Do You Believe In Magic & Sad Streak Broken

                The Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics went head to head Thursday, January 28,2010. The series was split 1-1, and Orlando was trying to bounce back from a loss to Memphis. Both teams met Christmas Day, and both had an ugly game then. Since that game, Boston and Orlando went through rough patches in terms of victories.

                 Orlando was in trouble when entering the locker room at the half down by 11. In the 3^rd, Ray Allen hit a 3 at the 9:59 mark, creating a 16 point lead, Boston’s largest of the night. The Magic were deflated but if anything was learned from their playoff experience last season, it was that RESILIENCE pays off. Orlando came back strong, with a rare pairing of Howard and Gortat leading the charge. This gave Orlando a defensive boost, and helped Rashard Lewis start catching fire offensively. Boston built a 3-point lead at 94-91 late in 4^th after a Rondo basket. Not to worry because I HOPE ALL REMEMBERED that Orlando is the #1 three-point shooting team in the league, and it showed when JJ Redick nailed a long 3. Props to JJ Redick for bring Orlando back in the game.The game was still tied with some seconds left in the game, so Van Gundy’s calls a play for VC15, which Boston’s rough defense snubbed, until Redick passed to Lewis, who drove by Garnett and had an easy lay-up to give the Magic the winning shot.

                The Orlando Magic had a great game aside from VC15.  Vince struggled and only had 6 points, and was a forgettable supposed “STAR” in the game. Dwight Howard had 19 points, but 11 came in the 4^th, in which he presented an array of maneuvers that didn’t come with him slamming it home. Howard displayed his growth as a player with the beautiful soft touch finishes around the rim with both hands. Gortat displayed why the Magic kept him, even with the expense. Gortat had 3 blocks with 8 rebounds and 6 points in 27 minutes of game play. Lewis had 23 points in the game, and was the offense for the Magic in the second half. Nelson kept the Magic in the game during the first quarter having a stretch of 10 points. Orlando is the first to defeat Boston when they have the Big 3 (Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen) playing with a double digit lead in the 4th, they were 86-0, but they can thank Orlando for the 86-1.

Still one person I saw that Orlando truly misses in tight games like this is HERO Turkolgu because you could see that Vince is not replacing HERO in tight game situations. I also need to see the old GRUMPY STAN THE MAN come back, because we need to have that serious cutthroat persona. It was a great win, but still Orlando has things they need to work on.                                                                                                       

One another note, the Phoenix Suns finally broke their sad record of having 18 straight losses anytime they were on TNT. The Suns wont 112-106.The Mavericks didn’t lose this game, the Suns won the game. Steve Nash showed why is worthy of that All-Star starter status. Nash had 19 points and 11 assist. The game was good, but the backstage news about the Suns trying to trade Stoudemire to the Spurs is a stupid move. The Suns are playing great basketball, and they are in the hunt for a playoff spot. Apparently, the Suns organization sees that Stoudemire won’t resign with them, so they want to get something out of him. I hope that the Spurs figure out a way to receive Stoudemire because he would be a great younger talent to have for the aged Spurs.

Here It Is & Remember DEFENSE DEFENSE (Orlando Has The Best Defensive Presence DH12)!