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W Orlando 84 Cleveland 102

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Best quote of the night by a magic fan provided by Ben:

(after Z's behind the back pass) "I had no idea we were playing the Harlem Globetrotters." - Magicfn1

:chuckles:

Ben, what forums are u going to? And check the updated posts from them?
 
What a solid performance at home!!! Great to keep this dominant record at home. My player recap :

* Zydrunas Ilgauskas was the main reason we had a lead in the first half. He along with Gooden cleaned up alot of sloppy play from Hughes and james. Z could not be stopped and was even looking to get his teammates involved when he had plenty of touches. You dont get that from many players, particulary bigs. If Gooden get a big paycheck, Z should ask for a commision as he does the hard work for him. Z defended Howard alot tonight and apart from one lapse forced Howard into tough hooks. Great steal which led to the ally by James. Ilgauskas is an allstar, our 2nd most dominant player fullstop!

* Drew Gooden played great hustle basketball. Chipped in with a few nice baskets on a variety on moves. Combined with Z to dominate Battie and Howard.

* LeBron James was a little off today, but still demanded attention allowing others to flourish.

* Larry Hughes was reasonably quiet, but had a nice patch in the 3rd where he helped put the game out of reach.

* Despite foul trouble, Eric Snow played great defense on Francis. Hit some nice shots and a nice coast to coast move off a steal. Forced Francis into some tough looks, which Stevie hit some unbelievable tough ones.

* Damon Jones had a nice game. Handled the rock well, and was spoilt by the lack of defense played on him. Some nice drives and dishes, which have been rare. Just a great shooting display. Got a little cocky though.

* Donyell didn't have the touch tonight, but stayed active by assisting us dominate the Magic on the boards.

* I have posted my thoughts on Luke and Sasha in another thread. Luke was active at both ends and finally realised that he should shoot when open. Hit the outside jumper ok, but is clueless in how to finish off the dribble. Knocked down a pass or two, but could not stay infront of anyone. I liked the notion to shoot the best from him tonight as that is a strength. Shame though his man to man defense and lack of finishing inside levelled his game out. Sasha did what he could do in garbage minutes. The minutes he plays are with fellow bench players and hard to play within the offense. He showed again his good touch at the perimeter and a strong drive to the hoop which would have been the play of the game outside the ally off the Z steal. Sasha should be getting minutes. This game just confirmed that.

* Henderson was really good. Played good defense and was ripped by the refs on a few offensive plays.

* Hamilton just loves to get to the line.

* Wilks looks hyperactive. He needs to slow it down a little.
 
First off, this is a huge blowout win, so really any criticism isn't going to count for much. We won this game by dominating the boards, hitting the outside shot, and some very dumb moves by orlando. The busted 3-1 break with a no one guarding within 15 feet turnover was pretty much the end of the game.

Z had a dominant game. As good as Howard is offensively, he had trouble vs the bigs. Both Gooden and Z schooled him. All of Z's strengths were on display tonight, offensive rebounding, the shots outside the key, and the ability to finish inside. He also played solid D, avoiding foul trouble, and making Howard work for his shots. On top of that, Z got 2 steals, forced a couple more turnovers he won't get credit for, and had some VERY nice passes. The guy was throwing no looks and behind the backs, very entertaining.

Gooden had a good one too. Basically, Marshall I don't think got his rhythm going, but Drew was on today, he brought huge hustle, efficiency on the offensive end, and grabbed 10 boards to finish with a double-double in 26 minutes of play.

Eric Snow had a good offensive game and even made the highlight reel by absolutely school Francis in the open court. The box isn't going to show it, but he harrassed Francis on the other end. All 21 of Stevie's points were off tough shots or getting fouled inside on layups.

People have been quick to criticize Lebron in this one. He took some bad shots i'll give you that. There were a couple fades from 20 feet in a double team with 15 ticks left on the shot clock, so those were bad. Outside of that, Lebron's mistakes were mainly off penetration. He would take it into the key and get triple teamed, get into the air, and then have some pretty limited options from there. Most of the time, he'd pull off the pass or get enough contact to go to the line though. He got 6 boards and 4 assists, which is where I think his averages are going to be this year. What Lebron showed is that he can be our Shaq. When he gets doubled down low, he can pass it to the open guy, and even if the open guy is Eric Snow, its still a good chance for a score.

Offensive execution was pretty good tonight. The Cavs got the shots they wanted. At one point in the 4th, the line up of Lebron, Z, Luke, Jones, and Marshall was in the game. This line up was darn near unstoppable offensively. You had Z and Lebron who could command doubles down low while Jones, Marshall, and Luke were parked at the perimeter. This basically led to wide open 3's by our gunners. Mike Brown only let this go on for a few minutes while Cleveland rattled off like 3 straight 3 pointers and extended its lead.

I don't see why Brown didn't just call the bench in at 7 minutes when the game was way out of reach. After all, you wouldn't want to see any guys get hurt or anything. Lebron did sit out about the last 10 minutes though.
 
great win, altho i want to see us do this against the pacers etc
 
A little late, but here's a gif from last nights game

11-18a.gif
 
As good as that oops was, how bout giving it up for Z and that awesome steal that started the easy transition basket. Just great play allround.
 

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