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.

Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

I could have written this recap last night, but I didn't feel like it. I had better things to do. The Magic had the same mindset earlier in the evening when they blew a fourteen-point lead to a Minnesota team still winless in thirteen tries on the road against Eastern opponents.

What'd we do well last night? Uh, we hit our three-pointers. That's about it.

• We didn't rebound (46-31 overall, 29-19 in the second half)
• We didn't hit our free throws (9 misses in a game we lost by a single point)
• We didn't do a good enough job getting the ball to Dwight Howard when it mattered (just two field goal attempts in the fourth quarter)
• We didn't close out on the Timberwolves' shooters (Randy Foye and Rashad McCants went 8-of-12 in the fourth quarter)
• and overall we just didn't give a damn, which is why some of the fans in attendance booed the team as it left the floor.

Sure, there were some nice plays; Rashard Lewis' follow dunk (pictured above) was nice, as was Adonal Foyle's open-floor rejection of Corey Brewer. But overall, it was a night to forget. If we don't win our final three games in convincing fashion, I'm going to be furious. Apathy extinguished the fire that motivated this team earlier this season. Hopefully, Stan Van Gundy and the coaching staff can light it once more before the playoffs start. Otherwise, we're headed for a first-round exit.

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.

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.

I've spent much of the evening working on tomorrow's post and updating some other site-related items, so I'll keep this recap brief: we won, 103-86; we kicked ass for the first three quarters of the game; the Bucks had no answer for Dwight Howard, who went for 25 points and 11 boards without breaking a sweat; and J.J. Redick made the most of his 3 garbage minutes with 6 points  on 3-of-3 shooting. Note that J.J.'s strong showing tonight comes just one game after shooting 0-of-5 in significant minutes against the Spurs on Tuesday. J.J. Redick's NBA career: Where making shots when it counts doesn't happen.

Notes:

• Keyon Dooling left the game in the second half after landing awkwardly on a defender's foot. He left the court under his own power, but appeared to injure his ankle. Hopefully, it's nothing serious.
• The victory is our 24th on the road this season -- behind only Boston and the L.A. Lakers  -- which sets a franchise record.
• By my count, the Bucks missed their first 14 shots of the fourth quarter, yet they still outscored us in the period, 23-16. Ouch.
• Only Royal Ivey and Ramon Sessions, the Bucks' infrequently-used, third-string backcourt, seemed to play with any fire for Milwaukee tonight. Sure, Mo Williams had 18 points and 5 assists, but he was just chucking the ball. It seemed as though most of his shots were ill-advised "heat checks" that just happened to go in.
• Magic coach Stan Van Gundy left Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu in the game deep into the fourth quarter, despite a comfortable 20-plus-point lead. Ordinarily, I'd have a problem with that, but not tonight. Rashard and Hedo shot poorly and I assume Stan left them in there to see if they could get in some sort of rhythm before having three days off.
• The Bucks hauled in a staggering 25 offensive rebounds, or 41 percent of their misses, despite playing without Andrew Bogut, their starting center. Incidentally, Bogut's imaginary friends might have been able to play better defense tonight than the Bucks did.
• Michael Ruffin, who started at center for Milwaukee tonight, is a career 40.7% field goal shooter. That's atrocious, especially for a guy who literally is never more than 3 feet from the basket on offense.
• Speaking of centers who can't shoot, Adonal Foyle took an eighteen-footer from the baseline tonight. It drew iron, which was a pleasant surprise.
• Dwight took a few jumpers tonight, and made one of them. Nice.

Weekend open thread tomorrow. Enjoy.

Before last night's game, DeShawn Stevenson talked to Keyon Dooling. After last night's game, Stevenson talked to the media. Read some of his comments below.
Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

Not a traditional open thread today, guys. Instead, I thought we could take a look at some postgame comments from the players after last night's Magic/Wizards game. First, from the victorious Washington team:

"I don't know what Dwight was eating, but he had a horrible game," said Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson, who drew the first foul against Howard with a driving layup. "He usually doesn't do that."

He's been doing that more lately, actually. Dwight's averaging 3.8 fouls in his last five games, up from his season average of 3.4. He's been whistled for five fouls or more four times this month, after just one such game in February. To be frank, it's ridiculous how much Dwight's defenders get away with defensively. The difference between what they're allowed to do and what Dwight's allowed to do is astonishing. One would think that after four years in the league, and two straight years as an All-Star, Dwight would get the benefit of the whistle every now and again.

"This is like a statement to them that we are not going to be pushovers," Haywood said. "After D.C., they probably thought they could do whatever to us."

It's not like your team stomped us, Brendan. We didn't take you lightly or anything; we just had a rough night. Kudos, though, for outplaying Dwight Howard for the second time in three meetings this season. [Insert Kryptonite joke here].

And from our guys:

"When he's in foul trouble like that, it throws off his rhythm, and to some extent it throws the rhythm of the whole team off a little because he's such a big part of what we do," said Jameer Nelson. "We just have to do a better job of playing without him."

Jameer is absolutely right about rhythm. Dwight is easily flustered when he thinks the officials are treating him unfairly. It reflects in his body language and in the way he plays. There's not much the Magic can do when he's not on the floor. I love Adonal Foyle, but he's not going to draw defenders away from our outside shooters, nor is he going to hit 60% of his field goals. I'd like to see Rashard Lewis post-up on the left block when Dwight isn't in the game. Sure, it means one less shooter on the perimeter for us, but Rashard is a crafty scorer down there, and not a bad passer.

"Other than Turkoglu and [Keith] Bogans, it was a miserable, miserable, miserable offensive night," Coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We had trouble getting good shots, and when we got them, we couldn't make them."

It doesn't sound like Coach is worried, nor should he be. We aren't going to miss our open shots every night. I mean, Rashard isn't going to consistently shoot 2-of-13.

"People can beat up on me and nothing happens," said Howard, who failed to crack double figures in scoring for just the third time all season. "But when I touch somebody I get calls. I try (to talk to the referees) but it doesn't seem to do any good. I really can't focus on that."

Richie Adubato, a former Magic coach and current radio analyst, thinks Dwight should stop complaining to the officials after every call. His theory is the officials will tune Dwight out if he does that, and may even get so annoyed with him that they'll call him for a technical foul. There's probably some validity to this line of thinking. Maybe Stan Van Gundy and Otis Smith should take up the fight on Dwight's behalf by sending tapes of questionable calls to the league office, if they haven't already.

For your consideration: a YouTube video of Pau Gasol flopping THREE TIMES in the Magic's loss to the Lakers last month, and getting away with it each time. I wish there were similar videos to document the similarly cowardly, disgraceful, reprehensible "defense" of Joel Pryzbilla and Al Harrington. At least we have a photo of Baby Al doing the deed, courtesy Phelan M. Ebanhack of the Associated Press.

Sources: Nelson and Stevenson quotes from this article in the Orlando Sentinel. Haywood and Van Gundy quotes from this article in the Orlando Sentinel. Howard quote from this article Florida Today.

Photographic documentation of the only time Stan Van Gundy ever wore a tie as coach of the Orlando Magic. This weekend, John Denton got Van Gundy to discuss his preference for turtlenecks.
File photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

• There's plenty to love in this grab-bag post John Denton made on Saturday, not the least of which is the list of goals Stan Van Gundy outlined for his team, which I've since enumerated in the right sidebar. Denton also got Van Gundy to talk about his aversion to wearing ties:

  "I wore one the first game and (assistant coach) Brendan (Malone) didn't and I thought it looked so much more comfortable," Van Gundy said. "Now all the coaches wear ties and try to make me look bad. I'm just a lot more comfortable (without the tie). I'm really not going to look good in anything because my shirt is going to be rumpled and my shirttail will be coming out by the end of the game."

  Way back in December, Brian Schmitz put "a tie for Coach Stan Van Gundy" at the top of his Magic Christmas Wish List.

• David Berri of Wages of Wins examines Rashard Lewis' season and whether or not his production has justified the hefty contract he signed last July. Unsurprisingly, the conclusion is "no," and the reason is rebounding:

  When we turn to possessions, though, we see a problem.  Despite the move to power forward, Lewis is getting fewer rebounds.  Per 48 minutes an average power forward will grab 11.4 rebounds.  Lewis is only getting 6.5 or nearly five boards off the pace.

  Certainly playing beside the top rebounder in the game - Dwight Howard - is going to have some impact on the numbers Lewis gets. In other words, diminishing returns (a story told in The Wages of Wins) may be an issue here. One should note, though, that Howard’s numbers do not seem to be impacting Hedo Turkoglu (whose rebounding is up this season).

  Berri thinks Lewis would be much better off at small forward, his natural position. HT: Ball Don't Lie

• Tony Battie, who hasn't played all season because of rotator-cuff surgery, may return for the playoffs, Schmitz reports in his blog. The team doctors aren't too keen on Battie returning, but they've left the final decision up to Battie. Schmitz also raises an interesting question: what happens next season, when Battie is healthy? Do the Magic move him back into the starting lineup, shift Rashard Lewis to his natural small forward position (as Berri suggests above), and bump Hedo Turkoglu to the bench? Indeed, it'll be interesting to see how Stan Van Gundy handles the big-man rotation. With Dwight Howard, Brian Cook, Battie, and Adonal Foyle (if the team picks up his option), the Magic will have a relative embarrassment of riches at the four and five positions.
• Whit Watson, whose blog posts are always a treat, plays a little "What If...?" game by asking, "What if Nick Anderson had made his free throws?" NBA Championships are in the forecast. Despite those four missed free throws, Nick is one of my all-time favorite Magic players, and it's an absolute shame that the Magic organization hasn't honored him by retiring his no. 25.

Don't forget the game thread for tonight's Magic/Cavaliers tilt.

Adonal Foyle celebrated his 33rd birthday a few days early when he threw down this tomahawk dunk in the Magic's win over the Raptors last Tuesday. Today, the Magic's backup center turned 33.
Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

Happy 33rd birthday to Adonal Foyle. He's not having a great year from a statistical standpoint, but he's invaluable in that he's still good enough to give Dwight Howard a few minutes of well-deserved rest each game. And say what you will about his abilities, but there's no denying that Adonal is usually the hardest-working, most determined player on the floor. Thanks, Adonal, for your hustle, commitment, and community presence. We appreciate it.

Leave your birthday wishes for Adonal in the comments. Be sure to check out this recent feature on Foyle from John Denton. There are donkeys involved.

• Don't read too deeply into J.J. Redick's extended playing time Wednesday against Philadelphia. Tim Povtak writes in today's Magic Beat that Redick will likely return to the end of the bench:

  "It was not any grand plan. We were just searching," said Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy, when asked about Redick's rare appearance. "The guys who had been playing weren't playing great anyway, so then you give somebody else a chance. You give some minutes to J.J."

  I'm disappointed, but not surprised. Towards the end of Sunday's blowout win over the Kings, some fans in attendance began clamoring for Van Gundy to play J.J., most notably while Dwight Howard split a pair of free throws to give the Magic a 101-81 lead. Van Gundy pointed toward the Magic bench, and up sprang Pat Garrity, Adonal Foyle, and Maurice Evans, set to check in on the next stoppage in play. After seeing that Redick was not one of the players set to enter the game, a few fans booed Van Gundy. Less than a minute of game-time later, Keith Bogans drilled a three-pointer from the right corner and looked back at the Magic bench, as if to say, "Don't take me out, coach!" Rashard Lewis fouled Shelden Williams on the Kings' next possession, and it was only after that timeout that Van Gundy subbed Redick in for Bogans. I'm not sure what changed his mind, but it initially appeared as though Stan the Man would be content with keeping his unhappy, talented, hardworking shooting guard on the bench in a 20-point blowout victory. And I thought Brian Hill's rotation was tough to crack.

• In the same Magic Beat article, Povtak quotes Van Gundy on Jameer Nelson:

  "Jameer is our guy [....] We're going to stick with him."

  Sounds good to me, although he's going to need to score more than 7.5 points per game -- as is his average over his last four games -- to justify the contract extension he signed before tipoff opening night.

• Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo!'s Ball Don't Lie has a transcript of the Magic's most recent "players-only" meeting. I had no idea that Dwight Howard was a Dora the Explorer aficionado, but it makes sense.
• SLAM's Michael Tillery chatted with Rashard Lewis briefly after the Magic's loss to the 76ers Wednesday night. The comments section is also worth reading.
• If Keyon Dooling can't play on Saturday, Carlos Arroyo will get his minutes as the Magic's backup point guard. It'll be Latin Night at Amway Arena, so he's sure to get a rousing ovation when if he checks in. I hope Stan finds some time for him, even if Dooling is healthy
• If you want to find an NBA player having a meal, your best bet is the Cheesecake Factory, says TrueHoop's Henry Abbott. P.F. Chang's is also a popular restaurant among the professional ballplaying fraternity. The Winter Park Village, as Central Florida residents are well aware, boasts both a Cheesecake Factory and a P.F. Chang's. I've never seen a Magic player at the Cheesecake Factory, but a friend once told me he saw Tracy McGrady at The Loop when McGrady played for the Magic.
• Must-see TV tonight as the Utah Jazz visit the New Orleans Hornets. Tipoff's at 8:00 PM on ESPN. Watch the duel between Chris Paul and Deron Williams, the league's best young point guards, and try not to weep when Paul throws filthy passes like this one to Tyson Chandler in transition. If the Magic had a guy like that, we'd be unstoppable.

If it's J.J. Redick time, it's garbage time: Redick shoots a layup against the Kings in the Magic's 112-93 romp.
Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

I'm going to start a Brian Cook Fan Club. I really want to. He and Keyon Dooling pick-and-roll'd the Kings to death to start the fourth quarter, combining to score the Magic's first 20 points of the period to slam the door shut in Sacramento's face. Count me as one of the assorted fans who gave Cook a standing ovation when coach Stan Van Gundy pulled him out of the game.

The first half of the game was brutal to watch, although Dwight Howard did manage to put up some highlight-reel dunks, including one over Spencer Hawes, who is younger than I am. And, on one amusing sequence, the Kings' Mikki Moore caught the ball right in the middle of the lane with Howard draped all over him. Moore pump-faked a few times, pivoted, threw up a hook shot... and Howard sent it back in his face. Did Moore really think he was going to fake-out Dwight Howard?

Anyway, the halftime score was 46-all, and neither team played particularly hard or well. Only Howard and the Kings' Kevin Martin distinguished themselves. Most everyone else went through the motions until about halfway through the period, when the Magic scored 9 points in a 40-second span thanks to great hustle. Rashard Lewis made a deep three-pointer. On the next possession, the Magic forced Martin to miss a layup, leading to a Keith Bogans three-pointer in transition. Moore threw a lazy inbounds pass, which Bogans tipped off Kings guard Beno Udrih and out-of-bounds. PA announcer Paul Porter's voice boomed "MAGIC BALL!", the crowd began to stir, and Hedo Turkoglu made a layup, got fouled, and converted the free throw. The time was approximately 7 PM, and the Magic had finally woken up.

Sactown Royalty wasn't a fan of Kings coach Reggie Theus' substitution patterns at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter. I thought his biggest mistake was not having Ron Artest guard Howard more often. The one possession he did, Artest baited Howard into committing an offensive foul.

Stan Van Gundy also made mistakes. In the first half Martin frequently got wide-open jump shots because of poor defensive rotations on the Magic's part. Van Gundy opted to use Howard to double-team Artest each time he touched the ball, leaving Moore open. Maurice Evans would then shift down to cover Moore, leaving Martin wide-open beyond the three-point arc. Thankfully, the Magic abandoned this strategy in the second half, during which Martin scored only 7 points.

Overall, a solid win in front of the home crowd. We've won 4 of our last 5 games and our defense seems to be getting better, although that's not saying much. For more on the game, check out the boxscore and the GameFlow.

Lots of strange little things in and around the arena last night. To wit:

• Spotted outside the arena before the game: a man wearing a Cuttino Mobley Magic jersey. I couldn't believe it. Dude only played 23 games with us before we traded him for... wait for it... Doug Christie.
• Theus strode across the sidelines prior to the National Anthem to shake hands with the Magic coaching staff. It was a classy move.
• The National Anthem was sung by children from a local elementary school. It was, by far, the most entertaining Anthem of the season, and they received a rousing and well-deserved ovation.
• On the night when the Magic gave away action figures bearing his likeness, Jameer Nelson shot 1-of-11, yet it certainly didn't seem as though he took that many shots. Give him credit for being inconspicuous in his sucking, although Kelly Dwyer picked up on it right away.
• Early in the fourth quarter, Adonal Foyle made a great pass (!) to Brian Cook, who was cutting along the baseline, leading to an acrobatic (!!) reverse layup (!!!). UPDATE: Fernando Medina snapped a photo of said layup.
• Pat Garrity was active and actually got playing time. There's no good reason for him to be active instead of James Augustine, but I don't mind Auggie being on the sidelines. He's a great dresser, mostly because his jackets are cut very well.
• Rashard Lewis blocked three shots. The Magic are now 1-0 when Lewis blocks three shots or more. In a related story, Rashard Lewis is 6'10", and it took him 57 games to finish one with three blocks. That's bad. Still, if you had told me at the beginning of the seasn that Lewis would block three shots before scoring 30 points -- something he still hasn't done -- I would have said you were full of it.
• Brad Miller is one of the NBA's most intimidating players. After a few calls didn't go his way, I feared for Dwight Howard's life; Miller looked possessed. Unsurprisingly, he launched a three-pointer out of frustration, and it missed. Badly.