Archive for December, 2010

Balance, Ball Movement Key During Win Streak During Orlando’s recent win streak, they’ve shown improvement in nearly every facet of the game. They’re still a work in progress but their defense has shown signs of improvement and their offense is clearly playing much better. The Magic are using excellent ball movement to get much better shots. Magic players aren’t afraid to make the extra pass and their unselfishness is really paying off. Since the Magic now have so many players who can put the ball in the basket, remaining unselfish is the key. “I think we’re playing, for the most [...]

The Orlando Magic rolled to their 5th straight victory Thursday night and closed out 2010 in style with a 112-103 victory over the New York Knicks. The Magic were keyed by a huge second quarter where they scored 40 points and led at halftime by 18.  The Knicks would come out strong after halftime and a combination of Mike D’Antoni adjustments and low energy from the Magic allowed the Knicks back into the game.  Despite the Magic lead being cut to only 2 points late in the 4th quarter, the Magic would persevere thanks to clutch shooting from Jason Richardson [...]

The Orlando Magic are turning their season around. Since losing seven out of eight games and falling to 16-12, they have won four straight games to improve to 20-12. After back-to-back road wins, the Magic will try to extend their winning streak to five when they take on the New York Knicks Thursday night. The Knicks were defeated by the Miami Heat Tuesday night, dropping their record to 18-13. However, it’s been quite the turnaround for the Knicks. They look like a legitimate playoff team and before dropping that game in Miami, they defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chicago [...]

Here is the official word from the Magic: DWIGHT HOWARD LEADS THE EASTERN CONFERENCE IN VOTING AFTER SECOND RETURNS OF 2011 NBA ALL-STAR BALLOTING –Howard ranks second overall in the NBA– Dec. 30, 2010 – Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic continues to lead the Eastern Conference in voting after the second returns of 2011 NBA All-Star Balloting presented by T-Mobile. Howard ranks second overall in voting for the entire NBA behind only Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant, The Finals MVP last season, is the overall leader with 1,153,694 votes, while Howard paces the East with 988,572 [...]

The Orlando Magic used a balanced attack and an incredible three-point shooting night to dispose of the Cleveland Cavaliers 110-95. It wasn’t a great start for the Magic. In fact, the Magic allowed one of the league’s worst offensive teams (Cleveland is one of the worst defensive teams as well) to score 57 points in the first half before finally corralling the Cavs in the second half, holding them to just 17 third quarter points and 21 fourth quarter points. Two of Orlando’s newcomers, Gilbert Arenas (22 points, 11 assists, and 6 rebounds) and Jason Richardson (20 points) led the [...]

The Orlando Magic have now won three straight games. They’ll try to continue their winning ways on the second night of a back-to-back against in Cleveland against the Cavaliers Tuesday night. After losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves in heart breaking fashion on a Michael Beasley layup with 5.9 seconds to play Sunday night, the Cavaliers fell to 8-22. It was their 13th loss in their last 14 games. The Magic, on the other hand, have really turned it around, winning three straight games, including a 104-88 victory over the New Jersey Nets Monday night to improve their record to 19-12. [...]

Gatorade was kind enough to send me an e-mail with the link to their newest ad featuring Dwight Howard. The ad focuses on why the G Series helps athletes get their second wind. In the spot, we see Dwight return to the bench in the middle of a heated game. As Gatorade Perform helps rehydrate and refuel him, the viewers see a brand new Dwight appear on the bench, ready to re-enter the game and dominate the competition. (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, co-host of CB Sports Radio from 5-7 pm week days (1420sports.com) and ESPN 1080′s [...]

The state of New Jersey tried its best to contain the Magic on Monday night, but as usual they failed in the end.  The Magic overcame a sloppy first 20 minutes and went on to defeat the New Jersey Nets by a score of 104-88. The day started with the Magic team bus getting stranded in the snow on the way to the game.  The team was forced to switch over to a reserve bus just to get to the game tonight.  I am told through my meteorologist sources, that driving through several feet of snow is a bad idea [...]

Fresh off of two enormous home wins over the San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics, the Orlando Magic will hit the road, heading to New Jersey to play the Nets. These two teams have met twice this year with the Magic winning both meetings but neither has been easy. Back on November 5th, the Magic rallied from a three-point halftime and came away with a 105-90 victory behind a dominating third quarter performance. In their next meeting which came on November 13th in New Jersey, the Magic once again had to rally and needed a last second jumper by Jameer [...]

The Magic showed toughness and resolve in their Christmas win over the Boston Celtics. When the Magic finally snapped out of an offensive funk on Saturday and delivered a game-closing 15-1 knockout punch, the Magic had a tough and gritty victory that seemed to indicate they had learned a thing or two since last spring’s Eastern Conference Finals. “I told the guys at the beginning season that we have to be tough, nit just physically, but also mentally, especially against teams like Boston who will come at us from all kinds of angles and try to punk us,’’ Howard said [...]