Washington Magic @ Orlando Wizards @ Amway @ 7 p.m.

[mhectorgato]

Has Washington become the new Toronto?

[Bucs80]

Nothing really happend in this loss.

If you really think about it. The only importance of this game was the Wizards keep up the half game lead over Philadelphia.

We haven't played Wizards are full strength, and the Magic were playing horrible. Plus Dwight Howard was in foul trouble the whole game.

[Bucs80]

Has Washington become the new Toronto?

Atleast when they are fully healthy. They can beat anybody in the east.

[mhectorgato]

Atleast when they are fully healthy. They can beat anybody in the east.

I was referring to the bickering between both groups ...

*thinks back to the good 'ole days when game threads got locked*

[Donkey McDonkerton]

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Talking crap about lesser East teams makes us feel better about ourselves. We're like that kid who gets to hang out with his cool brother and his friends (Celtics, Pistons) and then exerts his supposed superiority over his middle school mates (Wizards).

RESPECT US

EXACTLY
Just checking in to see this 50 some page game thread...WHOA!

If you don't know, I'm a Wizards fan...here is my take.

-Haywood does flop on occasion, but I wouldn't say he is a "flopper". What I mean, is I've seen him flop before and laughed that he got the call...but this doesnt happen enough for me to call him a flopper. He has it in his repertoire and pulls it out when needed.

-Haywood is a very good post defender, and he gives A LOT of centers problems. He is tall, has long arms, and actually goes for a lot of blocks. He isn't really fast, but he isn't that slow either. He played very well last night, but wasnt THE CAUSE for Howards bad game. Did he have a lot to do with it? YES, but it wasn't JUST because of him. There were a few shot that Howard put up,but just got an unlucky bounce.

-Are the Magic a better team than Washington? YES. Right now, it is obvious, look at the records. Now if we are talking fully healthy, I think it could go either way, whether we see two healthy teams or not in the playoffs is a different question.

[lovehoops01]

Haywood has played quite a few good games against the Magic. Maybe he's still mad that the Magic kept Steven Hunter and traded him and felt a bit disrespected himself. Wizards fans can't deny that he flopped at least once and likely twice in that game last night, though. It seemed to be a tactic that several of the players (excluding Butler) were trying to use because some of the Wizards' guards dropped to the ground on Magic jump shots, too (and were not rewarded with fouls), which I found totally hilarious to even try to attempt. That made me think that maybe they saw it was working for some guys and decided to try to use it as a strategy.

Having said that.....The Magic and Wizards actually have been pretty evenly matched for the past few seasons. The Magic are up 2-1 this season with a game to go. They split evenly the past three seasons. The Magic won the series 3-1 in 2003-04.

Neither team nor its fans has cause to claim domination at this point. Magic fans can talk a little too much smack sometimes, but they just are trying to stand up for their team since no one outside of Orlando ever seems to. But Washington backers can't claim they are being abused either. Saying that Haywood made Superman look like Christopher Reeves was way over the top. After the game, on NBA TV, they said that the Wizards said that they thought Dwight tried to show them up in the previous game they played. What? How do you show up a division opponent when you're fighting for playoff seeding and to win the division? I have seen some Wizards fans say they want Orlando, I have heard Wizards broadcasters say the Wizards want Orlando, and I have seen stories in the Washington newspapers that say that the Wizards can beat Orlando and would rather play them than any of the other top four teams. So it's not like there hasn't been some talk coming out of Washington either. And I don't think Wizards fans should expect to come to our board and expect to get massive praise for their team.

On the court, considering that Arenas didn't play Wednesday, Orlando should be concerned with last night's game.

The Magic did not play well. They actually have struggled through stretches of most of their past few games but still have managed to win have most of them. The Wizards are capable of playing better than they did, too, even without Arenas.

This is not a criticism of Hedo because he was one of the only guys who had it going. But I wonder if the fact that he took so many shots took some other guys out of the game a little. It's hard to criticize him because he was one of the only guys who was hitting anything and the Magic might have been even worse if he wasn't taking all those shots. But we probably don't want to get in the habit of having Hedo score 39 points and no one else scoring.

And about Dwight and his goaltending. At least one of those last night definitely was not goaltending.

Thief....I would be interested in your opinion on this. Does Dwight really goaltend as much as he gets called for it? I would guess that he gets called for it more than any other player in the league, and there seem to be quite a few that I would call questionable. It seems they don't even give him the benefit of the doubt.

[theTHIEF]

the goal tending thing, i'd say if he blocks 10 shots, about 4 or 5 of them are mistakenly called as GT...but that's common for big time shot blockers like him who jump up for everything, you have to also look at the flip and think he's probably gotten some in the past that should have been GT...

so it's probably 40/60 - 50/50 maybe more, maybe less...

[TooNice00]

A typical game (using averages):

(no rounding up or down, just using integers )
Dwight: 21
Hedo: 19
Shard: 18
Total: 58

Last night:
Dwight: 3
Hedo: 39
Shard: 7
Total: 49

Diff: -9

So our big 3 had an average night, all things equal, we'd won by 8 points.

actually our big 3 had a below average night seeing what they scored was below their season averages. other things equal this would have been a blowout.

[AdamTheGreek]

Didn't read the thread, tough loss last night as everyone in the arena was disappointed going up and/or down the stairs.
Fat Guy was running his lap again, fans not so appreciative this night.

Good ref crew for a change.
Dwight needs to man the f*ck up if we're going to go deep in the playoffs this season.
Rashard finally had an off game.

Pat would've won the game late, he owns Washington.

Hedo deserves zero blame since we should've lost by 20 if it wasn't for that unbelievable effort, damn shame he missed that many free throws though (but some other guys missed too).
We'll see these guys in the 1st Round so this loss will be fresh in our guys' minds come Playoff time (this loss may be a blessing in disguise).

Hopefully Philly will be a win tomorrow, that is all.

OH BTW, did they show Cookie about to throwdown with one of our guys (probably Dwight) during the timeout on the bench? Kid has a temper, but he was more pissed in himself for another bad game. Dwight must've called him out for those 2 being so close on that baseline and leading to a turnover. Stan ignored the situation completely, but Jameer, Adonal, Gortat and Batman were there trying separate Cookie from a sitting Dwight.

[MagicNolesFSU]

wiz fans are hilarious. Best 1on1 defender in the league. rofl

[lovehoops01]

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Well next year should prove interesting the NBA said that they going to have refs inforce and call fouls on players who flop this rule is also suppose to go into force in college as well.

Sorry, but I don't believe this ever will happen. They could enforce it now by not calling fouls when guys flop -- but they don't. So the same refs that call fouls on the flops now won't call them as flops if this "rule'' supposedly ever goes into effect.

[lovehoops01]

Didn't read the thread, tough loss last night as everyone in the arena was disappointed going up and/or down the stairs.
Fat Guy was running his lap again, fans not so appreciative this night. :(

Good ref crew for a change.
Dwight needs to man the f*ck up if we're going to go deep in the playoffs this season.
Rashard finally had an off game.

Pat would've won the game late, he owns Washington. :)

Hedo deserves zero blame since we should've lost by 20 if it wasn't for that unbelievable effort, damn shame he missed that many free throws though (but some other guys missed too).
We'll see these guys in the 1st Round so this loss will be fresh in our guys' minds come Playoff time (this loss may be a blessing in disguise).

Hopefully Philly will be a win tomorrow, that is all.

OH BTW, did they show Cookie about to throwdown with one of our guys (probably Dwight) during the timeout on the bench? Kid has a temper, but he was more pissed in himself for another bad game. Dwight must've called him out for those 2 being so close on that baseline and leading to a turnover. Stan ignored the situation completely, but Jameer, Adonal, Gortat and Batman were there trying separate Cookie from a sitting Dwight.

Actually, it was he and Dooling who had the disagreement. I wish Cook would get that mad when he was on the court.

[theTHIEF]

Cook is mad a lot when he's on the court. Once he gets a foul, it's over, the kid gets lit up inside...you can judge the game just by listening to Cook with your eyes closed...if you hear that loud "F!" you know homie just caught a foul and messed a set up...

he's almost like Mutombo in that sense...Mutombo has never committed a foul in his life...

[Big A All Day]

wiz fans are hilarious. Best 1on1 defender in the league. rofl

Shard,howard,and Dooling played a horrible game, it happens, just before that we won 5 in a row, But my 2 cents That Call on Howard goaltending on Jamison that at 1st they Singaled NO BASKET and then the tv went to a timeout and coming back on shouldve been jaminson shooting 2 free throws instead they come back from TV timeout and jamison is shooting 1 and they counted the basket as a goaltend? Come on... also blancht with the foul on the baseline were dwight was like 4 feet away and he SLIPPED ON A BANNA PEEL and dwight gets called was HORRRRRRIIIIIBBBLLLLLLEEEEEEE and NO FAN MAGIC OR WIZ CAN DENY THAT LOOKING AT THE REPLY. That was one of the worse calls i have Seen ALL YEAR.

[mhectorgato]

he's almost like Mutombo in that sense...Mutombo has never committed a foul in his life...

Neither has Duncan.

*pictures his incredulous look combined with his arms extended palms up*

[AdamTheGreek]

^^^The Jamison AND 1 was initially not decided by the refs whether the bucket was good or if Antawn was shooting 2, it took them a few seconds, probably seconds into the tv timeout for you guys, and then they said it was an AND 1.
It was the right call, Dwight can't do that on a foul.

[theTHIEF]

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Neither has Duncan.

*pictures his incredulous look combined with his arms extended palms up*

what are you talking about?

[lovehoops01]

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seriously, if we end up with 50+ wins, will we own the record for most inept team when losing after 3 quarters?

1-21. Are you f-ing kidding me?? I...I'm speechless. Done.

Seriously, I doubt that will go down in history. While that is a significant piece of information for people analyzing the games, only geeks would even know this. (Yes, we might all be geeks but 99 percent of the world would have no idea.)

And also, there definitely have been a few times this season when the Magic led after three, lost the lead in the fourth, and retook the lead and won the game.

As to those criticizing Hedo for not passing to Dwight on the final play....I'm sure his vision was blocked by the guys guarding him, and I'm sure he was worried about the clock. There were only 3.9 seconds left when the ball was inbounded and Hedo was well into his drive by then. It is a shame that Hedo missed those free throws late because he had a hell of a game, but the reason that the team lost was poor play by most of the rest of the team. It's tough to win when you only shoot 34 percent as a team and even more baffling when you shot 40 percent from the 3-point line. How is it easier to hit from behind the 3-point line than inside?

[damo[23]]

Neither has Duncan.

*pictures his incredulous look combined with his arms extended palms up*

And Bowen isnt a dirty player...

Oh wonderful things people like to believe.

[Potterman]

Magic win this thread doesnt reach 30 pages. Magic lose 60+ before it is said and done.