<font face="Tahoma"><div align="center"> Orlando Magic @ Minnesota Timberwolves Last Games Boston 119, Orlando 101 Los Angeles 105, Minnesota 96 .Johnny Davis was named head coach of the Orlando Magic on November 17, 2003, becoming the sixth head coach in franchise history. Davis has spent 27 years in the NBA, either in the front office or on the basketball court. He and the Magic went 20-51 (.282) after he succeeded Doc Rivers as head coach during the early part of the 2003-04 season. Davis was also head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers during the 1996-97 campaign and has a career coaching record of 42-111 (.275). In addition to his stints as head coach, Davis has been an assistant coach in the NBA for 12 years, seeing duty with the Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, New Jersey Nets and Orlando. He was hired as an assistant coach by the Magic on July 11, 1999. As a front office administrator, Davis took on a wide array of responsibilities. He spent three years as director of community affairs and president of the Atlanta Hawks Foundation, as well as serving as the assistant to the president of the Atlanta Hawks. <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Steve Francis</font>-PPG 21.4 RPG 6.20 APG 7.0 <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Doug Christie</font>-PPG 7.3 RPG 4.0 APG 4.9 <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Grant Hill</font>-PPG 19.1 RPG 4.0 APG 3.7 <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Dwight Howard</font>-PPG 10.5 RPG 10.0 APG 1.1 <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Tony Battie</font>-PPG 5.4 RPG 6.5 APG .6 <font color="DeepSkyBlue">Hidayet Turkoglu</font> -PPG 12.7 RPG 3.5 APG 2.0 The Magic are going through a really though time as a team. They just traded Mobley who ha sbeen a teammate of star Steve Francis since he first game in the NBA. Not only that, but in that trade though they gained a little bit of defense they lost a lot of offense and a big time player, and three point shooter. Who knows how Christie will perform for us, but all I know is right now in my mind Im thinking "I wish we had Mobley back". He was a better clutch player, a under rated defender, and a far better leader imho. So anyway like said before Steve Francis struggled to come to the realization he would no longer be playing with best friend, and teammate Cuttino Mobley any more. Coach Davis understood the way he was feeling and played him only twenty seven minutes in the lose to the Boston Celtics. Steve Francis will need to have his head in the game today for the team to be successful. Hell he has been averaging seven assists this season, and only had a total of two the Magic's first game without Mobley. The leagues leading team in rebounding where also out rebounded 50-41 in this contest, and never lead all game. Grant Hill, played a team high thirty eight minutes finishing with a total of 15 points and nine rebounds against the Celtics. Though it was a good night for him passing the ball he really did not perform well on the offensive end as you would like him to. He will need to step it up against a very solid, but struggling Wolves squad. Spree is not that bad a defender either so you never know what will happen. Dwight Howard had a good game against the Celtics 12 points and 9 rebounds, but in my opinion lately he has lost some of his luster and the excitement he brought to the floor from earlier in the season now that the season is getting to its mid points he still rebounds well and averages a double double, but he doesnt do it as often or as consistantly as he use to any more. I know he is a rookie, but the team will need him to step up on both ends of the court to win. Tony Battie, has been performing pretty well for us. He is still starting for us though I feel eventually Kelvin Cato will soon regain his starting spot Battie has been doing well as a starter, and I would not mind if he held the starting spot for a little bit more time for the team. * Hold on to the ball 22 turnovers in the lose against the Celtics you can not win a game when that happens. In the league the worst team in holding on t the ball averages 17 turnovers so 22 is totally out of the question for a team that is hoping to win a game for there squad. * Rebound this team leads the league in rebounds, Garnett leads the league in rebounds, Howard averages 10 and 10, KG averages 20+ and 15+ it will not be easy at all for us to win this game or for Dwight to guard KG and rebound over him, but it is something that they have to do in order to win the game. Not only that, but we could also get a lot more rebounds then Kandy will for Wolves. One of the most successful coaches in the history of the Continental Basketball Association, Phil "Flip" Saunders guided the Minnesota Timberwolves to their first-ever playoff berth in 1996-97, his first full season as an NBA head coach, and to a franchise-record 50 victories in 1999-2000 which was duplicated in 2001-2002. Saunders, joined the Timberwolves on May 11, 1995 as general manager, working under his former teammate at the University of Minnesota, Kevin McHale. On Dec. 18, 1995, Saunders was named head coach of the Timberwolves, replacing Bill Blair. Saunders came to Minnesota after seven productive seasons as a head coach in the CBA, where he ranks second with 253 career victories. He began his CBA career in 1988-89 with the Rapid City (S.D.) Thrillers, then moved to the LaCrosse (Wis.) Catbirds for five seasons (1989-94) before coaching in 1994-95 with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He also served as general manager (1991-93) and team president (1991-94) of the Catbirds. Saunders' impressive CBA tenure included seven consecutive seasons of 30 or more victories, two CBA championships (1990, 1992), two CBA Coach of the Year honors (1989, 1992) and 23 CBA-to-NBA player promotions. Saunders began his coaching career at Golden Valley Lutheran College where he compiled a 92-13 record, including a perfect 56-0 mark at home, in four seasons. In 1981, he became an assistant coach at his alma mater, Minnesota, and helped guide the Golden Gophers to the Big Ten championship that season. After five seasons at Minnesota, he became an assistant coach at the University of Tulsa where he worked for two seasons before heading to the pro ranks. Michael Olowokandi -4.9 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 0.4 APG Kevin Garnett- 23.8 PPG, 15.0 RPG, 6.3 APG Wally Szczerbiak- 15.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.1 APG Latrell Sprewell- 11.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 1.9 APG Troy Hudson- 7.8 PPG, 1.0 RPG, 3.0 APG Eddie Griffen-9.7 PPG, 6.1 RPG, .8 APG Well what can I say the Wolves are a team that have not been living up to expectations this season. Though there record would seem like they are a average team this was the franchise that was expected to win the NBA championship this season by many "experts" and fans can you blame them? This team has all the depth in the world, but for some reason it has yet to come together for them this season. They are a few games over .500 KG is playing like the MVP again, but his two main role players Cassel and Spree one gets injured and the other complains about money. This team still has all the peaces needed to make a run at a championship they just need to do there thing and have everyone at the same page. I think this will be a tough challenge for the Magic despite both teams being in a slump this is a mark key matchup and it will be intresting to see who wins it. There is not much of a player break down you can do for the Wolves. All you need to say is KG is great playing like the MVP .Wally has been the second best player for this team this season. Then they have never really gotten on the same page besides that. They can not put a long win streak together to get several games over .500, but they wont lose a lot of games in a row to fall under it so there stuck there right now. * Get on the same page thats all you need to say about this team they will probably win if they are on the same page they could be a great team. MVP'S Projected stats Steve Francis: 20 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists KG: 29 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists Both teams have eben struggling, but we just lost a huge part of our team and willt ake some time before we get chemistry with Christie so I give it to the Wolves by 6.</font></div>
Great game thread, Pure Skillz. Thanks for the thread. I am beyond frustrated. I have been saying the same ol' song for five weeks now. I am tired of it. This is another frustrating loss. This team is finding inventive ways to lose now. I don't think the guys are trusting each other. I don't think the guys are in great mental shape right now. It's a mess. I feel bad for Glen Taylor (Wolves owner) for paying these guys who are stealing money. I feel bad for the fans who pay exorbitant prices at the arena and with their cable bills to see this garbage since last month. I really have nothing to say. It's the same ol same ol each loss. Basically, copy whatever I said in the previous games where they lost and repeat it each game. The Wolves seem very rusty from the start. They did not have it at all from the beginning. They were flat which is becoming a norm too. Their lack of interior defense clearly showed in this game as the Magic were able to dunk and score from the paint. There is something wrong when Fred Hoiberg, who is helplessly, trying to avoid Jameer Nelson from dunking. Isn't that Olowokandi's job to prevent Nelson from dunking? Of course, Michael is slow as molasses. Notice that the Wolves never got back on defense when Orlando was starting to run to the rim? Yes Minnesota gave up 87 points, but their defense really let Orlando get some easy points. Also how the heck the Wolves score only 80 points? Orlando is one of the worse defensive teams in the league and Doug Christie did not even play in this game. Inexcusable. The only good part of this game besides the fact it was over was KG getting his 8,000th rebound. That's a great accomplishment. It shows you how KG is also into getting rebounds which is a lost art for a lot of players today. Congrats to him. Timberwolves are 17-17 and 1-5 in January and in the new year. They are clearly the most dissapointing team in the NBA. I sure as hell did not expect a 17-17 team this season for sure. I am fed up with this.
How about Star-Tribune's Steve Aschburner stating that if the Timberwolves were playing against a bunch of babies with diapers, the babies would beat the Wolves and make them their daddy. OUCH!
