Still looking for premier win

Thanksgiving has past and Orlando has stuffed its face to a 13-4 record so far this season. But have these wins been nice turkey, or that fatty dark meat?

So far, you have to say it has not been the healthy part of the turkey -- the kind that builds a nice playoff resume and cements your team as one of the contenders in the NBA. Blame the schedule makers partly for this perceived problem. But Orlando, the team that has the fourth best overall record in the NBA, still lacks a defining early season win.

The road success of last season has continued and the Magic have recovered nicely from an 0-2 start. Throw some injuries to key players on top of that (the team is 3-0 since Jameer Nelson went down with an injury), and Orlando should still feel pretty fortunate with its fantastic start.

But with a trip to the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston on the horizon (try Monday) and a west coast trip looming that features games at Portland, Phoenix and Utah, and Orlando is going to need to do a little more than take advantage of games against bad teams.

No, to prove you can win in the playoffs, a team must win games against playoff-caliber opponents in the regular season.

I am sure many of the teams Orlando has played and beaten will be in the playoffs. The team won for the first time in Dallas since 1997, when the team still played at Reunion Arena. That is a sign of progress.

The Magic are a good team. You have to be a good team to be as successful against the small teams as they have been.

But consider this:

The four teams Orlando has lost to have a combined .531 win percentage (which includes a bad loss at Memphis). The 13 teams the Magic have beaten have a combined 71-138 (.340 win percentage), and only one is against a team with an above .500 record -- Toronto at 8-7.

See my point.

Yes, it is very good Orlando is feasting on the bad teams. And the schedule has not afforded Orlando many opportunities.

But that is what makes Monday's game so important. Win at Boston, and everyone knows the Magic are a real threat to an Eastern Conference title. Lose, and they are still a team that can beat those worse than them, but not a premier team.

Magic 110, Pacers 96: Howard is pretty good

Went to my first Magic game of the year tonight. The games are as good as they have ever been. The O-Rena is not rocking quite yet... but it is late November, so not too worried about the fan stuff. The show is still a lot of fun to go to.

But I digress from what is really important. The game. And this one was a doozy.

The Magic built a solid lead in the second quarter and extended it past 20 points in the third. They then had to hold on as Danny Granger caught fire to pull Indiana back to within single digits. But the team never threatened in what turned out to be an easy victory for Orlando.

It was one of those taking care of business nights. The result was really positive.

What else was really positive? I don't know. Maybe Dwight Howard's 32 points and 21 rebounds. It was a simply dominating performance.

It helped that Orlando was making a concerted effort to feed him the ball (much more than they had in the two previous games that I had watched). But he took advantage of every touch. He was 11 of 15 from the floor and very few of them were dunks. A lot of his shots came off of good post moves and very smooth-looking hook shots.

Howard has developed some touch around the basket and is not just all about his power. This is a dangerous development for the rest of the league.

Defensively, he set the tone with some blocked shots and dominated the glass. Howard was even stealing rebounds from his teammates. He was a man possessed tonight and it looked effortless at times for him.

With him off the court, Orlando struggled offensively. But Indiana had no answers and he was the pure reason why the team found itself in a hole.

Granger led the Pacers with 27 points and local product Marquis Daniels added a quiet 21. Hedo Turkoglu followed Howard with 22 points and Rashard Lewis added 24 (or maybe it is the other way around, I am too lazy to switch it... they both played well). Anthony Johnson, starting his third straight game, scored 16.

Magic Wands: November 28, 2008

-Chip Crain of the Memphis Grizzlies blog 3 Shades of Blue has a scary thought for Magic fans. He has noticed that those NBA players with player blogs have not done well. His example starts with Casey Jacobson's blog from last year (he ended up bench by December) and Mike Conley's blog (he is not doing so hot with the Grizzlies). Then, expanding the scope, he notices problem with NBA.com bloggers Gilbert Arenas (two knee surgeries since starting), Chris Kaman and Jerry Stackhouse (both trade bait at this point) and Kevin Love (sitting behind Jason Collins in Minnesota). This is all well and good... except Dwight Howard has a blog on NBA.com. Hope it is not related to the recent streak of play he has had recently.

-Power Rankings Update: the Magic are climbing the opinion polls. They are fifth now in the NBA.com Power Rankings, seventh in the Marc Stein Power Rankings. But John Hollinger and his computer poll still have the Magic 10th (at least Monday, they did). Which rankings do you follow?

-Basketball-Reference.com presents the players with the best and worst supporting casts in NBA history. Michael Cooper of the Showtime Lakers had the best offensive supporting cast, 1990s journeyman Charles Smith had the worst offensive supporting cast. Michael Jordan rose above his teammates' shortcomings the most (hurting my arguments for Bill Russell) and the Jazz's Mark Eaton did not live up to his teammates the most.

-Dwight Howard won't be dunking (as much) in Phoenix apparently. Although, I heard he still has not made a final decision.

-Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you have recovered from the enormous amounts of food you ate.

Magic 105, Wizards 90: Not much to say

Still coming down from all the turkey. But Orlando did not seem phased at all by the extra food or the back-to-back.

Dwight Howard got the Wizards big men in foul trouble early and dominated inside. It did not take long for Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis to follow.

Washington was never close. When the team did make a little bit of a comeback, Orlando stepped on the gas pedal and pulled away. It was an impressive performance -- the kind of effort you want against a 2-11 team.

Happy Thanksgiving. The Magic are playing solid basketball with a tough December on the horizon.

Magic 96, 76ers 94: Sloppy, but effective

Rashard Lewis shot seven for 17. But it was shot No. 17 and make No. 7 that mattered most to Orlando.

With four seconds left, Lewis hit a 3-pointer in the corner to give the Magic a two-point lead and an escape from Wachovia Arena with a 96-94 win.

Lewis struggled throughout the night, but finished with 19 points. His offensive struggles were symbolic of the team's overall offensive struggles. After opening a 10-point lead in the first half, Philadelphia slowly whittled away at the lead before taking it entering the fourth quarter on a half-court three by rookie Marreese Speights.

Orlando continued to struggle into the fourth quarter, despite shooting 47 percent for the entire game. The team turned the ball over 17 times and played incredibly sloppy.

Elton Brand anchored the second-half comeback with 21 points and six rebounds.

The Magic struggled to counteract the scoring threat. Dwight Howard had 21 points and 14 rebounds. Tony Battie added 20 points off the bench -- most in the first half. It was a struggle to find scoring elsewhere in the second half. Hedo Turkoglu went four for 11 and scored only 12 points (he also committed a boneheaded, over-aggressive foul that allowed Philadelphia to take a one-point lead with about 20 seconds to play).

This was my first look at the team all season (that is what I get for working outside of Orlando). And overall it was not a horrible game.

The first quarter showed the full potential of this team. The Magic were getting the ball into Howard in the low post, running effectively and playing fantastic defense. It was a great display of what the team can do.

Then it was a sloppy, turnover prone, 3-point happy team that wasted opportunities and let a worse team come back on them.

It is early in the season, so hopefully it was the quality of the opponent that led to some of the struggles. But it did not seem that way.

The problems stem from some problems with the active team. The 76ers made a big portion of their comeback by using a press when Anthony Johnson was out of the game. Courtney Lee, Turkoglu and JJ Redick are not backup point guards and for the next week it is something that will be exploited.

But a major part of the problem is that Johnson is not a starting point guard. He fills his role and is a good game manager. What Jameer Nelson does though is force action and create for others on the floor. Johnson was not doing that -- and it showed over his 37 minutes of play.

When the shots were falling, Johnson worked fine. When they were not, he and the team struggled.

In the end, this game is a win. The Magic have done a good job the last two seasons of winning games that they do not deserve to win. Orlando did its best to give this game away and then took it back at the last second.

Certainly made it better for the national television audience.

Cuttino Mobley, a heart condition?

J.A. Adande of ESPN.com is reporting that the recent trade between the Knicks and the Clippers is being held up because former Magic guard Cuttino Mobley has an apparent heard condition.

The report is saying that the Knicks raised concerns over his heart condition and are sending him to a specialist. It goes on to say that Mobley had the heart condition his entire career but it was never seen as a major issue. With Eddy Curry on their team though, don't blame the Knicks for double checking.

Mobley had a good half season in Orlando in 2004-05 season before he was traded to Sacramento for Doug Christie (trading an apparent heart case for a head case... I kid, I kid). He was a great 3-point shooter and a solid defender, making the trade somewhat of a head-scratcher.

In any case, it had a huge affect on superstar Steve Francis (writing those words , seems hilarious to me now). Francis and Mobley were good friends and Francis' play suffered significantly since the trade.

All the best to Mobley. I hope to see him in a Knicks (or Clippers) uniform later this season.

UPDATE: today the trade went through. Mobley and Tim Thomas were traded to New York for Zach Randolph and Mardy Collins.

Bogans out 3-6 weeks

As far as injuries go, this one could have been a lot worse.

Guard Keith Bogans will miss at least the next three weeks and could be out 4-6 weeks after fracturing the thumb on his non-shooting hand during Saturday's game against Houston, Andrew Carter of The Orlando Sentinel reports.. Bogans has been the first man off the bench for Orlando this season and beat out JJ Redick and Courtney Lee for the backup shooting guard role. Bogans is averaging 6.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.

The Magic were pretty set at shooting guard with the signing of Mickael Pietrus, the drafting of Courtney Lee and the emergence of JJ Redick during the preseason. If someone was going to get hurt, it could be one of those four.

But don't think this injury is insignificant.

Orlando has been hit a little by the injury bug early this season. Pietrus has missed a game because of injury and Hedo Turkoglu sat out Saturday with the flu. Depth at guard has been important for the Magic's survival this season.

Losing Bogans is no death knell, but it does hurt the team. Pietrus is a good defender, but he has the propensity to foul. With Bogans out, Orlando no longer has its best perimeter defender to help out.

Redick is not the defender Bogans is and Lee has not had enough time on the court to prove he is there yet either.

It will be interesting to see what coach Stan Van Gundy does with his new lineup after the injury. Redick has been getting some favor and has thrown in a few good scoring runs. Lee though is probably closest to Bogans as far as copying his skill set defensively. I would expect both to play and get some time to show what they can do (it is a big opportunity for both players).

Van Gundy told The Orlando Sentinel that he might move Rashard Lewis to small forward more often, which could free up minutes for Marcin Gortat or Adonal Foyle, who put in his best game of the season Saturday.

Either way, this injury will have a big impact on the Magic before the All Star break -- and not just on the court.

With Bogans out, Redick can be played more and be floated out there as a trade possibility for a deadline deal. Not saying the team could get much for Redick, but it could be important to adding that vital piece for the playoff push.

Trade rumors have circled the shooting guard platoon all season. That should quiet until Bogans gets back.

Big is the new small?

Interesting note from John Hollinger on Monday.

Hollinger in his PER Diem section notes how lineups seem to be getting bigger rather than the perceive notion that they are getting smaller (think Phoenix Suns in their heyday). But Hollinger does not note that while lineups are getting bigger, players are not.

He uses the Magic's big three of Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu and Dwight Howard as poster children of this new movement. The taller players have been getting more versatile and now we are seeing this talent promise played out to its fruition in teams like Orlando, Toronto, Atlanta.

This is an odd development in the history of basketball. Teams are no longer building around the traditional big men and point guard or dominant shooting guard mode. They are now building with versatile players who can use their extreme size to their advantage.

It is catching on in the league and Orlando is at the head of this movement. The Magic are once again nearing the top of the Eastern Conference with an 8-3 record and a five-game winning streak after tonight's win in Indiana.

Big is the new small... literally. Expect this trend to continue until the next NBA revolution.

Magic Wands: November 21, 2008

-Good little nuggets from Marc Stein's Weekend Dime on ESPN.com last week. Nugget 1: Stein wonders how the Magic faithful feel about a possible return for Shaquille O'Neal as a part owner. Shaq feels the city has gotten over it... and I tend to agree. I know, as a kid, I was distraught after O'Neal left and trashed just about anything with his name or likeness on it. After years of booing and jeering him, I feel we have both matured to the point where we understand each other and our motivations. I hope other fans do too.

-Nugget 2 from the Weekend Dime: Stein was invited to help create the NBA All Star ballot. It is a tougher job than it looks. But, I still don't think Jameer Nelson should be on that list (prove me wrong!).

-Sad news for the world of basketball. Pioneer coach Pete Newell died Monday at 93. Newell is known for holding the Pete Newell camp for big men in California. He won a national championship with Cal in 1959 and won an Olympic gold medal in 1960 (with a team that featured Oscar Robertson and Jerry West). The basketball world will miss him.

-Kyle Hightower of the Orlando Sentinel noticed a lot of former players are wearing suits and ties as coaches and general managers. And, the Polish Hammer, Marcin Gortat, wins a bet with Mickael Pietrus (at the bottom of the page).

-Anyone notice how many more fights/flagrant fouls there are in the NBA these days? It is only November and we have had a full-on fight between Phoenix and Houston, Shaquille O'Neal getting suspended for a flagrant foul on Rodney Stuckey and now Kevin Garnett serving a game for a near hit on Andrew Bogut. The NBA is definitley trying to crack down on these incidents by publicly punishing these guys early and harshly. But isn't this adding more attention to a problem the NBA perceives that it has?

-Never too early to start thinking about the playoffs. Orlando premiers in John Hollinger's Playoff Odds as the No. 7 seed behind Miami and Atlanta. The Magic have not beaten anyone yet, but really? The Hawks are sliding and the Heat are good, but can they keep it up for 82 games. Orlando still has some work to do, I guess. About 71 games of it too.

-I know John Hollinger. Mickael Pietrus has been a pretty big surprise for the Magic.

-A mainstay of the NBA media force is leaving Sports Illustrated, Henry Abbott reports.

Former Magic Player of the Week: Brooks Thompson

Brooks Thompson

The Orlando Magic used their first round pick in 2004 on Oklahoma State product Brooks Thompson.

Thompson started his career at Texas A&M in 1989 and transferred after two seasons to Oklahoma State, where he made the Big Eight all-conference tournament team and was a member of the all-conference first team in 1994, playing alongside Vancouver Grizzlies great Bryant "Big Country" Reeves. He led the Cowboys in assists both seasons and averaged 16.9 points per game his senior year.

Thompson averaged 3.6 points per game in 71 appearances in two seasons with Orlando. He was part of the 1994-95 NBA Finals team, starting two games his rookie season.

The Magic traded him to the Jazz with Kenny Gattison and a future first round draft pick for Felton Spencer. Thompson played two games with Utah before going to Denver where he averaged a career high 6.8 points per game and got 16.1 minutes per game in 65 games.

He finished his playing career in 1998, playing for Phoenix and New York. He averaged 4.5 points per game in 10.2 minutes per game during his three-year career. Thompson's career high was a 26-point effort against the Suns in 1996 while with the Nuggets.

After retiring, Thompson went into coaching. In 2002 he took the jobe at Yavapi College in Prescott, Ariz., where he went 55-14 during two seasons there. He became an assistant coach with Arizona State in 2004 before accepting the head coaching job at University of Texas-San Antonio in April 2006.

Thompson led the Roadrunners to a tie for sixth place in the Southland Conference last season after going 13-17. He has a record of 20-29 overall entering his third season in San Antonio.

Image courtesy of orlandomagic.com.