Archive for May, 2010

As expected, Matt Barnes is going to opt out of his contract and become a free agent. “As for me and my contract situation, I’m going to opt out,” Barnes told a group of reporters Monday morning. Barnes has always said that his preference is to remain in Orlando and gave his fans this message via twitter shortly after making the announcement. To orlando fans opt out don’t mean I’m leaving the team. Means I’m lookn 4 alil pay raise,this is a business. I luv it hear and WANT2STAY!!! “I’m really close with everybody here, it’s been nothing but good [...]

I apologize for the quality and for my poor camera work. (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, a contributor on the Fansided Front Page and on Sir Charles In Charge. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, a contributor on the Fansided Front Page and on Sir Charles In Charge. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).

Dwight Howard was not happy about the way the Magic went out in Game 6. C Dwight Howard was less than pleased that teammates played one-on-one basketball, diverting from the game-plan Friday night in the third quarter after the Celtics made a run. “They made a run and we stopped playing our game,” Howard said. “Everybody wanted to do it on their own. That’s not what got us back to Game 6. You know, just everybody wanted to do it by themselves. “In a situation like this, you’ve got to keep fighting. They made their runs, and everybody started to [...]

Matt Barnes joined the Magic last off-season with hopes of being Orlando’s tough guy or their “enforcer” – a guy that could help change Orlando’s label as a soft team and put the Magic over the top. Although the Magic ultimately fell short of their goal of an NBA championship, Barnes had a good season. He was a good defender who broke out of his shooting slump to become a decent option on offense. It didn’t take long for the Magic to figure this out – Barnes replaced Mickael Pietrus as the team’s starting Small Forward early in the season. It’s [...]

The Orlando Magic were eliminated by the Boston Celtics 96-84 on Friday night. Dwight Howard did all he could but he didn’t get nearly enough help to make up for the performance of Boston’s wings. Howard did all he could to keep the Magic within striking distance, hitting the Celtics for 28 points and 12 rebounds. Vince Carter played well for the first time in a week, scoring 17 points. And point guard Jameer Nelson had 11, but it wasn’t nearly enough on a night when the Celtics were more efficient and precise. Boston star forward Paul Pierce, a Magic [...]

The Orlando Magic couldn’t bring the series back to Orlando for Game 7, falling to the Boston Celtics 96-84 Friday night. It was a disappointing end to what was an excellent season. Boston built an 11-point lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back. Dwight Howard led the Magic with 28 points and 12 rebounds while Paul Pierce led all scorers with 31 points for the Celtics. NBA Stats NBA NBA Stats

With a victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday night, the Orlando Magic can even up the Eastern Conference Finals and bring the series back to Orlando for Game 7 Sunday. Tip-off from TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Massachusetts is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EST and the game will be shown by ESPN. If you can’t watch the game, you can listen to it nationally on ESPN Radio or locally on WDBO AM 580 and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030. The officials will be Monty McCutchen, Mike Callahan and Ken Mauer. It appears we will have to wait until [...]

Ron Borges of the Boston Herald wrote a story calling Dwight Howard a “cheap-shot artist” and called for the Celtics to play dirty against Howard to bring them some sort of justice. Sounds a bit ridiculous, eh? Per Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, Van Gundy thinks so. “That’s ridiculous, but not unexpected, I guess,” Van Gundy said minutes ago after the Magic completed their shootaround at TD Garden. “But ridiculous.” Van Gundy went out to say that Boston already is a very physical team. “That’s not going to come from other players,” Van Gundy said. “That’s ridiculous. Look, the [...]

The Orlando Magic will attempt to even their Eastern Conference Finals series with the Boston Celtics at three games apiece Friday night in Boston. Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel calls Friday the biggest night in Orlando since 1995. If the Magic win Game 6 against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden, they will have a chance to play their next three games at Amway Arena — an improbable Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, plus the first two games of the NBA Finals. Yes, the championship would go through Orlando, just as it did 15 years ago. The [...]