Subscribe Feed (RSS)Certainly the Magic have found themselves (Itselves? Itself? Only newspapers worry about such things) since the last time they (it?) played the Trail Blazers.
I watched their game last night against the Clippers and found a pretty wild team. Orlando jumped out 25-9 and then muddled through a good portion of the second and third quarters. Looked woeful, in fact, at times — allowing all sorts of penetration and offensive rebounds. But then in the fourth period the Magic, down by 10 heading into the quarter, blew the Clippers away. The sign of a good team. It made you realize what a quality win it was when Portland throttled the Magic Nov. 10 at Orlando.
What you find in the rebounding department out of Orlando is not unusual. Dwight Howard appears to be the best rebounder in the league — he’s leading the NBA in rebounding. But the reality is, as good a rebounder as he is, he’s totally blessed, statistically, to be playing on a team with no other real rebounders. He battles opponents for the ball, but he certainly doesn’t have to battle any teammates for the ball. That’s got to get him two or three extra boards a night.
Problem for the team, though, is that on a nightly basis, with only one quality rebounder it gets trashed on the boards. It’s an area where you would expect Portland to have a big edge tonight.
But the game is likely to turn into a real shootout. The Magic, like the Trail Blazers, love shooting the three and have a plethora of gunners in the starting lineup and off the bench. Playing Monday night in Los Angeles helps even out the fact the Blazers are coming off a five-game road trip.
It ought to be a very entertaining game.
Orlando is similar to Portland in terms of talent. They both fall in the second tier just below the Lakers and Celtics. Like Portland they have great shooters and are well coached
It will be interesting to see how Oden/Pryzibilla fair with Howard…
Expecting Rudy and Aldridge to have another big games
Even though Pryz/Oden are nowhere near the talent of Howard, they have some weapons he doesn’t – 10 fouls, twice the oxygen, and a boatload of strength (not that Howard isn’t a beast in his own right, but you get the point). That will come in handy tonight.
Anyone know if there is an HD broadcast for the game tonight? MOJO is off the air now and I have not heard of an alternative channel for any HD games.