Well, Wednesday night brought a Magic win against our old pal Hedo Turkoglu's Raptors; a team I believe will be very solid when Jose Calderon returns. I read about how Stan Van Gundy believed the fans booing of Turkoglu during the game was ridiculous and uncalled for, but the article also said that Magic fans gave him a standing ovation when starting lineups were announced. Honestly, considering how most fans jump on the opportunity to start booing old players as quickly as possible (ie, during the announcement of starting lineups) I don't think waiting for the game to start is too bad. I will concur with Stan though, in that Turkoglu did great things for the Magic and his not staying a member of the Magic really seemed to be Orlando management's decision; again, they seemed to more highly value Marcin Gortat. In watching the highlights and seeing the box score, Dwight Howard was clearly enjoying the act of blocking shots, as evidenced by his NBALive-like stat of eight! The one he threw back in Jarret Jack's face was pretty sweet, haha; poor fool. All and all it seemed to be a good win, something I can't say of the next night...
What to say about the Heat game? Well, I was at work and didn't get to watch it on TNT, which was probably for the best; just seeing the highlights left me wanting to stuff myself with something absurdly sweet and fattening until the pain went away--I tried a gargantuan piece of pumpkin pie. It helped, but only to a degree. I honestly can't fathom what could have happened that Orlando was down 29 at the end of the third quarter; making the ultimate result seem pretty friendly really when put in this context. Dwyane Wade is phenomenal (those rumors he'd like to play in Orlando with Dwight a while back were certainly intriguing); Beasley is a talented young player, O'neal still seems to have some juice, despite his constant knee troubles; Richardson, Haslem, Chalmers, Cook, give the team some decent overall talent, but really, an 18 point loss at their hands? Really? I had hoped the Magic were at a point in their development that they would never get blown out by a mediocre team; I guess I still have a little waiting to do.
I also saw a post on ESPN that Stan Van Gundy expects Jameer Nelson back pretty quickly. Although that would be cool, I just hope they don't rush him. Excluding last night's debacle, I think the Magic have been pretty solid with Jayson Williams and Anthony Johnson splitting the point guard duties. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see Jameer back, but I just want him to be at full strength when he returns.
Checking the standings after the game last night was interesting; not solidly in second place for the first time in a while. Cleveland's been very solid since their 0-2 start, and Atlanta has played very well all season as well. And then Boston, ugh, when are those guys gonna lose again?
It is clear, even in this early part of the season, the Magic will have home court advantage in the first round, but I would be much more comfortable, as a fan, if they went into the playoffs with home court advantage throughout the playoffs. And isn't the comfort of this, and all other Magic fans, what it's all about? :) Play better Magic...give us the comfort that is rightfully ours...
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