The Orlando Magic will introduce their new uniforms on September 23rd, if you believe this teaser image posted on the team's official online store:

Is that when the team will reveal the new uniforms? Is that when they go on-sale? Both? Neither? The image doesn't tell us much, other than to circle September 23rd on our calendars... because something will happen. Hooray! Nebulousness!

Don't read at all into the fact that Dwight Howard is "blacked out" in the teaser image. As we saw in the Getty Images rookie photo leak two weeks ago, the Magic's new uniforms are blue, not black. League rules dictate that teams must wait two years to introduce an alternate uniform after a uniform change, which means the soonest we'll see the team in black is 2010. Bummer, I know.

Speaking of bummers and Dwight Howard, he did not fare so well against Greece yesterday. Hampered by foul trouble, he played just 12 minutes and watched his backup, Chris Bosh, steal the spotlight yet again with a game-high-tying 18 points. I'm not worried, though. Bosh's finesse and keen defensive instincts make him a better fit for international competition than Dwight, which is fine. Dwight could average 0 points and 5 fouls per game and I wouldn't care as long as the United States won the gold medal. I just hate to see Dwight's confidence shaken. And he is playing with that sullen look Magic fans have come to fear. I hope he regains his focus, and soon. Spain, the next-most talented team in the tournament, awaits this Saturday at 8 AM. He'll have the chance to pay Pau Gasol back for all the flopping he did in February.

Carlos Arroyo, arguably the best point guard left on the free-agent market, is taking his game overseas. Brian Schmitz has heard rumblings that Arroyo signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv. He cites a report from Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper. I can't find the particular report on the paper's website, though, but Schmitz is a credible enough source.

The Magic had no plans to bring Arroyo back, as he fell out of favor with Stan Van Gundy at the end of last season. Still, the team could have done worse than re-sign Arroyo as a backup. The Magic's finances are dwindling, as is the league's free-agent pool. If they're going to bolster their point guard rotation, they might just have to make a trade.

UPDATE: Arroyo's name now appears on the team's official roster. He joins some fairly familiar names, as Maccabi Tel Aviv also employs Marcus Fizer, the fourth overall selection in 2000; Lior Eliyahu, a former Magic draft pick whose rights were traded to Houston; Esteban Batista, a former Atlanta Hawk; and D'or Fisher, who played for the Magic's summer-league team last month.

A reminder: if you missed Team USA play Team Russia in a pre-Olympics exhibition this morning at 3 AM, ESPN2 will re-broadcast the game at 7 PM. I don't want to spoil the outcome, but I will say it was, by far, Dwight Howard's weakest effort as a member of Team USA. In fact, Chris Sheridan believes Howard may lose some of his minutes to Chris Bosh. Ouch.

This summer, 3QC will take a look back on each Magic player's 2007-2008 season. The first nine posts will evaluate, on an individual basis and in alphabetical order, the players who played in at least 20% of the team's total minutes; the final post will briefly evaluate the five players who appeared in less than 20% of the team's minutes.

Today, our focus is Rashard Lewis.

Rashard Lewis faced more scrutiny last season than any other Magic player had in recent memory. Fresh off signing the largest contract in team history, Lewis entered the 2007/2008 season facing high expectations. The Magic hoped Lewis would become the top-flite scorer the likes of which they hadn't employed since Tracy McGrady last donned blue-and-white.

The result? Mixed.

There's no telling what sort of season Lewis would have had if Tony Battie, Orlando's incumbent power forward, hadn't suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in October. With Battie out, the Magic had no choice but to start Lewis, a natural small forward, at power forward. At 6'10", Lewis has the height to defend most other power forwards, but not the strength or skill-set. As a result he had to expend most of his energy on the defensive end, muscling up against the likes of Zach Randolph, Chris Bosh, and Kevin Garnett. As one might expect, Lewis finished with poor rebounding and block numbers for his position.

Offensively, Lewis played a game more in line with his skills. He roamed the perimeter and launched three-pointers with impunity, keeping defenses honest. But apart from the very infrequent post-up on the left block, Lewis showed little offensive versatility and became the team's third option on most offensive sets.

Not that he seemed to mind. He never complained publicly about his role with the team, recognizing that Dwight Howard is, unequivocally, its cornerstone, and Hedo Turkoglu is its savviest scorer since McGrady. But as much as we appreciate Lewis' being a team player, we still wish he'd assert himself more often. Because of Turkoglu's emergence as a playmaker, the Magic rarely called on Lewis to win games for them, but when they did, the result was not always pretty:

• 30 November 2007: Losing to Phoenix by 2 points with 9 seconds to play, Stan Van Gundy draws up a play for Lewis, shooting 6-of-18 (3-of-11 from beyond the arc), to take a three. Lewis might have been fouled, but it doesn't matter. The shot misses. Magic lose.
• 21 January 2008: With the game versus Detroit knotted at 100, the Magic have 3.6 seconds and the ball coming out of a timeout. They go to Lewis at the top of the arc. He dribbles to the right side of the key, gets Richard Hamilton in the air with a great fake, and hoists a 15-footer at the buzzer. Money. Magic win.
• 8 February 2008: Trailing the Lakers by 3 with 14 seconds to play, Lewis gets the ball in the right corner and shoots what would have been the game-tying basket. Lamar Odom gets his fingertips on it. Magic lose.
• 1 April 2008: Down 1 to New Orleans, the Magic go to Lewis at the top of the key, as they did against Detroit two months previous. Lewis once again dribbles right, only this time he passes to Keyon Dooling on the wing. Dooling, who did not appear ready to receive the pass, rushes his jumper and misses. Magic lose.

If the Magic expect to become elite, they need to get more offense from Lewis, especially in late-game situations now that opposing teams expect them to go to Turkoglu. The answer might be to move him to small forward, which should boost his scoring average and, perhaps, his confidence in the clutch.

But overall, Lewis was the ideal third banana, if we use Bill Simmons' description:

he ideal "third banana" should be someone who isn't consistent enough to be great, but good enough to have a game-to-game impact and occasionally carry you for a game.

Looking simply at Lewis' statistics and skills, there are plenty of GMs who would love to add him to their teams, but certainly not at the price Otis Smith paid him. Fairly or unfairly, the media judge players based on their salaries, as if they somehow expect players to show humility by turning down nine-figure salaries. Lewis would've needed an MVP-caliber season to justify his contract. Magic fans had to settle for him being their team's third-best player. They probably weren't okay with that, but somehow, I think Rashard is.

Some playoff-centric stories for today...

• Brian Schmitz writes that tonight's Game Five between the Magic and the Raptors is Orlando's biggest in the Dwight Howard era:

  All season the mantra for the Magic --- heck, all offseason, since they were swept by the Pistons --- has been this:

  Win a series for the first time in 12 years, and it has been a great season. Everything after that is gravy.

  But lose, yikes, and 52-30 has all but been a waste of time. A good run spoiled.

  [....]

  The Howard Era Magic have taken step No. 1: Winning a playoff game.

  They have taken step No. 2: Winning a road playoff game.

  Now this is step No. 3: Closing out a series.

• Stan Van Gundy, who I imagine will receive some third-place Coach of the Year votes, used Pat Garrity extensively in practice yesterday, even though he's not likely to play in this series. Garrity, as the longest-tenured Magic player, participated in practice and spoke to his teammates about what it's like to lose a 3-1 lead in a playoff series.
• Meanwhile, David Whitley worries that Orlando residents will blame the Orlando Sentinel for jinxing the Magic if they lose tonight's game, and if they go on to lose the series.

  Regardless, I don't want Sentinel fingerprints near the Magic's windpipe. So we completely endorse the following comments:

  "It's not over yet," Dwight Howard said.

  "We're taking it one game at a time," Jameer Nelson said.

  "I'm looking forward to the second round," Tracy McGrady said.

  Arrrghhh. Please forget that last one.

  I'd say he did a fine job covering the Sentinel's assets on that one. I question the choice of decorating the front page of this morning's Sports section with a toe-tagged version of the Raptors' alternate logo. Yikes.

• Steve Buffery of the Toronto Sun (via TrueHoop) says Raptors coach Sam Mitchell needs to put Jason Kapono in the starting lineup tonight. After all, what does Mitchell have to lose? His job? Here's an interesting statistic from Buffery's article: Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh are essentially canceling each other out in this series. But the Magic's remaining four starters are scoring 16.7 points per game each, compared to 8.7 points per game for the Raptors. And Mitchell won Coach of the Year last year? Uh, okay...

One final, non-playoff link:

• Last week, We Rite Good hosted the final round of 2007/2008's blogger MVP/RoY rankings. They expanded the rankings to include Coach of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, and Seventh Man of the Year. So, here's Part I and here's Part II.

Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, and Keith Bogans celebrate the Magic's come-from-behind victory in Game Four of their first-round playoff series with the Toronto Raptors.
Photo by J.P. Moczulski, The Canadian Press

I don't think there are enough words to describe how proud I am -- and how proud we all should be -- of our team. The Magic outscored the Raptors, 33-20, in the final period of yesterday's Game Four to secure a 106-94 victory and a 3-games-to-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Our guys battled back from an early deficit to seize control of the game in the fourth quarter. Allow me to heap superlatives on them:

• Rashard Lewis tied a season-high with 27 points, and set a season-high with 13 rebounds (aided by a career-high-tying 7 offensive rebounds)
• Dwight Howard set a career-high with 8 blocked shots, which also sets a Magic franchise record for blocks in a playoff game. His final swat came with two minutes to play and the Raptors trailing by only 5. The Magic got the rebound and Rashard Lewis drilled a back-breaking three-pointer to seal the win.
• Jameer Nelson played a nearly flawless fourth quarter, with 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting. The only blemish on his line that period? 2-of-4 from the free throw line. That's it. That's all he did wrong. This effort coming from a guy who collapsed after Game Three due to bak spasms. Outstanding.

Basically, we had an answer for everything Toronto threw at us. 39 points for Chris Bosh? Fine. 13 assists for T.J. Ford? Okay. Didn't matter. We were simply the better, gutsier team yesterday, and that bodes well for us as the series continues.

That's not to say we're worldbeaters or anything. Being up 3-1 is nice and all, but it doesn't mean we're about to win the series. The last time we were up 3-1, well, the Pistons ate our lunch in the next three games thanks to Tracy McGrady's big mouth, so pardon me for not pulling out the confetti just yet. But our victory yesterday was so impressive that Yahoo!'s Kelly Dwyer thinks we'll make the Finals by 2009 if we strengthen our second unit. I hate to forecast so far into the future, but there's no question that we're making a strong case for belonging in the discussion about the NBA's elite teams.

I am thoroughly impressed with the victory. A similar effort tomorrow night, even if Jose Calderon (2 points, 1-of-7 shooting) and Ford (12 points, 6-of-16 shooting) finally get back on track, should result in a series victory and a spot in the second round of the playoffs.

Hedo Turkoglu shoots a layup over Chris Bosh. Despite Turkoglu's game-high 26 points -- including 11 n the fourth quarter -- the Magic fell, 108-94. Photo by Ron Turenne, NBAE/Getty Images

The Raptors jumped out to a hot start last night and never looked back, winning Game Three of their first-round series with the Magic by a final score of 108-94. And you know what? I'm not surprised. At all.

The Raptors had a raucous crowd that puts ours to shame. That's not to say that we in Orlando are bad fans, but rather that the Raptors Nation (read: Canada) is simply more passionate. And with all those fans screaming their lungs out as the Raptors jumped out to a 28-20 first-quarter lead, there was no doubt that it was simply not going to be our night.

Let me just laud the Raptors a bit:

• Give Sam Mitchell credit for starting Jamario Moon
• give owMoon credit for responding with a double-double, as he's done before against the Magic
• give T.J. Ford credit for recovering from poor shooting in his first two games to score a team-high 21 points
• give the entire Raptors team credit for shutting down Dwight Howard after the first period
• and so on...

However, we did some things right, too. We never gave up, even trimming what had been a 23-point lead to single digits early in the fourth quarter. As Kelly Dwyer noted at Ball Don't Lie, that sort of resiliency will help us in the later round of the playoffs, assuming we make it that far. Mike Bianchi disagrees, but I don't share his point of view. It's not like we put our heads down and mailed in the rest of the game. If we had, the loss margin would have been much greater than 14 points.

Over at the Sporting Blog, Bethlehem Shoals (of FreeDarko fame) writes that this series "might go the distance." Given how evenly played this series has been -- through three games, the Magic have scored 312 points, the Raptors have scored 311 -- I'm inclined to agree. The problem for us is that the Magic are trending downward and the Raptors are trending upward. But I'm not worried. We were due for a crappy game, and I fully expect us to leave the Air Canada Centre with a win tomorrow night. We aren't going to brick our three-pointers forever, no matter how noisy the crowd. Last night's loss was a mere bump in the road to the Conference semifinals. As Sleater-Kinney once said, "Don't worry. You got it."

The Magic beat the Raptors last night, 104-103, to take a 2-0 series lead before heading to Toronto for Games Three and Four. Dwight Howard once again dominated, posting 29 points and 20 rebounds, and his rejection of a Chris Bosh hook-shot -- his third block of the night -- with 23 seconds left to play essentially sealed the game for us. The Raptors fouled Hedo Turkoglu on the ensuing play, and he made both his free throws to extend the lead to three points. The Magic surrendered a layup to Carlos Delfino, knowing that the Raptors would have to foul the rest of the way. A questionable offensive foul call on Keyon Dooling gave the Raptors the game's final possession, but Bosh's fadeaway 21-footer at the buzzer (a play-call with which The Arsenalist was not pleased) fell short.

As with the first game in the series, the difference in last night's game was the Raptors' poor first-quarter play. Mitchell's team was unprepared yet again. The Raptors coach used the same ineffective starting lineup in Game Two that he did in Game One, and the result was essentially the same: Toronto trailed by 17 points after the first quarter last night, although by different means than when it trailed by 20 points after the first quarter in Game One. Whereas the Magic blew Game One open with nine three-pointers in the first frame, they blew Game Two open with fast-break baskets. Not to pile too heavily on Mitchell, but his team has surrendered an average of 39 points in the first quarters of its playoff games this year. It doesn't matter, in the won/loss column, anyway, that the Raptors rebound from their slow starts to match or exceed the Magic in the rest of the games. Their poor starts are dooming them.

In some ways, I'm happier with the win last night than I was with the blowout victory in Game One. Yes, margin of victory is a better indicator of team's ability level than simple won/lost record, and from that standpoint, Game One was a more impressive showing. But what I'm impressed with is our ability to win even though the three-point shot -- the most important part of our offense -- wasn't falling. We also managed to keep our composure in a hotly contested game when we could have melted down. Last year's team might have given up when the Raptors took a one-point lead with one minute to play, but we stuck with it. Confidence works wonders.

I want to say that we'll bury the Raptors in the next two games because Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu are going to get their shots to fall at some point. However, I'm not headed to the closet to fetch the broom just yet; Lewis may not ever get it going this series. He's playing his heart out and within the flow of the offense, which I like, but he just looks fatigued. He's using so much energy trying to stop Chris Bosh defensively that he doesn't have his legs under him; all of his three-point tries last night came up well short, even from the corner, where the line is slightly closer. At least he's making other contributions, though; he had five assists and five rebounds last night, including one just before the buzzer to preserve the Magic's one-point win.

After the game, Mitchell told reporters that he plans on adjusting the Raptors' starting lineup for Game Three. He didn't offer specifics, but his plan almost certainly has to include inserting Jose Calderon and Jason Kapono into the first five, which scares me. However, the fact that he's waiting until Game Three to make rotation adjustments bodes well for us. We haven't had to change anything in this series. Everyone knows his role. Stan Van Gundy has our guys well prepared, which is why I'm confident we'll win at least one of the next two games in Toronto.

Let's not forget, though, that the last time we played north of the border, Bosh dropped 40 points on Dwight Howard, and the Raptors ran us out of the gym. Luckily for us, Dwight's playing the best basketball of his career right now, and likely won't be stopped.

This attitude is what the Magic need more of. From Dwight's comments after the Magic beat the Wizards on Wednesday:

"Everybody knows what LeBron did, everybody remembers," Magic center Dwight Howard said. "I want to be remembered."

[....]

"We want Toronto to feel like they're in hell."

I want Dwight to be remembered, too, and not just for the Superman dunk. He can ascend from Superstardom to, uh, Superduperstardom (?) if he can dominate in the playoffs. As much as we worry about not having anyone who can guard Chris Bosh, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that somebody on the Raptors has to guard Howard. On whom will the Raptors call? How has Dwight done against that person historically?

Enter Rasho Nesterovic, the veteran center who's having a career renaissance in April, averaging 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 60% shooting from the field. But the focus of this piece is defense, so let's get to it. 82games shows us that he held opposing centers to a PER of 13.8 this season. That's all well and good, but how did he and Dwight do against one another in the regular season? Let's take a look:

These resources can't tell us who guarded whom in these stretches, so take the results with a grain of salt. However, it's reasonable to assume that Dwight and Rasho were indeed matched-up with one another. That was most evident in the third game, when the Raptors were without Bosh. Dwight scored 19 points in 29 minutes, but the play-by-play shows he did most of that damage when Rasho was off the floor. Overall, Dwight's total of 12 points in 26:36 against Nesterovic puts him on pace for 16.2 points per 36 minutes, well below his season average of 19.8 points per 36, which suggests that the Raptors can indeed rely on Nesterovic to contain Howard.

But can they afford to play him heavy minutes? Does he negatively impact the offense? While the Raptors are nearly 6 points worse per 100 possessions when Nesterovic is on the court, they shouldn't fret; when on the floor with the Raptors' other starters (T.J. Ford, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, and Bosh), Toronto outscores its opponent 82% of the time.

But...

When Dwight's motivated, he's awesome. After Stan Van Gundy famously called him out for his lack of effort, Dwight responded with a 23-point, 24-rebound effort against the Denver Nuggets, who employ Marcus Camby, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, at center.

So, one table and several paragraphs later, we're no closer to figuring out how Dwight will do against Rasho. Considering that Chris Bosh will get his points (probably 35 a game), and that Jamario Moon's athleticism poses problems for Hedo Turkoglu, it's important that Dwight at least scores at his usual rate. He's had trouble with Nesterovic in the past, but the playoffs are a different animal.

And so is Dwight.

COOKIE MONSTER is ready for the Magic's playoff series with the Raptors to begin. Are you?
NYCMagicFan

Today's news post features playoff prediction posts and reactions to the forthcoming Magic/Raptors postseason matchup...

• If you want to show you believe in Magic, you might consider using one of these signature images from NYCMagicFan. Brian Cook and Maurice Evans aren't available, sadly. However, COOKIE MONSTER is!
• Here's the Playoffs page on the Magic's official website. The theme is BLUE & WHITE IGNITE.
• A FanHouse post by Tom Ziller that details why 10 NBA teams are legitimate contenders this season. For what it's worth, the Magic are one of those teams; the Raptors are not. I'm just saying.
• Ziller Stuff the Magic Dragon writes about why the Magic will win the championship
• Basketbawful, writing at Deadspin, discusses how the controversial ending to last night's Cavaliers/76ers game impacted the Eastern playoff picture.
• Vincent Thomas of SLAM previews the Eastern playoffs. He picks the Magic to win in 6 games, citing the Raptors' over-reliance on European players ("This is not FIBA") as his reason. Note that in the first draft of this post, published before the bracket was set, Thomas picked the 76ers to upset the Magic.
• T. Jose Caldeford thinks the Dwight Howard-versus-Chris Bosh matchup makes for the most compelling Eastern Conference playoff story:

  There will be no other series in the East where two great players will be going at each other on both ends of the floor (Arenas and James don't match up against each other), and furthermore, this is a match up about different styles of play, about quickness and well-roundedness against overwhelming size and strength.

  Hard to disagree with that assessment.

• JasonLynx posted this interesting thread at the MagicMadness forums. The Raptors lost their season series against the other Eastern contenders; the Magic won or tied all theirs.

Stay tuned to 3QC for more Orlando Magic playoffs coverage. I imagine we'll kick-off the site's relaunch on Friday with some playoff discussion in an open thread. I've already started going over some numbers. Sound good?

Good. See you tonight versus Atlanta. Go Magic.

The Toronto Raptors' victory over the Miami Heat tonight, combined with the Philadelphia 76ers' loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, assured the Raptors the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and a first-round matchup with the Orlando Magic. The Cavaliers benefited from a questionable foul-call with 0.2 seconds remaining. Odenized has the video.

Bad news for us, because I really would prefer to play Philadelphia. But the Raptors haven't played well lately, as Doug Smith notes (HT: TrueHoop) and are vulnerable. Then again, we aren't exactly blowing teams out either. Maybe a matchup against the Magic is just what the Raptors need. Chris Bosh (averaging 33.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, .645 FG% vs. Orlando this season) and Jose Calderon (14.3 points, 7.3 assists, .600 FG%) must be salivating right now...

I'm not looking forward to the playoffs. It's nice to be there, but that's simply not good enough. And against the Raptors, I'm not sure we'll stick around very long.