The Orlando Magic defeated the Houston Rockets 113-104 Friday night to improve to 3-0 in the preseason.
The Magic did a couple things really well. They really limited their turnovers tonight. After committing 23 turnovers on Wednesday night against the Heat, Orlando only turned the ball over 8 times against the Rockets. The Magic also shot 49.4% from the field, but that’s where the positives seemed to end.
The defense was not nearly as good. In fact, Head Coach Stan Van Gundy was very upset about the way the defense played.
"“Playing defense is not easy and our guys aren’t making the tough plays they need to make to get the job done. I thought our pick-and-roll defense was awful. I thought our help defense was awful. We needed a lot of help defense because we couldn’t guard anybody one on one. It’s early, but it’s got to get a lot better and I just did not see the determination I would like to see out of our team and we’ll try to be better on Monday.”"
After holding the Heat to just 33.8% from the field, the Rockets shot 43.5% from the field and out-rebounded the Magic 42-38.
It wasn’t all bad. Van Gundy did single out two Magic players who had good days on the defensive end.
"“The only guys I thought made a really good effort defensively tonight were Marcin and JJ. I didn’t think anybody else was any good defensively.”"
Redick is an undersized Shooting Guard has been playing solid defense since he defended Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics with some success during the second round of the playoffs last season. His defensive progression has been incredible. He is totally different player than he used to be. He also had a decent game offensively. He shot just 3-of-8 from the field and made one of his two three-point attempts, but he got himself to the free throw line, which is something he has had trouble doing since he’s been in the NBA. He was 7-of-7 from the line and finished with 14 points.
Marcin Gortat was even better. He seemingly blocked the shot of every player that tried to get into the paint and come at him. He finished the game with 6 blocks. Gortat dominated the glass as well, picking up 14 rebounds. After scoring just 1 point in the 1st half, Gortat finished the game with 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting. He was 6-of-8 from the free throw line.
It wasn’t all bad for the Magic. Stan Van Gundy did have one good thing to say about his team as a whole.
"“The positive was we made good plays down the stretch to win the game. I thought we made a series of solid plays – made a couple of shots, so we did some good things there.”"
Rashard Lewis started the game at Small Forward, a position that he has rarely played with the Magic. The results were mixed. Head Coach Stan Van Gundy liked what Lewis did on offense but was not happy with his performance on defense.
"“I thought he played really well offensively and I didn’t think he played well defensively and I said, yesterday, it is an adjustment for him at the 3-spot defensively. It’s just a lot different for him. What he’s used to is guarding pick-and-rolls and post-ups. Now he has to chases guys around. It’s a lot different.”"
Lewis certainly hasn’t lost a step at Small Forward on offense. He scored 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting. The only real flaw with his offense on Friday was that he shot only 3-of-7 from the free throw line. Lewis was especially good when he got into the paint and had his back to the basket. He took full advantage of his size and posted up the smaller threes of the Rockets.
Brandon Bass had another solid game, at least offensively. He was another player that Van Gundy said played well on offense, but poorly on defense. Bass seems to be able to score all over the place. He had a few nice moves to get good looks inside, a rim-rattling dunk and a few baseline jumpers that were dead on. He is excellent from the base line. Bass finished with 16 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting, but he also struggled from the line, going just 4-for-8. Bass had a poor rebounding performance for the second straight and Van Gundy acknowledged that this needs to be straightened out.
"“He hasn’t rebounded as much as we would like him too the last couple games, so we got to get him on the glass.”"
I agree with Van Gundy. The Rockets had some second-chance opportunities that should have never happened.
Van Gundy decided to give each player at least one game off during the preseason, which is why Dwight Howard didn’t play in Friday’s game.
Ryan Anderson had another solid performance. He had 12 points and 6 rebounds and Van Gundy praised him for his play.
"“Ryan’s been terrific. I’m really happy with the way he’s playing.”"
Van Gundy talked about how people thought he was crazy for saying that Ryan Anderson may start at the 4 with suspended, but Anderson is proving that he may deserve that spot.
Vince Carter played better, but he is still shooting too many 3’s – and missing them. He was 1-for-7 from downtown tonight and is now 4-for-23 in the preseason. Carter shot well otherwise, going 7-for-12 on 2-point attempts and making both of his free throw attempts. He drove more and that allowed him to set up his teammates, dishing out 3 assists and even had a reverse dunk that was vintage Vinsanity.
Jameer Nelson played well. He hasn’t found his stroke from down, going 0-for-3 tonight, but he shot 5-for-10 overall and had 12 points. The more impressive number for Nelson was his assist total – he had 7. He got into the lane with ease and set up his teammates very well. Jameer has looked very good in camp and in the preseason. That’s very good news for Magic fans.
For you UCF fans wondering about Jermaine Taylor, he had a pretty good game. He finished with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting and had a huge dunk that brought many of the UCF fans in Amway to their feet.
Houston Head Coach Rick Adelman had good things to say about Taylor.
"“He tried. He gave a good effort. He just has to keep working at it. He played hard. He just has to keep working at it. “"
Aaron Brooks did not look good in the first half, but got into the lane and made some plays in the second half. He also hit back-to-back 3-pointers that tied the game Houston in the 3rd quarter. Rookie Chase Budinger had a rough start, but was fairly impressive the rest of the way. He led the Rockets with 17 points and was 3-of-6 from beyond the 3-point line.
Trevor Ariza was just 4-of12 for 12 points.
Former Magic Forward Brian Cook played just 3:51 and did not score.
Other Notes:
- Van Gundy thinks that Gortat is not a perimeter player and that he won’t see much time at Power Forward at all – he plays like a Center and Van Gundy wants him to play like a Center.
- Every Magic starter scored in double figures and seven players scored at least 12 points.
- The Magic outscored the Rockets 37-26 in the 4th quarter after being outscored 35-26 in the 3rd quarter.
- The Magic had just five second chance points. Houston had 15.
- The referees weren’t too bad. After all of the complaints and high foul totals, the teams combined to commit 59 fouls and shot 70 free throws.
- The Magic had 19 assists while Houston had just 10.
- Adelman credited Orlando’s win to their energy.
"“They just came out with a lot more energy to start the game.”"
"“I thought after the first quarter we competed and played hard and got back in the game. But we can’t let the other team have more energy than us and we can’t let the other team play harder.”"
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(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)