Magic becoming concerned about play By Brian Schmitz | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted October 24, 2003 We continually seek answers to life's most mystifying questions, such as: What are hyenas laughing at? Do fish get thirsty? Which foreign temptress will JoeBob Millionaire select? Does a 1-6 record in the preseason mean anything? Preseason records are usually greeted with a wink. A check of Thursday's standings showed Memphis, Miami, Toronto and Seattle leading their respective divisions. Anybody take that seriously? Orlando Magic fans sure hope not -- especially those lined up on a ledge. "It does matter," Magic Coach Doc Rivers said. "It doesn't matter . . . your record, per se. It does matter how you play. And I don't think we've played well. I think we've played well in stretches. I do think we're going to get this right. I do believe it's going to take some time." The Magic conclude their rocky preseason tonight against the Utah Jazz at TD Waterhouse Centre. A loss means the Magic will have posted their worst exhibition record in franchise history. Nobody's calling it a must-win situation. The franchise hasn't needed to give Rivers a vote of confidence. Tracy McGrady hasn't called a players-only team meeting. Still, Rivers wrote the words "Circle The Wagons" on his practice cheat sheet Thursday. He hasn't seen enough good stretches of play to make him want to talk about the New York Knicks, Wednesday's season-opening opponent. The Magic's preseason has been a long lab experiment -- with things blowing up. Neither winning nor losing has been on Rivers' mind as much as getting players to learn each other's names and line up correctly. There are reasons for 1-6. The Magic will open the season with eight new players -- four free agents and four rookies -- and three of them are projected as starters: Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue and rookie Britton Johnsen. Consider that Drew Gooden and Gordan Giricek arrived midway through last season, and you realize that the only returning mainstays are McGrady, Andrew DeClercq and Pat Garrity. And Garrity is out until early November. Rivers has sacrificed wins to get the young newcomers experience. "That's a gamble I've had to take in preseason," Rivers said. "Just because we're young doesn't mean we can't win basketball games. I won't let us fall on that crutch." Rivers has mixed and matched combinations on the floor. He has let the starters play sparingly and figure each other out, playing through the wretched moments. Barely half of their offensive sets have been used, which could explain the Magic's uncharacteristic scoring lulls. They are averaging just 83.5 points per game and averaged 17 turnovers. McGrady is averaging just 14 points, passing instead of shooting. "That offense is going through Tracy [in the regular season], and things will be easier," Lue said. Says Rivers, "Tracy and Juwan have been trying so hard to play off each other and get everybody else involved. You know that on Oct. 29, they're going to look at the rim far more than they are now." The defense, laughable for years, has looked decent at times, allowing 90 points per game. The Magic played good defense in stretches Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks before letting down. "They remembered it was a preseason game again," Rivers said. "I think that's what happened more than anything."
They haven't played good, but it wouldn't be anything to worry about. Utah and Seattle finished with the top records of the preseason. We all know how far they will go.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Ice Breaker:</div><div class="quote_post">They haven't played good, but it wouldn't be anything to worry about. Utah and Seattle finished with the top records of the preseason. We all know how far they will go.</div> You act as if the Sonics are a bad team...They aren't.They likely would be a top 5 seed in the east..and contended for the 8th spot in the west last season....Although this latest injury to Allen may have hurt their chances this season..they are still a good team.
