Premature Playoff Talk (edited title) Merged

L&H_05 · Post #1 » by **L&H_05** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 7:17 am

What do you guys think ? I know most of us were in agreement that we didn't like their moves..

Maybe they turn it around, and turn it up come playoff time-- but I dunno; that team is nowhere near the same challenge for us or the Celtics IMO... They don't really have any mismatches any more against the top teams..

Vince Carter is becoming my favorite player...

Post #2 » by **Rise Against** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 7:50 am

After that loss to Portland today, Atlanta is now ahead of them in seeding.. That is something a bit unusual to see. I had really high expectations for them coming into this year, but seeing that things aren't clicking for them halfway into the season makes things much better for us. I don't know what is the matter with them since I haven't been following very many Magic games, but it seems like they are missing their pick and roll buddy, who is in Toronto..

Post #3 » by **B Mac** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 7:57 am

Its simple really. They were a team that survived on mismatches. For whatever idiotic reason they let the key to that team walk away and thought they could "upgrade" with Wince. They effectively took away the mismatches that made them so tough to beat and made themselves a much more traditional ball club of which they are only very good instead of exceptionally good like last year. Still plenty of time for them to turn it around, but they arent going to be near the challenge as last year just because everyone else can matchup with them now.

CzBoobie · Post #4 » by **CzBoobie** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 9:30 am

I bet that if we meet them in the playoffs, they'll just shoot 10+ % above their average from anywhere on the court...no matter what.

JonFromVA · Post #5 » by **JonFromVA** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 10:47 am

I think they blew up their team this off-season, and they're having problems screwing it back together.

Still, they're on pace for 53-wins this season .vs. 59 last season, 52 the year before that, and 40 the year before that.

When a team comes together and clicks, it raises everyone on the team up. I suppose things could still click for them. They took a risk banking on Wince because he's just not a winner, but his numbers have dropped off a cliff.

Similarly everything was clicking for Jameer Nelson last year up until his injury, but he's gone from shooting 58% eFG on his jumpers last season to 44% this year and has missed a bunch of games again.

Things can snowball on the basketball team, when everything is just right they'll snowball for the better, but usually when things are out of kilter it's for the worse.

prekazi · Post #6 » by **prekazi** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:25 pm

It's still too early...

Post #7 » by **TheOUTLAW** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:35 pm

From what I've read they seem to be losing because of poor lay from Rashard and Jameer. Fact is, they traded away their primary playmaker and while Vince is a better scorer he's not one to set others to get off. Oh and by the way, Jameer had the best season of his career last year and he's playing more along the lines of his previous seasons now.

Ballah · Post #8 » by **Ballah** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 4:16 pm

Its called a slump, we've had em, Boston has had them. Its not like they've been playing horrible the whole season. The weird thing is they did really good when they were dealing with a ton of injuries and the suspension but now that their whole team is together they are just sucking. I hear jameer nelson is just not 100%, that might have something to do with it.

Niko23 · Post #9 » by **Niko23** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 4:21 pm

Uh its much more than a slump. You do not lose four straight to sub 500 teams without something being wrong. They are good team, but honestly, Dwight needs to grow up and become the player he is supposed to be

JonFromVA · Post #10 » by **JonFromVA** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:14 pm

The only thing significantly off with Dwight are his FGAs. His assists are even up some this year.

One thing different this year, is the Magic are significantly worse when Dwight is off the the floor. His numbers are very much like LeBron's in that respect. Last year, Gortat and Turkoglu held together the second unit very effectively.

Jason Williams seems to be playing pretty well for them, so that may be key as he gets more and more used to playing with them.

Triumph36 · Post #11 » by **Triumph36** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:29 pm

huge lol @ losing to the Trailblazers when they're missing Roy (and Rudy....and Oden...and Batum...and Pryzbilla). that's embarrassing.

Oh well. It's still only January.

Benedict_Boozer · Post #12 » by **Benedict_Boozer** » Sat Jan 16, 2010 6:20 pm

B Mac wrote:Its simple really. They were a team that survived on mismatches. For whatever idiotic reason they let the key to that team walk away and thought they could "upgrade" with Wince. They effectively took away the mismatches that made them so tough to beat and made themselves a much more traditional ball club of which they are only very good instead of exceptionally good like last year. Still plenty of time for them to turn it around, but they arent going to be near the challenge as last year just because everyone else can matchup with them now.

This.

Baseline Runner · Post #13 » by **Baseline Runner** » Sun Jan 17, 2010 1:48 am

This is what happens when you take away your glue player. Turkoglu has won everywhere he's been and even Toronto is starting to turn things around with him. Vince has never won anything despite having much better stats. He doesn't make the team around him better like Turk did.

GenevieveJames · Post #14 » by **GenevieveJames** » Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:47 am

turkoglu must be laughing a lot these days

DumbyTheWizard · Post #15 » by **DumbyTheWizard** » Sun Jan 17, 2010 11:56 am

Turk was great, but it was Rashard playing the 4 that caused alot of mismatches. So far he played bad this year but if he will return to play like last year then they are much much much better. However you could also claim that Shard was so good becuase Turk was there and you will be right so they are obviously a different team. They have a lot of talent and if everything connects they will be a great team..

Post #16 » by **Rise Against** » Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:11 pm

Let me also mention that the other thing that killed us in the playoffs was the reserves. Pietrus outscored our entire bench that whole series... Now that we have Z, Andy, West, Moon, and Jawad (hope he continues his strong play) as backups, there is no doubt that we can beat them in a 7 game series.

Gordon Bombay · Post #17 » by **Gordon Bombay** » Sun Jan 17, 2010 4:51 pm

i still think the loss of hedo is a little overrated but as the games go on, the evidence is starting to sway me as to the otherwise. i've seen the bits and pieces of the last couple magic games and the only players that give consistent effort and hustle are matt barnes and jj redick. their starting backcourt, nelson and carter, has probably been the worst duo in the league - seriously awful...rashard lewis hasn't been much better

the other thing i noticed about them is they become very lazy as a team. the team gets content just to jack up contested jumpers instead of working a little harder to get the ball inside either to dwight or someone taking it hard to the basket. dwight's the most dominant presence in the league and he disappears for chunks at a time, either due to his teammates incompetence or the fact that he checks himself out of the game mentally for periods of time.

i think they'll get it going eventually (probably won't be monday lol) but it won't be until they, as a team, get a change in mentality...well that, and probably when they kill vince carter

JordansBulls · Post #18 » by **JordansBulls** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 2:53 am

L&H_05 wrote:What do you guys think ? I know most of us were in agreement that we didn't like their moves..

Maybe they turn it around, and turn it up come playoff time-- but I dunno; that team is nowhere near the same challenge for us or the Celtics IMO... They don't really have any mismatches any more against the top teams..

Vince Carter is becoming my favorite player...

Well I'm sure you would rather only have to worry about Orlando or Boston and not both. If Orlando finishes 4th then more than likely you will have to play them and Boston.

JonFromVA · Post #19 » by **JonFromVA** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 5:10 pm

JordansBulls wrote:Well I'm sure you would rather only have to worry about Orlando or Boston and not both. If Orlando finishes 4th then more than likely you will have to play them and Boston.

Dunno, sleep-walking through the first two rounds did nothing to prepare the Cavs for the ECF last year.

Howard+Nelson · Post #20 » by **Howard+Nelson** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:43 pm

TheOUTLAW wrote:From what I've read they seem to be losing because of poor lay from Rashard and Jameer. Fact is, they traded away their primary playmaker and while Vince is a better scorer he's not one to set others to get off. Oh and by the way, Jameer had the best season of his career last year and he's playing more along the lines of his previous seasons now.

Wrong, Jameer is playing the worst this season, not the same as all the other years.