<div align="center"> Date: December 29th, 2004 Place: TD WaterHouse Centre TV: Sunshine Last Games Orlando Magic 111, New York Knicks 119 Milwaukee Bucks 115, Houston Rockets 87 </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="center"><font color="DeepSkyBlue">Steve Francis</font>-PPG 22.0 RPG 6.00 APG 6.8 <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Cuttino Mobely</font>-PPG 17.6 RPG 3.2 APG 2.0 <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Grant Hill</font>-PPG 19.3 RPG 4.0 APG 3.8 <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Dwight Howard</font>-PPG 10.5 RPG 10.0 APG 1.2 <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Tony Battie</font>-PPG 5.0 RPG 6.7 APG .6</div> <div align="center"> <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Hidayet Turkoglu</font> -PPG 13.1 RPG 3.5 APG 2.2 </div> <div align="center"> <font color="Purple">Mo Williams</font>-PPG 8.5 RPG 3.6 APG 6.4 <font color="Purple">Michael Redd</font>-PPG 22.5 RPG 4.6 APG 2.7 <font color="Purple">Desmond Mason</font>-PPG 17.9 RPG 4.5 APG 2.0 <font color="Purple">Joe Smith</font>-PPG 11.5 RPG 7.9 APG 1.0 <font color="Purple">Dan Gadzuric</font>-PPG 5.6 RPG 7.2 APG .5 <font color="Purple">Mike James</font>-PPG 9.4 RPG 2.2 APG 3.8 </div> * The key to this game is to get off to a fast start. Last game we let the opposing team get off to a 9-0 run to start the game so we trailed all game from tip. We can not play catch up in this game. To establish our selves as a truly elite team we have to beat sub pare teams like the Bucks. * Limit turnovers we always seem to give the games we lose away with a lot of turnovers we need to hold on to the ball tonight the Bucks will humiliate us on the fast break if we dont hold on to the ball. They got Desmond Mason, and Michael Redd running the break it could get ugly. * Hit the boards and get Dwight involved in the offense this could be a game where we can take advantage of Howard on offense. Joe Smith is a good defender, but not as good as players he normally is matched up against. He can also dominate the boards and get rebounds for us this game a lot of them. <div align="center"> MVP <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Steve Francis</font> Projected Stats 29 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds <font color="Purple">Michael Redd</font> Projected Stats 25 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists </div> I think we will get off to a fast pass in the beginning trying to avenge the lose to the Knicks. We are on our home court, facing a under .500 team, if we are going to try and make a case to win the division we have to win these games. The Heat have won them that is why there ahead right now.
Nice preview, the Magic as a team need to get off to a fast start and early lead, as you've stated above, and maintain and build on it throughtout the game. Tehy're at home, so they have the crowd to give them the momentum to help them keep and build on the lead if they get one early. They're coming off a loss from the knicks at home and they're cannot afford to let the fans down with another upset at home. I think we can win this game easily though, if we just get ahead early, I say Magic by 11.
Man a harsh loss. We just couldnt get any runs going, especially in that 3rd 1/4 where we could have really made the comeback, just let them get a 6-0 run which really won them the game @ the end of the third. A unusally quiet bench for us tonight, who in total only scraped together 19pts 6 rebounds and 6 assists for us, I have come to expect more now, especially since Nelson had a big game 2 nights ago. 2 home loss's in a row, not looking good. We HAVE to go to chicago and get a result, hopefully Cato will be back and spark something in the team. Why do people think we going wrong overly: Francis, Hill, Cat and Dwight are all performing solidly atm, I dont think the run is down to them. Is Davis' coaching starting to show weakness? (dont take this as me having a go, just want to see what people think, would we benefit from a new coach, or do u think that the team is just a bit unlucky atm, esp after such as great start to the season, but 4-6 in last 10 )
Well i was mad from the start i knew we were gonna lose during the 1st quarter usually when i say they will lose they "Usualy" dont but today was turnover centeral as the magic played very bad coming off a loss i would have thaught that they would show some type of game that gets there loss back but didnt. Dont think i am dissing the magic but ive deffinitly seen howard play alot better then the last 2 games hes played. Battie/nelson/and a suprise stacy off the bench played extremly well. When you play against a team that will kill you in fg% its hard to beat them but i hope and pray that the magic change something and figure out how to kill teams over there new year and should get atleast 5 of the next 6 games as a win.
This was an awful game to watch. Jameer was really bad in the first half. He had to of missed at least 2 or 3 layups. Same with Hedo. I disagree with you about Howard. The last 2 games has been his better games in the last couple of weeks. He looked agressive on the offensive and defensive glass and was agressive on defense. He got his first double double in a long time tonight. Francis had a near triple double again with 24, 12 boards, and 9 assists. He had plenty of chances for that last assist with about 3 mins to go. Mobley bricked a wide open 3 and Hill bricked a mid range jumper that he almost always makes. Hill had 26 pts to lead us. Battie had a solid game. He was kinda hesitant about his shot. Turkoglu had a very nice dunk over i think Gadzuric. What I don't understand is how little confidence Garrity has on offense. He had an awful game, but for some reason, Johnny Davis decided to keep him in for 20 mins, while Kasun got no time at all. He went 0-4 and passed up about 4 or 5 other 3 pt attempts, which pissed me off, because if he's out there he needs to shoot. He's not out there for defense or rebounding. So JD should realize if he's not shooting good then don't play him. Zaza again showed why Weisbrodt should have listened to me and kept him or JD shoulda given him playing time. 9 11 and 6 assists for the kid. Johnny Davis needs to get fired. He needs to prepare the team for these games. There's no way a playoff hopeful should lose to the Knicks and the Bucks(who had 1 road win coming into this game) should come into TD Waterhouse and completely dominate us the whole game. I think we might have had a slim lead early in the game. (my dad was watching jeopardy and flipping to the game during the commercials) We haven't had a lead in the 2nd quarter or later in the last 2 games AT HOME against weaker Eastern teams. He needs to get the team to run a better defensive set. Make a new zone or have full practices on defense. The 106 average giving up in the last 10 games has risen again. It's pathetic to watch teams drive in on us with little or no help. This is like watching the team next year and if Johnny Davis doesn't change this team around, our playoff hopes can come crashing down. I hope with Cato we will be better. We better be better with Cato or Johnny Davis deserves to be fired. Sorry for my rant, this game just really pissed me off.
Davis has showed some potential - take San Antonio, but I think down the stretch he could be costly. We are a team that is looking to win 50 games (realistically around this mark, give or take) and the way Davis is running the team its looking more like a .500 team. We have the players (Our 5 starters make for "one of the best" first 5 in the league all round I think) Be good to see our team reach its actual potential - we are scoring more than enough to win, but we are handing 2 many points to the other team. With performances like those ones from Cat, Steve, Dwight and Grant we should win, hell even Battie had a good game off the boards.
See, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it was a tough loss. Everything else I'm thinking after back-to-back losses to the Knicks & Bucks just wouldn't be appropriate for JBB. But yeah, we suck.
