Orlando Magic Breakdown: Disney Could Write A Hollywood Ending

While Boston and Cleveland have garnered all the headlines as the East’s top beasts, the Orlando Magic have inconspicuously joined the two behemoths in a virtual tie atop the Eastern Conference. In fact, after their 109-103 road victory over the LA Lakers, the Magic are almost capable of being in championship contender discussion.

Almost.

Dwight Howard is Orlando’s superman, but he morphs too many times between his red cape and his mild-mannered glasses.

Where is he the man of steel? On both backboards, especially the offensive glass. Simply by floating to the rim, he was able to pick up innumerable rebounds as Vladimir Radmanovic and Kobe Bryant were no match for his galvanized iron muscles. And since Andrew Bynum made no effort to box him out, getting rebounds in the paint was child’s play for Howard.

Howard also hit a 14 foot bank shot from the right elbow. If Howard learns to master that shot, game over for every opposing center from now to 2020.

Howard has such great leaping ability that he can reject opposing hook shots at the top of their flights, as he did to Andrew Bynum early in the game.

Howard also runs and makes himself a target on screen/rolls, early offense, and baseline lobs. His energy off the ball is where he picks up most of his points.

His recognition on providing defensive help is only so-so. For every spectacular sequence where he helped on ball-penetration, there was an equal sequence where his head was away from the play.

Where is Howard simply Clark Kent?

On the defensive end, where his defense is totally passive. Not once did Howard attempt to front or three-quarter Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. For Howard, defense only started after his man caught the ball.

Howard’s defense on screen/rolls was non-existent. Often times, Howard would neither show on the screen, nor stay in the paint, simply staying in no-mans-land while the Lakers popped mid-range jumper after mid-range jumper. The Lakers took advantage of that deficiency by targeting Howard in a screen/roll with 14 seconds left, but Kobe missed the game-tying three with Howard feet away.

While Howard is great at making a target in early offense, he doesn’t bother sealing defenders who front or three-quarter him.

And Howard’s moves in the post are very crude and ineffective. Four of Howard’s field goals were garbage points: Two dunks on offensive rebounds, a show, catch, and dunk off of a Hedo Turkoglu drive, and an alley-oop slam after he spun off of Bynum and the Lakers didn’t provide any backside help.

He also missed an alley-oop that wasn’t his fault, and went up soft on an offensive rebound missing a fadeaway from four feet.

Of Howard’s 12 attempts where he tried to create his own offense, he only connected on four, including, 1-2 on mid-range jumpers, 1-4 on baseline turnarounds from the right box, 1-2 on sweeping left hooks starting from the right box, 0-2 on sweeping right hooks starting from the left box, 1-1 on a lefty baseline spin from the left box, and 0-1 on a right hook in the paint four feet from the hoop.

Howard’s handles and footwork also incredibly clumsy. For the most part, Howard went into his move too quickly to avoid double-teams, but whenever a Lakers player put pressure on Howard’s dribble, he turned it over. Howard committed an obvious walk when attempting to face up in the left box, and rarely put his passes in shooter’s pockets.

What’s worst about Howard’s game is his decision making: Reaching in on Pau Gasol when he has no chance of stealing the ball. Throwing an awful outlet pass with Kobe Bryant in the vicinity. Throwing an awful outlet pass to Hedo Turkoglu when Turkoglu was clearly out-of-bounds. Throwing an outlet pass to absolutely nobody with 1:15 left. Committing a weak foul on Lamar Odom with a minute left for a plus one. Not boxing out Gason on a missed free-throw with a minute remaining. Contesting a Kobe jump shot and making nary an effort to hunt down the rebound leading to Kobe tracking down the offensive board.

Those are the types of mistakes that get punished mercilessly come the postseason. For all of Howard’s talents, he still isn’t a reliable option in the low block, and he’ll keep the opposing team in the game.

Howard’s supporting cast is the real reason why Orlando can be magical.

If Hedo Turkoglu is turnover prone (two) and gets lost navigating screens, he’s a complete offensive player—4-14 FG, 2-6 3FG, 3-4 FT, 5 REB, 3 AST, 13 PTS. Long-range pull-ups, long-limbed drives to the basket, sharp passes, tricky finishes, and clutch shooting. Hedo is Orlando’s soul.

If Turkoglu is Orlando’s soul, then Jameer Nelson is its heart. Nelson abused Los Angeles’ porous screen/roll defense, made great decisions with the ball, and finished strong at the rim. And when the game was up for grabs in the fourth, Nelson hit three brass-cojones three-pointers and four free throws to do the Lakers in. It isn’t a coincidence that as Nelson has found his way this season, the Magic have become a special team.

Rashard Lewis is nowhere close to being worth $120 million dollars, but what he provides Orlando is. A knock-down shooter who can make threes with his eyes closed. An athletic one-on-one scorer who excels in transition, and along the baseline. An occasional post presence. A willing ball-reverser who’ll make the skip pass. A quick-armed defender. And this season, a tireless worker in the low post. Three times, Lewis anticipated post entry passes and reached around the offensive player to knock the ball ajar. And if he couldn’t get the steal, he was jamming Pau Gasol and forcing him to make contested moves in traffic.

Courtney Lee is fearless. Having two shots stuffed at the rim didn’t deter him from lifting off and forcing the Lakers to foul him at the rim. He’s another of Orlando’s three-point corps, a tough rebounder, and he did as good a job defending Kobe Bryant as can be reasonably asked for.

Tony Battie was pushed around on defense, but took advantage of any crack in Los Angeles’ defense to grab offensive rebounds (four) and put backs. And he provided a safety valve when the Lakers trapped Orlando’s screen/rolls by hitting elbow jumpers.

Marcin Gortat is all finesse, but has a tireless motor and a soft touch.

Anthony Johnson doesn’t make major mistakes with the ball.

J.J. Reddick actually played exemplary ball-denial defense on Kobe Bryant on a possession, and knocked down one of his two three-pointers.

Overall, the Magic play with supreme confidence and get the very most out of their collective talent. They’re extremely well-prepared, and coach Stan Van Gundy’s perpetual nagging keeps the team from becoming too full of itself.

The Magic can clearly play with anybody and beat anybody, anywhere, on any court.

But they’re too soft in their frontcourt on both ends to reliably come up with easy shots and prevent opponents from picking up easy shots. And the team is extremely reliant on three-point shooting.

Should Dwight Howard’s basketball IQ undergo a sudden increase between now and early May, then the Magic will have the staying power to keep their season alive until June.