vs.
41-24		21-41
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports HD
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Brevin Knight
Maurice Evans	SG	Quinton Ross
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Corey Maggette
Rashard Lewis	PF	Al Thornton
Dwight Howard	C	Josh Powell
Season series:
9 Jan 2008: Magic 113, Clippers 106

Given the heaps of praise piled upon the Los Angeles Lakers, it's easy for some people to forget that they share a building with the Clippers. For more on this criminally underexposed team, I checked-in with Steve from Clips Nation.

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3QC: The Clippers are in a bad way right now. Elton Brand and Shaun Livingston, two of their top-four players, have yet to play this season due to injury. Another top-four player, Corey Maggette, is worth more money than he's earning and may leave via free-agency this summer. If you could only bring one of those players back next season, which one would you choose? And why do you think that player is Clippers' key to building a winning franchise?

Steve: There's no question who everyone in ClipsNation would bring back - it's Elton Brand.  And it's not close.  I've wondered at times why other teams seemed to weather prolonged absences of superstar players a little better than the Generic Clippers (no Brand).  I've come to the conclusion that Elton Brand, as the best all around player on the Clippers - the best scorer, the best rebounder, the best post defender, the best locker room influence, the best leader - is just that much more important to the Clipers than, say, Gilbert Arenas is to the Wizards.  The Wizards replace Arenas with Antonio Daniels and there team defense gets better and their turnovers go down, while their offense definitely suffers.  The Clippers replace Brand with Tim Thomas and every damn thing gets worse.  EVERY DAMN THING.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if Brand isn't coming back, don't bother re-signing Maggette.  With both of them gone, they'd be far enough under the cap to actually sign somebody (not that there's anyone out there, but still).  If Brand isn't going to be here, get out the dynamite, blow it up.

Livingston is a bit of an exception - because of his uncertain status, he can probably be retained inexpensively.  I don't expect him to play anywhere else next season - he and the Clippers have been through too much together.  But he's a restricted free agent, and it remains to be seen how much he signs for and for how long.

The good news is that Brand is not going anywhere.  He's chomping at the bit to get back on the floor this season, and would be playing on this trip if Coach would let him.  And the reason he wants to play is to start getting the team ready for next season.  He's committed to staying with the Clippers, and has said as much.  It may only be for the final year of this contract (he has one more year, with an opt out this summer), but he'll be a Clipper next season, and so will Livingston.  Maggette is a tougher call.  I really have no idea what will happen with him.

3QC: The Magic and the Clippers have something in common in that they both have veteran players having career-years this season. We have Hedo Turkoglu; you have Chris Kaman. When completely healthy, how far can Kaman lead the Clippers? Is he All-Star material?

Steve: Is he All Star material?  Well, the short answer is yes.  He might well have been an All Star this season had he not been playing on a last place team.  But I think we're finding out that he's not really cut out to be the main man - as the double teams have become more aggressive, his offensive numbers have definitely suffered.  He has certainly shown that he will be a defensive and rebounding force in this league for years.  He's third in the league in both rebounding and blocked shots, and maintaining that position despite playing hurt for the last month.  He also is a surprisingly good on ball defender - he does ok on the pick and roll, he can cover more mobile centers - he's not just a Camby style free safety loading up on weak side blocked shots.  In the absence of Brand he's had to take the tough low post assignments all season long, and he's still managed to be third in the league in blocks.  (This is another reason Brand will be back - he definitely wants to play alongside this new version of Kaman.  Brand has been top 10 in rebounding and blocked shots for years.  If they can manage to be top 10 in those categories in the same front court it will be the first time since David Robinson and Tim Duncan - and those guys did alright together.)

This isn't actually a question; I just want to give you the opportunity to tell Magic fans, and other 3QC readers on the East Coast, how awesome Al Thornton is.

He's pretty awesome.  Since I see him every night, I forget what a secret he is around the league.  But never fear - everyone got to see Jeff Green in the Rookie game, so there's that.  The fact that Al Thornton wasn't selected for the rookie game; the fact that he lost out to Luis Scola for February Rookie of the Month (Scola averaged 11.7 points and 5.9 rebounds while Thornton went for 17.4 and 6.3); well, that's just life in ClipsNation.

While many rookies have been hitting the Wall, Thornton has been steadily improving.  He averaged 6 points in November, 8 in December, 13 in January and the aforementioned 17.6 in February, which he's pretty much maintained into March.  He's also shooting better and rebounding more.  In 21 games since January 30, he's been in double figures 18 times, gone for 20 or more 9 times, and had two games of 33.  He's a freak of an athlete, and can score in a variety of ways.  He's got a deadly first step and the ability to finish around the basket; he can create space for his jump shot; he has NBA three-point range (31 for 87 on the season); and he's got a motor that just doesn't stop.  The athleticism in particular is very welcome on the Clippers.  Brand is one of the less athletic superstars in the NBA.  Outside of Maggette, the Clippers don't have anyone that qualifies as a flyer, let alone a high flyer.  Thornton's myriad dunks this season, over Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, Josh Smith and Mikki Moore among others, are the only things getting the Clippers onto SportsCenter these days.

Perhaps most amazing for a rookie is that he's been the go to scorer in the fourth quarter of several wins.  Against New Jersey he out-dueled Carter in the fourth.  He scored 9 crucial fourth quarter points while being defended by Bosh in a close win on the road in Toronto.  And last week against the Kings he nailed a nasty step back 20 footer on the Clippers final possession to send the game into overtime.  He scored 22 points in the fourth period and overtimes combined in that game, which the Clippers eventually won.  How many rookies are getting the ball in key late game possessions this season?  I'll answer my own question - two.  Kevin Durant and Al Thornton.

The duel emergences of Thornton and Kaman are definitely the silver lining on this cumulonimbus of a season in ClipsNation.

3QC: I like to end these Q-and-A sessions positively, so I wanted to compliment your team on its wonderful uniforms. What are your thoughts on the Clippers' on-court attire? I think the blue alternate uniforms are among the best in the entire league.

Really, that's it?  That's the most positive you can be?  "Nice unis."

I'm no expert by any means, but this is probably an area where the Clippers non-innovative ways have benefited them.  While most of the NBA has been exploring the color pallet (teal?  really?), designing ever more detailed logos, and adding black to pretty much everything (it was cool when the Bulls did it - it's just lame for the T-Wolves), the Clippers have remained with the most primary of primary colors, and logos involving nothing more than letters and a basketball.  As the pendulum has swings back to old school unis, it turns out the Clippers have been there all along.  That blue road uniform is a case in point - pretty much a straightforward royal blue uni with the word Los Angeles on the front.  But name another team that uses that color at all?  Of course, I don't think they've won while wearing that uniform in like two seasons, so I'm beginning to hate it.  But it looks sharp.

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Many thanks to ClipperSteve for those thorough responses. I meant no harm in commending the Clippers for their beautiful uniforms, but I do indeed see now how that could come across as a slight. Apologies to Steve and to Clippers fans for that.

Check out my answers to his questions -- including my take on the Magic's point guard situation -- at Clips Nation.

Assorted notes:

• Corey Maggette gets to the foul line at will -- he's taken 48 foul shots in his last 5 games! -- and converts at a high rate: .841 on the season and .823 for his career. Keith Bogans and Mo Evans are going to keep him away from the basket and force him to take contested jumpers. Maggette's hitting his outside shots at an effective field goal percentage of .418, which is well below average.
• Chris Kaman is day-to-day with a sore back and may not be available this evening. If that's the case, Dwight Howard will feast upon match-up against Josh Powell.
• Al Thornton should go for 20+ points tonight. I don't think Rashard Lewis can stop him.
• No word on if J.J. Redick, who left the team after Saturday's loss to Golden State to be with his brother, will be in-uniform tonight. David Redick underwent successful surgery to remove a tumor from his spine on Monday.
• If J.J. isn't available, and the game is a blowout, we could very well have another Marcin Gortat sighting. I do not object to this. Free Marcin.

Tip's at 7, as usual. I may be a bit late to the party, but better late than never, amIrite?

Flurry of activity today, most of it involving Turk.  

• Adam Hoff of Section F Sports believes the Magic are "doomed" because Dwight Howard doesn't get enough touches. Hoff does not mince words, calling the Magic's lack of a single good passer "a travesty." (Hat-tip: TrueHoop's Monday Bullets)

  [W]atching them play is just extremely frustrating. That is because they have this monster of a lowpost player yet he gets the ball once every 15 possessions or so. Now, I understand that Howard still delivers exceptional value even when he's not getting post feeds, because he dominates the boards, protects the rim, and draws defenders into the paint. That said, the fact remains that he's Orlando's best player. He should be getting the ball! There was a stretch in the fourth quarter in which Howard went nearly five minutes without receiving a pass (he did snare three offensive rebounds). When they finally did throw it to him, he absorbed a double team, spun baseline, and dunked over two help defenders. "Effortless" doesn't even begin to describe the move. Yet the Magic went right back to not passing to him again [....] I've never seen a team with such a poor understanding of its own strengths and weaknesses."

  • Oddly enough, a peek at Dwight's game log shows the Magic are 5-7 when he shoot 15 times or more, and 12-1 when he shoots 10 times or fewer. I suppose the latter fact is skewed by playing relatively limited minutes due to blowouts, but it seems to contradict Hoff's assertion that Dwight needs more shots.
• Hedo Turkoglu was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week. Congratulations, Hedo!
• Brian Schmitz doesn't take kindly to people flooding his inbox with Jason Kidd trade proposals. Writes Schmitz, "Are the Magic really better off trying to land Kidd? Sounds like amateur GMs playing fantasy basketball. The Nets might be able to do better elsewhere." I'm not eager for the Magic to acquire Kidd -- he's the least-deserving All-Star this year, he's old, and he's overpaid -- but after reading Hoff's comments above, I agree the team should look into getting a better distributor.
• Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who will coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars this year, told Schmitz he voted for Turkoglu to be an All-Star reserve. I'll be surprised if Turk makes it, though. There are plenty of other deserving forwards in the East.
• Round 5 of the Blogger Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year poll is up. Jeremy from Pickaxe and Roll is hosting it this time. Check it out. Unsurprisingly, Dwight Howard's stock is dropping -- he's 4th, and I voted him 8th. I have the rather dubious distinction of being the only person who voted Kevin Durant lower than second.
• It appears as though Chris Webber is going to sign with the Golden State Warriors. The Magic are going to have to look elsewhere if they want an upgrade at power forward, although that's probably not a concern right now.

Sixers4Guidos, which bills itself as the first Italian blog for 76ers fans, is hosting the fourth round of NBA MVP/ROY rankings as voted on by bloggers. BrewHoop hosted Round 1, Clips Nation hosted Round 2, and 3 Shades of Blue hosted Round 3. Dwight Howard came in third place in MVP voting in this edition. Shockingly, Marcin Gortat was nowhere to be found in ROY voting.

Look after the jump to see the ballot and comments I sent to Sixers4Guidos for them to compile. I'm surprised that I was the only person who gave Daequan Cook any ROY votes. He's good, people!

Continue reading this post »

	vs.
16-9		17-8
American Airlines Center
8:30 PM
Sun Sports HD
Probable starters:
Devin Harris	PG	Jameer Nelson
Jason Terry	SG	Keith Bogans
Josh Howard	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Dirk Nowitzki	PF	Rashard Lewis
Erick Dampier	C	Dwight Howard

• Still no word on if Carlos Arroyo and Rashard Lewis will be available. If I had to guess, I'd say Carlos will be out, but Lewis will be ready.
  • UPDATE: John Denton confirms that Lewis will be available tonight and will play in pain. The only way for his swollen neck to heal is through rest. The Magic don't have two straight days of rest until next Monday-Tuesday, so it may be awhile before Lewis is back in top form. Additionally, Denton's report says 55 minutes of the Magic's 70-minute practice this morning were devoted to defense. They'll have their work cut out for them against the Mavericks, who have the league's most efficient offense.
• Today's Sentinel preview mentions the Magic have lost 9 straight games in Dallas. Confidence is not high: Keyon Dooling told the Sentinel's Tim Povtak, "The road has been good to us, but that's about the only thing positive thing I can say right now."
• The preview also mentions that Maurice Evans or J.J. Redick might soon take Keith Bogans' starting role. I'd advise against that, though; Evans is colder offensively than Bogans is, and Redick's defense isn't going to set the tone at the beginning of games, which is what we need. Pass.
• Meanwhile, John Denton's article, entitled "Are the Magic Contenders or Pretenders?", takes a look at the offensive and defensive stats from the past five games. They aren't pretty.
• Seeing Juan Carlos Navarro have the game of his life against us Friday night only makes me wonder what Jason Terry will do to us.
• Here's the boxscore from our last victory over the Mavs in the Lone Star State. I dare you to guess our starting lineup. No peeking!
• Dallas' Erick Dampier, who is averaging 4.4 points and 6.1 rebounds this season, is third in All-Star balloting among Western Conference centers with over 100,000 votes. That's more than double the total votes that the Clippers' Chris Kaman has received, despite Kaman averaging career-best numbers in points (18.6) and rebounds (13.9).
• Clips Nation is hosting the second installment of Blogger MVP and Rookie of the Year rankings. Dwight leads the former category and Kevin "Kid Delicious" Durant leads the latter. Kevin Garnett and Durant received my first-place votes in their respective categories.
• Check out Mavs Moneyball, SB Nation's Mavericks site, for a view of tonight's game from a Dallas perspective.

Dwight Howard dunks down 2 of his career-high 39 points against the Sonics on Wednesday night.
Photo by Joe Murphy, NBAE/Getty Images

It took career-highs from two key Magic players for the team to knock off the 2-13 SuperSonics, but they pulled it off in the end by going on a 17-2 run to close out the game. Here's the boxscore.

Dwight Howard posted 39 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 blocks, picking up the slack left by teammate Rashard Lewis, who managed just 9 points on 3-of-19 shooting in his return to Seattle. Carlos Arroyo, playing more minutes to accommodate an ailing Jameer Nelson, ran the offense splendidly by handing out 14 assists, a career-high, while committing only 1 turnover.

The game was much closer than the final score indicates, but it should not have been that way. The SuperSonics were a miserable 34-of-96 from the field, but managed to hang around thanks to a pesky zone defense and a plethora of offensive rebounds. Credit them for sticking with a far superior team and for not giving up on the game.

But credit the Magic for not giving up on their game plan. Despite the team's 7-of-26 mark from three-point range, Hedo Turkoglu didn't hesitate when he jacked a three-pointer with 2:31 remaining. It went in, boosting the Magic's lead to 102-94. Keith Bogans hit three pointers on consecutive possessions to ice the game for Orlando. Stan Van Gundy has made it clear to his players that they are to shoot the three-pointer if it presents itself, percentages be damned, and that strategy keyed the Magic's win this evening.

One of the Magic's keys to victory was J.J. Redick, who filled in for Keyon Dooling at backup shooting guard. Redick scored his first 11 points of the season on just 5 shot attempts to give the Magic an offensive boost.

The Magic get Thursday off before facing the Suns in Phoenix on Friday. They'll need all the rest they can get.

Half-awake notes:

• Rashard may have stunk it up from the field, but he did manage to pull down 10 boards, a season high.
• Kevin Durant and Wally Szczerbiak combined for 44 of Seattle's points... and shot a combined 12-of-41. Efficiency is not a hallmark of SuperSonics basketball, at least not this season.
• By my unofficial count, Dwight had 6 dunks.

The Magic's Dwight Howard hauls in one of his twelve rebounds in Orlando's 106-73 victory over hapless Seattle.
Photo by John Raoux, the Associated Press

I guess winning ugly is better than not winning at all.

The Magic overcame their own sloppy play to rout the Seattle SuperSonics, keeping the beleaguered franchise winless in 8 games this season. Rashard Lewis, who came to Orlando via a sign-and-trade deal from Seattle, torched his former mates for 22 points in just 29 minutes. Dwight Howard helped Orlando with his 7th double-double in 8 games this season, posting 13 points and 12 boards.

Let me just assert this fact: it's not that we played well enough to win this game, but rather that Seattle played horridly enough to lose it. A team has to be trying really hard to lose when it forces 26 turnovers and still loses by 27. Then again, it's hard to win when your opponent hits 10-of-25 three-pointers, as Orlando did tonight. So I'll give us some credit there.

The player of the game is obviously Rashard Lewis, who rebounded from his awful showing against Phoenix, which included missing 11-of-14 shots, to score 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting. That makes 7 good games out of 8 for Rashard Lewis, which is encouraging.

But the player who impressed me the most was Trevor Ariza, who took over Pat Garrity's role as the first forward off the bench for us. He responded with 11 points and 11 rebounds, his fifth career double-double. More importantly, he was not content to settle for his jump-shot, driving aggresively to the basket against Seattle's zone defense. He only made 3 of his 8 shots, but made up for it by converting 5 of his 6 free throws. If "The Razor," as Magic radio play-by-play man Dennis Neumann likes to call him, can be relied upon to bring that intensity off our bench every night, other teams are going to be in trouble.

Oft-unheralded Keith Bogans also deserves some recognition for his performance tonight. KeBo, soon to be a part of at least one of my fantasy basketball teams, scored 16 points and hit 5 three-pointers; he was feeling it from beyond the arc, to put it mildly. Perhaps Brian Schmitz should reduce the 14-1 odds of KeBo being traded before the deadline; he's too valuable to this team to give up.

Keith Bogans. Valuable. Who knew?

As for Seattle... I have no idea what they're doing. I guess they'll be good in a few years once Kevin Durant improves his shot selection, but right now, they're a team that has a ton of talent on the wings (Durant, Jeff Green, Delonte West) but only two good young bigs (Nick Collison and Chris Wilcox). Kurt Thomas is a good player, but he's on the wrong side of 30 and isn't part of their long-term plans. And their depth at center is atrocious: Bob Swift is always hurt, and Johan Petro is spectacularly awful; it pained me to watch him clank jumper after jumper in garbage time tonight.

Okay, I like the Sonics, and I hope they stick it to their slimy owner by staying in Seattle, but they are just a bad team. When we turn the ball over 26 times, we should be the team losing by 27 points. Wow.

The Magic are obviously happy to win a game, but they cannot repeat tonight's performance tomorrow against Cleveland and expect to defeat the defending Eastern Conference champions.

	vs.
0-7		5-2
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
FSN
Probable starters:
Luke Ridnour	PG	Jameer Nelson
Kevin Durant	SG	Keith Bogans
Damien Wilkins	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Chris Wilcox	PF	Rashard Lewis
Robert Swift	C	Dwight Howard

25 words or fewer: The winless SuperSonics come to Orlando to face the Magic and their former teammate, Rashard Lewis.

Know your enemy: Seattle may have a horrible record, but they have lost close games to Phoenix, Utah, and Detroit. In other words, they aren't awful.

Useless information: The SuperSonics left Orlando unhappy after their lone visit last year; Hedo Turkoglu nailed a game-winning jumper for Orlando at the buzzer.

Bullet points:

• Tim Povtak wrote this piece about Lewis' history with Seattle for this morning's paper. I have no idea why he calls Lewis a guard/forward. When has 'Shard ever played a guard position? Not last year, and only a fraction of his total minutes the year before that.
• Who the heck is going to guard Kevin Durant? He's a 6'10" shooting guard. Rashard and Hedo match up with him size-wise, but they are not good defenders. Keyon Dooling and Keith Bogans are our best on-ball defenders, but they are 6'3" and 6'5", respectively; they aren't tall enough. That leaves Trevor Ariza, an outstanding defender who, at 6'8" matches up with Durant the best. Let's see if he gets more burn tonight.
• According to Accuscore, the Magic have a 70% chance of winning tonight.
• Dwight had 22 points and 20 rebounds against the Knicks, then followed that up with 33 points and 17 rebounds against the Suns. Considering the Sonics' lack of interior defense, he should post some beastly numbers tonight.
• Speaking of beastly, here's a clip of Dwight rejecting Seattle's Luke Ridnour last season.
• Chris Wilcox is the SuperSonic who worries me most. He's a big, strong power forward having a career year: 16.3 points and 8.7 rebounds. I wouldn't be surprised if he went for 20/12.
• The SuperSonics are 26th in offensive efficiency and 27th in turnover rate. The Magic need to capitalize on this young team's mistakes if they went to win.
• Y'know, we could play off Kevin Durant and just let him shoot. He's a miserable .389 from the field this season, and it's taken him 144 shots to score 152 points.

Interesting news (for a Tuesday) at ESPN.com today, where the results of the league's survey of general managers were leaked. Although they won't officially come out until tomorrow, here are the GMs' predictions on season awards and standings:

Division champions:

• Atlantic: Boston Celtics
• Central: Chicago Bulls
• Southeast: Miami Heat
• Northwest: Utah Jazz
• Pacific: Phoenix Suns
• Southwest: Dallas Mavericks

Individual awards:

• Most Valuable Player: LeBron James
• Coach of the Year: Gregg Popovich
• Rookie of the Year:Kevin Durant

The only thing that matters:

• NBA Champions: San Antonio Spurs

Most striking to me is their prediction that the Heat will win the Southeast. I don't think it's farfetched to say that they're the team from that division that's done the least to improve itself this offseason, and is thus in the most jeopardy of losing ground.

It's pretty funny that the Mavericks are expected to once again win their division, but falter in the playoffs. Maybe the GMs know what they're talking about after all.