Orlando Magic News & Notes: Vince Carter Breaks Out

The Orlando Magic defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 99-82 to earn their fourth straight win. You can read coaches’ reactions here and the players’ reactions here.

Vince Carter came alive in the win.

"“I believe in my game,” Carter said. “The frustration comes from everybody harping on it.”Carter said had heard from friends and family, some of who left motivational text messages.His high school coach, his mother, former Nets teammate Keyon Dooling…they all offered support. Lewis told him on the bench during the Detroit game to keep shooting no matter how many clang off the rim and reiterated the feeling on the bus ride to the airport."

Brian Schmitz has the story here.

Tim Povtak also discussed Carter’s possible slump-ender.

"The worst slump of Carter’s career has been pronounced over — at least for now.“I can still do everything I used to do,” Carter said confidently after getting 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in a 99-82 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday. “It might be that January just wasn’t my month.”"

You can read the full story here.

John Denton provided his usual postgame analysis.

"With confidence seemingly oozing out of his every pore, Redick continued his streak of torrid shooting.He made four of five shots and three of four 3-pointers. Defenses respect his shot so much so now that he got fouled on yet another 3-point attempt and got to the free throw line for three attempts.“What’s changed for him is that he knows that he’s going to be in there every night,’’ Van Gundy said. “When your playing time is inconsistent and you’re not making shots you’re going to put pressure on yourself. He’s a point now where he can relax.’’"

You can read that here.

Alex Kennedy answered some questions about the Orlando-Chicago trade rumors.

"As I said before, if they do make a deal it would likely involve one of their role players. Teams are calling about J.J. Redick but he has been playing so well lately. He has really made Vince Carter’s struggles easier for the Magic because he can come in a contribute off of the bench. His play has attract suitors but Orlando may not want to move him since he’s done so well as an insurance policy to Carter. I’ve heard that Chicago is interested in Redick and could offer John Salmons and his expiring contract for Redick and a filler (probably Bass or Johnson). If Orlando makes a move, it’s going to be something smaller like this that doesn’t change the face of the team but could still make an impact."

You can find more on that here.

Former Nets Coach Lawrence Frank was in town yesterday but everyone swears it was not because of Vince Carter’s struggles.

"“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “It has nothing to do with that. I just wanted him to come down and just share some knowledge with us and some thoughts and some different perspective.”Van Gundy said he invited Frank to spend some time with the team after the Nets dismissed Frank in November. Van Gundy explained that Frank wasn’t able to visit in December and couldn’t visit in January because the Magic spent much of the month on the road.Frank said he believes Carter will snap out of his shooting slump. “Vince will be fine,” Frank said. ” Jason Kidd went through it during the playoffs one year, and if a guy like Jason can lose confidence, anybody can.”"

You can find that and other Magic notes here.

Milwaukee has had trouble with Vince Carter this season.

"Milwaukee had issues defending Vince Carter, he had the ball in his hands a lot with Jameer Nelson out, he got to the lane a few times and connected twice on three looks from three-point range. 10 boards and seven assists for VC, in a bit of a throw-back to the all-around game that a lot of people didn’t notice him coming through with as a New Jersey Net."

Kelly Dwyer went behind the box score here.

Dwight Howard has updated his blog to talk about his left handed hook shot

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"A lot of people don’t know it, but when I was growing up I was totally left-handed. I wrote left-handed, held a fork left-handed and shot the ball left-handed.But when I was in the eighth grade I tried to dunk on a guy and he undercut me and I landed on my left hand and broke my left wrist. After that, I taught myself to write with my right hand, eat right-handed and shoot the basketball with my right hand.Little did I know back then that something like hurting my wrist as a kid would help me as a NBA player.I made three straight left-handed hook shots on Tuesday against Milwaukee when the double-team came from the top side. Then, in the second half when they didn’t double team I could get to the middle of the lane and get to my right-handed hook shot."

You can 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.)