Celtics @ Magic Wed. Mar 25, 8 PM ESPN

[PEC 0]

quote:

Originally posted by Nyce_1:

Interesting stat:

 

Dwight: 24pts - 21 boards - 4 blks - 2 stls - 2 dimes in 26 MINUTES!!!

 

Dwight had a great game, but you need to update this one stat he played for 38 minutes not 26 big difference that makes him a mere mortal instead of a god lol.

[PEC 0]

quote:

Originally posted by Skywise316:

*dances like a drunken fool*

 

Stock Up:

 

Dwight Howard. (This was the usual very good game by Superman II. Like, 4 out of 5 stars quality by his lofty standards. However when you consider the opponent tonight was the Boston Celtics, a team that Dwight has struggled against all season... well, that makes him the Highest Riser.

 

24 points on 11 of 18 shooting and 2 of 4 from the free throw line, 21 boards (6 offensive), 4 blocks, 2 steals, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers. The eighth 20-20 of the season for D12, despite the physical (hacking?) Celtic defense.)

 

Rashard Lewis. (See.. saw. See.. saw. He picked a good game to have a peak, rather than a valley! Now let's see if he can put two straight good games together. Fantastic first half though, and he played much tougher tonight. No reason to call him Sharmin. Eh, at least tonight.

 

21 points on 6 of 10 shooting, 4 of 7 from Three Land, and 5 for 5 from the charity stripe! Aggression AND over 50% shooting? Blasphemy. 2 boards, an assist, a steal, and 3 turnovers.)

 

Amway Arena Crowd. (VERY loud tonight, they were partying like it was 1995. Way to shut down the stupid Boston Celtic fans in attendence, otherwise known as the real frontrunners.)

 

Courtney Lee. (Other than a silly And 1 given up defensively, and not chasing Ray Allen through screens well enough for the few moments of the game, C-Lee seemed to be flawless for the rest of the night.

 

11 points on 4 of 11 shooting and 3 of 4 from downtown. 3 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a turnover. Ray Allen also got nothing easy for about the last three and a half quarters.)

 

Team Assists. (After a putrid 14 against New York, Orlando got up to 19 assists tonight.)

 

Three Point Defense. (Boston was only 4 of 16 for 25 percent from Three Land.)

 

Rafer Alston. (Definitely better than the last game he played. He set a fantastic tone from the opening tip for this team when it comes to not only tempo, but also toughness. Finally, he did a good job most of the night keeping Rondo out of the lane.

 

6 points on 3 of 10 shooting and 0 for 3 from deep. 6 assists against 2 turnovers, a board, a steal, and a block.)

 

Three Point Shooting. (Orlando was 10 of 25 for 40 percent tonight. Clearly better than the 28 percent hurl-job the Magic did against the Knicks.)

 

Free Throw Shooting. (This was a game where the refs "let the players play" so the Magic didn't shoot a lot of attempts, but did well when they got to the foul line. 14 of 17 for 82.4 percent.)

 

Kberto. (For this nugget in the chat room:

 

Kberto:

[PEC 0]

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Acres 3:16:

quote:

Originally posted by echo4papa:

quote:

Originally posted by KillingInTheNameOf:

Hedo & Rafer have no conscience and that's not a compliment. There's no excuse for going 3 for 18 even if the name on your jersey is Bird or Jordon.

 

Even with that said, I hope Alston is capable of playing 40 a night in the playoffs. AJ's play has reached the point where I actually think Lue might be better & I have no doubt we'd be better off rolling with Lee at PG & Hedo @ point forward for 4 minute stints.

 

D12 was dominant. He truly enforced his will on Perkins for the 1st time tonight and we'll need more of that in the playoffs if we're going to advance past Detroit & Boston.

 

Shard looked like he gave Pierce some issues defensively, hope SVG noticed that as well.

 

I don't mind Alstons misses within the scope of the offense nearly as much as I cringe when Hedo puts his head down and refuses to give up the ball regardless of what Boston does.

 

My problem with Hedo, particularly on nights like last night. Several times during the first three quarters he drives to the hoop, is fairly open for a lay up, but passes the ball out. Fourth quarter, he drives to the hoop (or into the post for his slow moving draw contact and put up a shot move), gets double teamed, and forces the shot.

 

Honestly, if he could reverse his decision making in those instances, I think he would be a VERY effective player.

 

We were able to run our offense and score when the ball was moving, we started losing our lead when the ball stopped moving. It was a great game and I love getting the win but that along with the rebounding still need to be addressed.

 

And they also seemed to forget Dwight in the last 5 minutes of play wasn't he the real driving force of the team last night so why stop doing what was working.

[KillingInTheNameOf 63]

quote:

Originally posted by echo4papa:

quote:

Originally posted by KillingInTheNameOf:

Hedo & Rafer have no conscience and that's not a compliment. There's no excuse for going 3 for 18 even if the name on your jersey is Bird or Jordon.

 

Even with that said, I hope Alston is capable of playing 40 a night in the playoffs. AJ's play has reached the point where I actually think Lue might be better & I have no doubt we'd be better off rolling with Lee at PG & Hedo @ point forward for 4 minute stints.

 

D12 was dominant. He truly enforced his will on Perkins for the 1st time tonight and we'll need more of that in the playoffs if we're going to advance past Detroit & Boston.

 

Shard looked like he gave Pierce some issues defensively, hope SVG noticed that as well.

 

I don't mind Alstons misses within the scope of the offense nearly as much as I cringe when Hedo puts his head down and refuses to give up the ball regardless of what Boston does.

 

My problem with Hedo, particularly on nights like last night. Several times during the first three quarters he drives to the hoop, is fairly open for a lay up, but passes the ball out. Fourth quarter, he drives to the hoop (or into the post for his slow moving draw contact and put up a shot move), gets double teamed, and forces the shot.

 

Honestly, if he could reverse his decision making in those instances, I think he would be a VERY effective player.

 

I don't mind Alston's misses either, but when your shot is barely catching iron, don't launch consecutive 3 pointers no matter how open you are.

 

I agree on Hedo, but what drives me absolutely crazy are those fade away 3's from 5 feet behind the 3 point line. Not to mention watching him chuck up a shot every time he see's Pietrus head to the scorers table.

 

Hedo's fine when he's focused and I don't even mind terribly when he forces the issue when it's going to the rim. But, a higher and higher pecentage of his shots are falling into the casual effort category. First 3 quarters or with a lead, he might as well be shooting left handed.

[Captain Hi-Top 791]

LOL... maybe that will help him? Shooting left handed that is.

[Natmayo 0]

One of the main issues with us in the 4th is that we go to a one on one offense and forget ball movement. We cant get Dwight the ball because hes too busy setting one pick after another for Hedo.

 

Once he drops down to the paint they collapse and we jack up some stupid shot that has no business being taken.

 

Rafer was guilty of this as well and its got to stop. Push the ball, move the ball, involve Dwight early instead of trying to feed him when hes got a double or triple team on him.

 

We did it for 2.5 qtrs and then we stopped.

 

We beat anyone with the offense and the movement we showed in the first half. ANYONE

[TreyTime 3]

quote:

Originally posted by Darrell_Armstrong:

It was nice to see that Pierce wasn't whining about that final call when he drove to the basket:

 

"The way the game was being called, I wasn't fouled," said Pierce. "I should have just taken the short jumper. Dwight made a great play on the ball."

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/...ime?page=dime-090326

 

I always thought he was a bit of a crybaby when it came to calls, but I this whole Celtics team has matured quite a bit. Lebron and Mo Williams would have been all over the media with it. As much as I dislike the Celtics, I think I still hold the most disdain for the Cavs.

 

I'm surprised too since he wasn't getting any of his flops called tonight (except when he spun in circles at half court).

 

He literally would fake, Shard wouldn't move, and then Paul would throw himself into Shard Rip Hamilton style. The first time I've seen the refs swallow the whistle (like the rule book says they should).

 

I would love on one of those times if Shard just stepped aside and Pierce would land on his face. TRAVELING!

[Skywise316 211]

quote:

Originally posted by TreyTime:

I would love on one of those times if Shard just stepped aside and Pierce would land on his face. TRAVELING!

 

ROFL~!

 

quote:

Originally posted by Natmayo:

One of the main issues with us in the 4th is that we go to a one on one offense and forget ball movement. We cant get Dwight the ball because hes too busy setting one pick after another for Hedo.

 

Once he drops down to the paint they collapse and we jack up some stupid shot that has no business being taken.

 

Rafer was guilty of this as well and its got to stop. Push the ball, move the ball, involve Dwight early instead of trying to feed him when hes got a double or triple team on him.

 

We did it for 2.5 qtrs and then we stopped.

 

We beat anyone with the offense and the movement we showed in the first half. ANYONE

 

Amen, brother. There's so many first halves the Magic have played this season that would of beaten all-time b-ball teams, they were so good.

 

PEC, Pietrus got a SITM because I felt like he was no better or worse than the last Knicks game. There are "high" SITMs and "low" SITMs, and his was a low one, if it makes you feel better.

 

I personally don't, Pietrus and Redick need to join Lee's SG party. That would make the Magic even more dangerous.

[CaliMagicFan 0]

quote:

Originally posted by KillingInTheNameOf:

I don't mind Alstons misses within the scope of the offense nearly as much as I cringe when Hedo puts his head down and refuses to give up the ball regardless of what Boston does.

 

That's the rap on him I saw checking out a little of the Houston forums when the trade happened. He doesn't at all mind taking big crunch time shots, for better or worse. So that's just part of his game we're going to end up having to live with.