Game 3: Orlando @ Minnesota

CelticBalla32 · Nov 5, 2007

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November 6, 2007 @ 8:00pm ET
Target Center (Minneapolis, MN)
Game aired on Sun Sports HD (ORL) & FSNNHD (MN)

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Orlando Magic
 (2-1)


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Minnesota Timberwolves
(0-2)


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<h4 align="center">Projected Starters</h4>
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PG Nelson SG Bogans

SF Turkoglu PF Lewis C Howard


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PG Telfair SG McCants

SF Gomes PF Jefferson C Ratliff

 
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<h4>Team Stats</h4>
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<td class="strong">Scoring</td>
<td>96.0 PPG (20th)</td>
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<td class="strong">Field Goal %</td>
<td>42.3% (25th)</td>
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<td class="strong">3-Point %</td>
<td>42.9% (3rd)</td>
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<td class="strong">Rebounding</td>
<td>40.7 RPG (20th)</td>
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<td class="strong">Assists</td>
<td>17.3 APG (26th)</td>
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<td class="strong">Scoring</td>
<td>92.0 PPG (23rd)
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<td class="strong">Field Goal %</td>
<td>42.3% (24th)
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<td class="strong">3-Point %</td>
<td>41.0% (7th)
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<td class="strong">Rebounding</td>
<td>40.5 RPG (22nd)
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<td class="strong">Assists</td>
<td>18.5 APG (22nd)
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<h4>Team Leaders</h4>
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<td class="strong">Scoring</td>
<td>Hedo Turkoglu (22.0 PPG)</td>
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<td class="strong">Rebounding</td>
<td>Dwight Howard (13.3 RPG)</td>
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<td class="strong">Assists</td>
<td>Jameer Nelson (5.0 APG)</td>
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<td class="strong">Scoring</td>
<td>Rashad McCants (18.0 PPG)</td>
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<td class="strong">Rebounding</td>
<td>Al Jefferson (12.5 RPG)</td>
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<td class="strong">Assists</td>
<td>Sebastian Telfair (6.0 APG)</td>
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<h4>Key Matchup
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Dwight Howard vs. Al Jefferson

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Two of the best young big men in the league going at it. These two have had excellent matchups against each other in the past, dating back to summer league action in 2004. Howard is clearly more physically imposing, but Al Jefferson's low-post arsenal is superior to almost anybody in the NBA not named Tim Duncan. Dwight will have his work cut out for him in this one, and with Orlando going small, I'd expect Big Al to have a monster offensive night if he stays out of foul trouble. At the same time, Howard could have a field day against the undersized bigs in Minnesota. Even Theo Ratliff, as amazing a shot blocker as he is, is not big enough to push Dwight out of the paint. It should be very interesting to see these two young studs tonight.

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<h4>Keys to the Game</h4>
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<ul>[*]Go to Dwight: Minnesota's front line is deep with quality young players, but almost all of them are undersized. As mentioned above, Dwight could have an absolutey field day in the post and on the boards against Minnesota's front line. Orlando needs to make sure they go to him and exploit the mismatches.

[*]Cut Off Penetration: The Wolves may not have a legit go-to option on the perimeter at this point, but they have a lot of aggressive young perimeter players that can take it to the rack. Telfair has trouble finishing at times, but you can't sleep on that blazing quickness. Then you've got terrific athletes in McCants, Brewer, and Green that can finish at the rim. Orlando needs to cut off penetration and force the Wolves to take jumpers (especially Telfair).

[*]Get Them Into Foul Trouble: Once again, the Wolves are a very young team. Most of them don't know any better, and can easily be fooled. Orlando's veterans need to take it to the rack and try to draw fouls... because they will foul. If Orlando can get a couple guys in foul trouble, they should have no problem taking out the undersized bench of the Wolves.[/list]
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<ul>[*]Don't Leave Them Open: Minnesota isn't a great defensive club, but they work hard. They need to make sure they slide their feet, contest shots, and make sure they don't leave guys like Lewis or Turkoglu open. Orlando is a very unselfish ball club, and they will hit the open man. Don't let them get hot, and make them take shots late in the shot clock.

[*]Own the Boards: The Magic aren't a great rebounding team, outside of Dwight Howard and limited minutes from Adonal Foyle. They have wings playing up front and soft wings, at that. If the Wolves can outwork the Magic, beat them to spots inside, and get the edge in the rebounding column, that would be huge. It's nearly impossible to keep Howard off the glass, but it's not too much to ask to keep guys like Turkoglu and Lewis at bay.

[*]Control the Pace of the Game: The Magic are trying to play a bit faster pace under Stan Van Gundy, but if the Wolves put a stamp on the running game, Orlando won't be able to stick with them. The young Timberwolves need to make sure they push the tempo and outrun the Magic. Sebastian Telfair, in particular, needs to set the tone, and other guys need to feed off that.
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<h4 align="center">X-Factors</h4>
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 Adonal Foyle

Foyle may only play between 15-20 minutes, but he can be a big time factor in this game. As previously mentioned, Minnesota's front line is very undersized and doesn't have anybody to match up with bigger guys like Howard/Foyle. If Foyle can throw his weight around, grab some boards over smaller players, and keep guys from getting easy buckets, he can make a big impact on this game off the bench and give his Orlando Magic a real lift.

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 Theo Ratliff

Initially, many people were skeptical about the fact that Ratliff would even play this season. Things have changed drastically, as he is now looked at as Minnesota's best interior defender and emotional leader. He's going to be a big factor tonight, where Minnesota is significantly outmatched inside by a physically dominant force in Howard. Theo needs to play smart D, stay out of foul trouble, and keep Dwight from dominating inside.

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<h4 align="center">Injury Report
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Tony Battie: Torn left rotator cuff.


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Randy Foye: Left knee.


Mark Madsen: Sore shoulder.

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<h4>Prediction</h4>
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<td colspan="2">The Wolves have a chance to steal this one at home, but in the end, I think Orlando will win the game due to their experience and advantages inside. I'll predict an excellent game from Sebastian Telfair and another big double-double from Al Jefferson, but I think Dwight Howard is going to put up dominant numbers and kill the Timberwolves inside. Hopefully they prove me wrong and some other young guys can step up, but this won't be an easy game. Theo and Big Al will leave the gym with a couple bumps and bruises, that's for sure.
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CelticBalla32 · Nov 6, 2007

Dwight Howard absolutely killed the Wolves in that first half. They can't keep him off the boards and he's getting way too many easy buckets/dunks. Big Al came back at him in the second quarter with a couple pretty up-fakes, but Dwight is dominating this game. Having Theo Ratliff out of the lineup (flu) is really hurting them. At one point, Wittman was forced to play Craig Smith at center to guard Dwight.

There were some good signs for the Wolves, though. Marko Jaric did a magnificant job running the show in the first half. He pushed the ball and hit the open man in transition. He has something like 8 assists, which is amazing for one half of action. Watching the game, I wouldn't think he had that many, but the ball is moving so well it's not hard to believe. The ball is moving beautifully offensively, as I just mentioned, and everybody is knocking down open shots. Brewer, Buckner, and McCants especially. Speaking of McCants, after a beautiful start, he sprained his ankle in the first quarter. He isn't expected to return to the game, and Corey Brewer is taking his place with the first unit to begin the second half. Hopefully he's OK and doesn't miss significant time.

Overall, the Wolves are doing a pretty good job, I think. Offensively, they've been great, but the only thing holding them back from taking a lead in this game is the presence and size of Dwight Howard.

CelticBalla32 · Nov 6, 2007

The Timberwolves made a great comeback in the 4th quarter, after falling behind by 16. The unit of Jaric, Buckner, Brewer, Walker, and Jefferson were the guys that made it happen, and it all started with energy. Corey Brewer brought a boat load of energy throughout the night, but he really stepped it up on both ends of the floor in the 4th. He helped the Wolves get some key stops and came up with multiple hustle plays, such as his tip-in and rebounding. Buck continued to hit shots, and Big Al really took over offensively in the middle part of that 4th quarter. He must have scored a good 8-10 points in that stretch, and he really gave the Timberwolves the offensive lift they needed. Antoine was the only guy in that unit that didn't play within the flow of the offense and took some very questionable shots. It's too bad Rashard Lewis hit dagger after dagger to ruin the runs. My goodness, he was terrific tonight. I haven't looked at the stat sheet yet, but he must have hit 5-6 from beyond the arc, and once again he really killed every run Minnesota made.

Marko Jaric gets player of the game honors, from me. He was terrific all night long. He played extremely hard, kept the ball moving, made some big plays offensively in the 4th, and played the best defense I've ever seen him play. I doubt he keeps up this kind of play, honestly, but he will need to if McCants misses any time with that sprained ankle.

My man Telfair had a pretty shaky outing. He kept the ball moving and made some great kickouts, but other than that he really didn't impress me. He didn't take many shots, didn't play as well defensively as he had in the first two games, and he turned the ball over a couple times. He takes pretty good care of the ball, for the most part, but he had one huge turnover with about a minute left that really killed any chances the Wolves had to make one final run. I think it was Buckner he tried to pass it to beyond the 3-point arc, but the pass was extremely off-target and way in front of him. Turkoglu picked it off easily and finished with a jam at the other end, and extended Orlando's lead to either 8 or 10. I'm not saying Minnesota would have come back, because even if Bassy didn't turn it over there, it was still a big deficit to overcome in one minute of play. But still, that was huge and killed any opportunities they could have had. I hope he bounces back on Friday, because he really didn't do any good for himself with this performance - adding to Marko Jaric's big night. Come on Bassy!

Once again, Howard's size and presence was the difference in this game. If Minnesota had even an Adonal Foyle-like center to match up with him, things could have been a little different, but everybody they threw at him was significantly overmatched. They made a great run, but young teams have trouble closing out games, and that's what we saw tonight. I hope this losing streak doesn't last much longer.

high54life · Nov 7, 2007

Gerald was inactive due to a toe infection. And what did I say? McCants was gonna get injured. It happened, who called it?

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Game 3: Orlando @ Minnesota

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CelticBalla32 Basketball is back in Boston

CelticBalla32 Basketball is back in Boston

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Game 3: Orlando @ Minnesota

CelticBalla32 Basketball is back in Boston

CelticBalla32 Basketball is back in Boston

CelticBalla32 Basketball is back in Boston

high54life Sky's The Limit

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