We beat the Hawks 104-93 in our first preseason game. The 4th quarter, we had bench players in, the only starter on the floor was Stevenson, while the Hawks had their starting 5 in. Looking at the box, it looked like Dwight had a huge game. He only had 8 and 2 at halftime, but someone must have lit a fire under him because he had 7 and 5 in the 3rd quarter alone. He also shutdown Al Harrington to 1-9 shooting. Dwight shot 5-6 and 5-8 from the line. Mario Kasun looked like he played very good, shooting 70% with 14 pts and 7 boards, 3 steals, and a block. Down the stretch he sparked the run, he had 6 straight points and like 2 steals in a 3 possession swing. Stevenson lit it up as well, he had 15 pts and 6 boards. Francis had an alright game, he had 5 TO's though. Tony Battie showed his defensive presence with 3 blocks. Jameer and Hedo really struggled though. Jameer was 2-8 from the floor and 2-4 from the line with 3 TO's and 2 assists. He is a very slow starter, so I'm not worried about him at all. Hedo had 10 pts on 4-9 from the floor. He also had 4 rebounds 3 assists. Keyon Dooling was our best bench guard with 10 pts on 4-7 from the floor. We just couldn't stop Zaza Pachilia though, he went 5-7 from the field and 8-10 from the line for a modest 18 pts 6 boards. I've always liked him and I wish we would have kept him instead of Declerq(even though he did go to UF) Here is the box.... http://www.nba.com/games/20051011/ORLATL/boxscore.html I know it was only preseason, but the future is looking good for us!
A good first game, I am surprized though at Hedo's lack of stats. Jameer also shot terribly and played badly in most facets of the game, I personally think he would play better if he was playing at the tip-off but I'm sure he'll get it together from the bench is he has to. Garrity also got more minutes than I expected. It was only the hawks, who I think are still the worst team in the league even with Joe Johnson, but we showed some good things.
^Exactly my feeling. I expect a solid season from him, he only needs to learn not to get into foul trouble but becoming slightly more aggressive under the basket. Even though this game was only aggainst Atlanta it gets me pretty excited about our season.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheMegaGreg:</div><div class="quote_post">What about Grant Hill? 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in 27 minutes...not too bad at all</div> Not bad at all. It is great to see Grant like that. I love Dwight's 3rd quarter, keep it Dwight, your the next big thing.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Coranor:</div><div class="quote_post">^Exactly my feeling. I expect a solid season from him, he only needs to learn not to get into foul trouble but becoming slightly more aggressive under the basket. Even though this game was only aggainst Atlanta it gets me pretty excited about our season.</div> 2nd Game, and 6 fouls in 14 minutes. To be fair it was against Yao.
