Briefly:

• The Lakers and Celtics are set to meet in the NBA Finals again and I couldn't care less. As someone who wasn't even alive was barely a year old the last time these two teams played for the title, the history means nothing to me. As far as I'm concerned, these teams' history concerns two games from the 2007-2008 season. That's it. The only thing these Lakers and Celtics teams have in common with their historical counterparts is the wordmarks on the uniforms.
• That said, Lakers in 6.
• ... with no disrespect intended to Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who coached the Magic for the first part of this decade.
• The Bulls' all-but-official hiring of Doug Collins as their head coach makes no sense from a common-sense perspective, but perfect sense to John Paxson, their GM. And to think everyone once praised the guy for drafting Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng. As far as I'm concerned, he's the boob who traded LaMarcus Aldridge, overpaid for Andres Nocioni, and failed to trade for Pau Gasol.
• The Pistons as we know them are probably dead, as all signs point to them firing Flip Saunders and trading Rasheed Wallace. Their likely breakup saddens me; in spite of everything they did to the Magic this decade, I wanted them to win the title this year. The thought of the Lakers, Celtics, or Spurs winning it instead was just too awful to stand.
• Speaking of the Spurs... I'm not losing any sleep over their demise. And I'm glad that Robert Horry is done. Pretty soon, we won't have to listen to him say ridiculous things like "I'm smarter than probably 98 percent of this league."

Magic player-by-player evaluations start tomorrow with Carlos Arroyo and will run Monday-Friday for each of the next two weeks. See you then.

Fifty is nifty. Here's Mike's recap. - BQR

For the first time since the 1995-'96 season, the Magic have achieved 50 victories in a season, thanks to a 104-84 victory over the Bulls.  The Magic led from start to finish and put the Bulls away in the fourth quarter while leading by as many as 24 points as they outscored Chicago 22-10 in the final period.  The Magic led 36-24 at the end of the first quarter as they shot 11 of 14 (78.6%), including 5 of 7 from 3 pt range.  Chicago cut the Magic lead to 53-48 at the half and trailed 82-74 after three quarters before the Magic put the game away in the final period.

Hedo Turkoglu was the overall star of the game for the Magic, as he scored 24 points with 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals.  Dwight Howard was a big factor down low again, scoring 13 first quarter points and finished with 19 points in just three quarters.  Even though he attempted just four field goals, Howard was fouled repeatedly trying to shoot down low and made a very respectable 13 of 17 free throws.

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	vs.
48-29		30-47
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports HD
Probable starters:
Jameer Nelson	PG	Kirk Hinrich
Maurice Evans	SG	Larry Hughes
Hedo Turkoglu	SF	Luol Deng
Rashard Lewis	PF	Tyrus Thomas
Dwight Howard	C	Joakim Noah
Season series:
31 Dec 2007: Magic 112, Bulls 110
15 Jan 2008: Magic 112, Bulls 88

Both combatants tonight are coming off inexcusable losses. The Magic fell to the Knicks on Sunday night, and the Bulls dropped a game to the Heat last night. Losing to the Knicks is bad, but to the Heat? Well, we certainly shouldn't have trouble with the Bulls then.

Not so fast. Bulls guards Larry Hughes and Ben Gordon have each scored 40 points against us this season, although Hughes was still a Cavalier when he did that. Still, they've given us problems in the past, and we can't overlook them.

Dwight Howard will play despite taking an elbow from Marcin Gortat in practice yesterday. If Brian Schmitz had his way, J.J. Redick would play 20-to-25 minutes tonight. I wouldn't bet on it.

Mike From Illinois will have the recap for you. Go Magic.

	vs.
23-15		14-21
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports HD
Probable starters:
The Closer	PG	Chris Duhon
Mogans	SG	Kirk Hinrich
Turk	SF	Luol Deng
Sweet Lew	PF	Joe Smith
Big Baby Jesus	C	Ben Wallace

The last time these two teams met was December 31st. Hedo Turkoglu's tough jumper won the game for us with just 0.7 seconds left in overtime. We overcame 39 points from Ben Gordon and held Luol Deng to 21 points on 7-of-18 shooting. It was an exciting game, and probably our best effort in recent memory.

Also notable about that game: Carlos Arroyo started, and played very well (14 points on 7-of-7 shooting in 21 minutes). Since then, his play has tailed off, and Jameer Nelson has reclaimed his starting role. Nelson provided a big spark off the bench in that first meeting, so it'll be interesting to see if he plays well against the same lineup under different circumstances.

All is not well with the Bulls. They're dead-last in the Central Division despite being preseason favorites to win the Eastern Conference, or at least contend for its crown. The most recent big news out of the Windy City is that Joakim Noah was suspended by his teammates for an outburst directed at Ron Adams, a Chicago assistant coach, in practice. The organization suspended Noah for one game, but his teammates decided that it wasn't enough. The two players who called him out were Adrian Griffin and Ben Wallace. Matt from BlogABull wasn't too thrilled with that development:

It was all scripted so well. The veterans band together and single out a young insubordinate for further punishment. Everybody on the same page, showing leadership, salvaging the season. Sit back and wait for glowing remarks on your behalf.

But see, if you're going to play this "galvanizing the team" game, it shouldn't be initiated by Griffin and Wallace: someone who doesn't play, and someone who can no longer play (and is known for clashing with coaches himself!). And then have it endorsed by a lame-duck coach.

No one knows for sure what exactly Noah said that so upset the coaching staff and his teammates, but the Blowtorch has an idea of what might have transpired.

So the Bulls have some chemistry issues, while we have some suck defensive issues. We allowed each opponent on our Western road trip to score 100 points, and in the two games before that -- both home losses -- we surrendered 96 points each time. The poor defense has to stop. Earlier this season, we were in the top-5 in defensive efficiency. Now, we're 10th. Okay, being in the top third of the league in defense isn't awful, but the point is that we're underachieving, and Stan Van Gundy needs to get our guys more motivated defensively. I think Dwight in particular needs to step it up. He's turned into a pretty good shot-blocker, but opponents still aren't shy about shooting even with him in the lane.

Tipoff tonight is at 7, and the game is in HD, so you can see every lock of Joakim Noah's nappy hair.

Hedo Turkoglu celebrates his game-winning jump-shot in the Orlando Magic's thrilling 112-110 overtime victory over the host Chicago Bulls on New Year's Eve.
Photo by Gary Dineen, NBAE/Getty Images

The Magic closed out 2007 in style by defeating the Bulls in a New Year's Eve matinée by a final score of 112-110. Orlando overcame a fantastic performance by Chicago's Ben Gordon, who came off the bench to score 39 points on 16-of-27 shooting. Luol Deng added 21 points for Chicago, which dropped to 2-1 under Jim Boylan, its new interim head coach. Here's the box score for today's game, and here is ESPN.com's highlight reel. Don't blink at the beginning or you'll miss Keyon Dooling's tremendous tomahawk dunk.

It was a playoff-like atmosphere in Chicago, with both teams exerting extra effort on both ends of the floor. The crowd also got into it. Indeed, had it been a playoff game, especially given its spectacular finish -- Hedo Turkoglu hit a game-winning fifteen-footer with 0.7 seconds left in overtime -- it likely would have ended up on ESPN Classic the next morning. As it is, both teams should be happy with their efforts, especially considering the holiday.

Carlos Arroyo started at point guard for Orlando, even though Jameer Nelson, who had started 131 consecutive games, was healthy enough to play. Arroyo did a great job of running the offense early, and made good decisions. In addition to tallying 4 assists to just 1 turnover, Carlos made each of his 7 field-goal attempts, which indicates he picked his spots correctly. Nelson came off the bench to lead us in scoring with 22 points. Surprisingly, he was a difference-maker on the defensive end, drawing two charges and coming up with several loose balls to swing momentum in our direction. It appears as though Arroyo has taken Nelson's starting job, and he's earned it. If Jameer continues to play this well off the bench, the move will have been for the best.

Keith Bogans should be commended for his defense on Ben Gordon. Yeah, I know, Gordon scored a ton of points, but he had to work for each and every one of them. Bogans had a hand in Gordon's face on seemingly all his shot attempts; it's just that the shots were dropping. Perhaps Bogans' tenacious defense played a role in Gordon wearing down in overtime, forcing him to miss badly on what would be Chicago's last significant shot attempt (Ben Wallace was credited for his halfcourt heave at the final buzzer).

Despite not scoring much, Dwight Howard really made the difference more than any other player in this game. His defense was outstanding, but that might have more to do with the fact that he was able to stray away from Wallace as much as he wanted to. With under a minute remaining in the fourth quarter, Gordon ran a pick-and-roll with Wallace. As Wallace, an offensive non-factor, rolled to the basket, Howard showed sharply, driving Gordon nearly to halfcourt before reaching in and swatting the ball away. Jameer Nelson recovered the ball, drew a shooting foul on Gordon, and tied the game on the ensuing free throws.

Rashard Lewis is conspicuous in his absence in today's recap, so I'll offer this information: Lewis played well, scoring 19 points on just 13 shot attempts. He also finished with a team-high 6 assists. However, he shot only 2 free throws, which illustrates his lack of offensive assertiveness. Perhaps he would get the chance to be the hero if he were to drive the ball to the basket more often. Lewis is the our highest-paid player and also our most scrutinized. He was hailed before the season as a guy who could play the role of go-to scorer. Yet Stan Van Gundy didn't trust him enough on the game's final possession to call his number, instead opting to put the ball in Turkoglu's hands. Yes, Turk has played phenomenally this year, but he had a horrible game today: just 7-of-19 shooting (6-of-18 before his game-winner went in) to go with 7 turnovers. So, I pose this question: What does Rashard Lewis have to do to supplant Hedo Turkoglu as Orlando's number-one crunch-time scorer?

The Magic finish the 2007 portion of this season with a 22-11 record, including 8-7 in December. They'll have New Year's Day off before facing the struggling New Jersey Nets on Wednesday.

	vs.
11-17		21-11
United Center
2:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Chris Duhon	PG	Carlos Arroyo
Kirk Hinrich	SG	Keith Bogans
Luol Deng	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Joe Smith	PF	Rashard Lewis
Ben Wallace	C	Dwight Howard

The Bulls are 2-1 since they fired Scott Skiles and 2-0 under Jim Boylan, their new interim coach. However, those two victories came over Milwaukee and New York, which are last in their respective divisions at this point. As a result, BlogABull is nonplussed.

The Magic will have to contend with Ben Gordon coming off the bench. Gordon won the NBA's Sixth-Man award in his rookie season and has thrived in that role throughout his career. Still, I question the wisdom of a team benching its number-one scoring threat when it's also the least efficient offensive team in the league... at least as of the last time KnickerBlogger updated his stats.

Although the Bulls have won two straight games, the Magic should beat them. In fact, they should be embarrassed if they don't. The Magic are coming off victories against inferior teams -- New York, Miami, and Charlotte -- but they can't let that stop them from putting their collective foot on their opponent's collective neck. We dropped winnable games against Indiana, Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Memphis earlier this month; we can atone for that somewhat by making it four straight wins with a victory over da Bulls today.

Tipoff is at 2:00 PM on Sun Sports, so set your DVRs if you have to work (like me) or are going to sleep in (like Dad Q. Rock).