<div align="center"> </div> <div align="center"><font color="Blue">Orlando Magic </font> (19-49) @ <font color="Purple">Los Angeles Lakers </font> (43-23) </div> <div align="center">Time: 7:30 p.m. PT Location: Staples Center TV: FSN, NBALP</div> Season Series: Lakers 1, Magic 0 2/08/04 Lakers 98 Magic 96 Previous Games: Sonics @ Magic 115-101 L Lakers @ Bulls 88-81 W Last 10 Games: Magic 3-7 (Lost 1) Lakers 7-3 (Won 1) Head Coaches: Johnny Davis/Phil Jackson Probable Starters: Tyronn Lue/Gary Payton Tracy McGrady/Kobe Bryant DeShawn Stevenson/Rick Fox Juwan Howard/Karl Malone Andrew DeClercq/Shaquille O'Neal Sixth Men Drew Gooden/Kareem Rush Injury Report Magic Pat Garrity Grant Hill Lakers Jamaal Sampson Brian Cook <div align="center">Players To Watch </div> <div align="center">Tracy McGrady & Kobe Bryant</div> <div align="center">McGrady: 28.2 pts, 6.00 rebs, 5.4 assists, 1.45 steals Bryant: 22.5 pts, 5.40 rebs, 5.1 assists, 1.67 steals </div> Keys To The Game <u>Magic</u> First things first, get Tracy McGrady the ball. He's coming off efforts of 62 points and 40 points in his last two ballgames. Give him the ball, allow him to get into a consistent rhythm Shaq must be contained. There's no way Andrew DeClerq can guard him single handedly, so Shaq must be double teamed with help from Zaza Pachulia, Steven Hunter, and Sean Rooks. Orlando must cut down on the turnover category. There's a reason to why their record is so dismal. If they want to keep pace with the Lakers in this one, they must have a significant cut in the turnover ratios. <u>Lakers</u> The Lakers must stick to their typical gameplan of allowing Shaq to have as many touches and for him to dominate over the Magic's soft, undersized centers. Kobe will have to repeat his 35 point performance at Chicago Saturday night with an amazing display of his outside shooting whether he shoots right-handed or left-handed, penetrating hard to the basket, receiving contact, and dishing off to his teammates whoever is open under the basket. Karl Malone will have to team up with Shaq on offensive and defensive rebounds, and mostly importantly, second chance shots. With the Magic's poor defensive style, easy baskets will come at him. Gary Payton will just have to play the type of ball he's been playing. Making wise decisions with the basketball, cutting down on turnovers, starting our transitional game, and playing defense. Laker Fever's Prediction What's there to say about a prediction? The Orlando Magic are 19-49 and are in a race for the #1 draft pick, while the Los Angeles Lakers are finally a healthy squad with the Big Four together again. Lakers are 24-5 at Staples Center. This could get ugly early. Lakers by 16.
THis should be an easy W for the Lakers, they match up in every category except the SF...I take L.A. by 10+
I say LA by 8. I think Tracy McGrady might cool down a little. I give him 30-32 Points for tonight's game. BTW TNT should have televised this game instead of the Spurs and Warriors. Boy isnt that going to be on hell of a game.
Lakers by 11 is my prediction for this game. With a win and a Spurs loss tonight, the Lakers would move into the number 3 spot in the seedings. Every game is a MUST win for the Lakers from this point on. They are at home against one of the worst teams in the league, so they need to take of business and not allow the Magic any confidence into believing they can win this game. The Lakers had to rely on Kobe against the Bulls on Saturday in another close game against sub-par teams.
Nice preview, Laker Fever. I predict the Lakers will get a lead early in the game and will win by 12.
If there's anyone in the league that draws forth max effort on D from Kobe...it's Tracy McGrady. I would've loved to see this...those TNT bastards... Lakers by 11, although if Kobe comes out trying to match T-Mac shot-for-shot, this could be a closer game than we'd like.
hahah, all I have to say is... Kobe, do not try to impress T-mac tonight... just play ball. Another 9 consecutive 3-pointers wouldn't hurt either. Nice preview, Lakers by 11. Kobe scores 25, T-Mac 37. Edit: Oh, and the game will be on NBA TV, thank god... I can still watch it. And I agree, those TNT bastards... I still need league pass.
I think Lakers by some number in double figures. Kobe will probably have another big game and Shaq should dominate in the paint against Declerq, Howard, or Gooden, whoever plays him.
This is at the Staples Center and the Lakers are one of the best home teams.The Lakers have a far better Starting Lineup.The Lakers will need to win this game. This should be a easy win for the them.Lakers by 14.
Lakers by atleast 10. Team T-Mac doesn't have a chance against us, especially with all of the HOF's on the court. This is a home game for L.A. against a bad road team like the Magic team, so like someone said in the Orlando forum, we could probably win this with just Gary... Well maybe not only gary but maybe only Shaq or Kobe.. Anyways I'm looking forward to this game, just because I look forward to every game now that Karl's back. Besides that, there isn't much to say about this game.
Lakers win this easily. It's the first time Kobe/T-Mac face eachother this year, I thought Kobe was going to miss all these games due to injury, but it's great we can see them both battle it out at least once this year. It will be a duel between these to. Shaq will have a big impact of course, but I think Kobe will be the one to put us over the top tonight. If we play hard, and get bench production I see us winning this by a good 15 points.
With McGrady being Orlando's only offensive threat, things could get ugly, and fast. Kobe, Shaq, Karl, and GP are in the lineup for tonights game, which isn't good for Orlando. The last time Orlando played them LA was short handed, and they still won the game, because Orlando choked in the final seconds. The matchup of Kobe vs. Tmac could bring some entertainment to this game because both players are always prepared to go at it. Shaq vs. Orlando's centers could also bring some laughs. Lakers by double digits.
Oh my fu..ing god... NBA TV ISNT HOSTING THIS GAME AFTER ALL?? And TNT... for the Warriors... the Lakers are only on league pass and local tv tonight?? This.. is ridiculous. I really need league pass... can you guys post often during the game and keep me up? ;.;
It's pretty pathetic that we're down by 9 to the Magic with 7:30 left in the 2nd, but has anyone noticed that the damn whistles of the officials don't stop sounding? I mean I haven't even watched this game from the start and i've heard the whistle blow atleast 15 times... I've been watching for about 6 minutes of game time actually.... Don't you just hate it when Fisher gets so offensive minded... he's been out of control the last 3 plays down and is taking all the shots... I HATE IT WHEN HE DOES THAT!!! I also hate the idea that damn Phil leaves KOBE, PAYTON, and SHAQ out for 6 minutes straight... Malone came in during that span, but why sit those guys so long so early when they're down by 10.. Man sometimes I can't stand that guy's dicisions...
2nd quarter, 5:45 left. I didn't imagine this Kobe is scoreles, yes scorless, in 10 minutes. T-Mac has 17 points in 12 minutes and the Magic are up 50-37. Some amazing stuff going on in this one.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting tmac15:</div><div class="quote_post">2nd quarter, 5:45 left. I didn't imagine this Kobe is scoreles, yes scorless, in 10 minutes. T-Mac has 17 points in 12 minutes and the Magic are up 50-37. Some amazing stuff going on in this one.</div> T-Mac: 14 shot attempts already Kobe: 2 shot attempts so far do the math. EDIT: still can't believe we're down 15 to ORLANDO at HOME... This is sad but I still think the Lakers and the idiot Jackson will pull this one out by 10+.
