The Magic were blown out by the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. Click here to read about that game.
Rashard Lewis discussed his struggles after last night’s game.
"And after Lewis, the NBA leader in 3-pointers made last season, got just nine shots and three 3-point attempts in another offensive struggle, he vented about the Magic’s lack of flow and rhythm.“Every night in order for me to have a good game I feel like I have to make every shot, every last one of them because I’m not getting very many of them,’’ said Lewis, who had just six points. “Not to blame it on me not getting shots because we’ve still got to play defense, but we’re just not getting in a good offensive rhythm as a team.“It’s a different feel,’’ Lewis continued. “I don’t like to complain too much about not getting shots at the offensive end, but if you’re losing ballgames and struggling then you might have to go say something.’’"
John Denton has the story here.
Kelly Dwyer went behind the box score of last night’s game.
"It wasn’t pretty, rather piecemeal if I’m honest (and I watched nearly all of this), but I agree with George Karl when he tells us that this is the best his Nuggets have played all year. This team worked so, so hard defensively; it covered angles, played physically, closed out expertly, and the Magic just couldn’t deal, man.Kenyon Martin(notes) is just a perfect matchup on Dwight Howard(notes) for the Nuggies. His footwork is good enough to keep up with a youngster like Dwight, he loves to bang and foul and put the onus on the refs to call it tight and Howard to want to take the punishment needed to either work through the no-calls, or grab the were-calleds. Nene’s is nearly as good, and Dwight just couldn’t hang, brah.It’s been a tough few weeks for the Magic, they looked gassed at times and are playing without Vince Carter(notes), but the Nuggets earned this. Just grabbed it. 121 points per 100 possessions, Denver forced 19 turnovers, and just slowly ate away at the Magic."
Read that here.
The Magic just couldn’t get it done in the second half Wednesday night.
"“Our turnovers were awful,” coach Stan Van Gundy said. “And we couldn’t handle their post-ups. We got totally dominated in every area of the game.”Magic center Dwight Howard was coming off a season-high 30-point game against the Kings, but was stymied by the Nuggets. He finished with just eight points, 13 rebounds and five turnovers as the Magic dropped to 12-9 on the road.“They (the Nuggets) have better interior defenders than we saw (Tuesday night),” Van Gundy said. “If we can’t get Jameer (Nelson) and Rashard (Lewis) going, we’re going to struggle.”"
Brian Schmitz has the story here.
Schmitz also wondered what would have if the Magic never let Chauncey Billups go.
"Magic fans can only wonder how good the Magic might have been if they could have paired Billups with Tracy McGrady, Grant Hill and Mike Miller.“It could have literally changed the course of that position and the team’s over a handful of years,” former Magic General Manager John Gabriel said.Billups appears in the Magic’s 1999-2000 team photo, but he never played one second."
Read that story here.
Jameer Nelson still isn’t up to speed.
"“It’s not there yet,” Nelson said after Tuesday night’s game in Sacramento. “I just got to work through it.”Nelson’s explosiveness and quickness hasn’t yet returned. As for now, there’s no thought by the club about giving his knee more recovery time.“All I know is that he’s cleared to play and he’s playing hard, but right now, I just don’t think that he has his quickness,” coach Stan Van Gundy said. “That is what you notice most. I don’t think he gets to the floor without being healthy, so unless they tell me otherwise, we’ll stick with him.“He seems to be having a hard time at times with his energy level.”"
Rad that and other Magic notes here.
Joshua Robbins takes a look at how Dwight’s free throw shooting impacts how the team plays here.
Nuggets Coach George Karl thinks Dwight Howard could win an MVP.
"Orlando star Dwight Howard made his lone regular-season appearance in Denver. “I think you’re probably looking at the next big guy in the league who has a chance of winning an MVP,” Karl said of Howard before the game. “If his offense can get to 25, 30 points per game, he’d have to be considered an MVP. (Tim) Duncan and (Chris) Bosh have that talent, but all the other great big men have probably squeezed out all they have.”"
The Denver Post has 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.)