Magic(22-12) @ Hawks(19-14)

[OrlandO]

Hedo sucked, but we lost because Dwight wasn't aggressive on offense. When teams play him 1on1, it's up to him to be aggressive in order to loosen up the defense on other players. This was his game to dominate and he simply let ZaZa control him. Dwight played 40 minutes, took just 7 shots, and only went to the line 5 times. ZaZa played 40 minutes (!), had zero blocks, and only had 4 fouls (much of them came late). Dwight really should have tried to get zaza in foul trouble with such a depleted bench at the center position for the Hawks. And it's not that Dwight wasn't getting the ball, it's that he played like a role player on offense tonight rather than a superstar Center.

I don't know if it's because Dwight was discouraged knowing Duhon would be handling the ball all night or if he's already looking ahead to allstar weekend/parties, but I'm again disappointed to see him get shutdown by such an inferior big who can't block shots and isn't looking to foul.

[The Real Dalic]

That's one of the worst excuses ever... "he's paid to much, so, lets justify his contract and lose games even though our job is to win them NO MATTER WHAT".

It's not an excuse, it's reality. Duhon could be leaving soon, however, if you know what I mean. coughHowardtrade

And that's what bothers me... *sigh*.... I can't wait to see Stan leave, along with Otis and a lot of our terrible players....

[Jamaicankid21]

Hedo sucked, but we lost because Dwight wasn't aggressive on offense. When teams play him 1on1, it's up to him to be aggressive in order to loosen up the defense on other players. This was his game to dominate and he simply let ZaZa control him. Dwight played 40 minutes, took just 7 shots, and only went to the line 5 times. ZaZa played 40 minutes (!), had zero blocks, and only had 4 fouls. Dwight really should have tried to get zaza in foul trouble with such a depleted bench at the center position for the Hawks. And it's not that Dwight wasn't getting the ball, it's that he played like a role player on offense tonight rather than a superstar Center.

I don't know if it's because Dwight was discouraged knowing Duhon would be handling the ball all night or if he's already looking ahead to allstar weekend/parties, but I'm again disappointed to see him get shutdown by such an inferior big who can't block shots and isn't looking to foul.

Whole team just came out so flat. As a leader, Dwight should have got this team going and energized, but he looked out of it more than anybody else until the end..

[I Rasharted]

Disagree on Stan, agree on the latter two, no doubt.

[Jamaicankid21]

This drops us back to 5th in the East tied with the 3rd best record into the east heading into the allstar break. Meh I hate the Hawks.

[magicman123]

Hedo sucked, but we lost because Dwight wasn't aggressive on offense. When teams play him 1on1, it's up to him to be aggressive in order to loosen up the defense on other players. This was his game to dominate and he simply let ZaZa control him. Dwight played 40 minutes, took just 7 shots, and only went to the line 5 times. ZaZa played 40 minutes (!), had zero blocks, and only had 4 fouls (much of them came late). Dwight really should have tried to get zaza in foul trouble with such a depleted bench at the center position for the Hawks. And it's not that Dwight wasn't getting the ball, it's that he played like a role player on offense tonight rather than a superstar Center.

I don't know if it's because Dwight was discouraged knowing Duhon would be handling the ball all night or if he's already looking ahead to allstar weekend/parties, but I'm again disappointed to see him get shutdown by such an inferior big who can't block shots and isn't looking to foul.

we had a very hard time feeding dwight in the post, it was like that all night, when we did get him the ball he was so far away from the basket, the hawks were double teaming him and were still close enough to close out at the three point line..not an excuse overall because dwight did look out of it, but we couldn't even get him the ball

[JNelson43]

That line really bothers me.... we get it. when he leaves we're gonna suck. it's kinda obvious.... the reason I can't stand this team is because Stan sucks at making the right rotations, AND, our team doesn't give it their all every SINGLE night..... the GOAT MJ once said I can accept failure but I canNOT except not trying it's really that simple....

Here's the thing though. When you look at the roster, the main reason we don't win HAS to be lack of talent. We all know it, hence all the jokes about Duhon and those guys. We don't have the talent.

So I really, really struggle to see what people expect. Do you expect us to be up there with the Bulls and Heat? Third place is playing above your talent level. So its a little weird for people to hate a team that is playing as well as any fan coming into the season could hope for them to play.

So what's happening imo is that people are projecting their frustration from the Dwight situation onto this team and nitpicking every single bad play and acting like the Magic never, ever do anything right or never, ever try. I think people are buying into the narrative and that's influencing everything they see on the court.

This isn't to say that I don't get frustrated when it looks like people aren't putting 100% effort in, I do. Not saying that "they need to play with more effort" is invalid or always wrong. My point is that fans of every team have the same complaints about their team and seems to think that their team is the only one that does it. I remember Heat fans complaining about effort in the past, I remember Laker fans complaining about their teams awful effort before they went on a couple playoff runs to win championships. There are simply going to be lapses in effort by 99.9% of players in the course of an occasional regular season game, and that's true of every team.

Its especially true this season, teams around the league have been worse and have taken nights off, EVERY team has. And while it doesn't excuse it, you can understand why it would happen on yet another back to back on the night just before the all star break taking place in your home town. Heck, I even forgot they were playing.

[The Real Dalic]

Disagree on Stan, agree on the latter two, no doubt.

I know you do... how about we agree to disagree... just please, I would like if no one talk to me about Stan... cause I will go off and might get banned I dislike that fatass so much....... except for people that agree with me.

[ADRajX]

As much as I am frustrated with Stan, he shouldn't be fired... he's still a great coach... he needs better players... but at the same time he needs to stop his love affair with guys like Duhon

[Jamaicankid21]

Hedo sucked, but we lost because Dwight wasn't aggressive on offense. When teams play him 1on1, it's up to him to be aggressive in order to loosen up the defense on other players. This was his game to dominate and he simply let ZaZa control him. Dwight played 40 minutes, took just 7 shots, and only went to the line 5 times. ZaZa played 40 minutes (!), had zero blocks, and only had 4 fouls (much of them came late). Dwight really should have tried to get zaza in foul trouble with such a depleted bench at the center position for the Hawks. And it's not that Dwight wasn't getting the ball, it's that he played like a role player on offense tonight rather than a superstar Center.

I don't know if it's because Dwight was discouraged knowing Duhon would be handling the ball all night or if he's already looking ahead to allstar weekend/parties, but I'm again disappointed to see him get shutdown by such an inferior big who can't block shots and isn't looking to foul.

we had a very hard time feeding dwight in the post, it was like that all night, when we did get him the ball he was so far away from the basket, the hawks were double teaming him and were still close enough to close out at the three point line..not an excuse overall because dwight did look out of it, but we couldn't even get him the ball

Couldn't get him the ball becasue Zaza fronted him nearly most of the game and Josh Smith was behind him for help, a few times Josh didn't come to help on the front and I think J-Rich or somebody over threw him a few times..

[toquito]

Hedo sucked, but we lost because Dwight wasn't aggressive on offense. When teams play him 1on1, it's up to him to be aggressive in order to loosen up the defense on other players. This was his game to dominate and he simply let ZaZa control him. Dwight played 40 minutes, took just 7 shots, and only went to the line 5 times. ZaZa played 40 minutes (!), had zero blocks, and only had 4 fouls (much of them came late). Dwight really should have tried to get zaza in foul trouble with such a depleted bench at the center position for the Hawks. And it's not that Dwight wasn't getting the ball, it's that he played like a role player on offense tonight rather than a superstar Center.

I don't know if it's because Dwight was discouraged knowing Duhon would be handling the ball all night or if he's already looking ahead to allstar weekend/parties, but I'm again disappointed to see him get shutdown by such an inferior big who can't block shots and isn't looking to foul.

If i remember watching the game I didn't see the Hawks playing Howard 1 on 1 whatsoever. He was pretty much being double teamed and fronted for 40 minutes by my account

[Reverse_Angle]

Ish hasn't been here that long....doesn't even practice with the 1st or 2nd team....i believe he doesn't even participate in the walk-throughs....and yet....he is a better player than Duhon and more of a PG than Jameer....i'm not saying he should Start or anything that's too crazy but he should play over duhon clearly.....I don't know his stats off hand but he had an Ok game and he was still better than anything Duhon has done in the past 10 games.....Speed kills in this league and Ish got it....worked the pick and roll and got 2 or 3 easy buckets just because he's that fast.....how can you not play this kid when he fits so well in this offense?.....

+1

[The Real Dalic]

As much as I am frustrated with Stan, he shouldn't be fired... he's still a great coach... he needs better players... but at the same time he needs to stop his love affair with guys like Duhon

That's the thing though, it's been what 5 years since we've hired him? and he still won't change.... he never will.... he'll put HIS players in even if it costs us games... *cough* Hedo *cough* *cough* Duhon *cough*....

[I Rasharted]

Disagree on Stan, agree on the latter two, no doubt.

I know you do... how about we agree to disagree... just please, I would like if no one talk to me about Stan... cause I will go off and might get banned I dislike that fatass so much....... except for people that agree with me.

Word.

Wait, did you just add "Fire Stan" to your sig? Shots fired.

[The Real Dalic]

Ish hasn't been here that long....doesn't even practice with the 1st or 2nd team....i believe he doesn't even participate in the walk-throughs....and yet....he is a better player than Duhon and more of a PG than Jameer....i'm not saying he should Start or anything that's too crazy but he should play over duhon clearly.....I don't know his stats off hand but he had an Ok game and he was still better than anything Duhon has done in the past 10 games.....Speed kills in this league and Ish got it....worked the pick and roll and got 2 or 3 easy buckets just because he's that fast.....how can you not play this kid when he fits so well in this offense?.....

+1

[The Real Dalic]

Disagree on Stan, agree on the latter two, no doubt.

I know you do... how about we agree to disagree... just please, I would like if no one talk to me about Stan... cause I will go off and might get banned I dislike that fatass so much....... except for people that agree with me.

Word.

Wait, did you just add "Fire Stan" to your sig? Shots fired.

Yes I did.

[Jamaicankid21]

As much as I am frustrated with Stan, he shouldn't be fired... he's still a great coach... he needs better players... but at the same time he needs to stop his love affair with guys like Duhon

Exactly. We don't have a physical team and we played a physical team. Anderson usually disappears in these games. Hedo is very inconsistent, so you really don't know what youre getting. J-Rich inconsistent. Either way though we are still 5th in the east and tied for the 3rd best record. We aren't that good of a team. Even if I don't agree with Stan tactics I can't disagree with the results or success he has had with 3 straight ECOF trips, and 1 NBA finals trip.

[OrlandO]

I think Pachulia's back acne has Howard under a spell...

[JNelson43]

we had a very hard time feeding dwight in the post, it was like that all night, when we did get him the ball he was so far away from the basket, the hawks were double teaming him and were still close enough to close out at the three point line..not an excuse overall because dwight did look out of it, but we couldn't even get him the ball

Couldn't get him the ball becasue Zaza fronted him nearly most of the game and Josh Smith was behind him for help, a few times Josh didn't come to help on the front and I think J-Rich or somebody over threw him a few times..

Like mentioned I didn't see the whole game, but this is what I saw too. You can attribute a lot of things to lack of effort, but everybody want to fill up their stat sheet and take shots. Lack of shots usually means doubling or just not getting him the ball, in this case both.

Now where being out of it could lead to less shots is fewer easy putbacks.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Yea, if we See the Hawks, Celtics, Pistons(lol) in the first round, we will lose.

You know, I might be a hopeless optimist but I don't think so...
I think for the first time, Orlando has something to play for... and that's only if Dwight is on this team.

I tried being optimistic, but, we struggle against these teams, and we do have athletes on the bench, we just don't use them.

Yeah....but that's the fun thing about the playoffs, you STEP UP.

Something's different from last year, and I don't mean the Dwight trade, I mean, while this team is probably mentally weak, something is happening to this team that I like. Ever since that nightmare weak, I've noticed that Orlando has been fighting back in every game. And yes, they struggle against those teams and others but I honestly feel that something is different and that's a good thing.

I watched the 09-10 team crumble. We were one of the best teams that year and I watched how we got demolished and we didn't fight back. I cringed at the 10-11 playoff team for trying to dig their way out of a hole of which they got themselves into, but this 11-12 team I believe might just surprise you. I don't know how far they'll go or even if we'll make it past the first round but I feel a lot more comfortable with this team actually stepping up in the playoffs then last season. Honestly, last season, I knew we were a mess and in trouble, but I cheered for them either way. And call me crazy, I seriously think that SVG will be using some of these rookies more this year because he have done so more this season then the past 2 seasons.