Magic Breakdown: Pointless in Orlando

The Orlando Magic’s 96-95 defeat against the New Jersey Nets was embarrassing for three reasons:The loss came at home, the Magic blew a 13-point fourth-quarter lead, and the game exposed a number of flaws that make Orlando a second-tier team.

To wit...



Point Guard

Less than enamored with Jameer Nelson’s play, Stan Van Gundy inserted Carlos Arroyo into the starting lineup—and the move paid dividends.

While Arroyo (5-9 FG 6-6 FT  3 REB 7 AST 0 TO 16 PTS) overhandled and was frequently forced to pick up his dribble when trying to drive on screen-rolls, the young point guard was able to beat Jason Kidd on a number of isolation attempts, where he'd either pull up going left or find a seam and finish with his left hand.

Arroyo was comfortable running the break, made a handful of beautiful look-away passes to Adonal Foyle, picked Marcus Williams’ dribble for a steal, and even played good post defense, pushing Kidd away from the basket for a tough fall-away and denying Richard Jefferson the ball on a post-up.

The best part was that Arroyo didn’t force a single circus pass—and as a result, didn’t commit a single turnover.

Nelson (2-8 FG 3 REB 3 TO 3 AST 1 STL 4 PTS) wasn’t nearly as effective.

Nelson showed an inability to handle with his left, and an inability to make decisions under defensive pressure. He forced a number of drives, couldn’t run the Orlando offense, was frequently stymied by defensive bigs showing on screen/rolls, had an inbounds pass ripped from him by Darrell Armstrong, played no defense, and was out-hustled and out-physicaled by Armstrong and Kidd.

In six minutes of the fourth quarter with Nelson on the floor, the Nets whittled away a 13-point deficit to four before Van Gundy mercifully took him out.

Neither guard was able to efficiently operate any complicated offensive sets, and neither reacted well to Armstrong’s relentless pressure defense. Arroyo, at his best, is a change-of-pace backup, while Nelson is a tough-minded third guard in a two-guard rotation.

Neither is a starter on any team with championship aspirations.

While Nelson is younger and has more upside than Arroyo, his confidence looks shot. If he regains it, he's more apt to make better decisions with the ball, and is much tougher than Arroyo.

How Nelson is tutored and how his ego is massaged will determine whether he or Arroyo should remain as the Magic backup. Either way, Otis Smith should be setting phone lines on fire trying to see if Andre Miller or Sam Cassell is available.



Dwight Howard

For sure, Howard is well on his way to becoming the best rebounder in the league sooner rather than later. And he is indeed a bone-rattling dunker when he dive-cuts on screen/rolls.

His shoulders are made of galvanized iron, he typically sets sturdy screens, and he runs and jumps like a small forward.

But while the man-child is quickly coming of age, he still has too many deficiencies to lead Orlando to the land of the elite.

For one thing, Howard isn’t the dominating basket protector many people assume he is. He jumps a little bit slow, and as a result was a split-second late on several goaltending calls.

Of Howard's two blocks, the first came when Vince Carter’s drive to the hoop was cut off by Keith Bogans. Carter had to stop, pump, pause, and then go up—giving Howard all the time in the world to come over and block the shot.

The second block was a swatting of a simple running layup from Carter.

Howard was a step slow in attacking any other Nets penetrators, especially those who challenged him directly. In fact, with the Nets down a point and 25 seconds on the clock, Carter drove the ball straight towards the basket—where Howard rotated too far, jumping into Carter for a foul.

Those two free throw attempts sealed the ball game for the Nets.

Howard showed minimal lateral quickness when he switched onto Richard Jefferson off a screen, failed to show on numerous Malik Allen midrange jumpers, and was so hypnotized by New Jersey cutters that he left Josh Boone and Jason Collins unguarded at the basket for uncontested layups.

Howard’s defensive game will come around with experience and a lower defensive stance. Howard almost always stands completely upright—a posture that greatly limits a his lateral movement.

Some time in the video room dissecting what cutters are trying to do will also help.



Besides experience for Howard and a true point guard, the Magic will need to improve their bench, acquire a legit workmanlike power forward to replace James Augustine, and get better playcalling from Stan Van Gundy.

The high screen/roll while the other three guys stand behind the three-point arc has gotten a little stale.

As presently constructed, the Magic will only beat elite teams when at least 40 percent of their threes are falling—and teams that live by the three usually die in the playoffs.