Magic December is going to be tough.
Tuesday, 2. December 2008
The Magic have played four games since my last post and had put on a good showing in all but last night’s big one against the Celtics. Now I’m not going to pick on them for losing an away game, in Boston, while down three major contributors in Mickael Pietrus, Keith Bogans and Jameer Nelson. Pietrus hurt himself in the Philly game and is going to miss at least three weeks with a torn ligament in his right thumb. The Magic have been getting hit hard with injuries and Pietrus is just the latest victim to be sidelined. Orlando had two very good showings on national TV last week against Philly and Washington on the road. The Philly game was the tough one as Rashard Lewis stepped up and hit a big three in the final 5 seconds to give the Magic the win. Lewis has definitely stepped up big lately and may finally be developing into the offensive force the Magic hoped they were getting when they first acquired him. I get on Lewis a lot and it’s playing like he has been that’s going to shut all of us up that pick on him. We all know he’s talented enough to play this way and have been waiting for him to show it consistently. In the other national game the Magic beat up on the hapless Wizards 105-90 who still look awful without Gilbert Arenas. Pietrus scored 17 points in the Washington game while trying to play through his injury, but in the end it was too much. Howard has been consistent and is doing a better job of staying out of foul trouble. Turk is still driving the lane and doing a good job of drawing fouls, though his shots aren’t falling the way we expect. The Indiana game was an awesome display of what this team is capable of. Howard dominated inside with 32/21 and Lewis and Turk dropped bombs from the three point line going 8 of 15 combined. It was a beautiful thing to watch but the Boston game showed once again that the Magic need more to compete with the elite in the Eastern Conference. If the Magic are going to get by Boston they are going to need a complete lineup that includes Pietrus, Nelson and Bogans. This holds true for Detroit as well and we may get to see most of tat lineup by the time the Magic get to Detroit at the end of the month. The Magic big three of Howard, Turk and Lewis should be enough to carry them to that point, but they are going to need more to break the Piston’s hold over them. The Detroit team they will face is not as good without Billups and Iverson seems to be doing more harm than good since his arrival, but it’s more a mental thing with that match up and the Magic need to break through that before they head into the playoffs. I’m calling the Celtics game a wash and looking forward to getting a healthy Magic team on the floor before I pass judgement on them. They should be able to handle the T-Wolves tomorrow night and I’d personally llike to see a lot of Courtney Lee and JJ Reddick in that one. It would be nice to see them take advantage of the injuries and get these guys more time on the floor as it would improve the bench dramatically when the team is healthy.
