The Magic beat the Hornets 90 to 89 again thanks to Steve Francis. He put back a Pat Garrity 3 point miss, to put the Magic ahead for good. The Magic are 2-0, and Francis has two game winning shots. Got McGrady?
Great game... Really fun to watch. Too bad Magic don't seem to be able to keep the lead nearing the end. BTW, here's the box score.
Owww, Francis always seems to find himself at the right place at the right time... no question he brought winning mentality to this team. Haven't seen the full recap of the game, but it is definitely crazy! 2 for 2 winning game shots in as many games? That's nuts... the Magic can't get off to a better start.
yeah Go FRANCIS Go... he made it again, he helped the magic won the second straight game. i hope that the magic can really improve their defence in the following games...it's sad and nervous to see them leading, and lost the lead >"<
Hill had a good game, Turk was on fire, and Mobley got over his slump. The Hornets made a good run, and the Magic were a bit off on defense the last 7 minutes. Baron Davis was unstoppable in the lane for the second half (especially the fourth quarter). It didn't make sense that they'd go to Magloire for a jumpshot in the final 2.7 seconds left. (After Francis' game-winning putback). Baron had the ball baseline and dished it to Jamal in the paint. We're lucky to have gotten this one, but I'll take it.
Yeah,m great stuff from Francis. There will always be a place in my heart for the lil guy. Its good to see he's found a team that can really use his skills, and it sgood to see him working hard in the clutch time. Under the Rockets, Francis was making all sorts of silly mistakes, but under the Magic he has a new found ability step up when he has to.
Overall, I thought that the Magic did really well tonight for their first road game. Granted, they had a hard time containing Baron Davis, but there wasn't another member of that New Orleans team that really dominated. Amazing to see Stevie Franchise come through for the second game in a row with an inside shot to win the game. Looks like that T-Mac trade was more balanced than a lot of people originally thought eh? Another thing that really excited me was seeing Hedo Turkoglu come off the bench and have a huge game. I hadn't seen him play that much prior to this game, but if he can play like this on a regular basis off the bench, there is no reason why we shouldn't keep him around for quite some time. Tonight he looked like a legitimate 6th Man Award contender. Cuttino Mobley seems to be finding his own little niche in the Orlando offense, Dwight Howard continues to show progress on both ends of the court despite not putting up much on offense tonight (he didn't get the ball much unfortunately, but when he did, he did a great job of drawing fouls). Cato had a great game on both ends of the court as well and Grant Hill is showing shades of his old self. If things keep up like this, there is no reason why the Magic can't give the Heat a good run for the division lead. Finally, the free throw shooting tonight was the most impressive stat all night. At one point, the Magic were 18/20 from the line (90%!) and finished the game 26 for 30 from the line (86%). Execution like that on the road wins games. Things are looking great in Orlando.
The only two things that I didn't like from Stevie were his turnovers (7) and the fact that he gave up 36 to Davis. Other then that he is playing amazing in this system so far. The one thing I like about Francis that McGrady didn't have is that he doesn't have to put up 20+ shots to be effective, no disrepect to T-Mac but that is just the kind of player that he is. Dwight seems to be a rebounder so far in his rookie career he brought down 10 more boards tonight. He didn't take a lot of shots, but he is still showing progress.
I didn't watch this game but congradulations to the Magic for pulling off there second win of the season, alreayd we're doing better than that horrid last season. Steve Francis seems to do what he does and does it well here in Orlando, two game winning shots is pretty impressive for the veteran PG,also I see that he has 7 rebounds and only 2 assists, he's the type of player that should have more than 2 assists. Cato did good definsively again, along with Howard on the boards. Hedo looks like he played an immpresive game,and everyone got some minutes. Glad to get the W but we really need to hold on to leads and not have games so close.
Nice win. It seems that Francis didn't have a good game, but the clutch minutes are all that matter. Dwight Howard did have 10 rebounds, but he only took 2 shots? He'll have to take at least 9 per game.
