Celtics Magic series dicussion

[Osiagledknarf]

I was looking for one of these and I did not see one, so I thought would make one of these. The Celtics lead the series 1-0 after a 92-88 win on Sunday afternoon. Game 2 is later tonight.

I see the Celtics winning this series in 6 or 7 because of there ability to be physical with Dwight Howard and pull him away further from the basket then what he is comfortable and that allows the Celtics to cover there shooting such as Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis.

[SilkyJ]

Dukies in the NBA Thread, covering all series (all 2 of them!)

http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17518&page=31

[kingboozer]

so is this not enough to get stan van gundy fired? how do you almost sweep the cavaliers and then loose the next 2 games to the Celtics and loose game 3 by 23 points? How? They looked like they didn't even care.

on a side note about the game, its very sad to me watching Sheldon and J.J. playing against each other:(

[gumbomoop]

They looked like they didn't even care.

Reminiscent of.........

[BattierD12]

As a Magic fan, the last thing I ever want to see is Dwight Howard leaving. The next to last thing? Getting rid of Stan Van Gundy. The Magic have won at least 50 games in the three seasons he has been coach after riding the NBA mediocrity pine and he just took us to the finals last year (its like saying Coach K should have been fired in 87 because he didn't reach the championship game like in 86). The guy can coach. Who honestly saw the Celtics playing this good? The Celtics are winning because they are a better, more complete team than the Magic, not because SVG is bad. Jerry Sloan and Rick Adelman are some of the best coaches in the league. Unfortunately, they always faced the one better team in their championship quests.

[Mrezt]

I dont watch the NBA often so i had no favorite team when the playoffs started (which i guess is kinda nice since i know the feeling of your favorite team losing in a playoff situation). I have however, enjoyed watching the Magic play, mostly to see JJ get some playing time and usually be complemented by the announcers. Boston looks real good though, Rondo is impressive (even if he went to UK). I forgot what game it was but i saw him pull a couple of moves that i saw Kyrie do in some of the all star games he was in (obviously Rondo's was against better players)-was nice to see ;)

[cspan37421]

I have been kind of irritated by the grammar police of late and I feel those posts don't add to discussion relevant to the message board either. I'm sure infarctions aren't given for that.

Well, back to the Magic, if I were an Orlando fan, the prospect of SVG continuing at the helm would give ME an infarction - the myocardial kind! My son and his friends gave up on watching the game before the end of the first quarter, it was so bad. Just a peek at the box score - it looked like Rondo had more assists than the entire Orlando team. That's on coaching, it seems to me. That's a bad offensive scheme.

[gumbomoop]

Well, back to the Magic, if I were an Orlando fan, the prospect of SVG continuing at the helm would give ME an infarction - the myocardial kind! My son and his friends gave up on watching the game before the end of the first quarter, it was so bad. Just a peek at the box score - it looked like Rondo had more assists than the entire Orlando team. That's on coaching, it seems to me. That's a bad offensive scheme.

I haven't followed NBA for a few years, but got interested in last year's playoffs because of Duke guys on Denver, Houston, Orlando, Utah, whatever. At that time, I opined that I wasn't impressed with SVG, but another poster or 2 said he was solid. And then, by golly, remember that brilliantly-designed play v. Lakers, end-of-game, where Courtney Lee missed that semi-alley-oop. Especially delicious was the fact that it was Kobe who was fooled, and would have been the goat had Lee finished a tough, but finishable, play. I was really impressed with that particular play, and vaguely recall its failure as a series-turner. But it didn't fail because SVG failed.

Fast-forward to '10 playoffs, where Magic certainly looked like they belong with the other 3 semi-finalists. Looked. But now, they look gawdawful, in pretty much every way imaginable. We have before us the minor miracle that, for his PT, our JJ is maybe the most impressive Magic player. He's messed up some, but compared to the others, he seems to know how to play basketball. And I haven't watched every minute, but JJ knows how to, and does, guard RA very solidly. It's interesting, for example, that for the most part, RA needs screens to get rid of JJ!

I can sympathize with the argument that JJ needs to find a new team. I will say, however, that I am intrigued by how well he plays with DH. JJ is the best Magic player at the [simple, one would think] entry pass. He cuts well, comes off screens, knows when to shoot, when to get it back to DH a second time, and occasionally drives across the lane, into space cleared because DH is drawing a little extra attention.

For Duke-purposes, I was hoping for a Magic-Suns final. Now unlikely, so I guess I'll have to be satisfied that this might be an intriguing Celts-Lakers battle. Still hoping Los Suns can come back v. Los Angeles.

[dukeblue4ever]

For Duke-purposes, I was hoping for a Magic-Suns final. Now unlikely, so I guess I'll have to be satisfied that this might be an intriguing Celts-Lakers battle. Still hoping Los Suns can come back v. Los Angeles.Don't forget that Shelden plays for the Celts. We can still have a Celtics-Suns final with Dukies on both teams.

[mgtr]

If I were a betting person, and I am not, I would give heavy odds on the Celtics taking it all. The Magic are pretty good (I watch them from time to time because of JJ) and the Celts have made them look pretty bad. Actually, that is an understatement. The Celts made the Magic make themselves look bad.
I don't know where the blame should be. I think Van Gundy is OK. I think Howard is great, but underused. I am uncertain about Vince Carter - he can do some great things, but he stands around a lot. However, he is an improvement over Turkoglu (sp?). The bench is good. I really don't know what to change -- the Celtics are just that good. The most telling statistics, as noted above, is that Rondo got more assists than the whole Magic team. Sad.

[Poincaré]

I can sympathize with the argument that JJ needs to find a new team. I will say, however, that I am intrigued by how well he plays with DH. JJ is the best Magic player at the [simple, one would think] entry pass. He cuts well, comes off screens, knows when to shoot, when to get it back to DH a second time, and occasionally drives across the lane, into space cleared because DH is drawing a little extra attention.

I have to agree with everything you've said here. However, don't you feel that JJ's ability to play well with Howard seems unappreciated by the team? Furthermore, his shooting abilities don't seem fully exercised on a team filled with gunners who can't see the floor. The fact that JJ is better at the entry pass than their all-star point guard should tell us something.

Every time I watch the Magic, I frequently see JJ wide open on the weak side while one of the resident Magic gunners are over-dribbling. They never find the best shooter (or one of the best at least) in college basketball history wide open in the corner. Sometimes they'll make a swing pass to the top of the key, where, if they quickly pass to the corner, JJ will be open, but the teammate receiving the pass at the top of the key doesn't see him either. If he does see JJ, it's usually too late for an open shot.

I would love to see JJ play big minutes alongside someone like Lebron, who generates a ton of open threes for his teammates (too bad they miss too many of them), or in a system that caters to JJ's strengths, like the flex offense in Utah.

[gumbomoop]

Every time I watch the Magic, I frequently see JJ wide open on the weak side while one of the resident Magic gunners are over-dribbling. They never find the best shooter (or one of the best at least) in college basketball history wide open in the corner. Sometimes they'll make a swing pass to the top of the key, where, if they quickly pass to the corner, JJ will be open, but the teammate receiving the pass at the top of the key doesn't see him either. If he does see JJ, it's usually too late for an open shot.

Yes, this is big problem. Greybeard made similar point on JJ thread [post #40], re Magic players' brief hesitation in getting ball to JJ [if at all!], so JJ only infrequently receives ball in rhythm.

It's a bit of a puzzle, given that in many games over past 2 seasons the Magic's strength is rhythmic 3-bombs that just take the heart out of the opposition. They're totally out of sync now, and VC's need to hold the ball, take it to his knees, hesitate before beginning his one-on-one stuff - all that stuff is also a rhythm-breaker. True, when he's on, VC can carry a team for a quarter or two. But his strength isn't the extra pass. I honestly don't know what Rashard Lewis's deal is; it's just all gone missing. And, though it might well be my JJ-bias, it strikes me that JJ is much more likely to pass the ball in rhythm to, say, Pietrus, than is the case in reverse. I don't suspect any conspiracy, just incompetence.

Small consolation, but it is nice to hear commentators praise JJ for smarts, including his constant movement to the right spot on the floor, thus placing himself in the right spot to receive the....... uh....... pass.