Magic Wands: November 20, 2009

-Hedo Turkoglu was nearly a Phoenix Sun instead of an Orlando Magic.

-Orlando has put in its application to host the 2012 All Star Game and as the Orlando Sentinel reports, it might cost them $1.5 million to prepare the city.

-An Ohio State study finds that expecting less from your team helps you get more enjoyment out of them.

-Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini has an open invitation for LeBron James to try out and help the Browns.

-No words can describe Kirk Hinrich singing "Love, lift us up where we belong." So video will have to do.

-In New Orleans' never-ending quest to have the ugliest jerseys in basketball, they unveil their new Mardi Gras alternates. Oh boy.

-Larry Bird talks with Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe about the little interesting tidbits in his new book, When the Game Was Ours, co-written with Magic Johnson and Jackie MacMullan.

-Yahoo! Sports reported Tracy McGrady got into a heated, emotional discussion with Rockets coach Rick Adelman about when the team is planning to bring him back. McGrady -- as hard as it is to believe -- was in uniform for warmups before Wednesday night's game and is trying to force the issue and prove he is ready to play. Where was this passion and drive in 2004?

-Jonathan Abrams of the New York Times writes about the play that's all the rage in the NBA -- the pick and roll.

What They're Saying: Magic vs. Hornets

The Magic took care of business last night in Memphis finally getting a solid defensive effort, at least statistically. The turnovers are still a little bit of an issue it seems, but you cannot complain with the results of these games. Tonight Orlando heads to Witchita, Kansas, to face the Hornets.

-Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins claimed the referees favored Dwight Howard in last night's game. Stan Van Gundy said, "Of course he said that," and then claimed Hasheem Thabeet was in fact grabbing Howard as his only defense against Superman. The truth is somewhere in between.

-Rashard Lewis will be riding a bicycle during the games of his 10-game suspension. Might be tough to cart a stationary bicycle into his hotel room on those road trips, but I hear those rooms are pretty big.

-New Orleans' top free agent acquisition, Ike Digou, finally returned from injury only to get injured again in his first scrimmage. Not good new for a team that is slowly bringing star trade acquisition Emeka Okafor back from injury too.

-Ben Q. Rock of Third Quarter Collapse gives us an instant look at some of the position battles in his breakdown of last night's win in Memphis.

-Marcus Thornton and the maturation of a second round pick, from John DeShazier of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

-The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Matt Barnes will get the night off tonight. Certainly well deserved after last night's performance. Tonight is also the lone back-to-back on the Magic's schedule. They do not play again until a trip to Chicago on Monday.

New Orleans Hornets 117, Orlando Magic 85

Well, consider the favor returned. After the Magic decimated the Hornets on national television on Christmas Day, New Orleans came home and returned it to Orlando.

It was a dominating game from start to finish as the Hornets ran away with a 117-85 win at New Orleans Arena.

The big difference was Chris Paul. Orlando simply had no answer for him.

The plan was to duck under screens and let him shoot. Paul not only made his shots, but like a surgeon, cut delicately into the Orlando defense. Really it seemed like the Magic did not have their legs under them and the Hornets cut apart the defense. Paul is incredibly efficient and was a this best tonight. He finished with 36 points and 10 assists.

With no Tyson Chandler for the second time since the trade, New Orleans was happy to foul Dwight Howard. He had 10 points in the first quarter on a strong performance from the line (he took only two or three shots). But New Orleans did a good job denying the big man and keeping him from taking shots. The Hornets forced him to get his points from the line.

And with a big performance last night -- and logging a lot of minutes -- he clearly could not maintain a high level of play tonight.

The Hornets shot the lights out and the Magic were playing catch up the entire night.

The bigger source of concern is offensively. Howard dominated the first quarter, but he could only keep them in the game for so long. The offense looked absolutely lost tonight. Usually you can attribute that to something random on one single night.

But this felt very different. The ball movement just is not there. More importantly, the penetration that frees up space for Howard and the perimeter shooters is not there. Every shot becomes contested without this penetration from the point guard.

That was something Jameer Nelson was very very good at. That is something Anthony Johnson is not good at it. That is something Hedo Turkoglu cannot consistently do.

The penetration from the point guard position is key to this offense and it is clear that Orlando is not getting it like the team used to. It has made Orlando mediocre.

I bring this up not only because this was my first chance to actually watch the Magic since Nelson's injury, but also because it seems like this is something that happened in another game -- the Denver game.

Hopefully it is not a pattern. The Hornets were a much better team tonight. They caught fire and caught the Magic on an off night.

Stan Van Gundy said it best over ESPN's microphones: even the coaches failed to make the correct adjustments. No reason to yell at them.

Let's not make a habit of this though.

Back-to-back wins? Tougher than it looks

Orlando put some breathing room between itself and Atlanta with back-to-back wins in three days. It does not get much closer to a playoff series then that and home-and-homes do not pop up on the NBA schedule often.

It IS January and the playoffs are a long way away, but don't think that Wednesday's and Friday's win were not insignificant. The Magic expanded their 4-game lead to six in the division. They could still blow it, but they now have all the confidence and the Hawks don't.

But taking back-to-back games in a home-and-home series is something that does not happen often in the regular season.

Orlando has had a surprising number of home-and-homes. Here are those results:

January 26, 29, 2007 vs. Atlanta (lost at home 93-90 first, then lost on the road 93-83)

February 14-15, 2006 vs. Miami (lost on the road 107-93, then lost at home 110-100)

January 28-29, 2005 vs. Washington (won at home 108-101, then won on the road 103-97)
February 26-27, 2005 vs. Miami (lost on the road 101-98, then lost at home 112-103)
March 21, 24, 2005 vs. Charlotte (lost on the road 102-97, then lost at home 108-94)

January 19, 21, 2004 vs. Milwaukee (won at home 106-99, then lost on the road 113-102)

November 23-24, 2001 vs. Charlotte (Hornets) (won on the road 109-99, then lost at home 103-101)
December 7-8, 2001 vs. Atlanta (won at home 129-94, then lost on the road 107-104)

December 1-2, 2000 vs. New Jersey (won at home 83-80, then won on the road 95-74)

March 2, 4, 1997 vs. Seattle (lost at home 109-101, won on the road 101-89)

November 7-8, 1996 vs. New Jersey in Japan (won the first game 108-95, won the second game 86-82)

March 5, 8, 1996 vs. Charlotte (Hornets) (won on the road 123-97, won at home 117-112)
March 31, April 4, 1996 vs. New York (won at home 98-79, won on the road 98-85)

December 6-7, 1994 vs. Cleveland (won on the road 114-97, won at home 90-75)
April 5, 7, 1995 vs. Detroit (won at home 128-125, then lost on the road 104-94)
April 17, 19, 1995 vs. Washington (won at home 111-110, then lost on the road 123-117)

March 9, 11, 1994 vs. Philadelphia (won on the road 117-101, then won at home 112-105)

April 10, 13, 1993 vs. Milwaukee (lost on the road 108-97, then won at home 110-91)

December 26-27, 1991 vs. Detroit (lost at home 112-100, then lost on the road 106-94)

November 11, 13, 1989 vs. Atlanta (lost on the road 148-109, then lost at home 112-104)

If you made it this far and have been able to draw any conclusions I congratulate you. But it should be no surprise that the teams that were able to win both of these home and homes in a single season were the best in team history.

Magic 88, Hornets 68: Merry Christmas (& Hannukah)

A couple quick thoughts after this afternoon's game (it ended, what, nine hours ago?).

Orlando raced ahead quickly and raced ahead often in this one. The Hornets were not ready for the Magic's help defense. To their credit, Orlando covered Chris Paul and the pick and roll perfectly. They kept Paul out of the paint and rotated very quickly around to other players as they looked for a way out.

Offensively it was ball movement that really did the trick. When Orlando was not getting the ball inside they were getting it to the perimeter and making the extra pass every time. Then they made the shots.

Orlando outscored New Orleans 29-14 in the first quarter and 32-17 in the second. Add that up and that was a 30-point lead at halftime. The second half was almost a moot point.

But the Magic played poorly and you cannot ignore that. It was frustrating watching Orlando clank open jumpers and struggle to get anything going offensively. But the Hornets could not get going either and with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, coach Byron Scott pulled his starters.

The only encouraging thing was watching Stan Van Gundy show as much passion in a 30-point game as he would a 3-point game. You know you have the right coach when he is yelling at his players for their lack of effort in a Christmas day game when they are up by 20-plus the entire second half.

Have a Happy Holidays, everyone.