Official Hawks vs Magic game thread

[PSPUMD 1]

Play of the game: Sticks jumping into Pacman's lap

 

yea, saw that , i laughed out loud, is like holding a little baby lol

 

wow , our PFs looks great~ hope it continues . GO MAGIC!

[Emory889 353]

Yes I will. Dwight has had great free throw shooting games. We've seen him go 10-10 from the line before. But unfortunately this preseason he is averaging 52.2% from the line. Which is 7% less then his already bad career average. So yes, until he starts consistently shooting well from the free throw line, I will have the same reaction.

 

Maybe I should rephrase my question. If you are going to overreact to a poor free throw shooting game in a negative way it's only fair to overreact if he has a good game from the line.

 

You are basically acting like you've never seen Dwight have a poor free throw shooting game. I'm not going to jump to a conclusion on Dwight's free throw shooting 3 games into the preseason when he is playing a little over 20 minutes a night. Maybe Dwight will be an improved shooter and maybe he won't. It's stupid, however, to act like the other potential improvements in Dwight's game are for nothing if he can't improve his free throw shooting...which is exactly what you were hinting at with your previous comment. That is assinine.

[Optimist Prime 197]

Anyone else glad to see that the Heat are struggling against a Charlotte team our Backups crushed?

[~O~ 565]

Anyone else glad to see that the Heat are struggling against a Charlotte team our Backups crushed?

 

I think we're better than the heat.

[Ryan the Magic Fan 253]

Maybe I should rephrase my question. If you are going to overreact to a poor free throw shooting game in a negative way it's only fair to overreact if he has a good game from the line.

 

You are basically acting like you've never seen Dwight have a poor free throw shooting game. I'm not going to jump to a conclusion on Dwight's free throw shooting 3 games into the preseason when he is playing a little over 20 minutes a night. Maybe Dwight will be an improved shooter and maybe he won't. It's stupid, however, to act like the other potential improvements in Dwight's game are for nothing if he can't improve his free throw shooting...which is exactly what you were hinting at with your previous comment. That is assinine.

 

I disagree. 32 free throws over 4 games is just a hair under how many he attempts in a season. Plus in the two games he attempted more then 10 (which shows he had a chance to get settled in) his percentage was horrible. It's far good enough of a sample size to start making some judgments.

 

I would love to jump on the train and get all excited about the new weapons in his arsenal. But, none of those fancy moves and work he has added in will mean anything when all an opponent has to do is wrap his arms around Dwight anytime he gets into scoring position. And it also still means that he is more of a liability late in games then he is a help on offense.

[GhostAnime 50]

I agree. We still lose to the Celtics because their strategy won't change. Free throw shooting is something I would much prefer he gets better in as opposed to better post moves, but that's me.

[Emory889 353]

Really guys? Do you think Dwight doesn't want to get better from the free throw line? Maybe he isn't going to get better from the line. I know, that may be shocking, but sometimes a players inabilty to perform well in a certain aspect of a game has nothing to do with will or work ethic. Which leads me to my next point, you are basically saying he shouldn't work on the other aspects of his game because his free throw shooting hasn't improved (and again, that is based off of a VERY small sample size of games. I don't think any realistic conclusion can be reached at this point.). So, if he will never improve his free throw shooting, he should blow off improving in other areas? Not only is that mind numbingly stupid, its completely detrimental to the other players on the team. The offense seems to be doing quite well and a lot of that is the improved offensive game of Dwight Howard.

 

And Ghost, there is a huge benefit for the Magic if teams start deliberately fouling Dwight. It gets us into the penalty and allows all of our great shooters to parade to the free throw line for the rest of the quarter....and gets the other teams center in foul trouble. I'll happily take that.

[Ryan the Magic Fan 253]

Really guys? Do you think Dwight doesn't want to get better from the free throw line? Maybe he isn't going to get better from the line. I know, that may be shocking, but sometimes a players inabilty to perform well in a certain aspect of a game has nothing to do with will or work ethic. Which leads me to my next point, you are basically saying he shouldn't work on the other aspects of his game because his free throw shooting hasn't improved (and again, that is based off of a VERY small sample size of games. I don't think any realistic conclusion can be reached at this point.). So, if he will never improve his free throw shooting, he should blow off improving in other areas? Not only is that mind numbingly stupid, its completely detrimental to the other players on the team. The offense seems to be doing quite well and a lot of that is the improved offensive game of Dwight Howard.

 

And Ghost, there is a huge benefit for the Magic if teams start deliberately fouling Dwight. It gets us into the penalty and allows all of our great shooters to parade to the free throw line for the rest of the quarter....and gets the other teams center in foul trouble. I'll happily take that.

 

Nice job completely taking someones words completely out of context. I don't think I ever at once said something that could even be remotely construed as Dwight doesn't care about his free throw game. Which makes me wonder if your even reading what I'm writing. In fact all I said was that for all Dwight's work on his post game, it can be rendered almost completely useless by any team with plenty of big men to throw at him (like say... the Celtics, Heat, Lakers aka any team the Magic will have to face in route to win a championship). Nor did I also say he should not try to improve in other ways of the game. I'd advise you to read through everyone's comment all the way.

 

I'd also argue the notion Dwight can't become better at the free throw line. Especially when we see him shoot so well some games and here from coaches and team mates that he shoots so well in practice. Consistency has always been his problem when it comes to free throw shooting. That means it's all mental. Tim Duncan was a bad shooter at the line and he became at the very least acceptable over the years. There is nothing wrong with expecting Dwight to do the same.

[BMP 424]

Yes, Mark Jackson said our problem against the Celtics was Howard being played 1on1 and averaging 22pts on 57%, and NOT Carter and Lewis being blackholes offensively and Nelson being inconsistent.

 

 

Yeah... that's it. We can't beat the Celtics!! How are we going to beat the Celtics if they continue to single cover Howard, you know? He'll just continue to score well on good efficiency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarcasm aside, us losing to the Celtics had almost nothing to do with Howard. Games 1 and 3 he was indeed bad offensively but it won't matter one bit if he can shoot 80% from the free throw line if our wings and Lewis can't get it together.

[Chase 209]

Yes, Mark Jackson said our problem against the Celtics was Howard being played 1on1 and averaging 22pts on 57%, and NOT Carter and Lewis being blackholes offensively and Nelson being inconsistent.

 

 

Yeah... that's it. We can't beat the Celtics!! How are we going to beat the Celtics if they continue to single cover Howard, you know? He'll just continue to score well on good efficiency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarcasm aside, us losing to the Celtics had almost nothing to do with Howard. Games 1 and 3 he was indeed bad offensively but it won't matter one bit if he can shoot 80% from the free throw line if our wings and Lewis can't get it together.

 

I think this is one of those rare times where I 100% agree with you................scary

[Emory889 353]

Dwight 2-7 from the free throw line after 1 quarter. You know those fancy new post moves really don't mean jack if he still cant take advantage from the stripe. People will just keep hacking him every chance they get.

 

 

Those were your exact words. I didn't add anything to what you said. I read everything you said and I completely disagree with all of it. It's not my fault if people interpret your above statement to read, "If Dwight doesn't improve his free throw shooting, his other offensive improvements are meaningless." My interpretation of your comments is almost the exact same thing you said with the wording slightly different.

 

Here are the facts: 1) Dwight worked hard on his post game this summer. 2) Dwight always works hard on his free throws. 3) Dwight's post game looks like it has dramatically improved and free throw shooting is around where it was last season. So, if Dwight has worked hard on his free throw shooting and it hasn't improved, what the hell do you want him to do? What message are you trying to deliver to him if he read your statement? You went off on a mini-rant about a well known weakness in his game and you sounded indignant that it hasn't improved, when the smart bet is to assume that it probably wouldn't improve. It's the equivelant of a beginning golfer being upset with himself for not driving the ball straight every time off the tee.

 

If your statement is true and Dwight's offensive improvements are meaningless if his free throw shooting doesn't improve then that means that Dwight is wasting his time working on other areas of his game. That is why your comments are stupid. If Dwight can't improve his free throw shooting, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it won't improve, I certainly want him to improve the other aspects of his game that he is capable of improving.

 

You can rant all you want about me putting words in your mouth. I simply took the points you were trying to make and countered them with the next logical step in the discussion.

[ThisIsTheYear 241]

The notion that Dwight's freethrows are all mental is a blatant misconception, as far as I'm concerned. Dwight's a poor freethrow shooter because he exhibits poor form. Always has. The only aspect of his form that's even somewhat aesthetically pleasing is the fact that he positions his shot at a 90 degree angle. The release, lack of bending knees (at least correctly), and overemphasis on the placement of the guide hand have all contributed more to his poor shooting than his supposed "lack of confidence".

 

He shoots them well in practice. Great. I've heard numerous cases of poor freethrow shooters excelling at the line during practice (Ben Wallace, Dampier, etc.). It's when you're exposed to pressure that you hinge on your form so that you can recreate a comfortable environment (such as practice). Some believe this has to do with your routine before you release your shot, but this matters little when your release point is all over the place. Case and point, you should never nip the left border of the rim when you're a right-handed shooter. As stated above, this is because he places far too much strength on his guide hand, when all it should really be doing is allowing your shooting hand to position itself parallel to the rim.

 

If Dwight hasn't demonstrated any kind of real improvement in the free throw department with someone like Redick on the team, then he likely won't be doing so any time soon, if ever.