Orlando Magic News & Notes: Magic To Host 2012 All-Star Game, Hawks Need a New Plan

Orlando will host the 2012 All-Star game at the new Amway Center. You can see photos of the new Amway Center here.

The new arena will be one of the elite venues in the NBA and the city is lucky the new building was built.

"To anybody who doesn’t care for sports, it is the epitome of arrogance and overindulgence: An extravagant, expensive building financed with a mix of money — tourist taxes, the Magic organization, state sales tax, and city funds. Ordinary people pitched in to help tenants who are all different shades of rich.But to the sports fan, it’s paradise city. In a city full of wanna-be sports and second-tier leagues, the Magic are it for us. They give us national street cred. They bring Hall of Famers like Kevin McHale to announce that the all-star game is coming to town. Stars like Tiger Woods are smitten to courtside seats, assuming the intrusive paparazzi doesn’t interfere with his sight lines.Like Disney World, the Magic give us an identity. Mickey Mouse and Dwight Howard are our drawing cards, the cash cows to which this community is beholden."

George Diaz has that story here.

The Hawks will have a different plan after being blown out in game 1.

"The Atlanta Hawks’ plan for slowing Magic center Dwight Howard didn’t work during the regular season and it didn’t work Tuesday night in Game 1 of the teams’ Eastern Conference Semifinal.In the Hawks locker room following their 114-71 loss to the Orlando Magic, Atlanta insisted they could find a way to change that.“What we’ve been doing hasn’t been working so we have to figure something out,” Hawks center Al Horford said. “… We showed one look today, we’ll try to do something else. … We’ve beaten them before. We put ourselves in a position to be a third seed. We feel confident we can beat this team.”"

Tania Ganguli has that story here.

Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie had Dwight Howard second in his MVP vote.

"I sent a second place vote to Dwight Howard(notes), who was nearly as dominant defensively as LeBron was offensively, while tossing in some pretty solid offensive stats (over 18 points on 61.2 percent from the floor, although his scoring dipped and turnovers spiked in 2009-10, relative to the season before) of his own.Howard changes the game defensively in a way that no other player in this league can on that end, and only one other player (LeBron) can on the other end. As with James, there are faults, but the sheer impact of the player as a whole more than makes up for some of the more consistent types we’ll see as this list moves along."

You can read that story here.

Dwight Howard is in a league of his own among big men.

"Being an All-Star is one thing; being the most dominant big man around is another. Dwight Howard is in a class all by himself.1) Dwight Howard, 6-11, 24 years old, (Orlando) — A rare combination of size, power and agility, Howard has it all — on the defensive end. He’s led the league in rebounding the last three years, and he’s blocked the most shots the last two. His defensive ability shuts down the entire painted area. He’s won the last two Defensive Player of the Year awards and should stay in contention for the award his entire career."

Jordan Schultz has that story here.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, a contributor on the Fansided Front Page and at Sir Charles In Charge. Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).