ESPN: How the East will end up, Magic predicted out in 5 against Detroit

[Jameera Nelshon 3]

Guys, I am still praying for Battie to make a timely come back just before the playoffs start. My prayers include that SVG make the decision to play Gortat 5 to 8 minutes for the remainder of the regular season in the hope that he will get the experience necessary to learn (at least) how to HACK!!! the hell out of some of the opposing PFs and Centers.

 

Just my Dream!

[30Assists 342]

We match up better with Detroit than we did last year. Even their bruising PF, 'Sheed, falls in love with shooting 3-pointers - I don't think 'Shard will be in too much trouble.

 

Hedo will probably draw Prince, which is fine by me - he's not as dominating against people his own height/quickness. That leaves Billups and Hamilton.

 

Evans will end up on Hamilton and that guy's always running.

 

Provided Billups isn't allowed to take six steps to get the open shot, we have a chance.

 

Cleveland beat them last year and their power forward was...ummmm...uhhhhh... Huh.

[ibonedteribell 0]

quote:

Originally posted by SmackDaddy:

A lot of people fail to recognize that we were swept last year because B Hill refused to utilize Dooling's defensive prowess at the PG to match up with Billups, and instead opted to play Jameer 35 minutes straight up. One of the reasons we have been successful against Detroit this year is because, not only has SVG utilized Dooling to defend Billups, but has also matched up Bogans and Evans on Billups.

 

I must say though, Detroit is a much better, much deeper team than they were last year. They've improved 6-12 in their rotation. Their bench is downright scary.

 

Maxiell, Johnson, Stuckey, Afflalo, Rattliff, Hayes, Dixon, Herrmann are pretty tough coming off the bench.

I think you hit the nail in the head, even if we could match defensively and offensively with the starters we have no bench that can handle theirs. But if we win 2 against them it would make me feel like a champion.

[corporalrod 0]

The way I feel is that if we come in hitting our out side shoot (lewis, Turk Bogan Meer) there is no team in the league that could beat us.

 

If the 3s are not following then they will be on D12 like flies on S*** and that will kill our offense. We have a young team and if we show the effort on the court we can make it to the finals.

[Big J 0]

47.9 is the number of points the magic bench acounts for in average.

 

45.6 is there number inlcuding them 2 games theo has played and including everybody that's not a starter.

 

The same goes with Orlando. I inluded there anybody thats not a starter and added their ppg average.

 

I know theres more to "whos bench is better" thing like rbs and other stats, but c'mon thats real close in ppg.

 

SVG has shown that he knows how to deal with adversity, making adjustments in game and from game to game to better use this team of ours.

 

I think a 7 game series replay with detroit with last years team would have been still a lost series but a very competitive series if we had SVG coaching the team.

 

Coaches become very important in the playoffs.

[Tommaco 0]

Tallent wise we have the means to make it to the finals. what worries me is that deep in the playoffs if the shots dont fall, our guys might hang their heads like usual and loose focus. If some how stan can really inspire our guys and keep them focused on the defensive end so they can make it through the scoring slumps i like our odds agains any team in a 7 game series no matter how deep. One thing on our side is that we are really young and most of our guys dont need to much rest, so lets hope dwight can stay out of foul trouble and gets to stay in the game even more then in regular season.

 

im with who ever said they have that gut feeling about this team. I know we are going to do well, and i see eastern conf finals atleast. im not worried about the 2nd round cause im sure after the first our guys will be fired up and it will be hard to waver that confidence expecialy if it ends up being with DETROIT! Now in the EC finals thats where i question this teams maturity and mental toughness. This is where i see our team falling because the numbers and percents just add up to heavily against us. But we could get lucky and see the cavs there and i like our chances if this where to happen, but if we end up with boston or detroit there it will be tough, more so boston.

 

and when it comes to the finals i think this team would be two mentaly tired to win and it would be a repeat of the 95 season 4-0.

 

But who knows its all speculation at this point, even those high payed sports writers dont know. They are as relyable as the weatherman, and they dont work out that well most of the time.

[jack daniel 999 27]

All I can say...

 

I BELIEVE... DO YOU ?

[Give Me Redick All Day 109]

"Maxiell, Johnson, Stuckey, Afflalo, Rattliff, Hayes, Dixon, Herrmann are pretty tough coming off the bench."

 

 

Who???

[ThisIsTheYear 241]

Even though we've split two games with them this season, Detroit is just a nightmare for us. They have so many mismatches that it's downright scary. The only way that we can take them on is if our three's are falling, but if they're not, we'd be crushed. I much prefer playing Boston over them.

 

I want the Magic to win badly, but I still see the Pistons as the team to win it all this season.

[Jareth Cutestory 678]

quote:

Originally posted by Give Me Redick All Day:

"Maxiell, Johnson, Stuckey, Afflalo, Rattliff, Hayes, Dixon, Herrmann are pretty tough coming off the bench."

 

 

Who???

 

Don't be naive, thats a solid bench anyway you slice it.

 

The only guy I wouldn't be too scared of is Afflalo, and only because he is a rookie who hasn't got alot of minutes.

[Give Me Redick All Day 109]

quote:

"Maxiell, Johnson, Stuckey, Afflalo, Rattliff, Hayes, Dixon, Herrmann are pretty tough coming off the bench."

 

I'll give you Maxiell, Ratliff and Dixon... maybe. Other than that, I don't think they will prove anything in the long run since when you take Billups out for a rest, we beat the crap out of Detroit... as evidenced by the last game up in Auburn Hills.

[I love my PTSD. 92]

If everything lines up for us, we can win against anyone.

 

I think "The Time Is Now" means...."The Time is Now". This team doesn't know it is supposed to fold under the slightest pressure in the playoffs. I think we are up for a challange.

 

A lot of people on this board just don't have any faith, and are CERTAIN that we can't win. Well, I guess that would just save me a lot of playoff ticket money. Maybe I can just plan a cruise in May.

 

Winning when you aren't supposed to win is more fun anyway. Even then some of you will say it was luck, or we would have won easier if we had kept Darko or played JJ more.

 

As for me, my hopes are high now. And they will be next year too.