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Hey guys, I'm always reading and not often posting, so most of you probably don't know who I am.

I'm from Brasil and I am a sports journalist here. I have a basketball blog in portuguese called High Five.

Last friday I had the chance to interview Horace Grant and asked him a few questions about the 95 Magic. The whole thing is in portuguese, but I'll post the Magic parts here in english for you guys.

After winning 3 championships with the Bulls, you went to play for the Magic. You almost got the championship there too. What do you remember from that campaign?

It was a great year. I didn't expect us to make it to the Finals in our first year, but in the back of my mind I knew we had the talent. You know, Shaq, and Penny, Nick, and Dennis and myself, we had a guy in Brian Shaw coming off the bench and a whole bunch of other guys. It was a young team. It was a great year, unfortunately we didn't win the championship and I was looking forward to us winning multiple championships if that team had stayed together.

What did that team miss to win the championship?

I think going up against a team like the Rockets, who had just won the championship the year before and with their experience and all the guys like Hakeem, Clyde, Robert Horry and Kenny Smith. Those guys had a little more experience than we did.

But before reaching the Finals, you beat the Chicago Bulls in the Playoffs. How was that experience for you, since you had been a Bull recently?

To beat Michael and Scottie in anything is great, personally. But just as a team it was one of that stepping stones that we felt that we had to do at that particular time to even think about being a very good basketball team. And we did it, we beat the Pacers and made it to the Finals. We felt that we had a very upcoming championship type of team.

I know it doesn't make much sense, but the whole interview, in portuguese, is here.

https://medium.com/high-five/por-vagner-vargas-cf9a608690c7

Thanks for sharing!

Magic would have won multiple championships if Shaq would have stayed . . .

BadMofoPimp wrote:Magic would have won multiple championships if Shaq would have stayed . . .

And that is why I will never forgive Shaq.

People don't want to forgive Shaq, but they want to retire Nick Anderson's #... and he literally never showed up in big games and is quite possibly the reason we lost the title.

SHAQ32 wrote:People don't want to forgive Shaq, but they want to retire Nick Anderson's #... and he literally never showed up in big games and is quite possibly the reason we lost the title.

Anderson never quit on this team.
Also dont be a d,,k about it.Blaming one guy when its a team team loss.Somehow Dennis Scott also forgot to show up shooting 31% in the series and 24% from 3pt line.Aside of Shaw bench was non existant.

SHAQ32 wrote:People don't want to forgive Shaq, but they want to retire Nick Anderson's #... and he literally never showed up in big games and is quite possibly the reason we lost the title.

I never understood why people haven't forgiven Nick Anderson for missing those free throws, yet we have all seemingly forgotten Dwight missing a pair when we were up 3 in game 4 (i think) when all he had to fking do was hit one and we would have tied the series. ONE FREE THROW! That's all he had to fking do. then Derek Fisher hits that 3 and its going to OT.

Clearly im not over it yet hahaha...

Thanks for posting. Always liked Horace Grant and his goggles.

Not only game 1, but Nick's entire career was choking in big playoff games.

Dennis Scott too. That's why they were both benched in favor of Darrell Armstrong and Gerald Wilkins when we played Miami in '97.

Don't take the goggles for Granted.

SHAQ32 wrote:Not only game 1, but Nick's entire career was choking in big playoff games.

Dennis Scott too. That's why they were both benched in favor of Darrell Armstrong and Gerald Wilkins when we played Miami in '97.

Ah, the '97 series. Arguably the most entertaining playoff series loss in Magic history.

Got blown out by an elite #2 seed two games in a row, then Penny puts the team on his back and forces a deciding Game 5.

shadrock wrote:

SHAQ32 wrote:People don't want to forgive Shaq, but they want to retire Nick Anderson's #... and he literally never showed up in big games and is quite possibly the reason we lost the title.

I never understood why people haven't forgiven Nick Anderson for missing those free throws, yet we have all seemingly forgotten Dwight missing a pair when we were up 3 in game 4 (i think) when all he had to fking do was hit one and we would have tied the series. ONE FREE THROW! That's all he had to fking do. then Derek Fisher hits that 3 and its going to OT.

Clearly im not over it yet hahaha...

The worse was Courtney Lee missing the layup. That's what killed our championship hopes.

SHAQ32 wrote:... Nick Anderson's #... and he literally never showed up in big games ....

Really? He only had the greatest defensive play in Magic history.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFs16GWXT_w[/youtube]

I watched the last 5 minutes of game one and still can not believe we lost. Shaq was dominating Hakeem and we made all the damn plays except for Nick choking his arse off. Damn damn damn, what could have been.

shadrock wrote:

SHAQ32 wrote:People don't want to forgive Shaq, but they want to retire Nick Anderson's #... and he literally never showed up in big games and is quite possibly the reason we lost the title.

I never understood why people haven't forgiven Nick Anderson for missing those free throws, yet we have all seemingly forgotten Dwight missing a pair when we were up 3 in game 4 (i think) when all he had to fking do was hit one and we would have tied the series. ONE FREE THROW! That's all he had to fking do. then Derek Fisher hits that 3 and its going to OT.

Clearly im not over it yet hahaha...

on top of his 16 points, 21 rebounds and 9 blocks, that's all he had to do?

what a shame if Shard had been held to the same standard, with his 6 pt, 7 rebound, 20% shooting night. i mean, all Shard had to do was hit more than 2 of his 10 shots, which he normally does unlike Dwight and free throws. but hey, you're right, let's blame Dwight. he clearly wasn't doing enough.

i just don't get people who are bitter over guys like Shaq, Dwight, Penny and Tmac leaving. those guys are responsible for every great achievement this team has made. but hey, let's retire Nick Anderson's #, cos, y'know, he didn't want to leave us!

Nick has never deserved it in my eyes. The closest we have to a player deserving that honour is Dwight but that isn't happening any time soon.

Bensational wrote:

shadrock wrote:

SHAQ32 wrote:People don't want to forgive Shaq, but they want to retire Nick Anderson's #... and he literally never showed up in big games and is quite possibly the reason we lost the title.

I never understood why people haven't forgiven Nick Anderson for missing those free throws, yet we have all seemingly forgotten Dwight missing a pair when we were up 3 in game 4 (i think) when all he had to fking do was hit one and we would have tied the series. ONE FREE THROW! That's all he had to fking do. then Derek Fisher hits that 3 and its going to OT.

Clearly im not over it yet hahaha...

on top of his 16 points, 21 rebounds and 9 blocks, that's all he had to do?

what a shame if Shard had been held to the same standard, with his 6 pt, 7 rebound, 20% shooting night. i mean, all Shard had to do was hit more than 2 of his 10 shots, which he normally does unlike Dwight and free throws. but hey, you're right, let's blame Dwight. he clearly wasn't doing enough.

i just don't get people who are bitter over guys like Shaq, Dwight, Penny and Tmac leaving. those guys are responsible for every great achievement this team has made. but hey, let's retire Nick Anderson's #, cos, y'know, he didn't want to leave us!

Why so passive aggressive? Surely youd prefer a conversation than an argument?

Anyway, i see your point, but in the spirit of the conversation, which was single moments that changed this franchise, i felt Dwight missing a pair was more relevant.

shadrock wrote:

Bensational wrote:

shadrock wrote:
I never understood why people haven't forgiven Nick Anderson for missing those free throws, yet we have all seemingly forgotten Dwight missing a pair when we were up 3 in game 4 (i think) when all he had to fking do was hit one and we would have tied the series. ONE FREE THROW! That's all he had to fking do. then Derek Fisher hits that 3 and its going to OT.

Clearly im not over it yet hahaha...

on top of his 16 points, 21 rebounds and 9 blocks, that's all he had to do?

what a shame if Shard had been held to the same standard, with his 6 pt, 7 rebound, 20% shooting night. i mean, all Shard had to do was hit more than 2 of his 10 shots, which he normally does unlike Dwight and free throws. but hey, you're right, let's blame Dwight. he clearly wasn't doing enough.

i just don't get people who are bitter over guys like Shaq, Dwight, Penny and Tmac leaving. those guys are responsible for every great achievement this team has made. but hey, let's retire Nick Anderson's #, cos, y'know, he didn't want to leave us!

Why so passive aggressive? Surely youd prefer a conversation than an argument?

Anyway, i see your point, but in the spirit of the conversation, which was single moments that changed this franchise, i felt Dwight missing a pair was more relevant.

You're right, it was very passive aggressive, but that's because I think it's a stupid point. I'm arguing against the post, not the poster, so to be clear - I don't think you are stupid in any uncertain terms.

Dwight put up 21 rebounds (which was more than the rest of the Magic combined) and 9 blocks, and hit the usual paltry amount of FTs that he usually did. Rashard Lewis bombed that game, Jameer Nelson watched Derek Fisher nail a 3 over in his face, and yet Dwight is the one who didn't do enough? I mean, yeah, that's a pretty crucial single moment, but there were a lot more single moments leading up to that which could have equally changed the tide, like Rashard's 8 missed shots.

Do you expect Dwight to hit FTs? Cos I certainly don't, and I wouldn't rely on it. Did you expect Rashard to hit better than 20% on most nights? I did. Did you expect Jameer to know to stay tight on Fisher and not to give up a 3 when they were down 3 with seconds to go? I did.

Sorry to take this thread waaaaaay OT though.