The-Power wrote:The thing is: this wasn't Magic's game.
But really, it was. The difference is, Magic knew how to use an elbow post up for more than just looking to get the shot. He'd get it established as necessary and compel the opposition to change their coverage, at which point he'd start picking them apart with passing FROM the post, or as the team around him started moving. Clearly, Magic wasn't gonna look at Steph and go for 50, I mean that wasn't HOW he played, he didn't really try to do that. What he did do was exploit the matchup to create holes and changes in the defense, which was sufficient. It was his version of what Steph does by drawing defenders away from the basket with the gravity of his 3pt potential.
Would he single-handedly destroy Curry's team by going at him over and over again? Most certainly not. That's all I'm saying.
No, as I noted above, I do agree with this principle. He'd do it a few times to engender a change in the defense.
Texas Chuck wrote:If Magic was taking Curry into the post over and over and abusing him--and not just scoring but with his vision and passing--well Kerr would simply put Iggy or Klay or maybe even Green on him. You don't have to put Curry on him. Magic certainly wouldn't be guarding him at the other end. And I feel really confident in my belief that if each guy did guard each other that Curry would come out on top and I have infinite respect for how great Magic is offensively.
I don't think Iggy or Klay would do especially well against Magic. I doubt they'd get owned more so than would anyone else, but I mean it was more of an event when Magic went for 30 or 35 points, because he typically didn't look for his own shot enough to make that happen. In his highest-scoring regular season in 87, he managed 30+ only 6 times, despite averaging 23.9 ppg over 72 games, and he shot 60%+ in 5 of those games, and 56.5% in the other one. He only took 20+ FGA 7 times, despite averaging 16.4 FGA/g. He was generally pretty steady about what he was doing with his shot, and didn't usually go for the gusto unless he was REALLY going. This remained true in the playoffs that year, where the only 30-point game he had was against the Spurs in a game where he was 13/19 from the floor. Conversely, the only game where he had < 10 assists was a 32-minute game with 9. He was all about using his own personal threat to make something happen for other people, and for finding seams and cracks in the defense, catching defenders napping, finding lobs, attacking in transition, etc.
I think we all realize that Magic wouldn't be calling his own number ALL that often, only when it was necessary. The initial response I made was more to differentiate him from Westy. Westbrook has troubles because while he has the physical tools to be a post scorer, he doesn't have the breadth of skill yet to really take advantage of those sets, as he's more of a face-up perimeter attack kind of player. Brutal in transition, brutal with momentum going to the basket, brutal in the PnR, but if you can stall his momentum before it starts, then he has trouble.
