Orlando @ Indiana Game Thread

Last Guardian · Post #461 » by **Last Guardian** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:46 am

Forest wrote:That whole formula about not doubling Dwight and defending the 3 point line does not beat the Magic.

True. If it was that simple we wouldn't be 37-12.

Problem is, without Nelson, it may just end up being that simple. Especially in the playoffs.

OMPunk · Post #462 » by **OMPunk** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:47 am

Stan calling it like he sees it. He is absolutely right though...the effort hasnt been there

Post #463 » by **FFBlitzace** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:48 am

WTF, why'd they cut off Stan?

zuppafly · Post #464 » by **zuppafly** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:48 am

Forest wrote:That whole formula about not doubling Dwight and defending the 3 point line does not beat the Magic.

without nelson, it does. The only way the magic had to beat that defense was nelson's penetration moves who forced the other team to play help defense leaving one man open (which Nelson was finding perfectly). Hedo seemed to forget how to make those penetrations finished with simple layups this year. AJ... well, lol.

Post #465 » by **FFBlitzace** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:49 am

Who the f*** is running the Sun Sports production tonight, Joel Glass? I'm sorry, but the glass isn't half full right now. I wanted to hear the rest of what Stan had to say.

Orange Ave. · Post #466 » by **Orange Ave.** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:50 am

Stan is piiiissssed

"awful effort tonight. awful effort on our guys part"

"We didn't deserve to win. We didn't bring a defensive mentality. I told them I'm perplexed by the lack of intensity they are bringing."

"Turnovers were terrible. We were bad, especially the first half, 10 turnovers. We had guys who didn't want to make passes."

"Our poor free throw shooting is not that abnormal tonight."

zuppafly · Post #467 » by **zuppafly** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:50 am

Solid Snake wrote:
Forest wrote:That whole formula about not doubling Dwight and defending the 3 point line does not beat the Magic.

True. If it was that simple we wouldn't be 37-12.

Problem is, without Nelson, it may just end up being that simple. Especially in the playoffs.

That's exactly my point.

Post #468 » by **Miller4ever** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:50 am

The game definitely proved how important Nelson was to everything. He wasn't just a scoring option, but a facilitator for Dwight, Rashard, Hedo, and even Lee.

Post #469 » by **SOUL** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:51 am

These are the type of games we lost last year. I hope it isn't foreshadowing of whats gonna happen again

Orange Ave. · Post #470 » by **Orange Ave.** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:52 am

Miller4ever wrote:The game definitely proved how important Nelson was to everything. He wasn't just a scoring option, but a facilitator for Dwight, Rashard, Hedo, and even Lee.

It's all good man, we made a trade. Good game, you guys absolutely earned it.

420greg · Post #471 » by **420greg** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:52 am

I never watch the post game after a loss.

To depressing.

Post #472 » by **FFBlitzace** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:55 am

"Need defense? rofl."

420greg · Post #473 » by **420greg** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 2:58 am

I'm coming to save you suckers....

Last Guardian · Post #474 » by **Last Guardian** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 3:00 am

Miller4ever wrote:The game definitely proved how important Nelson was to everything. He wasn't just a scoring option, but a facilitator for Dwight, Rashard, Hedo, and even Lee.

Not only that, he is ridiculously clutch.

Deezy · Post #475 » by **Deezy** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 3:06 am

If it wasn't clear before, its pretty obvious now. Jameer Nelson is our MVP (even though my opinion is somewhat biased).

Dwight hasn't played defense in awhile. Rashard looks like he's on vacation. Turkoglu looks like his IQ decreased significantly. Redick should never have the ball in crunch time unless he's wide open. AJ is being forced into a role he cannot fill. Lee is just a rookie. Pietrus makes you scratch your head at some of his decisions -- he plays so out of control. Battie is a serviceable back-up. Gortat hardly plays anymore, but he's been pretty awful in meaningful minutes lately. Cook should never play. Ditto Richardson. And Lue, who I've had the pleasure of schoolin', is not our saviour. Nice stroke, good quickness and decent defense -- that's about it.

Did I miss anybody? Well, to sum it all up...

We're screwed this year. We'll be lucky to get out of the first round, depending on who we play. So much for being the best team in the league. The good thing, though, is that now we're considered underdogs. Maybe we can get extra hot for the playoffs? One can only dream.

Post #476 » by **FFBlitzace** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 3:06 am

I'm with Solid Snake on Dwight tonight. I'm not gonna give him a free pass because he's Dwight Howard, or pat him on the back for 20 rebounds. That's like throwing a party for someone because they paid their child support. That's what they SHOULD do. Against this Pacers front line, Dwight should get a big rebounding number. And we lost the game, so that right there is reason enough not to throw a parade over the 20/20.

His offense was terrible. Forcing everything. Getting blocked 7 times. Not passing when he should. Can't play inside-out if the ball never goes back out. Turning it over. Missing 7 free throws (big ones). Playing bad defense. And yes other people played bad defense, but Dwight is our guy. He's the anchor. It starts and ends with him. If he's not playing defense we're not going to be good at all.

And then we come to his attitude, which right now is awful. He spends more time complaining to the refs and pouting over his bad offense (which is his fault, not anybody elses) than he does playing basketball. I know he's young, but this is his 5th year in the league, so it's not an excuse at this point.

Forest · Post #477 » by **Forest** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 3:09 am

This game didn't prove anything about Nelson or his importance to this team. Some of you guys are starting to overrate Nelson.

This game proves if Howard doesn't play defense we are not very good which was true even with Nelson.

People seem to forget Nelson was playing this season like he did in the playoffs last year. The outcome? We got beat down by Detroit.

Its all about defense, getting lose balls, and bringing effort every night. Anybody who plays basketball knows its all about effort. The team who works the hardest wins the game, and with the talent this team has it is really that simple.

ivDT · Post #478 » by **ivDT** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 3:24 am

hmm...

our perimeter defenders get burnt to a crisp by guys like granger and nowitzki pretty much shooting over the top yet somehow we manage to focus on dwight's defense above all.

will there ever come a time when our perimeter guys are held to account for letting opposing players catch the ball without so much as a hassle and shoot pull-up jumpers right in their faces?

MagicStarwipe · Post #479 » by **MagicStarwipe** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 3:45 am

I'm not going to slam Dwight's offense. We know what he can do, and he couldn't do it tonight because he had guys hacking him all night with no calls. Don't tell me you guys didn't see that. I know he would have missed the freethrows anyway but c'mon. Murphy and Ford get the slightest contact and they are straight to the freethrow line. This happens every game, but it happened a lot tonight. On the very first possession of the game Dwight literally couldn't lift his shooting arm to get the shot off because somebody was holding his arm down. No call. WTF? Unacceptable.

However I'm with you guys on his defense. He just hasn't been playing on that side of the ball lately and it's evident in his spiraling block numbers. It's quite sad to see a guy that is so capable of being dominant on that end show no effort.

Forest · Post #480 » by **Forest** » Sat Feb 7, 2009 4:08 am

I thouht this team was going to come to this point soon anyway even with Jameer Nelson. Howard's defense has been gradually dropping off. He needs to refocus. And it is especially important now.

Because without Jameer Nelson, this team cannot afford to see lazy and whiny Howard too many nights.

Hopefully he realizes this and he comes up big the rest of the season.