Comments on: Pistons eliminate Magic in five

By: Ben Q. Rock

Ben Q. Rock — Fri, 16 May 2008 03:22:31 +0000

Rob G - I thought trolling was analogous to antagonizing or spamming. I hope that what I’m doing here doesn’t fall under that category.

Thanks for the kind words. I aim to absolutely cut down on splitting infinitives.

Wink.

DG.But - Howard’s touch was much softer in the regular season and in the first round. He cracks against the Pistons and rushes his shots; Rasheed’s in his head, that’s for sure.

Toledo Joe - SVG is already the most beloved coach in Magic history. He’s indeed gotten more out of his players than anyone imagined he would. His largest weakness is his inability to get us good looks at the end of games. Or maybe that’s Hedo’s fault. Hard to figure because none of us were there in those timeouts to see/hear what Stan wanted to do, then compare it to what Turk actually did.

Slappy - Don’t forget Nelson. He’s here until 2012/13. Turk can opt-out after next year, and I wouldn’t blame him if he did.

By: slappy

slappy — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:50:43 +0000

I’m inclined to agree. The Magic seem to have their core of Turkeyglue, Lewis (though way overpriced), and Howard in place. I gotta figure there’ll be quality players interested in playing alongside them. They don’t need a superstar, just a few solid pieces.

By: Toledo Joe

Toledo Joe — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:54:44 +0000

Re SVG, I thought his post-game comments were classy and fair. I can’t evaluate him as an Xs and Os guy, but he seemed to do a good job with the somewhat odd set of tools he had (playing Rashard Lewis arguably out of position, a small point guard, etc.). His team didn’t quit and Orlando was in a position to win three of the four games they lost. I don’t think it’s SVG’s fault that the Magic missed a crucial boatload of free throws, made some careless turnovers, or that Tayshaun managed to block Hedo on a key drive after Hedo had scored twice in the last two possessions on the same play.

The Magic are missing a piece or two. Howard still has some limitations — although his overall stats for this series were still pretty impressive, and were amazing for the first series. I predict Dwight will become a truly dominant center.

Having said that, and with no disrespect to Orlando, the Cavs or Celtics will be tougher.

By: ohad

ohad — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:48:31 +0000

Regarding Lewis’s comments:
Umm of course “every game they had to go out there and win the game, it wasn’t handed to them”
Dude, this is the 2nd round of the plaoffs. every team who got there isn’t a pushover.
HOWEVER, your team is the only one who was ejected with a 4-1 record. That doesn’t mean we are better than the rest and it doesn’t mean you are worse than the rest but its got to be something right?
what would you say was the deciding factor? the weather?!

By: LawyerBoy

LawyerBoy — Thu, 15 May 2008 07:02:22 +0000

Dg.But: If it were about sustained production, then they would be career achievement awards, not just awards for a given year. That being said, Ainge made the most shrewd moves that led to a direct change in team success, he gets the award. A lot of it was blind luck, but he’s the beneficiary, and so goes the award to him.

By: Dg.But

Dg.But — Thu, 15 May 2008 05:50:28 +0000

As for Howard and his offensive game, it is severely limited, as everyone knows, but I have doubts on how much he will be able to progress. He doesn´t have a soft touch, and his footwork is approximative. He may be able to develop a reliable jumper a little and become decent (and even that will be hard work), but I think his offensive game will always be limited, like Chandler´s, and without a great point guard, it will be a big hurdle in Orlando´s way towards a title.

By: Dg.But

Dg.But — Thu, 15 May 2008 05:35:30 +0000

He may have won it waaay back in the day (only 6 years ago, I know, but it feels like an era ago. It is, in fact), LawyerBoy, but like Buford, the sustained run of excellence of several years of his team should be recognized. What kind of award is it when a good year that costs you the following ones is considered what should be emulated, but many consecutive years with a very good chance to win it all are considered secondary?

You´re right, he has won the award once, but the people who voted are still getting it all wrong.

By: LawyerBoy

LawyerBoy — Thu, 15 May 2008 01:14:25 +0000

Dg.But: While Buford has never won the EotY award (which is silly), Joe won in the 2002-2003 season when we ended up getting swept in the ECF by the Nets despite having home-court advantage.

By: DJ

DJ — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:29:38 +0000

From what I saw during this series, Orlando has no floor general. Howard is a superhuman bigman yes, but he doesn’t appear to LEAD while out on the floor, Detroit, on the other hand, sometimes its Chauncey, sometimes its Sheed, sometimes its Dice! I don’t mean LEAD as in running the offense or setting the tempo, I mean LEAD as in running the team (and no I do not mean the coaches leadership). When Boston is playing team ball, (not this I’m gonna git mine crap they have been playing in the playoffs) KG or Pierce LEAD that team, Nash LEADS the Suns, James LEADS CLeveland, Kobitch LEADS the Lakers, to list a few examples. I never witnessed any leaders on Orlando. I suppose that could be by design, but nonetheless, it seems that the continusously successful organizations have player-leaders as well. V’s comment “So, while I see some assets, they have quite a few liabilities right now to be anything more than a 50-win team in a weak conference.” I agree with most of the comment, I am not convinced the Eastern conference is weaker, I think the East plays a different style of Basketball…but I digress, back to the Magic; I too see several assets in Orlando, Howard, Lewis, and Turkoglu. A nice start, but if one of them doesn’t step up and lead, Orlando will be relegated to a very talented 50 win team, but have no leadership to advance deep into the playoffs. I think Dallas suffers form this problem as well, AJ got fired and Carlisle is inheriting a team that has an asston of talent but no leader (Kidd included).

By: Sauce1977

Sauce1977 — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:28:45 +0000

That’s 2 years nobody’s either worked with Dwight on that, but at this point I’m willing to say that Dwight pushing a button and playing a v.g. version of himself in a commercial is only working on his bank account.

Ben Wallace had an excuse for shooting so poorly. He has wrists that pop out on him. Basically, imagine playing with flippers.

Shaq’s always been a paint mongler.

Dwight’s got no excuse. His hands and arms are perfectly fine. Nobody’s asking him to trey it up with Rashard and the other dudes. Just be able to hit a 16 footer to expand the play repetoire. That, and not be so easily abused in the paint.

By: Rob G

Rob G — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:27:40 +0000

Ben Q. - since you’re trolling:

Don’t know if I’ve said this, but kudos to you and your work at 3QC. I read the recap and have to say that I thought your work was insightful. You pulled no punches about the Magic’s performance, nor about the Pistons’. I’d say a blogging dream team would be you and Matt W here at DBB starting something along the lines of Ball Don’t Lie. Finally, like Dwight, you have a bright future. He’s got to work on his J, you gotta stop splitting infinitives, but you’ll both get there…

By: Ben Q. Rock

Ben Q. Rock — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:21:34 +0000

“I don’t think he even attempted a single jump shot the whole series.”

Yeah, he doesn’t take them often. Maybe once a week.

NBA.com’s Hot Spots (http://www.nba.com/hotspots/) show that Dwight attempted 837 shots in the paint this season. That’s 86% of his total field goal attempts.

Dude doesn’t have range yet, nope.

By: Rob G

Rob G — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:21:07 +0000

I don’t care who wins tonight - as long as it’s a triple overtime slug-fest which features exploded patellas, double-technicals, brutal fouls, and maybe the self-immolation of some Boston bandwagon-jumpin’ fans. Not that I’m cruel, but it would be pretty sweet if that happened….

By: Cisco

Cisco — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:21:01 +0000

Am I the only one starting to feel overconfident about Detroit’s chances. Rationally, I know Cleveland beat the Pistons last year, the Celtics are a powerhouse and every Western Conference team still standing is a cookie so tough the Cookie Monster would ask for celery instead, but even so my gut tells me Sheed’s tailor should start working on those championship belts.

By: Sauce1977

Sauce1977 — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:18:04 +0000

I’ll wait on much commentary about Boston until we’re either facing them or they’ve bounced, and if they bounce in this series, I’ll probably wait until Detroit knows its fate.

But . . .

ESPN should be ashamed of themselves. Every major city should have a Bill Simmons on Page 2. He should be buried among them. Or, Bill should be released, and the turd in the punch bowl should actually write for Boston.com, because Hunter S. Thompson ran circles around Bill for talent. I feel like Page 2 is that horrible subsidiary company that is leeching off of the big pocket of the main company, and it should be sold off like what GM and Ford did with their subs. Cut it loose, watch it flounder.