The Orlando Magic have won the ECF beating the Cavs in game 6 finishing the series 4-2. Dwight Howard brought his A game as did all of his teammates and they led from start to finish.
Not once did the Cavs get back into the game. Every time the Cavs thought they had adjusted to what the Magic were doing SVG adjusted and the Magic instead stretched out the lead.
At the end of the game LeBron just left the court without shaking hands with the winning team. He also skipped the post game press conference and left the arena without looking back. To top it off he is not flying home with his team mates instead he chartered a flight so he wouldn’t be flying home with his teammates.
None of this less then sportsmanship from LeBron can detract from the fact that the Orlando Magic won out and are now in the NBA Finals against the Lakers.
Here is my call for the Finals Magic in 6 over the Lakers. Since the Lakers have the same problem as the Cavs when it comes to the Magic major match up problems that will cause them many problems thus leading to the Magic beating the Lakers. Continuing the play from the regular season where the Magic sweep the Lakers.
The Orlando Magic beat the Cleveland Cavs and are now up 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Championship finals. Unlike the first two games where the Cavs got out to an early big lead this time it was Orlando who got out to a 10 point lead at one time. Then after that the score see sawed back and forth. The Magic were able to put this game away in the 4th period and ended up winning by 10 points. This was the largest spread so far in this series at the end of a game.
Cleveland who had been crowned by the “experts” as the champions for the Eastern Conference even before playing a game against Orlando are having a problem figuring out how to play the Magic. The Cavs had this very same problem during the regular season and lost the two games in Orlando both by blowouts and won the lone game in Cleveland with a mid court buzzer beater almost like game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Many of the same “experts” who had hyped Cleveland are now saying that Orlando wins this series in either 5 or 6 games with the Cavs having to wait another year to see if they can play for the NBA Championships.
JJ came into the game and went 3-4 and scored 7 points in only 8 minutes of play. The Magic had been down by over 20 points and came back in the 4th period and took the lead with 1 second to go. LeBron shot the ball with 1 second to go and the Cavs won with a buzzer beater.
If I were the cavs even though they won they should be really scared, because they struggled at home in both games and had to win with a buzzer beater. The cavs biggest problem is that they don’t know how to win in Orlando. They have not won a game in Orlando in years and now it’s the playoffs and they have to win one at least to get to the finals. Considering history that is not going to happen and so I predict that the Magic will win this series in 6 games and go to the Finals for only the second time in the teams short history.
Considering that the Magic are celebrating their history this year it really would be a fitting way to end this season with a championship ring. I give a huge WTG for the Magic for the way they have pushed the cavs around on their home court.
The Magic came back from a 15 point deficit and beat Cleveland by 1. The Magic were told by everyone that they could not beat Cleveland and there they went and beat them in Cleveland.
JJ did get to see any action in this game. Next time he will.
JJ was 2-3 and 5 points, plus he also got 4 assists and 1 rebound with zero turnovers. Even though Allen got more points in this game then any of the others Boston threw everything at JJ from moving picks to illegal screens to downright holding on to JJ so Allen could get open for his shots.
Hedo was the leading scorer for the team with 25 points plus he also got 12 assists. This was the Hedo everyone expected to see at the beginning of this season after his breakout season last year.
The Magic are now on their way to the Eastern Conference Championship Series starting Wednesday May 20th 8:30pm against Cleveland.
JJ was missing in action for game 6, going 0-7 from the field plus he missed one of three free throws. The good news is that is that the Magic won and now on to Boston for game 7 on Sunday.
The Magic still won this game even though they only shot 54% from the free throw line. The difference the Magic wanted this game more then the Celtics did and that is why the Magic won. The final dagger was Hedo making his first three of the game after shooting up airballs for most of the game.
Well on to game 7 in Boston this coming Sunday at 8pm on TNT.
Remember you have to BELIEVE IN MAGIC!!
The Orlando Magic had a 14 point lead and then Boston pulled close to the Magic. With that the Magic players forgot to take it to the rim and started to panic. Lewis who had been taking the ball to the rim in the first half forgot what worked and started to throw up three’s going 1-4. Lewis was the hot player for the Magic yet in the 4th period Lewis did not make any shots.
Dwight Howard got his rebounds, but other then that he was a no show letting Davis from the Celtics own him time and time again. Too many of his teammates started throwing up contested 3’s. Near the end of the game with JJ wide open Hedo took a contested shot instead. With panic in his eyes Hedo took bad shot after bad shot even with the Magic leading.
There were several bad calls by the refs that helped change the game, but in the end it was the Magic players who lost this game.
Finally to JJ he got 3 assists with zero turnovers and no fouls, but when it came to shooting the ball JJ once again failed. In the last three games he has made a total of three shots. For a player known for his shooting it is terrible right now to watch him shoot the ball. While he has played good to great defense and gotten more assists then pg Rafer Alston his shooting has been terrible in the games mentioned. Before those games JJ was averaging around 12 points. So JJ what has happened that you can’t shoot the ball anymore??
So for the second game in a row the Magic lost after getting a big lead. The Magic seem to forget what got them their leads and start throwing up three’s almost in a panic mode. The question is why?? The Magic should have put away the Celtics instead they now have to win the next two games or it will be the end for the Magic this season.
I really don’t see the Magic doing that and do believe that the Magic need a change in their lineup next season. Hedo’s contract is up and he is a free agent and imo I feel it best that the Magic do a sign and trade if possible and finally get rid of Hedo and his panic mode style of play. Howard needs to take time and focus on his game. Too many times Howard showed why he is not the number one center in the league. Right now Howard is just a player who can dunk his other shot options are lacking greatly and that was proved time and time again against Baby Davis in these playoffs.
If the Magic do win the next two games then wtg, but since that is a very long shot it is more important to work on improving the Magic for next season. That means that Otis Smith has his work cut out for him.
JJ Redick did not have a great night shooting the ball for game 4, but he made up for it by getting 7 assists. In fact he had more assists then any other team member including the two pg’s who played for the Magic combined. So you can’ t say that Redick did’nt show up for the game. He also played great lock down defense on Ray Allen once again.
The Magic lost this one, but the way they are playing it doesn’t mean that this series is over it’s just all tied up with Boston regaining homecourt advantage. The Magic can come back and they will and take this series from the Celtics. I have full confidence in this team, and hope and pray that this game doesn’t get the guys down. Good luck to all of you in game 5 in Boston.
JJ did not score a lot of points, but his defense went up several notch’s keeping Allen at 3-13 and that was a major goal of the Magic. JJ ended up with 5 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals and only 2 fouls. He had fouled out in the last game.
In the two games where a Magic player has been suspended Lewis was the high scorer with 28 points. Hedo Turkoglu also had a great game scoring 24 points he also played at point guard for quite a few minutes in replacement for Rafer Alston. AJ also did very well in replacement of Rafer scoring 13 points.
The Magic played terrible in game 2, but they came back in game 3 and played the kind of game that was expected of them and in doing so blew out the Boston Celtics with the final score of 117-96.
Another great thing was that the Magic fans finally showed up and supported their team and kept on rocking the arena all through the game. Only one thing the lower bowl fans half of them left the game halfway through the 4th period while the upper bowl fans stayed throughout the entire game. This is the playoffs and you expect your fans to be there throughout the entire game.
WTG Magic and on to Sunday.
Sunday is Mother’s Day so Happy Mothers Day for all Mothers out there.
The Orlando Magic lose game 2 to the Celtics in what would be considered a joke of a game. The Celtics cruised through the game. The only Magic player to show up and play and tried to keep it close was JJ. He scored 11 points in the first half keeping the Magic from being totally crushed by the Celtics. All in all JJ scored 15 points on 5-8 shooting overall and 4-6 from beyond the arc. JJ fouled out of the game in what many people consider a badly referred game. One example was JJ’s final foul and as he walked off the court the ref took offense from JJ patting him on the back and gave his a Techincal and then ejected him from the game.
In this writers opinion the NBA really needs to look closer at the way the refs have called fouls in this game and others in the playoffs. If the NBA does not then they face starting to look like the WWE instead of a real sporting event. Calling it as it really was though most likely would not have changed the final score, but it would have been a lot closer and would not produced the results of players hitting each other.
Most of the Magic starters did not show up to play for this second game in this series. Howard was the best example of a non show and as one of the Captains of this team he lead very poorly effecting his teammates. Howard needs to stop twittering and start focusing on the game now otherwise the that first win at Boston won’t mean anything. Orlando right now has homecourt advantage, but if they showup like they did last night that advantage won’t mean a thing. Time to focus and play like the team leader he is supposed to be.