magicfan4life05 wrote:does anyone think d12 was hobbled by that injury at all?
Yes, of course. He hurt enough on Thursday to be excused from practice, so I'm sure he wasn't 100% on Friday.
I reject the idea that the Magic still play down to the opposition -- at least any more than other good teams. All fans say this about their teams, but the main reason is that they expect wins when they are playing "inferior" teams, so those losses stand out. The fact is that we are 29-8 against teams at or below .500 and 14-16 against teams above .500.
No team can consistantly maintain the same intensity in an easy game as they do in one that is really big. Teams can't regularly maintain full intensity in a blowout lead. But did you seriously ever think the Magic weren't going to win last night? I didn't. The players clearly didn't. They looked relaxed and confident. I was watching the Miami broadcast, and when they were tied in the fourth, the camera went to SVG. He wasn't pounding his fist on his head or shaking it in the air, yelling at the team or even watching intently. He was chatting with his assistants. He knows that scrubs and young players can get hot and go off for a lot of points, but when it comes to the end of the game, team play wins, and they aren't going to be able to compete.
