Archive for April, 2011

Sam Gardner of Fox Sports Florida on Stan Van Gundy: It wasn’t his fault his team shot 40.9 percent for the series, 5.2 percent worse than its season average. Just like it wasn’t his fault the Magic made only 26.2 percent of their 3-pointers after making 36.6 percent during the first 82 games. Van Gundy couldn’t do anything about the fact that Jason Richardson (17 of 51), Hedo Turkoglu (20 of 68), Ryan Anderson (8 of 30), J.J. Redick (15 of 42, 1 of 15 on 3′s) and Jameer Nelson (31 of 81) all went ice cold at the same [...]

Here is an interesting quote from Orlando Sentinel reporter Zach McCann I thought deserved to be pointed out. Otis Smith says the relationship between Arenas and Van Gundy “is going to have to get a little bit better.” I’m sure a lot of this comes from Smith’s affinity for Gilbert Arenas and Arenas’ lack of playing time. Sure, Arenas looked a lot better in the last three games, including his 20-point outburst in game 4 but let’s be a little more realistic. It took Arenas 18 shots to get his 20 points in game 4, 11 shots to get his [...]

The Orlando Magic fell behind by double digits again and another late rally came up just short as the Magic lost the Hawks 84-81 and dropped the series four games-to-two. Dwight Howard had 25 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks to lead the Magic while Joe Johnson had 23 points for the Hawks. The Orlando Magic got off to a much better start from the field, going 8-of-17 (47.1%) from the field in the first quarter but the Hawks dominated the boards (14-to-5), got off 25 attempts (made eight) and hit all six of the free throws while the Magic [...]

  The Orlando Magic look to avoid even up their first round series with the Atlanta Hawks Thursday night to force a game 7 in Orlando Saturday. Game 1: Hawks 103, Magic 93 Game 2: Magic 88, Hawks 82 Game 3: Hawks 88, Magic 84 Game 4: Hawks 88, Magic 85 Game 5: Magic 101, Hawks 76 The game will be shown nationally on NBA TV locally on FS Florida. As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can listen on the radio – in English on AM 580 WDBO and in Spanish on AM 1270 WRLZ. Tip off [...]

Per Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel, Magic CEO Bob Vander Weide says neither Magic General Manager Otis nor head coach Stan Van Gundy will be fired. Magic CEO Bob Vander Weide told the Sentinel on Wednesday that he and owner Rich DeVos’ family feel comfortable and confident in Van Gundy and Smith. “We’re happy with Otis and Stan,” Vander Weide said. “Neither are in jeopardy. “I’ve been around now 20 years in the NBA and I’ve got a good idea of other people’s skill-sets are out there, and Stan and Otis are as good a complement as any in [...]

Evan Dunlap of Orlando Pinstriped Post on game 5: Tonight’s game represents what some folks expected might happen in this series: the Magic tear the Hawks apart with Howard inside and the three-point shooters outside, while Atlanta clanks jumper after jumper. That summation is a bit reductive, I admit, but when one considers the Magic’s convincing sweep of the Hawks last season, as well as the Hawks’ six-game losing skid to end the regular season and their negative point differential, it’s not too terribly far off the mark. John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com on game 5: At the start of the [...]

Dwight Howard had 8 points and 8 rebounds. (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and ESPN 1080′s Magic Insider (http://espn1080.com). Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).

Van Gundy and the Magic defeated the Hawks 101-76. (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and ESPN 1080′s Magic Insider (http://espn1080.com). Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).

The Orlando Magic rode a late first quarter wave and cruised to an easy 101-76 victory to force game 6 in Atlanta Thursday night. Jason Richardson led the Magic with 17 points while Josh Smith had a game-high 22 points to lead the Hawks. Early on, the game was extremely sloppy. Missed jump shots plagued both teams in the first five or so minutes of the game. Jameer Nelson’s back-to-back buckets ( a three-pointer and a pull-up 17-footer appeared to get the Magic going as it provided the spark they needed to start a 21-5 run that gave them a [...]

It was a whole new Orlando Magic team that took the court on Tuesday night as the Magic CRUSHED the Atlanta Hawks 101-76.  There was little that went wrong for Orlando and the season will continue for a Game 6. Positives, negatives, randomtives and keys to surviving Game 6 all below. You can read the full recap here. Positives -          Shooting. FINALLY!  As great as it looked to see the ball going through the hoop for the Magic, it really wasn’t anything amazing. Rather more of an adjustment back to the mean.  The Magic only shot 41% from the field, [...]