Denton: Magic-Rockets Postgame Analysis
By John Denton
December 23, 2009
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
ORLANDO – With his right ankle in a bucket of ice water and his left knee wrapped in more ice, Jameer Nelson assumed his familiar position after Wednesday night’s game as the Orlando Magic’s locker room comedian.
He ragged on Brandon Bass’ somewhat tight vest, questioned one reporter for not laughing at one of his jokes, abruptly cut off questions about the matchup ahead against Boston’s Rajon Rondo and demanded that the media throng surrounding him come back in the same numbers if he has a bad game in the very near future.
Nelson was on Wednesday night – both in the locker room and out on the court in his first game back as the Magic’s starting point guard. He was aggressively seeking out shots and scored 15 points, grabbed four rebounds and handed out four assists in Orlando’s workmanlike 102-87 thumping of the Houston Rockets.
Nelson returned to action on Monday after missing 16 games following knee surgery and looked somewhat unsure of himself as he missed all six of his shots. But that was a distant memory by Wednesday, when he attacked Aaron Brooks, made six of 11 shots and looked somewhat like the player who was named a first-time all-star last February.
``I thought I played well, but I still passed up a few shots,’’ Nelson said after playing 29 minutes. ``That’s just me still trying to find my rhythm and not wanting to be super selfish out there. … I still don’t feel all the way like my old self at times, but I’m just out there trying to fight through it.’’
The Magic (22-7) won for the third time in a row and the fifth time in the past six games. Ahead is the titanic Christmas Day game against Boston (22-5), which announced on Wednesday that star forward Paul Pierce will miss the next week as he undergoes arthroscopic knee surgery.
``The first place they will go is to the post more to Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace and I’m sure they will run a lot more stuff for Ray Allen,’’ Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. ``And you’ve still got to stop the penetration of Rondo. And you’ve got to find a way to score against them because they have been a great defensive team for three years.’’
Before we jump too far ahead to Friday’s game among two of the beasts from the East, let’s review the good, the bad and ugly from Wednesday’s defeat of Houston.
THE GOOD
---- Magic center Dwight Howard was once again a dominant factor around the rim, either swatting or altering at least a dozen shots. He blocked another four shots, putting him back atop the league lead in swats per game (2.5) and total blocks (72).
And to add to the complete effort, Howard grabbed 20 rebounds for the fifth time this season and the 36th time in his five-plus-year NBA career. Over his last seven games, Howard has averaged 16.9 boards a game.
Howard switched to forward Carl Landry in the fourth quarter and slowed him down, he smashed Brooks on a drive to the hoop and reduced Trevor Ariza (one of 10 shooting) to being a jump shooter all night.
``He’s sort of back where he belongs, leading the league in rebounding and blocked shots, and that’s where we needed him,’’ Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. ``We made the point that he had backed off that early in the year and he has stepped it up in a big way now. He is really, really competing defensively and on the glass he makes it awfully tough on other teams.’’
---- Limited to just 14 minutes on Monday, Nelson got full clearance to play unlimited time on Wednesday and surprisingly his conditioning was good. Nelson worked out three hours a day while out rehabilitating his surgically repaired knee to be ready for when he became a starter, and he proved himself fully prepared Wednesday night.
He was in attack mode coming off screens and he confidently stepped into two 3-pointers. In so many ways, he looked like the Nelson of last season when he carried the Magic for long stretches with his willingness to take big shots.
``Little Mighty Mouse is back,’’ Howard said of his closest friend on the team. ``I’m just so happy to see him back on the court and see him healthy. He just has to get back into the flow. I just told him to go play. Don’t worry about mistakes or missing shots or whatever, just go do what you do.’’
---- Former UCF star guard Jermaine Taylor played his first regular-season NBA game in Orlando, getting 11 minutes off the Houston bench. The Tavares native, who grew up a huge Magic fan, missed four of five shots, but his one make was a doozy. He hit a high-arching runner over Howard, and even Taylor was amazed that the shot went in.
THE BAD
---- Strangely, Houston guard Tracy McGrady played just seven minutes in the first quarter and never returned to the floor again.
McGrady had microfracture surgery on his knee last February and wasn’t expected to play again until February, but says he has worked harder than he ever has to get back healthy. But for whatever reason, the Rockets have shown no willingness to play McGrady more than just a handful of minutes.
McGrady, who has never been one to hide his feelings, is clearly puzzled by the situation. He said he’s talked very little to Houston coach Rick Adelman about the situation, but he’s pushing for playing time.
``I just try to play my role with the little cameos that I make. It is what it is,’’ said McGrady, who had two points after just missing three of his four shots. ``Obviously they are looking out for my best interest. But at the same time I feel like it is time to really increase them and I think that is going to happen over the next couple of games.’’
---- Magic guard Vince Carter, McGrady’s distant cousin, struggled through another poor shooting night (six of 16), but he did make up for it by doing other things. He had a team high 18 points, and he supplemented it with five free throw attempts, five rebounds and four assists.
Carter was again good down the stretch, and he had a great drive-and-kick play to Rashard Lewis (15 points) for a 3-pointer that put Orlando up 96-84 and sealed the game.
And when Carter finally drilled a 3-pointer with 1:45 to play, Carter put his hands together and looked to the roof as if to thank a higher power for finally helping him sink a jump shot.
``That was, `Finally!’’’ Carter said with a laugh. ``I’m a guy who hates missing wide-open shots and I’ve been missing a bunch of them lately. Finally I made one.’’
THE UGLY
---- Ariza was in Orlando for a meaningful game for the first time since last spring when he twice burned the Magic in the NBA Finals as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. Ariza had big performances in games 3 and 5, helping the Lakers rally in both games and ultimately eliminate the Magic, 4-1.
But Ariza didn’t fare quite as well Wednesday night, too often settling for outside shots and not attacking Orlando’s ace defender, Mickael Pietrus. Ariza missed nine of 10 shots and all three of his 3-pointers.
---- Hosuton got within one point of the Magic lead (61-60) midway through the third quarter before missing its next eight shots. And Orlando certainly made the Rockets pay, scoring the game’s next 15 points to build a comfortable margin.
Houston made just four of 20 shots in the third period and shot just 39 percent for the game.
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Orlando Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard on ESPN 1080 AM on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
By John DentonDecember 23, 2009
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
ORLANDO – With his right ankle in a bucket of ice water and his left knee wrapped in more ice, Jameer Nelson assumed his familiar position after Wednesday night’s game as the Orlando Magic’s locker room comedian.
He ragged on Brandon Bass’ somewhat tight vest, questioned one reporter for not laughing at one of his jokes, abruptly cut off questions about the matchup ahead against Boston’s Rajon Rondo and demanded that the media throng surrounding him come back in the same numbers if he has a bad game in the very near future.
Nelson was on Wednesday night – both in the locker room and out on the court in his first game back as the Magic’s starting point guard. He was aggressively seeking out shots and scored 15 points, grabbed four rebounds and handed out four assists in Orlando’s workmanlike 102-87 thumping of the Houston Rockets.
Nelson returned to action on Monday after missing 16 games following knee surgery and looked somewhat unsure of himself as he missed all six of his shots. But that was a distant memory by Wednesday, when he attacked Aaron Brooks, made six of 11 shots and looked somewhat like the player who was named a first-time all-star last February.
``I thought I played well, but I still passed up a few shots,’’ Nelson said after playing 29 minutes. ``That’s just me still trying to find my rhythm and not wanting to be super selfish out there. … I still don’t feel all the way like my old self at times, but I’m just out there trying to fight through it.’’
The Magic (22-7) won for the third time in a row and the fifth time in the past six games. Ahead is the titanic Christmas Day game against Boston (22-5), which announced on Wednesday that star forward Paul Pierce will miss the next week as he undergoes arthroscopic knee surgery.
``The first place they will go is to the post more to Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace and I’m sure they will run a lot more stuff for Ray Allen,’’ Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. ``And you’ve still got to stop the penetration of Rondo. And you’ve got to find a way to score against them because they have been a great defensive team for three years.’’
Before we jump too far ahead to Friday’s game among two of the beasts from the East, let’s review the good, the bad and ugly from Wednesday’s defeat of Houston.
THE GOOD
---- Magic center Dwight Howard was once again a dominant factor around the rim, either swatting or altering at least a dozen shots. He blocked another four shots, putting him back atop the league lead in swats per game (2.5) and total blocks (72).
And to add to the complete effort, Howard grabbed 20 rebounds for the fifth time this season and the 36th time in his five-plus-year NBA career. Over his last seven games, Howard has averaged 16.9 boards a game.
Howard switched to forward Carl Landry in the fourth quarter and slowed him down, he smashed Brooks on a drive to the hoop and reduced Trevor Ariza (one of 10 shooting) to being a jump shooter all night.
``He’s sort of back where he belongs, leading the league in rebounding and blocked shots, and that’s where we needed him,’’ Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. ``We made the point that he had backed off that early in the year and he has stepped it up in a big way now. He is really, really competing defensively and on the glass he makes it awfully tough on other teams.’’
---- Limited to just 14 minutes on Monday, Nelson got full clearance to play unlimited time on Wednesday and surprisingly his conditioning was good. Nelson worked out three hours a day while out rehabilitating his surgically repaired knee to be ready for when he became a starter, and he proved himself fully prepared Wednesday night.
He was in attack mode coming off screens and he confidently stepped into two 3-pointers. In so many ways, he looked like the Nelson of last season when he carried the Magic for long stretches with his willingness to take big shots.
``Little Mighty Mouse is back,’’ Howard said of his closest friend on the team. ``I’m just so happy to see him back on the court and see him healthy. He just has to get back into the flow. I just told him to go play. Don’t worry about mistakes or missing shots or whatever, just go do what you do.’’
---- Former UCF star guard Jermaine Taylor played his first regular-season NBA game in Orlando, getting 11 minutes off the Houston bench. The Tavares native, who grew up a huge Magic fan, missed four of five shots, but his one make was a doozy. He hit a high-arching runner over Howard, and even Taylor was amazed that the shot went in.
THE BAD
---- Strangely, Houston guard Tracy McGrady played just seven minutes in the first quarter and never returned to the floor again.
McGrady had microfracture surgery on his knee last February and wasn’t expected to play again until February, but says he has worked harder than he ever has to get back healthy. But for whatever reason, the Rockets have shown no willingness to play McGrady more than just a handful of minutes.
McGrady, who has never been one to hide his feelings, is clearly puzzled by the situation. He said he’s talked very little to Houston coach Rick Adelman about the situation, but he’s pushing for playing time.
``I just try to play my role with the little cameos that I make. It is what it is,’’ said McGrady, who had two points after just missing three of his four shots. ``Obviously they are looking out for my best interest. But at the same time I feel like it is time to really increase them and I think that is going to happen over the next couple of games.’’
---- Magic guard Vince Carter, McGrady’s distant cousin, struggled through another poor shooting night (six of 16), but he did make up for it by doing other things. He had a team high 18 points, and he supplemented it with five free throw attempts, five rebounds and four assists.
Carter was again good down the stretch, and he had a great drive-and-kick play to Rashard Lewis (15 points) for a 3-pointer that put Orlando up 96-84 and sealed the game.
And when Carter finally drilled a 3-pointer with 1:45 to play, Carter put his hands together and looked to the roof as if to thank a higher power for finally helping him sink a jump shot.
``That was, `Finally!’’’ Carter said with a laugh. ``I’m a guy who hates missing wide-open shots and I’ve been missing a bunch of them lately. Finally I made one.’’
THE UGLY
---- Ariza was in Orlando for a meaningful game for the first time since last spring when he twice burned the Magic in the NBA Finals as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. Ariza had big performances in games 3 and 5, helping the Lakers rally in both games and ultimately eliminate the Magic, 4-1.
But Ariza didn’t fare quite as well Wednesday night, too often settling for outside shots and not attacking Orlando’s ace defender, Mickael Pietrus. Ariza missed nine of 10 shots and all three of his 3-pointers.
---- Hosuton got within one point of the Magic lead (61-60) midway through the third quarter before missing its next eight shots. And Orlando certainly made the Rockets pay, scoring the game’s next 15 points to build a comfortable margin.
Houston made just four of 20 shots in the third period and shot just 39 percent for the game.
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Orlando Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard on ESPN 1080 AM on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
