Gamethread: Magic vs. Hawks - GAME ONE

[GhostAnime 50]

BLAZERS DOIN' WORK.

 

Oh, wrong board.

[BMP 424]

(I'm sure he doesn't agree with me on wanting Otis fired)

 

Not until 2012 (if the team loses Dwight) and most certainly not after a loss. But as of right now I'd rather have Otis and his supposed close relationship to Arenas and Howard over some new guy that has no influence on these guys staying (and in Arenas' case, dealing a new contract and taking money under the table).

 

I'm all for Otis getting fired if the Magic lose Howard but if Arenas pulls out a Richard Jefferson, Otis' move for Arenas (which I didn't like one bit and have said so countless times) ends up being ingenious because with Lewis the team had 0 chance in having any cap space for when Dwight became a free agent.

[FlawlessVictory 26]

Nah, BMP is a good poster. We don't always agree (I'm sure he doesn't agree with me on wanting Otis fired), but he backs up his opinions with facts and stats. He's one of the few posters who never knee jerk either. What he's arguing is that people will make statements and not back them up. You don't HAVE to back up your statements obviously, but if you don't, those who can will pick it apart and call you out on it, and they have every right to.

Fair enough, however, to me...he/she is about as consistent as Hedo's play. Bias, also plays a HUGE role in many of the discussions going around now. Entirely WAY too much of it.

[FlawlessVictory 26]

I agree. They are both terrible defenders but at least Ryno stretches the floor. At least we will have some resemblance of last years team in that regard.

I agree as well. I also think we would be better suited bringing Earl off the bench 2nd to defend either J. Smith or Horford depending on when and if Horford slides to the 5.

[0rlandoMagicGirl 3]

Maybe it's just me but it seemed that they really lacked on even attempting 3 point shots... Every other game I've seen that I remember, at least they attempted. I think if they would have went for it just a tiny bit more it could have perhaps changed the outcome... They played it a little too "safe" for my liking. And the safe thing didn't work out too well. It was just a huge downer and pure heartbreak. Although, it was awesome being there to see JJ walk back onto the court, the crowd roared. I hope they kick it into gear now.

[jec 427]

You provide nothing to this forum outside of egostistical, childish propaganda. You try and turn an athletic SPORT in basketball into some kind of nerdy ass science fair.

 

BMP, how dare you use facts to support your claims and to disprove those of others! Facts have no place here!

 

NERD

[BMP 424]

Maybe it's just me but it seemed that they really lacked on even attempting 3 point shots... Every other game I've seen that I remember, at least they attempted. I think if they would have went for it just a tiny bit more it could have perhaps changed the outcome... They played it a little too "safe" for my liking. And the safe thing didn't work out too well. It was just a huge downer and pure heartbreak. Although, it was awesome being there to see JJ walk back onto the court, the crowd roared. I hope they kick it into gear now.

 

Hedo was definitely way too passive and passed up about 4 good shots, and passed up about 10 bad shots he'd normally take. . .

[Shock Phantom 263]

Ok, so I have been waiting about two hours to get on to this board and post an angry, hateful rant.

 

I just got back from the game and I am extremely angry and upset. I mean WHAT THE F*CK was the team doing (sans Dwight, who should be the motherf*cking MVP of this bullsh*t league).ESPECIALLY J-RICH. I blame the loss on him. What happened to "he turns his game up in the playoffs"? Holy sh*t he was horrendous, offensively and defensively. I mean 4 F*CKING POINTS. FOUR. F-O-U-R. Vince would have done a hell of a lot better than that. I don't care if he scores 80 f*cking points in the next game, I will not forget this performance. If Dwight leaves, I will remember this performance. It was just a straight-up catastrophe. The only shots he hit were contested. One was that layup he made in traffic, which I couldn't believe he hit. Maybe if he had took contested, fadeaway, turnaround, Dirk Nowitzki shots, he would have played well.

 

Oh, and where was Turk? Turing the ball over at the most crucial point in the game and causing a 5 point swing that sealed the Hawks victory was they only place I saw him.

 

Jameer. Ah, Jameer. I can't hate on him too much since he carried us in the 2nd half, but, where were you in the first half, dude? We needed him so we wouldn't have to make a huge comeback.

 

Our PF's were awful. Left Horford open all goddamn game, and couldn't score to save their f*cking lives. This mostly is hate for Bass though, since Ryno just could not hit an open three.

 

Which brings me to my next point. WE COULDN'T HIT A THREE TO SAVE OUR LIVES. Holy sh*t, I can't count how many times I stood up on a three attempt with three fingers up, only to be given a big F*CK YOU from the rim (and the refs, they took away at least two of our threes, talk about that next). Ryan, JJ, and J-Rich were just ice f*cking cold.

 

The refs screwed us. So hard. Soooo hard. Dwight got that COMPLETELY BULLSH*T T. The "Refs you suck" chants got REALLY loud for about 30 seconds.

 

With all this said, I am not worried. Should I be? Probably, but I'm just not. Yeah, we lost homecourt advantage, but I don't doubt we can win in Atlanta. Call me naive, but I just don't see them playing that well for 4 games, but I can see us playing a hell of a lot better for 4 games. They could not miss for 3-and-a-half quarters, and we could not hit anything outside of Jameer and Dwight. However, we need to cut down on those ridiculous turnovers (Arenas, Turk, I'm talking to you.)

 

My original prediction was Magic in 5. Now it's Magic in six.

[Ibn Battuta 127]

Couple of thoughts:

 

the hawks look focused out there. Maybe it was jameer smack talking, but the Hawks were ready to play and they weren't scared or rolled over at any point. They always had an answer. So props to them.

 

second, I am supremely confident that we can turn this around (not that it even reached that stage to begin with). I mean, it's just one loss. All we have to do is win one game in Phillips arena, and we regain homecourt. Not only that, I have the utmost confidence that SVG and his staff will be working tirelessly to find a gameplan or adjustment to give our guys a better chance to win this. I used to bet against SVG, but after 2 years i'm not gonna question him. He and his staff do a damn fine job of working with players to come up with a solution. This is what the playoffs is about, making adjustments. It's not like we are 0-2 or 0-3 people. So calm down, get some sleep and we will all feel better tomorrow.

[Bauncey Chillups 288]

Definitely not that worried yet, however it's a bit depressing that Dwight had his best offensive performance ever and we still lost by 10.

[Ibn Battuta 127]

Definitely not that worried yet, however it's a bit depressing that Dwight had his best offensive performance ever and we still lost by 10.

 

I know it hurts. We had the same thing happen versus Portland way back in December.

[30Assists 342]

Last year, we beat the crap out of the Hawks all year, and then, in the playoffs, we beat the crap out of them some more.

 

Looks like it's a different story this year.

 

Hopefully the Magic get a wakeup call out of this and start playing like they want to make it to the next round. Outside of Jameer and Dwight, no one, and I mean NO ONE, showed up. That was just frustrating to watch.

 

Of all the teams we draw, we get the one that a.) holds a SERIOUS grudge, b.) improved themselves enough to create horrid matchup problems for us. Ugh.

 

Seven game series. Need to keep that in mind. The players sure will for the next three days.

 

The better, at least.