<div align="center"> <font color=""White"">@</font> <font color=""Darkblue"">Orlando Magic (7-6)</font> @ <font color=""DarkRed"">Chicago Bulls (6-5)</font> Time: Tuesday, Nov. 29, 7:30pm vs. Bulls TV: NBALP <u>Probable Starting Five</u> <font color="DarkRed">Chicago Bulls</font> <font size=""1""><font color=""DarkRed"">PG</font>- Chris Duhon <font color=""DarkRed"">SG</font>- Kirk Hinrich <font color=""DarkRed"">SF</font>-Andres Nocioni <font color=""DarkRed"">PF</font>- Michael Sweetney <font color=""DarkRed"">C</font>- Tyson Chandler</font> <font size=""1"">Coach: Scott Skiles</font> ____________________________ <font color="DarkBlue"> Orlando Magic</font> <font size=""1""><font color=""DarkBlue"">PG</font>- Steve Francis <font color=""DarkBlue"">SG</font>-Deshawn Stevenson <font color=""DarkBlue"">SF</font>-Hedo Turkoglu <font color=""DarkBlue"">PF</font>- Dwight Howard <font color=""DarkBlue"">C</font>- Kelvin Cato</font> <font size=""1"">Coach: Brian Hill</font> <u>Injury Report</u> <font size=""1""> Grant Hill Injury: Surgery Status: Out Keyon Dooling Injury: Right Heel Contusion Status: Out </font></div> <u>Game Most Valuable Player</u> [IMGR]http://perso.wanadoo.fr/nba-history/images/dratf2004/1.jpg[/IMGR] The most valuable player from the Magic’s side of the ball will most likely be Dwight Howard tonight. He has been dominating during this magical turn around for the Magic. The case can be made he is playing better basketball then any power forward in the eastern conference. He will have to come up big tonight, and show why they took him number one overall last season tonight. This will be a intriguing match-up tonight, Howard against Chandler, because it is basically a case of offense against defense. Chandler has struggled thus far this year with his shot blocking, and offensive game, but I think he will come to play tonight. He and Howard should give the people their moneys worth tonight. <div align="center"><u> Predicted Numbers: 22 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists</u></div> <u>Keys to the Game</u> <ul><font color="DarkRed"> You can not win without the ball</font> the Bulls need to hit the boards, and box the Magic players out. Dwight Howard has been a monster so far this year on the offensive, and defensive boards so he will need to be boxed out, or the Magic will get a lot of second chance buckets, and usually when that happens they tend to have good games.[/list] <ul><font color="DarkRed">Ball movement</font> one thing the Bulls have had in this two game win streak is ball movement they are passing the ball well while limiting turnovers. Which is allowing everyone to get involved in the offensive side of the court keeping the other team off balance. If that continues the Bulls should continue winning.[/list] <ul><font color="DarkRed">Close out game.</font> The Bulls have allowed every team they have played this year chances to come back when the Bulls had the game well in hand. It is reasonable to say the Bulls could be several games over .500 right now if they would stay focused for 48 minutes. They have to close teams out if they get a lead early they need to hold on to it.[/list] <ul><font color="DarkRed">Stay out of foul trouble.</font> Tyson played limited minutes against the Rockets due to getting into foul trouble early, because of this Yao was able to man handle the undersized Othella Harrington, and have a huge game. If Chandler gets in foul trouble again tonight then chances are Howard will do the same to the Bulls in the paint. With the roster currently assembled we just do not have enough size to afford losing our big guys to foul trouble.[/list] <ul><font color="DarkBlue">Shoot selection</font> last year Magic’s head coach Johnny Davis received a lot of criticism for not implementing Dwight Howard in the right offensive sets, and not getting him enough attempts. That along with the Magic's mediocre record led to Davis' firing. Now new head coach Brian Hill has been doing a pretty good job thus far this year of getting Howard his shots, and that is one of the reasons the Magic have been able to fight their way back to .500. They cannot stray away from that strategy if they hope to have any chance of winning tonight.[/list] <ul><font color="DarkBlue">Attack the basket</font> like I mentioned earlier the Bulls are very thin when it comes to big men. Michael Sweetney, Darius Songaila, Tyson Chandler, and Othella Harrington is really the whole front court rotation in a nut shell. If the Magic can get any of those guys in foul trouble then they will be in a much better position to win.[/list] <ul><font color="DarkBlue">Get the bench involved</font> the Bulls bench scored 49 points against the Rockets during their last contest, out scoring the Rockets bench by over 30 points. If the Magic can not get production out of their bench they have already lost. Jameer Nelson will be one of the keys if the Magic hope to win tonight .[/list] My Prediction: Both these teams have been hot lately going on mini win streaks, and getting their seasons back on track. Dwight Howard has emerged as a legitimate scoring threat, now that he is being used correctly, and Steve Francis is doing a pretty nice job as well. The Magic have a lot of confidence this year with Coach Hill at the helm. However, as much momentum as the Magic have coming into this game the Bulls have just as much if not more after beating the defending world champions in their house. Two good young squads squaring off tonight I don’t know who will win, but it will be a good look at several future NBA all stars.
Good to see you back in the Magic forum, BKS. Where have you been? Nice preview and the Magic are riding high on a 4 game winning streak. The Magic had a very physical and exhausting win last night against the Celts, so this will be a good test to see how strong we come out. I think Bulls will win by 7 though. Dwight will get back to how he had been and get 18 and 14.
I love it, Matt Guokas was talking about how Dwight had an off game. He had 17 pts and 19 boards and it's an "off game". He did struggle though on offense with a bunch of TO's, he kept getting stripped when doing his move, but still 6-9 from the field.
