The Orlando Magic used a second half rally to blow out the Bucks Wednesday night. See how it happened here.
I’ll have more on the Magic’s first half struggles later in the day.
"J-Will was tremendous,” Van Gundy said. “He picked up (Jameer Nelson) very, very well, played great and was obviously very instrumental in the second half.”"
Dan Savage, taking John Denton’s usual role, offers postgame analysis.
Savage did an excellent job and you can find that here.
Brian Schmitz offers his thoughts on the game.
"Van Gundy then revealed that Nelson’s surgically repaired left knee has been swelling, causing him to have his practice time limited. Nelson was just 1-of-7 for four points.“We’re going to have to go back and evaluate where we are with Jameer,” Van Gundy said. “There’s medical concerns and people don’t want him to get re-injured.”"
You can read that here.
The Magic have had trouble getting Dwight Howard the ball in good position.
"One of Stan Van Gundy’s main goals for Wednesday night was to get the ball to C Dwight Howard deeper in the paint so Howard could take the ball to the hoop before the defense could collapse on him.Mission accomplished.Howard scored 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting as the team made a concerted effort to make their all-star big man more involved and more efficient offensively than he’d been against the Boston Celtics on Christmas.“I think tonight my teammates found me while I was in rhythm and I didn’t have to do a lot of banging,” Howard said. “Just make a quick move and get to the basket before they double-team — that’s one thing that’s been going on all season.”"
Read that story here.
Josh Robbins discusses Jason Williams’ play.
"“It’s just a game, man, no matter if I’m starting or not,” Williams said afterward. “Coming off the bench, the goal’s still 10 feet and there’s still five-on-five out there. So, I’ve just got to keep playing my game.” The hallmark of his game this season has been his ability to take care of the basketball and still be an effective distributor."
Read that story here.
J.A. Adande was in town last night he discussed Jameer Nelson’s struggles.
"Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said there were extenuating circumstances behind Wednesday’s performance — Nelson said he slept for only an hour and a half Tuesday night because of a “family issue” — but the coach sounded frustrated about Nelson’s limited ability to practice after his knee swelled up following the Christmas Day loss to Boston.“We’re going to have to go back and evaluate where we are with Jameer,” Van Gundy said. “There’s medical concerns and people don’t want him to get reinjured.”"
You can find that here.
Dwight Howard has updated his official blog discussing how he went straight to the NBA from high school.
"I really wish high school players could still come straight to the NBA, but everybody has to go through something different to get to this level. High school to the NBA is tough physically and mentally on kids. It’s something that you have to be well prepared for.Coming out of high school and not knowing how to manage money and deal with money and all the things that come with playing in the NBA, all those things take time to learn. You might even have to go through a couple of bad experiences to learn from them sometimes."
Read Dwight’s blog 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.)