The Orlando Magic will take on the Sacramento Kings Friday night. Check out the game preview here.
Kevin Pelton picked the Magic to win the NBA championship before the season start. He gives us three reasons why things have gone wrong,, but leaves room for optimism.
"Nelson’s assist and usage rates are essentially the same at 2008-09. He’s turning the ball over a bit more than he did last season, but fundamentally the difference has essentially boiled down to shooting. Using his performance the last three seasons, SCHOENE projected Nelson to shoot .501 on two-point attempts and .427 beyond the arc. Instead, he’s at .448 and .364, respectively. To get a sense of the scale, had Nelson shot as well as projected, he would have scored 37 more points, adding 1.4 points per game to his total.Presumably, Nelson will return to form at some point. If not, Stan Van Gundy must consider cutting his minutes from the 25 or so a night he has been playing lately. After all, when Nelson was sidelined, Orlando demonstrated it could win without him, getting strong play from both Jason Williams and Anthony Johnson. Adjusted for schedule, the Magic had a +7.0 point differential in the games Nelson missed. Orlando has been just +2.7 when Nelson plays."
Read Pelton’s full story here.
Josh Robbins discusses the Magic and three-point shot.
"“At times I’m pretty hard on mistakes,” Van Gundy said. “I’ve learned to not be as bad on shooting, though, because I think to shoot the ball well, you have to have great confidence. You can’t be having doubts as you’re raising up to shoot [like saying], ‘Should I be shooting this or not?’ You’ve got to shoot it. I think that’s the only possible way to shoot well.”"
You can find that story here.
Chad Ford thinks that Vince Carter is on the block. It’s an ESPN insider story and you can find that story here.
Steve Kyler is not ready to blame Carter for all of Orlando’s problems.
"“In order for us to win, we’ve got to have hard work and energy every night,” explained Howard. “Even if we make mistakes, hard work clears all that.”“I told those guys before the game that it wasn’t going to be the same game they had against us that last time we played them. I told them at shootaround today and I meant it. So we just came out as a team and defensively, we came out with a lot of energy.”The Magic will go as Dwight Howard leads them, and while Vince Carter’s struggles might be the popular question. The answer to the Magic’s struggles really starts and ends with Dwight Howard."
You can find Kyler’s story here.
ESPN has made some changes to the Magic’s schedule. Here’s the official word from the Magic.
"The NBA has announced the following time changes to the Orlando Magic’s game schedule:– Friday, Feb. 26: Orlando @ New Orleans will now begin at 9:30 p.m. ET (formerly 8 p.m. ET). The game will be televised locally by FOX Sports Florida and also nationally by ESPN.– Wednesday, Apr. 7: Washington @ Orlando will now begin at 7 p.m. ET (formerly 8 p.m. ET). The game will be televised locally by Sun Sports and no longer nationally by ESPN."
A couple of Magic players – J.J. Redick and Jason Williams are getting involved in the cause for Haiti.
"WASSERMAN MEDIA GROUP’S NBA PLAYERS SCORE FOR CLINTON BUSH HAITI FUND THROUGH FUNDRAISING PROGRAMLos Angeles, CA January 21, 2010 – Wasserman Media Group, a leading sports and entertainment agency, has developed a program to join forces between its professional basketball roster of 47 players and The Wasserman Foundation, to raise and donate a minimum of $500,000 to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF). President Bill Clinton will announce the program on ESPN during halftime of the Friday, January 22 game (beginning at 8 p.m. ET) between the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks. Among the players are J.J. Redick and Jason Williams of the Orlando Magic.During halftime President Clinton will be interviewed by ESPN’s Mike Breen. Wasserman represented players New York Knicks’ Danilo Gallinari and Los Angeles Lakers’ Pau Gasol will also be courtside.Through the agency-wide program, Wasserman NBA players will make personal contributions or donate a designated sum per point they each score. The collective funds raised will be matched by The Wasserman Foundation, the family’s private charitable organization.Fans are encouraged to visit the CBHF at http://clintonbushhaitifund.org to contribute to the joint efforts of President Clinton and President George W. Bush to restore the lives of those who survived the earthquake in Haiti on January 12."
(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.)