2011 NBA Playoffs: Orlando Magic Nothing but Frauds Following Game 4 Dud
The Orlando Magic entered this season expecting to be in the spotlight.
Just not for this reason. Orlando is officially on the brink of elimination following an 88-85 Game 4 loss to Atlanta that gives the Hawks a commanding 3-1 lead in its best-of-seven first round series.
Only a mason, construction worker or Bob the Builder himself would have been inspired by the brickfest that Orlando put on Sunday night. Thus, it finds itself in the spotlight, but not the kind that shines over a soloist or keynote speaker. It's under the type that circles the grounds outside of prison walls attempting to locate an escapee.
The Magic has proven itself to be nothing but a fraud. It began the season viewed as one of the NBA's handful of true championship contenders and backed that up with a blistering 15-4 start. Many believed its 99-96 victory in Miami on March 3 was a statement win that would help Orlando pass its interstate rival in the standings for good.
For whatever reason, that's when Orlando fell off the map. Dwight Howard and Co. finished 10-10 in the last 20 games, but surely the Atlanta Hawks would be a sight for sore eyes and exactly the draw the Magic needed to relocate its swagger.
The Hawks entered the playoffs with problems of their own, losing their final six games. The two played in the conference semifinals last year, a series the Magic swept emphatically, winning the four games by a combined 101 points.
No one paid any mention to the fact that Atlanta took three of four from Orlando in the regular season, but maybe we should have. Now the Magic must win three straight to continue on, something they have done just twice since the end of January.
It's hard to decide what's more shocking—that Orlando's season has come to this or that it was considered a title contender in the first place.
At one point late in the first quarter, Stan Van Gundy deployed a lineup of J.J. Redick, Ryan Anderson, Brandon Bass, Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson. My only reaction was "How in the world is Howard not the runaway MVP?"
This team wouldn't win 35 games without him.
Howard did everything he could to even the series. He was saddled with foul trouble early in the first quarter and didn't score his first basket until the two minute mark of the first half, but carried the Magic thereafter, finishing with 29 points and 17 rebounds.
Unfortunately for Superman, unless his teammates start making some shots, these otherworldly efforts will continue to be for naught. Through four games, he's averaging 32.3 points and 17.5 rebounds, but his unsupportive cast is shooting 21-for-96 (21.8 percent) from behind the arc after hitting 39 percent as a team in the regular season.
Offense isn't the only problem. Orlando is one of the league's best defensive teams, both statistically (ranked fourth in scoring and shooting percentage) and by reputation. The Hawks have exposed those numbers and that assertion as fraudulent.
Jamal Crawford—who won Game 3 with a late three and scored 25 points Sunday—Joe Johnson and Kirk Hinrich can get by the Magic's perimeter defenders at will. That has left Howard as the last line of defense, which has resulted in early foul trouble.
This supposed group of championship-contending tough guys can't shoot, defend or protect its best player.
They aren't going to find that missing swagger or championship contender status. There is no proverbial "switch" to flip that will save the season.
The Magic are pretenders and, at this point, there's no escaping that.
