Toronto, or Washington in the first round of the playoffs, so they're having to prepare for every possible matchup, writes Tim Povtak:

  Not only are they [the coaching staff] still watching film on each of the upcoming regular-season opponents, they will spend the weekend watching video of Washington, Toronto and Philadelphia games, looking to see what works and what doesn't work against each team.

• I'm way too late in linking to this post, but here it is: Hornets247 has Round 9 of the Blogger MVP/ROY rankings. There's a tie at the top of the MVP rankings! Madness!
• A few days ago, Matt from Hardwood Paroxysm posted the transcript of his interview with Dan Reed, the President of the D-League. Check it out. I wish the Magic used the D-League better than they do; they sent J.J. Redick and James Augustine down on separate occasions last year, and sent Marcin Gortat down once this year, but overall they don't seem too keen on developing their players there.
• The blog Triviality of Basketball got an exclusive interview with Adonal Foyle. The Magic's backup center discusses his favorite arenas to visit, how he defends Dwight Howard in practice, his love for poetry, and his post-basketball career plans. Cool stuff.

It just wouldn't be Latin Night at the Amway Arena if Carlos Arroyo weren't launching off-balance jumpers. Despite what this photo may indicate, Arroyo played under control, and the Magic walloped the Knicks, 118-92.
Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

Yes, it was as big a laugher as the boxscore indicates it was, and I'm not sure there's much more you need to know. The Knicks -- Jamal Crawford in particular -- came out en fuego, but cooled off late in the first half. Once Eddy Curry went to the bench with his third foul, we took over, as the Knicks had no one who could contain Dwight Howard. Zach Randolph, the Knicks' other big-man, missed the game with a sore foot, forcing coach Isiah Thomas to use 6'8" David lee and 6'6" Malik Rose on the Magic's star center. From that point, we went on a 23-7 run to close out the first half, and the Knicks never seriously contested for the rest of the game.

Because of injuries to Jameer Nelson and Keyon Dooling (John Denton has the scoop), center James Augustine and forward Marcin Gortat were available tonight. And, no the delight of many Magic fans, they got to play, as did Pat Garrity and J.J. Redick. Gortat made his NBA debut, scoring the first basket of his NBA career on a pretty reverse layup. You can watch the video of the play, graciously captured by NCYMagicFan, by clicking here. Tony Battie's celebratory dance on the Magic bench is priceless.

We're once again 15 games over .500 and, more importantly, we took care of business on our home floor. We also saw great performances by everyone, but there were a few exceptional ones that I should mention: Dwight Howard had 26 points and 20 rebounds for his seventh 20/20 game of the season; Hedo Turkoglu finished just two rebounds shy of a triple-double; and Carlos Arroyo dished 8 assists and only one turnover in his first start since February 6th.

One final note: the Dwight Howard/Rashard Lewis/Hedo Turkoglu trio has started in 60 of the Magic's 61 games this season. Tonight's game was just the second time each of those players scored more than 20 points in a single game. The first time, probably not coincidentally, also came against the Knicks.

Obviously, we can't let this huge win get to our heads. We have Toronto at home on Tuesday, and they're going to be tough to beat. UPDATE: Doug Smith of the Toronto Star reports that the Raptors will likely be without Chris Bosh for Tuesday's game. I'm nonplussed. Toronto's point guard tandem of Jose Calderon and T.J. Ford is good enough to beat us by itself.

Not to pile on Otis Smith, but the Magic are the only Eastern Conference team currently over .500 not to make at least one roster move to improve itself in the past month. To recap:

1. Boston Celtics (44-12)
   • Sign forward P.J. Brown out of retirement
   • Sign free-agent guard Sam Cassell (bought-out by the Los Angeles Clippers, a decision with which ClipperSteve does not agree)
2. Detroit Pistons (42-16)
   • Acquire guard Juan Dixon from the Toronto Raptors for center Primoz Brezec
   • Sign free-agent center Theo Ratliff (bought-out by the Minnesota Timberwolves)
3. Orlando Magic (37-23)
4. Toronto Raptors (32-24)
   • Acquire center Primoz Brezec from the Detroit Pistons for guard Juan Dixon
5. Cleveland Cavaliers (32-26)
   • Acquire forwards Joe Smith and Ben Wallace from the Chicago Bulls for foward Drew Gooden and guard Larry Hughes
   • Acquire forward Wally Szczerbiak and guard Delonte West from the Seattle SuperSonics for forwards Donyell Marshall and Ira Newble

Okay, maybe the Raptors getting Brezec from the Pistons doesn't count, but the fact remains: the teams around us are at least trying to improve, and we aren't. The Magic, as constituted the day of the trade deadline, were certainly not talented enough to defeat Boston, Detroit, or Toronto in a seven-game series. Now? They're arguably not talented enough to take down Cleveland, either. Even more troublesome is the fact that Toronto and Cleveland are potential first-round playoff opponents for us, which makes the possibility of an early vacation for us much more immediate.

As MME wrote at Bold 'n' Blue, the Magic are the only team in the NBA this season to beat Boston and Detroit twice each. However, one win against each of those teams came on a game-winning shot, and another came down to a missed last-second shot by the opponent. Only one, the most recent victory over the Pistons, was decisive by any stretch of the imagination.

On the day of the trade deadline, I considered Detroit the most formidable of any of these plus-.500 teams. Now that Boston has added two talented, savvy, playoff-proven veterans, I'm even more frightened of them. In last season's playoffs, Detroit's Chris Webber and Dale Davis (who no longer play for the Pistons) hacked Dwight Howard into a funk he could not shake. They intimidated him. The Celtics now have P.J. Brown, who can similarly pester Dwight. Celtics coach Doc Rivers can also dust-off Scot Pollard, who is good for six fouls a game. Meanwhile, Sam Cassell has 115 games of playoff experience, and still has the skills to pick-apart younger point guards; see this season's 35-point undressing of the Pacers' Jamaal Tinsley for proof.

Theo Ratliff is finally healthy, and he gives the Pistons the same toughness that Davis and Webber provided them last year. He's still a good shot-blocker, and can be trusted in late-game situations; in the fourth quarter of Game 7 in a playoff series, with Rasheed Wallace fouled out, Pistons coach Flip Saunders will go with Ratliff over emerging youngster Amir Johnson 11 times out of 10.

Cleveland is similarly tougher with Ben Wallace and Joe Smith. Even with Wallace's declining skills, he's still more of a banger than Drew Gooden ever was or ever will be. Adding those two guys to a frontcourt that already boasted Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao makes the Cavaliers a team built for hard-nosed playoff basketball. Also, they have LeBron James.

As for Toronto, they're already a better team. As ESPN.com's John Hollinger mentioned yesterday (Insider, although it's free for right now), Toronto has a better point differential than we do, and point differential is a better indicator of a team's ability that won-loss record is:

Let's put it more simply: The Raps aren't beating people, they're killing them. Toronto topped Milwaukee by 31, Washington by 39, Miami by 32, Minnesota by 23 and 22, New Jersey by 18, Orlando by 17, and New York by 23. In a 16-game stretch, half their games were blowout wins.

Sum it up and you'll see in that modest-looking 16-game stretch [during which Toronto is 10-6] the Raptors are outscoring opponents by an impressive 10 points per game.

Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard play well against each other, so the real difference-making factor for the Raptors in a series against us is the point guard tandem of Jose Calderon and T.J. Ford. There's no way that either Jameer Nelson or Keyon Dooling can shut both of those guys down; they get into the lane at will and have the three-point shooters to make defenses pay for collapsing on them. The Raptors, as a team, shoot 40% from beyond the arc, is tops in the NBA.

So should we just give up and concede the conference to these teams? No, of course not. We can beat any of these teams in a playoff series, but the odds are decidedly not in our favor. After reading this post by Matt at Hardwood Paroxysm, I decided to contact him to chat about D-League players who could help Orlando. Click "Permalink" below to read what he had to say.

Continue reading this post »

The Magic appointed Otis Smith and Dave Twardzik co-general managers of the team on June 27th, 2005. Smith was later promoted to general manager, while Twardzik remains in charge of scouting. 3QC examines their draft history.

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Note: The Magic also bought the rights to Marcin Gortat, whom the Phoenix Suns selected with the 57th overall pick in this draft.

Essentially, the Magic spent four draft picks on four players who have played a combined 49 games over two-plus seasons. Only one -- Gortat -- is still with the team, although it still has the rights to Vazquez. This draft probably could not have been worse for Orlando. Grade: F

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Redick at least practices hard, but his poor defense has kept him on the bench behind Keith Bogans, Keyon Dooling, and Maurice Evans. Augustine had value last week as an expiring contract, but the Magic didn't trade him. Still, the fact that Redick at least has potential makes this draft look a little better than the previous one. Grade: D

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Note: The Magic were without their first-round pick because they sent it to Detroit as part of the trade that brought Carlos Arroyo and Darko Milicic to Orlando; Detroit used that pick on Rodney Stuckey. Additionally, the Magic sold another second-round pick, 54th overall, to Houston, which drafted Brad Newley.

The Magic have literally nothing to show from this draft, but that's actually not so bad. Otis Smith knew his team would be strapped for cash after signing a premiere free-agent, which Smith did just days later, when he reached a sign-and-trade agreement with the Seattle SuperSonics, who sent Rashard Lewis to Orlando. Still, the other teams in the division got an infusion of young talent (Atlanta: Al Horford; Charlotte: Brandan Wright, used to obtain Jason Richardson; Miami: Daequan Cook; Washington: Nick Young), while the Magic stayed the same. Still, the view from atop the Southeast sure is nice... Grade: C-

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Smith and Twardzik have presided over three drafts for the Magic, yet have have not improved the team at all. Imagine Monta Ellis throwing lobs to Dwight Howard on fast-breaks, or Paul Millsap hauling down some much-needed offensive boards. To be fair, plenty of teams passed on those players, but the fact remains: the draft is a viable way for teams to acquire young talent. For Smith and Twardzik to fail this miserably, year-after-year, is unacceptable.

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Stay tuned for more evaluations of Otis Smith's tenure as Orlando Magic general manager.