Archive for October, 2009

The Orlando Magic will take on the Chicago Bulls at the United Center tonight. Click here to see the Brian Schmitz’s report on the game. Schmitz says that the game is not on television, but the game will in fact be shown on NBA TV tonight (channel 216 on DirectTV). If you don’t have NBA TV, as always, you can listen on WDBO AM 580 and you can hear the Spanish broadcast on WONQ AM 1030. Jameer Nelson has been a fearless player throughout his career. And his injury isn’t going to change anything. “I don’t know any other way [...]

The season is now less than two weeks away so it’s about time I start previewing the Magic position by position. First up? The Guards. There are two huge storylines in the Magic backcourt are clear; the acquisition of eight-time All-Star Vince Carter and the return of All-Star Point Guard Jameer Nelson, but the Magic have a lot of other weapons in their backcourt. Point Guards Jameer Nelson 2008-09 Statistics: 42 games played, 16.5 ppg, 5.4 apg, 3.5 rpg, 1.2 spg .503 FG%, .453 3Pt%, Nelson made his first All-Star team but was injured prior to the game and didn’t [...]

The Orlando Magic are making 3-pointers cool again. Just as Matt Humphrey (and Jonathan Adams). The Magic successfully blended Dwight Howard in the post with potent 3-point shooters. Of all the Magic’s shots last season, 33.5 percent were 3-pointers, eclipsing the record of 33.1 percent set by the 2002-3 Boston Celtics. … In some ways, the Magic can be viewed as an evolved version of the successful Houston teams of the mid-1990s. The Rockets flanked Hakeem Olajuwon in the middle with shooters like Clyde Drexler, Robert Horry and Sam Cassell. The Magic broadened the approach, a reflection of the league [...]

The Magic hosted their thank you luncheon and Dwight Howard was the center of attention, but not because of his basketball skills. Howard put on a comedy act for everyone in attendance. Not shockingly, it quickly turned into the Dwight Howard comedy hour. There were three main themes for the jokes: 1. Jameer Nelson was too short for the stool he sat on. 2. Dwight Howard thinks Vince Carter is old. 3. The team had to run a lot yesterday as punishment for all their turnovers. Nelson opened up with theme one. The moderator, Magic play by play announcer David [...]

The college basketball season kicked off with “Midnight Madness” last night. It is the first day that NCAA basketball teams can officially participate in practice. Howard the Dunk is a site primarily dedicated to the Orlando Magic, but I like to comment on other sports and I will have a weekly college basketball report that is very similar to my Weekly College Football Report. After the Magic start the regular season, look for a top 25, an All-American team and my Final 4 predictions. The season officially gets underway on Monday, November 9. The defending champion North Carolina Tar Heels [...]

Orlando Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy was fined $35,000 for discussing the officiating of the replacement referees. “There’s no problem with them. These are guys the NBA in large part has identified. They’re good, young officials on the way up and one day they’ll be ready. It would be like us having to play with an entire d-league roster. A lot of those guys will be ready to play in three years. if you put one of those guys on an NBA crew they’d probably be all right, but they’re all out there together. It’s like me taking a [...]

Dwight Howard is ready for this season. He’s more motivated and dedicated than ever. Trainer Bryan Meyer would have preferred less traveling for Howard: “But I understand he wants a life outside of basketball. That’s why he brought (me) along … and we had time to accomplish what I wanted.” Whenever they could, be it 5:30 a.m. in Africa or, after a long day in Los Angeles, at 1 a.m. “There were times I was icing his knees in the dressing room (or) making sure he stayed hydrated,” Meyer says. “He would have so much on his mind, he wouldn’t [...]

Update: Tania Ganguli is reporting that Rashard Lewis will not start any more games. Forward Rashard Lewis won’t start any more exhibition games, Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy said. The Magic will get used to not having him in their starting lineup, which they won’t for 10 games as he serves a suspension stemming from a positive drug test. The one lineup option Van Gundy has yet to try this preseason that he said he still needs to get to is playing Matt Barnes at power forward. He also said he might try Marcin Gortat there. “You know, just a [...]

In an earlier post, I mentioned 11 things that would keep the Magic from winning the NBA Title. In this post, I’m going to tell you why the Magic will win the NBA Championship in 2009-10. 11. Ryan Anderson was more than just a “throw in.” So far, Ryan Anderson has been known as that “other guy” in the Vince Carter trade, but he’s so much more than that. Anderson and his classmate, beloved former Magic Guard Courtney Lee, actually posted similar numbers during the 2008-09 season but because of Orlando’s success, no one mentioned Anderson’s name. They will now. [...]

Basketball isn’t the only sport in Orlando anymore. The Florida Tuskers defeated the Las Vegas Locomotives 29-15 in front of 12,610 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada to start the season 2-0. The Tuskers dominated the game from the start to finish. They didn’t allow the Locomotives to score until the fourth quarter and those were just garbage touchdowns when the game was no longer in doubt. The star of the night was former Wisconsin Badger and Minnesota Viking Quarterback Brooks Bollinger. The Tuskers’ signal called was nearly perfect. He was 24-of-32 for 310 yards and 3 touchdowns. [...]