<div align="center"> <font color=""green"">Minnesota Timberwolves (7-19)</font> @ <font color=""Blue"">Orlando Magic (10-15)</font> Friday, December 30, 2005 | 7:00 PM | TD Waterhouse Centre TV: WRBW | Radio: WDBO | Spanish Radio: AM 1030 WONQ</div> On Friday night, the Magic will face one of the better teams in the NBA, the Minnesota Timberwolves. Orlando has won two consecutive games and will be looking to finish their six game homestand with a victory. Meanwhile, the Timberwolves, who started the season off slowly, have had a lot of success recently. Led by superstar Kevin Garnett, Minnesota will be looking to secure their fifteenth win of the season. Both of these teams are capable of making the playoffs and tomorrow's game should be a good one that comes down to the wire. [DIV=50%]<div align="center"><font color=""Blue"">Orlando Magic Projected Starters</font> (Steve Francis, DeShawn Stevenson, Grant Hill, Dwight Howard, Tony Battie)</div> Steve Francis: Francis has performed well in our last two games and has been able to run the transition game very smoothly as of late. Against the Knicks on Wednesday, he racked up 17 points and 6 assists while making crisp passes and getting his teamates involved. Francis should have a relatively easy time scoring against Marko Jaric and will probably have to carry the scoring load for the Magic. DeShawn Stevenson: Stevenson has probably been the most consistent player throughout this six game homestand. He has had the tough job of matching up against Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, Michael Redd and Stephon Marbury. He has held his ground and has evolved into our defensive stopper who always sticks the opposing team's best player. Stevenson is growing as a player since making the jump from highschool and he still has a lot of potential. Grant Hill: Another impressive player who deserves credit for our last two wins is Grant Hill. He scored 20 points on Monday night against the Bucks and then scored a team high 26 points and 5 steals on Wednesday as the Magic crushed the Knicks. Hill can put points on the board and his production will determine how we do the rest of the season. Dwight Howard: Dwight has also been playing well recently and will have the tough task of covering Kevin Garnett on Friday night. The last time Dwight matched up against the Big Ticket he recorded a game high 20 rebounds. Look for him to continue his efficient rebounding but watch for our backcourt to handle the scoring load because of the TWolves good interior defense. Tony Battie: Battie played well on Wednesday night against the Bucks recording his third double-double of the season. Tony also provided a huge boost on defense with 4 blocks. Tonight he will be matched up against Eddie Griffin and he needs to do a good job against him to prevent Eddie from getting his second consecutive double double. [/div]<div align="center"><font color=""Green"">Minnesota Timberwolves Projected Starters</font> (Marko Jaric, Trenton Hassell, Wally Szczerbiak, Kevin Garnett, Eddie Griffin)</div> Marko Jaric: Marko Jaric is this team's distributor and defensive playmaker. It will be important for Francis to block off his passing lanes. He has the ability to score but he looks for open teamates before he looks for his own shot. He has only scored 20+ points twice this year so his scoring isn't something to worry about. His assists and steals on the other hand are things the Magic need to watch out for. Trenton Hassell: Hassell is a good role player who can give you 10 points and 4 rebounds any night. I don't think the Magic have to worry much about Hassell because his highest outing was for 14 points against the Blazers. DeShawn Stevenson will probably be covering Hassell and Wally depending on who is making a bigger impact in the game. Wally Szczerbiak: Wally has been lighting it up this month and is coming off a 30 point game against the Sonics. His lowest scoring game this month was an 18 point game against the Kings where he only played 36 minutes. We need to slow down Wally if we want to win this game because he can beat you off the drive and behind the arc which is a deadly combination for a scorer. Kevin Garnett: Everybody knows that Garnett is the Timberwolves franchise player and he is capable of taking over a game all by himself. He has recorded two double doubles in a row including a 26 point, 19 rebound outing against the Blazers. Dwight Howard will have his hands full against KG and should get some help from Battie if the Magic decide to go with a double team. Eddie Griffin: Griffin is another role player who recieved big minutes for the first time this season on Wednesday against the Sonics. He played great with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks. The Timberwolves have two big men who are talented on both ends of the court. Whether or not we can stop these two will determine the outcome of this game. <div align="center">Key Matchup Dwight Howard vs. Kevin Garnett</div> Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett are two big men who can fill up a stat sheet very easily night in and night out. Both came to the NBA straight from high school and both are seven footers who play the power forward position. Howard has the advantage when it comes to rebounds (12.4 RPG) but Garnett dominates on the offensive end (22.1 PPG). This matchup will be very interesting and these two should be going at it on both sides of the court all night long. <font color=""Blue"">Keys To The Game For Orlando</font> *Contain Kevin Garnett: Garnett is a great player and we need to contain him if we want to stand a chance in this game. He has the ability to score multiple ways and Howard and Battie will have to do their best against him. *Run The Fast Break: In our last game against the Bucks, we had 20 fast break points. We have been using the transition game effectively in our last couple of games and it is winning us games. If we can get out and run we should be able to put some easy points on the board. *Give Grant Hill the Ball! Grant Hill has scored 20 points or more in our last two wins and we need to let him continue this trend Friday night. He has a nice touch and is a very consistent shooter. Wally Szczerbiak is known for his great offensive game but he isn't the best defender. We need to take advantage of the Grant-Wally matchup and GIVE GRANT THE BALL! My Prediction The Magic are coming off two huge wins and have a lot of momentum coming into this game. I think we will try and finish off our home stand with a win and beat the Timberwolves. Another reason to go with the Magic in this one is that they will be wearing the throwback jerseys again. They are undefeated this season in them (3-0) and until someone beats us in the pinstripes I'm going to keep believing in them to win us games. GO MAGIC! <font size=""4"">PINSTRIPES BABY!</font>
Nice preview Swish. I am liking this game for the Magic, but only if they can manage to take Wally out of the game. The Minnesota Wolves have been successful this season, because they have managed to have a one two punch between Wally and KG. If the Magic can manage to take Wally out of the game it will allow them the opportunity to key in on KG and pull out a win. Anyway, should be a good contest KG against the future KG.
THE MAGIC WON! THIS IS CRAZY! WE HAVE WON 3 CONSECUTIVE GAMES! I SWEAR IT IS THE PINSTRIPES! 107-87! This is amazing. We were playing like the worst team in the league for awhile there and something has motivated us or something. Were playing awesome basketball now and we blew out the Timberwolves by 20 points! Little Jameer Nelson scored 25 points off the bench and Francis had 21! Dwight had another double double with 17 and 12. I hope the Magic can keep this up and I'm loving the pinstripes right about now. http://www.nba.com/games/20051230/MINORL/boxscore.html
It's this new offensive game we're bringing man! 100+ points eqauls a win for us. And i'm liking these pinstripes. I think I might have to buy a Dwight Howard Pinstripe if I can find one. Keep it up Magic!
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The superstitious Orlando Magic believe that wearing throwback uniforms has brought them luck in the form of three home victories. The practice also could bring them a fine from the NBA. League rules say that selected teams can wear throwbacks a maximum of 10 times this season. If the Magic keep winning and wearing them at home, they will be over the limit soon and subject to disciplinary action from the fashion police. The Magic say they have been contacted by Christopher Arena, vice president of apparel. Didn't know the league had a VP of apparel, huh? Shouldn't be surprising during a season in which the NBA came out with a dress code for players. Anyway, the Magic want to keep wearing their white pinstriped uniforms from their inaugural 1989-90 season until they lose at home -- and that could cost them. They're seemingly fine with paying any fine, as long as they keep winning at TD Waterhouse Centre. The Magic first wore them Dec. 10 and beat the Denver Nuggets. Then they donned them again and defeated the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night and then the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. </div> <div align="center">Source</div>
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Best Kept Secret:</div><div class="quote_post"><div align="center">Source</div></div> Psshhh. I say each player pitches in to pay the fine and we just keep wearing the jerseys. Sure they can fine us but what will they do when we just keep paying the fines? It's not like they can suspend guys.
