Preview: Orlando Magic @ New Jersey Nets
The Orlando Magic (1-0) will head to the Meadowlands to battle the New Jersey Nets (0-1) at the Izod Center Friday night.
The game will be televised on Sun Sports at 8:00 PM EST. As always, if you can’t see the game, you can hear it locally on WDBO 580 AM and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030.
The Line: Magic – 9.5
Starters
Orlando
C Dwight Howard
F Ryan Anderson
F Mickael Pietrus
G Vince Carter
G Jameer Nelson
New Jersey
C Brook Lopez
F Yi Jianlian
F Chris Douglas-Roberts
G Courtney Lee
G Devin Harris
Last meeting: Orlando and New Jersey last met on April 11, 2009. The Nets defeated the Magic 103-93 behind 27 points from Vince Carter. Hedo Turkoglu twisted his ankle in the game and the Magic were resting Power Forward Rashard Lewis for the postseason.
Season Series: The Magic won the season series 2-1 in 2008-09. The Magic have won 6 of the last 8 meetings.
Orlando and New Jersey completed one of the biggest deals of the offseason on draft day. The Magic sent big man Tony Battie and guards Courtney Lee and Rafer Alston to the Nets in exchange for eight-time All-Star Vince Carter and second year Forward Ryan Anderson.
Lee averaged 8.3 ppg as a rookie for the Magic last season. Rafer Alston came in mid-season after Jameer Nelson went down and did a nice job, scoring 12 ppg and dishing out 5.1 apg. Tony Battie, who spent his last four seasons in Orlando, will not be active tomorrow night due to injury.
About the Magic: The Magic dominated the 76ers for the most of the way before putting it in cruise control in the fourth quarter and finishing the game with a 120-106 victory. Orlando’s two former Nets played very well. Vince Carter had 15 points in his Magic debut, while Ryan Anderson had 16 points and 5 rebounds.
About the Nets: The Nets took a 78-64 lead into the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but the Wolves dominated the Nets in the 4th quarter, out-scoring the Nets 95-93. Wolves’ rookie Guard Johnny Flynn scored 13 points in the fourth quarter and Damien Wilkins hit a putback at the buzzer to give Minnesota the win. Center Brook Lopez was the bright spot for the Nets. He scored 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Orlando’s starting backcourt from the NBA Finals, Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee, combined to shoot 2-of-13 and scored 5 points (with Alston dropping a goose-egg). Rookie Terrence Williams had 15 points for the Nets.
Howard The Dunk exchanged questions with Mark Ginocchio of Nets Are Scorching so that we would have some hometown information about the Nets.
How did Nets fans really feel about Vince Carter? Can you do anything to dispel the notions that he is lazy and selfish?
"I know I personally wasn’t the biggest VC fan just because I never saw him as the guy who could single handedly carry his team a la Kobe or Dwayne Wade. With that said, he’s going to be terribly missed in New Jersey and he really endeared himself to fans last season when he could have understandebly phoned it in, but instead became a veteram leader and guiding force for the franchise. Yes, he still tends to hold on to the ball too long on offense, and he likes to take a few plays off on defense, but he’s still a dangerous scorer and I think compliments what Orlando already has in place."
Did you like the trade? With Vince Carter aging, did you think this was a trade that had to be made? If so, do you think you received enough?
"You never want to see your team tank it on purpose, but I never quite understand why the Nets traded Kidd and Jefferson away and not Carter initially. So yes, I think it was a trade that needed to be done. The Nets are in rebuilding mode, and it’s hard to do that with a veteran player expected to score 20 points a game on your roster. The trade gives the Nets plenty of flexibility financially for next summer, and while teams never received “enough” in superstar salary dumps, I think (Nets President) Rod Thorn did pretty well in bringing back Courtney Lee."
As a rookie, what did you see from Ryan Anderson that would lead us to believe he is going to be a solid player in the rotation?
"Ryan Anderson got jerked around a lot last season by the coaching staff. When Yi went down, Anderson got inserted into the starting lineup and held the fort down and once Yi came back, he was relegated to benchwarmer again. He’s a good outside shooter and should be effective in the pick and pop. He’ll get plenty of open looks lurking in the corner once defenders start collapsing on Dwight Howard. I do think he needs a more refined inside game."
How do you think your offense will change without Carter and with so much youth on the roster?
"The Nets started experimenting in the preseason with a small ball run and gun style offense – not exactly 7 seconds or less, but with athletic wings like Lee, Terrence Williams and Chris Douglas-Roberts, they’d probably do better to push the tempo then to try and grind it out in the halfcourt. Of course, with Devin Harris missing so much of the preseason with assorted injuries, it’s hard to get a sense of how the offense is going to flow."
We here in Orlando really liked Courtney Lee last season. What did you see from him that you really like and where does he fit into your rotation?
"I’ve been immediately impressed by his composure and poise. I forget that this guy is only in his second year as he carries himself out there like he belongs out there. I like that he’s a defense-first guy who can still put the ball in the basket. He’s a good shooter, but he was cutting to the basket more during the preseason and that’s an evolution of his game that I think is really key for his success with the Nets."
Click here to read the Orlando Sentinel’s game preview.
Click here to read John Denton’s preview.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)