Denton: Magic-Bulls Postgame Analysis
By John Denton
January 2, 2010
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.
The Orlando Magic almost used five minutes of solid basketball and dead-eye shooting to wipe out 2 ½ quarters of sloppy play and struggles on both ends of the floor. But in the end, the furious late rally wasn’t enough to undue a night’s worth of frustration.
Orlando sliced a 15-point deficit to three with 27 seconds to play, but couldn’t get any closer in a somewhat troubling 101-93 loss to the Chicago Bulls at the United Center Saturday night.
The Magic (24-9) won in frigid Minnesota on Friday night, but coach Stan Van Gundy didn’t want to hear how playing on a back-to-back caused the Magic to shoot 35.9 percent from the floor and get outrebounded 54-48.
Orlando once again relied too heavily on the 3-point shot (37 tries) and didn’t feed star center Dwight Howard (seven shots, eight free throws) the ball enough. And the Magic didn’t get much from Vince Carter (eight points) or Rashard Lewis (seven points). And Carter hobbled off the floor with a sprained left ankle with 5:55 to play after getting injured on one of his first drives to the hoop all night.
Making matters worse, Derrick Rose torched the Magic point guards for 30 points, just two shy of his career high. A Chicago team seemingly rallying around embattled coach Vinny Del Negro won for the fourth time in a row.
Van Gundy said this loss was more because of energy, emotion and execution than it was fatigue.
``There was only one (factor) … they played a lot harder than we did. Every guy in our locker room knows it,’’ Van Gundy fumed. ``They played a lot harder to a man, more energy, more effort, they defended harder, went to the boards harder, everything. They deserved to win. It’s actually amazing to me that we were even within shouting distance in the fourth quarter because we didn’t compete at the level that we needed to compete at.’’
A Magic team that inexplicably missed its first 11 shots of the fourth quarter to fall behind 90-75 suddenly got hot down the stretch to put a scare into a Bulls team that had just blown a 35-point lead in a home loss against Sacramento two weeks ago.
Eight points from J.J. Redick, 3-pointers from Matt Barnes and Ryan Anderson and two hard drives by Jameer Nelson remarkably got Orlando to within 96-93 with 27 seconds to play. But five Bulls free throws down the stretch sealed the loss for the Magic.
``We should have come out with a little more energy,’’ said Anderson, who had 12 points. ``Shots just weren’t falling for us. Shots we normally make, especially in the third and fourth quarter. We really struggled to make shots. If we’re not going to play good defense, we really need to rely on our offense to win games. (Saturday) night, our offense wasn’t working for us. It was a tough game for us.’’
Orlando’s three-game roadtrip ends Tuesday against Indiana. The Magic, 11-6 on the road, will be off on Sunday and will practice again on Monday before Tuesday’s game.
Here’s a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly from Saturday’s game:
THE GOOD
---- Rose showed why he was the No. 1 pick in 2008 NBA Draft and why he was the Rookie of the Year last season. His jump shot is much improved and he repeatedly burned Jameer Nelson and Jason Williams when they went under picks.
He made 11 of 23 shots and when he wasn’t hitting jumpers, he was driving hard to the hoop for scores. He once hit Nelson with an elbow to the mouth on a hard drive and his layup over two defenders to end the third quarter was a thing of beauty.
Rose had 16 in the third quarter and his two clutch free throws with 24.5 seconds remaining sealed the game.
``Attack, attack, attack. He’s strong, fast and was knocking down jump shots,’’ Nelson said of Rose. ``When he’s knocking down his jump shots, it makes it tough to guard him.’’
---- Orlando’s Matt Barnes continued to play well as a starter, scoring a team-high 23 points with five 3-pointers, four rebounds and four free throws.
Barnes silently steamed over his lack of playing time early in the season and seems revitalized by earning the starting nod ahead of Mickael Pietrus by Van Gundy. Barnes hasn’t shot the ball well all season, but that wasn’t a concern on Saturday when he made seven of 14 shots and five of six tries from beyond the 3-point stripe.
---- Redick made the best of a tough situation, scoring points in bunches down the stretch to give the Magic a chance. His deep 3-pointer with 27 seconds to play was extremely clutch. If Carter can’t go on Tuesday, expect Redick to start at shooting guard for the Magic.
THE BAD
---- Opposing point guards have repeatedly had big games against the Magic of late, and Saturday was no different. The Magic are having trouble cutting off dribble penetration and the pick-and-roll defense is clearly giving guards too much room to rise up for open, 15-foot jump shots.
Dating back to Christmas Day, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Jennings, Johnny Flynn and Rose have shredded Orlando with big nights from the point.
``That’s another area we’ve got to get cleaned up,’’ Van Gundy said of the defense against opposing point guards. ``Virtually every night now it’s the point guard who is the leading scorer. It’s not all one-on-one with the point guards because they are in pick-and-rolls a lot, but we’ve got to get that figured out.’’
---- What the Magic also have to get figured out is a way to make Howard more effective on the inside. He’s had several big nights in the past against Chicago and he seemed like he was well on his way to another strong performance with six first-quarter points.
But foul trouble robbed Howard of his momentum, and the Bulls did the rest with hard fouls against the Magic’s four-time all-star center. And too often, Orlando didn’t even look inside to Howard on the low block. Seven field goal attempts just aren’t enough for the NBA’s most dominant center.
``Right now, I’m a little frustrated where we’re not getting a great balance inside and outside. That’s on me to get that worked out,’’ Van Gundy said. ``Guys have a green light and they are shooting open shots, but when Dwight’s got guys sealed down low, I don’t know how we control that. When we take the open shot and when we get it inside, we’ve got to get that figured out. We don’t have a lot of balance right now.
``We didn’t get it to (Howard) deep a lot and when we did they just grabbed him and fouled him,’’ Van Gundy continued. ``And a lot of times they did it before the shot went up so the ball was on the side. He got to the line eight times, but they did a pretty good job of double-teaming him from the baseline side. And they stripped him a couple of times, which has been a problem. And when he did get good position they just grabbed him and fouled him. They did a good job of the way they played him.’’
THE UGLY
---- Carter was instantly in pain after jamming his ankle, kicking his leg up into the air and clutching his ankle after hitting the floor. For what it’s worth he didn’t seem to roll the ankle over, but the injury is very similar to the one he suffered in the second game of the season against the New Jersey Nets. That injury cost him four games.
Said Van Gundy: ``He obviously turned his ankle, but how bad I don’t know. It’s usually it’s hard to tell this soon after. I just asked him and he said, `Not that bad.’ I don’t know if that’s just hopeful or whatever. Thankfully we have a couple of days off and that gives him a better chance. But I would say we wouldn’t know until (Sunday).’’
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 DentonJanuary 2, 2010
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.
The Orlando Magic almost used five minutes of solid basketball and dead-eye shooting to wipe out 2 ½ quarters of sloppy play and struggles on both ends of the floor. But in the end, the furious late rally wasn’t enough to undue a night’s worth of frustration.
Orlando sliced a 15-point deficit to three with 27 seconds to play, but couldn’t get any closer in a somewhat troubling 101-93 loss to the Chicago Bulls at the United Center Saturday night.
The Magic (24-9) won in frigid Minnesota on Friday night, but coach Stan Van Gundy didn’t want to hear how playing on a back-to-back caused the Magic to shoot 35.9 percent from the floor and get outrebounded 54-48.
Orlando once again relied too heavily on the 3-point shot (37 tries) and didn’t feed star center Dwight Howard (seven shots, eight free throws) the ball enough. And the Magic didn’t get much from Vince Carter (eight points) or Rashard Lewis (seven points). And Carter hobbled off the floor with a sprained left ankle with 5:55 to play after getting injured on one of his first drives to the hoop all night.
Making matters worse, Derrick Rose torched the Magic point guards for 30 points, just two shy of his career high. A Chicago team seemingly rallying around embattled coach Vinny Del Negro won for the fourth time in a row.
Van Gundy said this loss was more because of energy, emotion and execution than it was fatigue.
``There was only one (factor) … they played a lot harder than we did. Every guy in our locker room knows it,’’ Van Gundy fumed. ``They played a lot harder to a man, more energy, more effort, they defended harder, went to the boards harder, everything. They deserved to win. It’s actually amazing to me that we were even within shouting distance in the fourth quarter because we didn’t compete at the level that we needed to compete at.’’
A Magic team that inexplicably missed its first 11 shots of the fourth quarter to fall behind 90-75 suddenly got hot down the stretch to put a scare into a Bulls team that had just blown a 35-point lead in a home loss against Sacramento two weeks ago.
Eight points from J.J. Redick, 3-pointers from Matt Barnes and Ryan Anderson and two hard drives by Jameer Nelson remarkably got Orlando to within 96-93 with 27 seconds to play. But five Bulls free throws down the stretch sealed the loss for the Magic.
``We should have come out with a little more energy,’’ said Anderson, who had 12 points. ``Shots just weren’t falling for us. Shots we normally make, especially in the third and fourth quarter. We really struggled to make shots. If we’re not going to play good defense, we really need to rely on our offense to win games. (Saturday) night, our offense wasn’t working for us. It was a tough game for us.’’
Orlando’s three-game roadtrip ends Tuesday against Indiana. The Magic, 11-6 on the road, will be off on Sunday and will practice again on Monday before Tuesday’s game.
Here’s a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly from Saturday’s game:
THE GOOD
---- Rose showed why he was the No. 1 pick in 2008 NBA Draft and why he was the Rookie of the Year last season. His jump shot is much improved and he repeatedly burned Jameer Nelson and Jason Williams when they went under picks.
He made 11 of 23 shots and when he wasn’t hitting jumpers, he was driving hard to the hoop for scores. He once hit Nelson with an elbow to the mouth on a hard drive and his layup over two defenders to end the third quarter was a thing of beauty.
Rose had 16 in the third quarter and his two clutch free throws with 24.5 seconds remaining sealed the game.
``Attack, attack, attack. He’s strong, fast and was knocking down jump shots,’’ Nelson said of Rose. ``When he’s knocking down his jump shots, it makes it tough to guard him.’’
---- Orlando’s Matt Barnes continued to play well as a starter, scoring a team-high 23 points with five 3-pointers, four rebounds and four free throws.
Barnes silently steamed over his lack of playing time early in the season and seems revitalized by earning the starting nod ahead of Mickael Pietrus by Van Gundy. Barnes hasn’t shot the ball well all season, but that wasn’t a concern on Saturday when he made seven of 14 shots and five of six tries from beyond the 3-point stripe.
---- Redick made the best of a tough situation, scoring points in bunches down the stretch to give the Magic a chance. His deep 3-pointer with 27 seconds to play was extremely clutch. If Carter can’t go on Tuesday, expect Redick to start at shooting guard for the Magic.
THE BAD
---- Opposing point guards have repeatedly had big games against the Magic of late, and Saturday was no different. The Magic are having trouble cutting off dribble penetration and the pick-and-roll defense is clearly giving guards too much room to rise up for open, 15-foot jump shots.
Dating back to Christmas Day, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Jennings, Johnny Flynn and Rose have shredded Orlando with big nights from the point.
``That’s another area we’ve got to get cleaned up,’’ Van Gundy said of the defense against opposing point guards. ``Virtually every night now it’s the point guard who is the leading scorer. It’s not all one-on-one with the point guards because they are in pick-and-rolls a lot, but we’ve got to get that figured out.’’
---- What the Magic also have to get figured out is a way to make Howard more effective on the inside. He’s had several big nights in the past against Chicago and he seemed like he was well on his way to another strong performance with six first-quarter points.
But foul trouble robbed Howard of his momentum, and the Bulls did the rest with hard fouls against the Magic’s four-time all-star center. And too often, Orlando didn’t even look inside to Howard on the low block. Seven field goal attempts just aren’t enough for the NBA’s most dominant center.
``Right now, I’m a little frustrated where we’re not getting a great balance inside and outside. That’s on me to get that worked out,’’ Van Gundy said. ``Guys have a green light and they are shooting open shots, but when Dwight’s got guys sealed down low, I don’t know how we control that. When we take the open shot and when we get it inside, we’ve got to get that figured out. We don’t have a lot of balance right now.
``We didn’t get it to (Howard) deep a lot and when we did they just grabbed him and fouled him,’’ Van Gundy continued. ``And a lot of times they did it before the shot went up so the ball was on the side. He got to the line eight times, but they did a pretty good job of double-teaming him from the baseline side. And they stripped him a couple of times, which has been a problem. And when he did get good position they just grabbed him and fouled him. They did a good job of the way they played him.’’
THE UGLY
---- Carter was instantly in pain after jamming his ankle, kicking his leg up into the air and clutching his ankle after hitting the floor. For what it’s worth he didn’t seem to roll the ankle over, but the injury is very similar to the one he suffered in the second game of the season against the New Jersey Nets. That injury cost him four games.
Said Van Gundy: ``He obviously turned his ankle, but how bad I don’t know. It’s usually it’s hard to tell this soon after. I just asked him and he said, `Not that bad.’ I don’t know if that’s just hopeful or whatever. Thankfully we have a couple of days off and that gives him a better chance. But I would say we wouldn’t know until (Sunday).’’
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.
