The Orlando Magic defeated the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night and will have a quick turnaround as they play the Miami Heat on Thursday night.
After the game, Brandon Bass told me he just wants to contribute. You can read more about Bass here.
Jason Williams had an excellent game in what could be one of his last starts with Jameer Nelson set to return soon.
"“Stan talked to me and wanted me to be a little more aggressive,” Williams said afterward, a smile creeping onto his face. “So, if that’s what the boss wants, that’s what I’ve got to try to do.”Williams entered Wednesday mired in the only cold streak of his short Magic tenure. Opponents had held him scoreless in the Magic’s last two games.Against the Raptors, Williams made his first shot, then added a pair of 3-pointers by the end of the opening quarter.“I thought he was more aggressive tonight,” Van Gundy said. “He wasn’t even feeling good tonight, so it was tough. He just couldn’t put in a lot of time.”"
Joshua Robbins has the story here.
Kelly Dwyer goes behind the box score.
"Orlando shot 57 percent, it piled in nearly 130 points per 100 possessions, and it was never threatened.Matt Barnes continued his mini-turnaround with 20 points off the bench, and Dwight Howard had eight blocks, but this is like counting Duke’s stats when they play Athletes in Action in early fall.14 points, just four rebounds and four assists for Hedo Turkoglu on 2-7 shooting in his return back to Orlando. I enjoyed ESPN talking about Hedo palling around with his former Magic teammates while showing a clip of him embracing Jason Williams – a former Sacramento teammate."
You can read that here.
George Diaz asks the question, Hedo who?
"Carter is a good fit for this team.I officially bury any reservations I had when this deal came through.Meanwhile, back in Toronto, Turkoglu is averaging 14.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. Not exactly overwhelming.Turk is a good player and a good guy.Vince is a great player and a good guy."
Read Diaz’s commentary here.
Speaking of Vince Carter, I’ll have a story on him later.
Adonal Foyle was activated on Wednesday night about an hour before tip-off.
"“It’s doing good,” Foyle said. “I thought I was going to be out a little longer, but I responded well to treatment. Got a lot of miles on these knees.“They had to clean out a lot more. You don’t know what you’re going to get until you get in there.”Foyle’s activitation gave the Magic the allotted 12 players. He likely will go on the inactive list after PG Jameer Nelson returns.Foyle has participated in two practices and a shoot around. But said he’s looking forward to testing his knee and getting his stamina back in the toughest way possible: Going against Dwight Howard in practice.“I haven’t beat up Dwight, so that should be a good test. I’ll test it out and see how it feels,” Foyle said."
Read more on Foyle and other notes about the Magic here.
Dwight Howard loves trick shots.
"Me, Marcin Gortat and Mickael Pietrus shoot half-court shots every day at the end of practice, and we make them a lot more than you might think. When we make them before the game, I always hear the ooooohs and aaaaaahs from the crowd. It sort of gets them going and it gets me going too.So it’s just all about having fun and getting my mind right to play. Of course, I gotta do my Dream Shake with the sticky paper before every game, too. LeBron has his chalk and I have my Shake-and-Bake with the paper."
Read Dwight’s blog here.
Pat Riley doesn’t think that Miami’s Dwayne Wade is where he needs to be.
"“He’s not there right now,” Riley said in a private room at AmericanAirlines Arena. “His efficiency is down somewhat this year, and we’re addressing it with him.“If Dwyane is down 10 or 15 percent from what he was last year, then, as he said in the press the other day, and I think he does this, everybody has to look in the mirror about how to make this year better.”"
Read that story here.
(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.)