fansince89'

So we got another example of people fouling Dwight above the neck and still no flagrants being called. I'm glad SVG took a shot at the reffing, even though he'll probably be fined for it. It's getting to the point that Dwight might pull a Ron Artest and just knock the crap out of someone in retaliation to being put in a sleeper hold. And btw, Troy Murphy could use some facial reconstruction amirite?

Section IV--Flagrant Foul a.If contact committed against a player, with or without the ball, is interpreted to be unnecessary, a flagrant foul--penalty (1) will be assessed. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they try to protect players by deeming excessive hits to the head, and violent hacks above the shoulder as flagrant fouls? By this definition, shouldn't Kaman have been charge with a flagrant foul when he clubbed D12 across the back of the head and threw him into Rashard? (Rashard had Dwights back and was in Kaman's face which I like, but we need more of that imo) I know that D12 is a monster and can dish out punishment, but I really hate seeing him mauled more and more violently without the ref's protecting his health. Do you think Otis sending a letter to the head office will accomplish anything? It needs to become more evident to teams that they can't just put D12 in a cross-faced chicken wing w/o some flagrant fouls being dished out. Or am I just being a whiner?

Section IV--Flagrant Foul a.If contact committed against a player, with or without the ball, is interpreted to be unnecessary, a flagrant foul--penalty (1) will be assessed. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't they try to protect players by deeming excessive hits to the head, and violent hacks above the shoulder as flagrant fouls? By this definition, shouldn't Kaman have been charge with a flagrant foul when he clubbed D12 across the back of the head and threw him into Rashard? (Rashard had Dwights back and was in Kaman's face which I like, but we need more of that imo) I know that D12 is a monster and can dish out punishment, but I really hate seeing him mauled more and more violently without the ref's protecting his health. Do you think Otis sending a letter to the head office will accomplish anything? It needs to become more evident to teams that they can't just put D12 in a cross-faced chicken wing w/o some flagrant fouls being dished out. Or am I just being a whiner?

Legler for the most part is on point with the consistency thing. Boston plays better defense than us on a more consistent basis. Now, that doesn't take into account that we've played, what, 2 games with our 5 starters? It seemed that once we got our starting 5 on the court, Jameer gets hurt and we're back to playing with backups. Either way, I agree with you guys about ESPN catering to larger markets, but think about in a business sense. We don't have as many "die hard" fans like Boston or Cleveland because we have A) a more transient community because we have so many tourist and out of towners, and B) have more things to do other than follow our sports team because of the beautiful weather (cept when its 90 freaking degrees in December). The picture posted by Ninjapf says it all..."I'm not satisfied, but I think we're getting better," Howard said. "That's what we want, to stay humble and not get complacent with who we are." <-- I like how he's becoming more assertive.

I read through this, and you have to take it with a grain of salt. With that said, the insight into some of the "games" the ref's played I found to be comical. The "no call" game struck me as something that definitely bears resemblence to some of the playoff games vs. Boston last year in the playoffs. Was it game 2 or 3 that it was maybe 2 minutes into the game when they finally blew a whistle when Sam Perkins gave Dwight a Ric Flairesque chop on his hook that got the first whistle? After that it seemed to be a semi-fair game where whistles were heard on a more regular basis. You would be stupid to believe that everything Donaghy(sp?) said is true, but it you would be just as stupid to think that NOBODY else was/is involved with some of the things he is saying.

Do you guys think that Stuckey deserved a Flagrant 1 on that foul? It was intentional, Dwight didn't even have the ball, and you could see him PULLING on his injured shoulder. I really wish Barnes, Bass or even AJ would just drop an elbow like Macho Man Randy Savage on Stuckey when we see them again on Friday.

quote: Originally posted by Joe_PR:At this point, it seems like JJ's biggest problem is mental. He seems to be too hard on himself, which is saying something when you consider that he's a professional athlete. He takes things to heart too much. A shooter needs to have a short memory, keep shooting, and not get down on themselves or start doubting everytime they miss a few shots. If I remember correctly, SVG had made similar comments about JJ in the past. He's come so far physically, literally transforming himself in that aspect. Because of that, combined with his great hustle, he's now become a better than avarage perimeter defender who can stay with most of the SG's in the league. But, he's become notorious for mind f'ng himself offensively. I hope he's finally gotten it all together. Some of you may still debate whether JJ can be anything more than a decent role player at this level (because of physical limitations..if you're arguing that he is not skilled, then you are probably just a hater), but you can't debate that he has worked very hard to improve his weaknesses. Because of that, he deserves to be successful. I hope he does succeed. One, because like I said, he's earned it, and two, because Vince is getting old and he won't be what he is right now for much longer. The team will need JJ to continue to step up. This plus more consistent defense will get JJ more minutes. He played GREAT defense vs. Allen in the boston series this past playoffs most of the time. If he can keep stepping his defense up, his shooting will always be there. I agree that he takes missed shots too personally though. He needs to get his memory shortened with regards those misses.

quote: Originally posted by FloridianaJones: quote: Originally posted by Kramer: quote: Originally posted by FloridianaJones:it took me 5 mins of watching this kid play to realize he's got the skill set to be Dwights ideal sidekick. He's a kid too, room to grow, mentally and physically. Bass' skill set is much better to play alongside Dwight than Anderson's. For everything positive RA does offensively, getting blown by at will by power forwards is a recipe for Dwight picking up fouls. Brandon Bass is looking like the kind of guy who can guard the Lamar Odom's and Pau Gasol's of the world very effecively, which is to say, perimeter bigs and fundamental post players. Anderson made Barnie look like a god. We need a guy who can actually guard opposing bigs more than we need another outside shooter. Ideally for me I want in a PF next to Dwight that has good PF instincts and can draw his defender away from Dwight in the paint. I think Anderson does the later exceptionally already and has shown a great skill set to become exceptional at the other as well(I don't think Bass nor Shard can be exceptional at both those things like Ryan can be). He's shown his PF potential with his great put backs on offense and tough rebounds. He moves like a pure PF in this league, like a guy who led the PAC10 in rebs. I also say this knowing that Ryan is 21 and has proven his good work ethic. His man D needs some focus however. I just enjoy the problem of having a 2 great shooters at the PF spot. I think moving Shard back to his real spot at the SF where he can totally dominate in the post, while leaving Neo to do the PF dirty work on the boards is terrific. Bass brings better man D and maybe a touch more toughness on the inside the paint, but he's not as tall, nor does he spread the floor as much as Neo does on the offensive side of the court. The great thing is we actually have the bench to counter most any line-up in the NBA.

Anyone with our new starting 5 wallpaper or a screensaver? Looking to rep my fan-ness at work with a few Celtic and Laker fans here and I'm sick and tired of hearing the "Lakers are going to repeat" and "If KG stays healther, we'll get out of the east OVER orlando" Thanks in advance!

Anyone with our new starting 5 wallpaper or a screensaver? Looking to rep my fan-ness at work with a few Celtic and Laker fans here and I'm sick and tired of hearing the "Lakers are going to repeat" and "If KG stays healther, we'll get out of the east OVER orlando" Thanks in advance!

How impressive was our bench last night? JWill drops 15 and 5 dimes, after a few early (and stupid) turnovers. Barnes and Bass look great on both ends of the court. Gortat and JJ still have that chemistry going. Our bench scored 48 points! The one thing I really want to see is our team defense as a whole improve, but that will come with more time on the court together. If we can keep up that level of play throughout the season and playoffs, I have no doubt that we can win a championship (still too early to look ahead, but as fans we're allowed to as long as players and coahces don't) I remember all those times last year where our bench came in and we went on a scoring drought for 8-10 minutes. That doesn't look like it'll be a problem this year. Which other team has a bench that can compete with ours? San Antonio's bench looked good. The Lakers don't have nearly as much offensive firepower imo as SA and us, but they're still up there. Maybe Denver if Lawson keeps playing well. What do you guys think?

How impressive was our bench last night? JWill drops 15 and 5 dimes, after a few early (and stupid) turnovers. Barnes and Bass look great on both ends of the court. Gortat and JJ still have that chemistry going. Our bench scored 48 points! The one thing I really want to see is our team defense as a whole improve, but that will come with more time on the court together. If we can keep up that level of play throughout the season and playoffs, I have no doubt that we can win a championship (still too early to look ahead, but as fans we're allowed to as long as players and coahces don't) I remember all those times last year where our bench came in and we went on a scoring drought for 8-10 minutes. That doesn't look like it'll be a problem this year. Which other team has a bench that can compete with ours? San Antonio's bench looked good. The Lakers don't have nearly as much offensive firepower imo as SA and us, but they're still up there. Maybe Denver if Lawson keeps playing well. What do you guys think?

quote: Originally posted by ironarrow:I don't know the rules of the NBA that well.. If a player really does not want to be on one team, is it possible that a team can treat the guy like a slave sold for money? Because people here talk like Gortat can not make decent money if he leaves Orlando and he should be pleased he is getting 6m a year.. By your standards you can even be pleased with 50 thousand dollars a year! But Gortat does not have to be pleased with any money.. He wants to build a reputation in the NBA and he can't build it in Orlando, that is sure! I think the guy is too good to be a back up.. How is he getting these offers if he hasn't built a reputation already? I'm not saying that the Mavs are a joke team. They played well during the season, and were bounced out of the playoffs by a team that was tougher (with the jailhouse style the Nuggets were playing) and they didn't adjust to the physicality demanded in the playoffs. The Mavs will be a good team this upcoming year as well, but do you think that they would beat the Magic in a 7 game series? I didn't think so....

quote: Originally posted by Quester:Gortat is an idiot? I think some of you are idiots. He had a chance to play great role in good team, to be well known player because of it, and maybe being all star, when you look at other centers in Western Conference (no Yao, no Shaq). he thought he will be in Dallas, because all news was telling that Orlando is not going to match. Now he must play 10 mpg in only a little bit better team. He knows he is a player who could be a starter in many teams in the league, but he can't do this. He came to NBA to play, not only to earn money. So he can be very disappointed, and a lot of polish fans too. I think we're a little bit better than the Mavericks. Just a bit....

I'm sure that everyone who has watched the team play all year has said "jameer should not take minutes from Rafer. Jameer should get AJ's minutes." AJ has been inconsistent at best, and Jameer at 80% is better than AJ at 100%. With that said, Jameer should NOT have taken Rafer's minutes at the end of the game. Period. I'm sure that we all agree. Moving on, the Magic will make history and be the first team to come back from a 3-1 deficit. I still believe. Do you?