Denton: Magic-Raptors Postgame Analysis
By John Denton
November 1, 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.
J.J. Redick finally became a consistent rotation player for the Orlando Magic last season by bettering his defense and becoming an efficient passer in the offense. But strangely, one of college basketball’s best shooters of all time struggled with his stroke.
So Redick went to work on fixing that problem this past summer, spending hours a day shooting hundreds of spot-up shots and jumpers off curl screens.
All of that work paid huge dividends on Sunday for a Magic team that needed every bit of Redick’s career day against the Toronto Raptors.
With Orlando playing without Vince Carter (sprained left ankle), Mickael Pietrus (flu-like symptoms) and Rashard Lewis (suspension), Redick picked up the scoring slack and poured in a career-best 27 points in Orlando’s 125-116 defeat of the Raptors.
And Redick had plenty of scoring help with four Magic players reaching at least 20 points. Jameer Nelson proved he’s all the way back from last February’s shoulder surgery with 30 points and five 3-pointers. Dwight Howard had 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Ryan Anderson added 20 points and another five 3-pointers.
Redick was tremendous in every phase of the game on Sunday. He registered career highs in points (27), minutes (45), rebounds (six) and assists (five). He helped Orlando get off to a great start with 18 first-half points and Orlando was plus-12 in scoring during J.J.’s time on the court.
The way Redick stepped up and filling in for an absent starter was reminiscent of the playoff performance he had against the Philadelphia 76ers in the clinching Game 6. That night, Redick filled in for Courtney Lee and burned the Sixers for 15 points and five 3-pointers. He was even better in place of Carter on Sunday.
``I just had to play my game,’’ Redick said. ``(Magic coach) Stan (Van Gundy) talked about not trying to play Vince’s game and just play my game.’’ Here’s a breakdown of the rest of Orlando’s third victory in three tries so far this season:
THE GOOD
When Nelson opened training camp and the preseason playing somewhat passively and trying to make sure he got the ball into the hands of all of the Orlando Magic’s scorers, Van Gundy chided him to seek out his own shots.
Shooting certainly wasn’t a problem for Nelson on Sunday. He was in attack mode from the start, repeatedly getting to the rim and burying 3-pointers off Howard picks. He made five 3-pointers and got to the free throw line 10 times with nine makes for the 30 points, just two off his career high.
``This is probably the best game I’ve had since the surgery, just me being aggressive and being who I am,’’ Nelson said. ``I was just out there playing the way I know how to play.’’ Playing against Toronto’s Jose Calderon always seems to bring out the best in Nelson. The Magic point guard torched Calderon (and T.J. Ford in the playoffs) in 2008, paving the way for his all-star season in 2009.
It was a strange afternoon for Howard, Orlando’s franchise center, but he still found a way to put his enormous footprint on the game.
Toronto ran several big men at Howard all game, using Andrea Bargnani, Rasho Nesterovic and Chris Bosh to hammer Orlando’s star. He missed eight of his 13 shots, but made Toronto pay for the physical play by making 14 of his 16 free throws.
Howard said he worked harder on his free throws this summer than any aspect of his game, staying in the gym until he made at least 200 a day. And all preseason and early in the regular season he’s been the last player off the practice court, working hard on his form.
His poor start to the season at the line frustrated him greatly. But Sunday showed his tremendous improvement. The Magic feel he’ll won’t endure extended poor stretches at the line this season because of his improvement.
Orlando showed once again why it is arguably the NBA’s best shooting team, torching the Raptors for 17 3-pointers. The Magic made seven of their first 10 tries from beyond the arc to stun the crowd inside the Air Canada Centre.
And the threes came from all over the floor – Redick hitting them off good ball movement, Nelson stroking them off screens and Anderson burning the defense with several transition 3-pointers.
``Everybody we played, played really well,’’ Van Gundy said. ``The tendency is when you are missing people that everybody tries to do too much. We told them to play their own game and not play Vince’s game. Play your game at a very high level. Those guys did – Jameer, J.J., Dwight, Ryan and Matt – they were outstanding.’’
THE BAD
Magic fans had to be worried late in the second period when Howard grabbed his massive right shoulder in pain and had to leave the game. He was tangled up between two Toronto defenders on a fastbreak play and was unable to get back up the court because of the pain in his shoulder.
Van Gundy argued for foul calls throughout the game as Toronto’s players grabbed and held Howard. And Dwight jawed with good friend, Chris Bosh, in the second half when Toronto’s power forward wrapped both arms around him on one particularly hard foul.
As it turns out, the shoulder injury hardly slowed down Howard, who played 37 minutes and had five offensive rebounds and a block to go with his 24 points and 11 rebounds.
``He’s such a tough guy to play against and off the boards every time he was going up he was getting his arm grabbed,’’ Van Gundy said. ``They just pull his arm back and that (shoulder) is a tough injury. I’m glad he was able to go in the second half and he did a good job at the free throw line, too.’’
Pietrus was sent back to Orlando after developing a fever and flu-like symptoms. NBA teams are on alert this season because of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus that has become a pandemic across North America. The Magic didn’t want to take any chances with Pietrus’ illness spreading throughout the team and took precautions.
Carter, who sprained his ankle in Friday’s win in New Jersey, was also held out of the game in Toronto, the place where his pro career started. Carter’s injury isn’t thought to be a serious one and the swelling in the joint was minimal. He’ll get treatment again today and should play Tuesday in Detroit.
Former Magic standout Hedo Turkoglu scored 19 points and passed out four assists, but clearly the Raptors haven’t learned yet how to use the highly skilled small forward.
Turkoglu rarely touched the ball in the first quarter and his first points didn’t come until the second period was almost eight minutes old.
Surely, the Raptors didn’t sign Turkoglu to a five-year, $53 million free-agent contract to make him a decoy or a third option. Their offense flowed the best in the third quarter and early in the fourth period when Turkoglu had the ball in his hands and was making plays for himself and others. Magic fans know that Turkoglu is one of the NBA’s most clutch fourth-quarter players, but clearly it’s taking time to integrate the 6-foot-10 Turkey native into the rotation in Toronto.
THE UGLY
A rumor was floated out Sunday that Bosh would announce that he wants to be traded out of Toronto. Of course, it turned out not to be true, but that likely won’t be the first time that there’s talk of a Bosh exodus. Bosh can become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end and Toronto will almost certainly have to press him as to his plans before the trade deadline in February. If he wants to explore his options, the Raptors could be forced to trade him at midseason to ensure they get something in return for their franchise player.
As he seemingly always is against Orlando, Bosh was brilliant on the floor. He had 35 points and 16 rebounds.
Calderon recorded the highest free throw percentage in NBA history last season while making 151 of 154 free throws, including a streak of 87 straight. But oddly, he has struggled at the line this season. He missed his first two tries of the season last Wednesday against Cleveland and he missed two more tries Sunday against the Magic.
Any chance the Raptors have of getting to the playoffs this season has to do with Calderon becoming an elite point guard again. He had a down season in 2008-09, and is off to a shaky start so far this year.
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 DentonNovember 1, 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.
J.J. Redick finally became a consistent rotation player for the Orlando Magic last season by bettering his defense and becoming an efficient passer in the offense. But strangely, one of college basketball’s best shooters of all time struggled with his stroke.
So Redick went to work on fixing that problem this past summer, spending hours a day shooting hundreds of spot-up shots and jumpers off curl screens.
All of that work paid huge dividends on Sunday for a Magic team that needed every bit of Redick’s career day against the Toronto Raptors.
With Orlando playing without Vince Carter (sprained left ankle), Mickael Pietrus (flu-like symptoms) and Rashard Lewis (suspension), Redick picked up the scoring slack and poured in a career-best 27 points in Orlando’s 125-116 defeat of the Raptors.
And Redick had plenty of scoring help with four Magic players reaching at least 20 points. Jameer Nelson proved he’s all the way back from last February’s shoulder surgery with 30 points and five 3-pointers. Dwight Howard had 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Ryan Anderson added 20 points and another five 3-pointers.
Redick was tremendous in every phase of the game on Sunday. He registered career highs in points (27), minutes (45), rebounds (six) and assists (five). He helped Orlando get off to a great start with 18 first-half points and Orlando was plus-12 in scoring during J.J.’s time on the court.
The way Redick stepped up and filling in for an absent starter was reminiscent of the playoff performance he had against the Philadelphia 76ers in the clinching Game 6. That night, Redick filled in for Courtney Lee and burned the Sixers for 15 points and five 3-pointers. He was even better in place of Carter on Sunday.
``I just had to play my game,’’ Redick said. ``(Magic coach) Stan (Van Gundy) talked about not trying to play Vince’s game and just play my game.’’ Here’s a breakdown of the rest of Orlando’s third victory in three tries so far this season:
THE GOOD
Shooting certainly wasn’t a problem for Nelson on Sunday. He was in attack mode from the start, repeatedly getting to the rim and burying 3-pointers off Howard picks. He made five 3-pointers and got to the free throw line 10 times with nine makes for the 30 points, just two off his career high.
``This is probably the best game I’ve had since the surgery, just me being aggressive and being who I am,’’ Nelson said. ``I was just out there playing the way I know how to play.’’ Playing against Toronto’s Jose Calderon always seems to bring out the best in Nelson. The Magic point guard torched Calderon (and T.J. Ford in the playoffs) in 2008, paving the way for his all-star season in 2009.
Toronto ran several big men at Howard all game, using Andrea Bargnani, Rasho Nesterovic and Chris Bosh to hammer Orlando’s star. He missed eight of his 13 shots, but made Toronto pay for the physical play by making 14 of his 16 free throws.
Howard said he worked harder on his free throws this summer than any aspect of his game, staying in the gym until he made at least 200 a day. And all preseason and early in the regular season he’s been the last player off the practice court, working hard on his form.
His poor start to the season at the line frustrated him greatly. But Sunday showed his tremendous improvement. The Magic feel he’ll won’t endure extended poor stretches at the line this season because of his improvement.
And the threes came from all over the floor – Redick hitting them off good ball movement, Nelson stroking them off screens and Anderson burning the defense with several transition 3-pointers.
``Everybody we played, played really well,’’ Van Gundy said. ``The tendency is when you are missing people that everybody tries to do too much. We told them to play their own game and not play Vince’s game. Play your game at a very high level. Those guys did – Jameer, J.J., Dwight, Ryan and Matt – they were outstanding.’’
THE BAD
Van Gundy argued for foul calls throughout the game as Toronto’s players grabbed and held Howard. And Dwight jawed with good friend, Chris Bosh, in the second half when Toronto’s power forward wrapped both arms around him on one particularly hard foul.
As it turns out, the shoulder injury hardly slowed down Howard, who played 37 minutes and had five offensive rebounds and a block to go with his 24 points and 11 rebounds.
``He’s such a tough guy to play against and off the boards every time he was going up he was getting his arm grabbed,’’ Van Gundy said. ``They just pull his arm back and that (shoulder) is a tough injury. I’m glad he was able to go in the second half and he did a good job at the free throw line, too.’’
Carter, who sprained his ankle in Friday’s win in New Jersey, was also held out of the game in Toronto, the place where his pro career started. Carter’s injury isn’t thought to be a serious one and the swelling in the joint was minimal. He’ll get treatment again today and should play Tuesday in Detroit.
Turkoglu rarely touched the ball in the first quarter and his first points didn’t come until the second period was almost eight minutes old.
Surely, the Raptors didn’t sign Turkoglu to a five-year, $53 million free-agent contract to make him a decoy or a third option. Their offense flowed the best in the third quarter and early in the fourth period when Turkoglu had the ball in his hands and was making plays for himself and others. Magic fans know that Turkoglu is one of the NBA’s most clutch fourth-quarter players, but clearly it’s taking time to integrate the 6-foot-10 Turkey native into the rotation in Toronto.
THE UGLY
As he seemingly always is against Orlando, Bosh was brilliant on the floor. He had 35 points and 16 rebounds.
Any chance the Raptors have of getting to the playoffs this season has to do with Calderon becoming an elite point guard again. He had a down season in 2008-09, and is off to a shaky start so far this year.
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.
