The Magic's Hedo Turkoglu drives past the Hornets' Peja Stojakovic in New Orleans' 98-97 victory over Orlando on Tuesday night. Turkoglu scored a game-high 26 points, but Stojakovic had the last laugh on April Fool's Day, hitting the go-ahead three-pointer in the fourth quarter.
Photo by Kevin Kolczynski, Reuters

Damn. What a way to lose. The Magic dropped a tough one to the Hornets tonight, 98-97, despite having a lead as large as 14 points. Here's the boxscore.

The Hornets wanted this game more, and we only have to look at rebounding to see why. Their 21 offensive rebounds (in 49 opportunities) compensated for their poor field goal shooting. And make no mistake: the rebounds they got weren't balls that took lucky bounces. Jannero Pargo and Chris Paul both took boards away from Dwight Howard. That's a terrible showing on the defensive glass, and we didn't compensate by dominating on our end. Our final offensive rebound total -- 2 -- sets a new franchise low. Inexcusable.

Anytime Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis combine for 50 points on 31 shots, and we hit 13 three-pointers, we should win running away. Instead, the Hornets' extra effort put them over-the-top. They earned this win.

However, the officiating seemed suspect at times. As a rule, I never directly blame a loss on the referees' whistles; it's our fault for letting the game get close enough for a single call to swing momentum in either direction, and the officials weren't the guys beating the Magic to every loose ball. However, I should note the Magic were called for 25 fouls compared to the Hornets' 18. As a result, the Hornets enjoyed a solid 27-15 edge in free throw attempts. The game-changing play came when Maurice Evans was whistled for an away-from-the-ball foul when he got tangled-up with Morris Peterson. Replays showed Peterson clearly pushed Evans first, and fell because he merely lost his balance, but it didn't matter. Peja Stojakovic hit the penalty free throw, then drilled a three-pointer on the resulting possession -- just his second field goal of the night -- to give the Hornets a 96-95 lead they would not relinquish.

Final notes:

• The Magic got the final shot with a chance to win. Coming out of a timeout, Turkoglu inbounded the ball to Lewis, who drove to his right and... dished the ball to Keyon Dooling, who came up well short on the final shot. That's the best we could do? Yes, Tyson Chandler gave Lewis some trouble when he switched to cover him, but Lewis needed to be more aggressive and assertive.
• Sun Sports displayed a graphic at the beginning of the fourth quarter that showed the Magic have the fifth-best record of any NBA team when entering the fourth quarter with the lead. I called it a jinx as soon as it happened. Hate to say I told you so, ALRIGHT.
• Dwight Howard played 42 minutes, yet got just 9 shots from the field and 5 shots from the  line. He needs more touches if we expect to win.
• Jameer Nelson was a late scratch. Carlos Arroyo got the start at point guard, and had a game to forget: no points on 5 shots. Jameer might have been able to make the difference tonight.
• Think we miss Brian Cook? Pat Garrity took Cook's spot in the rotation, going 1-of-4 and registering a plus-minus rating of minus-14. Ouch.

We have a tough matchup Cleveland in a nationally televised affair on Saturday. BIG GAME for us. Sure, we're essentially locked into the East's third seed, but we need to come out and stomp the Cavaliers to show the league and its observers that we can't be written-off.

	vs.
47-27		50-22
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Chris Paul
Maurice Evans	SG	Morris Peterson
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	P. Stojakovic
Rashard Lewis	PF	David West
Dwight Howard	C	T. Chandler
19 Nov 2007: Magic 95, Hornets 88

I did a double-take when I looked back in the archives and saw we beat the Hornets in our first meeting. Really? We beat the Hornets? Then I remembered that Chris Paul missed that game, and Tyson Chandler left early with a knee injury. So we eked-out a victory over a team missing the best point guard in the league and its All-Star caliber center. Forgive me if I'm not too enthusiastic about that win, which also happened to be the last time Trevor Ariza played in a Magic uniform; we traded him to the Lakers for Maurice Evans and Brian Cook the next day.

The New Orleans Hornets are really freaking good. 50-22, on top of the best conference in the NBA, and, by extension, on top of the best division in the NBA. But because they play in a small market, haven't gone on a huge win streak, and didn't make a huge trade this season, they're flying under the radar. For more on the Hornets, let's hear from Rohan, who writes for At The Hive.

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3QC: Chris Paul is a legitimate MVP candidate having arguably the best "pure" point guard statistical season (21.6 points, 11.3 assists, 2.7 steals, 49% shooting as of this writing) in the history of the league... and he won't turn 23 until May. How high is his ceiling? Can he -- or anyone else, for that matter -- play the position any better than he is right now?

Rohan: This guy is playing scary basketball right now. You put it well- he is indeed having the greatest year statistically in the history of the point guard position. His 28.8 PER eclipses anything Oscar Robertson, or Magic ever did; in fact the top 10 PER years by point guards are all Magic and Oscar, except for CP up at number 1. Right now there's nobody even close to Paul; Nash is posting a 21.1 (his best MVP year was 23.8), and he's the closest guy there is to Paul this year. In fact, Nash, Jose Calderon of Toronto, and Utah's Deron Williams are the only other guys in the 20's, but Paul is getting close to the 30's nonetheless.

Pretty much any Hornet telecast you tune into, you'll hear the announcers comparing Paul to another great, Isiah Thomas. Comparing with the same stage in Isiah's career, Paul shoots about 3 percent better, pulls down half a rebound more per game, shoots 12 percent better from the stripe and 4 percent better from long range, is about even on steals and assists, but impressively averages an entire turnover less. And according to Dean Oliver's DRtg stat, Paul is actually the better defensive point guard overall.

As far as his ceiling goes... let me just say, I'd be happy if he didn't improve from his current level at all. That said, there's two things I can pinpoint as areas of potential improvement. The first is a must- improving defensively against bigger point guards. I'm sure you've heard of his struggles against Deron Williams. The Jazz guard has about 4 inches and almost 40 pounds on him, which is huge. CP is going to have to learn to outsmart Williams on the court, and rely on his quickness to defend him. Utah's the one team I absolutely do not want to see in the playoffs, and the Chris Paul-DWill matchup is a large part of that. The second potential improvement isn't as much of a necessity- I want to see if Chris Paul can continue his fantastic improvement on jump shots. He came into the league at 45 eFG% and is currently at 53%. That's a testament to the work he's put in during the offseasons, and if he can ever come near Steve Nash levels (ie, 60%), playing against him would just be unfair.

3QC: In a Q-and-A session with ClipsNation, I gave Steve an opportunity to talk about how great Al Thornton is. So, in that vein, I'm giving you a few paragraphs to rave about David West, the Hornets' starting power forward and arguably the league's most underappreciated player. Have at it.

Rohan: Haha, I just kind of went off on Chris Paul, so this feels weird. Nevertheless, I'll gladly take the opportunity. West is one my favorites for one big reason: he gets maximum results out of his specific skill set. What I mean by that is West isn't as athletically gifted as the Howards (who is?), Amares, Odoms, or Garnetts of the world. When you watch him play, you won't be awed by an explosive first step or come from behind rejection into the eighth row. Even with Paul continually throwing alley-oop lobs, you'll never see West on the finishing end of one of those dunks. And he understands that. When he first broke into the league, I (and other Hornets' fans) came to know him as a tireless worker on the glass. Gradually, he improved his offensive game, year by year.

West is equal parts power and finesse- one of his go-to moves is powering his upper body into a defender, before taking a soft fall away jumper. Unlike most power forwards, he will give you a decent cross over as part of his drive to the hole. One thing you and your readers might not like though is that he'll be yelling every second of every minute of every game (at the refs). I'm stunned he hasn't gotten more technicals this year, but off the court, he's a really low-key and mild mannered dude.

3QC: Talk a bit about the job Byron Scott has done coaching this team. Certainly having the All-Star talent of Paul and West helps, but he's also turned the likes of Ryan Bowen, Rasual Butler, and Melvin Ely into regular rotation players. Is there a more deserving candidate for Coach of the Year?

Rohan: I say he's COY. First, I don't think he gets enough credit for the offensive system he's implemented in New Orleans. A lot of people will just point at Chris Paul and say it's pretty easy to coach with a point guard like him. However, they miss how well he's taught the other Hornets' players their specific duties on offense; New Orleans implements a highly complex variation of the Princeton offense. This allows the finds CP has to make to be a lot less risky; Peja Stojakovic is having one of the best seasons of his career due to the way Scott has set up the offense for him.

On the defensive end, Scott makes his case even stronger. In the last three years, the Hornets have jumped up in defensive efficiency rankings, starting at 20th, getting to 16th, and culminating at 9th. That's really impressive to me when you have a guy like Peja Stojakovic as a starter. Stojakovic isn't atrocious, but he's certainly a weak link; Scott specifically designs the defensive strategies, game to game, to cover for Peja through various types of help defense. On the player-coach interaction front, Scott has successfully integrated a known head case, Bonzi Wells, and a guy coming off a 2 year NBA ban, Chris Andersen, back into the rotation. That has to count for something.

3QC: Along the same lines, how about the work Jeff Bower has done in assembling this team? It really is hard to imagine better complements to Paul than Peja Stojakovic at the three and Tyson Chandler at the five. Does he deserve Executive of the Year consideration? Or is he just really, really, really good?

Rohan: Yeah, this team has been assembled through some very shrewd moves over the past few years. Number one is obviously the Chris Paul selection (by all accounts, New Orleans had him higher on their board than Deron Williams). The P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith for Tyson Chandler deal is looking brilliant. The decision to slowly elevate David West into the starting PF role (let alone giving him a chance as an undersized PF) instead of pursuing a big name free agent has worked out beautifully. Getting a three point shooter some pegged to be on the downside of his career has paid dividends. Most impressive, to me, was Bower pulling the trigger on acquiring Bonzi Wells, and reacquiring Chris Andersen. You have to understand that this was a playoff team with or without those two guys. Bower could've easily sat back, and have been absolved of any of the potential blame that comes with acquiring a head-case and a former drug user. Instead, he showed real commitment to building a bona fide contender- he put his own neck on the line for the good of the franchise. To me, that's worth just as much, if not more, than signing two big name free agents in one offseason (Boston).

3QC: This question's really just for fun. This year, the Hornets introduced an alternate logo, cleverly titled the "fleur de bee," to be worn on a jersey patch. What's your take on the fleur de bee? I ask only because I think it's the best alternate logo in the league, and because not enough people see it.

Rohan: Hahaha, you're right, it's indeed a clever play on the "fleur de lis" and props are in order to whomever coined that. I think it really showed the Hornets commitment (at the time it was released) to the city of New Orleans, with all the drama floating around about leaving the city. The city and its fans have just rewarded the franchise's commitment by showing up to games en masse these last two months.

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Thanks once again to Rohan for his insight. Check out his site, At The Hive, for more on the Hornets. Click here for my answers to his questions about the Magic, including my take on Rashard Lewis' contract. Another great resource for Hornets news and analysis is Hornets 247. There's also this great post about the Hornets at Hardwood Paroxysm.

As Biased Fan reminds us in this comment here at 3QC, a Magic victory over the Hornets tonight goes one step closer to helping the Jazz secure home-court advantage in the West. I think we owe them that much, since their drubbing of the Wizards last night sealed the Southeast Division title for us.

The tip's at 7 on Sun Sports, and there really is no excuse not to watch this game. Clear your schedule. Chris Paul should will be a joy to watch, even if when he's shredding our perimeter defense.

Get them donuts. Go Magic.

• 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.

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 »

Dwight Howard and Tyson Chandler, two of the NBA's best rebounders, battle under the boards in the Magic's victory over the Hornets.
Photo by Ann Heisenfelt, the Associated Press

Due to other engagements, I was unable to watch the first three quarters of tonight's 95-88 victory. That was probably a bad thing for this site, but a good thing for my blood pressure. When I finally switched the game on, the TV showed the Magic held a 70-68 lead. A graphic showed the Magic lead by as many as 21 points in the first half, but had since shot 6-of-24 from the field and committed 9 turnovers.

Great, I thought. Another blown lead on the road, on the second night of a back-to-back, no less.

It didn't matter. Though the Hornets briefly took leads of 78-76 and 80-79, the Magic were able to assert themselves and win the game. Dwight Howard was his usual dominant self, posting 24 points, 15 rebounds, along with the dunk that gave the Magic the lead for good. But the real reason we won -- at least as far as the box score will tell me, anyway -- is we finally got some help from our bench. Keith Bogans was just 2-of-6 tonight, but Keyon Dooling made up for it by going for 15 points in his relief. Dooling posted an incredible +/- of 23, which is remarkable in and of itself, but especially when considering that he played a mere 24 minutes. For virtually every minute he was on the floor, the Magic outscored the Hornets by a point. That's huge.

But as great as it is to jump to 10-2, we still have to be mindful of our mistakes. On most nights, we won't win if we shoot 8-of-30 from three-point range. It's just not going to happen. Luckily, Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu hit clutch treys late, and bailed us out. Otherwise, we'd have a soul-crushing loss on our hands headed into San Antonio in what can arguably be called a matchup of the league's two best teams.

I'd like to end by congratulating Dwight Howard on being selected as the Eastern Conference's Player of the Week. He averaged 23.3 points and 13.3 rebounds as the Magic went 4-0, boosting their record to 9-2.

	vs.
9-2		9-2
New Orleans Arena
8:00 PM
FSN Florida
Probable starters:
Jannero Pargo	PG	Jameer Nelson
Morris Peterson	SG	Keith Bogans
Peja Stojakovic	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
David West	PF	Rashard Lewis
Tyson Chandler	C	Dwight Howard

Academic commitments are going to keep me away from the internet for much of today, which is why this preview doesn't contain all of the usual features. Leave all your pre-, in-, and post-game comments in this thread.