Denton: Magic-Pacers Postgame Analysis
By John Denton
December 14, 2009
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
ORLANDO – Sick of seeing his star center hit up around the neck and head game after game, Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy tried coming to the defense of Dwight Howard on Monday night.
After all, Van Gundy wondered, when is someone in the refereeing corps or the NBA’s league office going to take notice at all of the hard hits that Howard is taking on a nightly basis?
``It’s out of hand what they’re letting people do to Dwight,’’ Van Gundy said after the Magic rode Howard’s 21-point, 23-rebound, four-block effort to rally past the Indiana Pacers 106-98 at Amway Arena. ``If you’re going to let people continue to hit him around the head and grab him around the neck, I don’t care, those are flagrant fouls and they need to be called. I don’t care who you are, you’re only going to take that for so long. It’s absurd what’s going on.’’
Howard was grabbed around the neck by Indiana forward Troy Murphy as he was going up to dunk the ball, and the Magic center angrily responded by pushing Murphy away with his left hand. Howard said there was no punch thrown and doesn’t think the league should hand down any further disciplinary action. Murphy was called for a foul, but not a flagrant foul, and a technical, while Howard was whistled for a technical foul as well.
``It shouldn’t be a suspension. There was no contact, no punches thrown and everybody should know the difference between a punch and a push,’’ Howard said. ``I think if I really wanted to punch somebody I would. I didn’t want to punch anybody; I just wanted to get him off of me. It’s over with and there shouldn’t be any more problems out of it. It’s over with and there shouldn’t be any more problems with it. I’m fine and nobody got injured on the play.’’
The Magic (18-6) needed every bit of Howard’s effort and all of Vince Carter’s 28 points on this night to finally distance themselves from a scrappy Pacers team that was without star forward Danny Granger. And the Magic also got big contributions from J.J. Redick (13 points and three 3-pointers) and Anthony Johnson (13 points, five in the fourth quarter) to stop their losing streak at two points.
Possibly still stuck on Pacific time after nine days on the West Coast, Orlando had to rally out of a 17-point hole in the second quarter. That equaled the largest come-from-behind victory of the season, tying the 17-point rally against the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 28.
``Our defense was lacking at different points,’’ Redick said. ``Stan wrote up on the board, `17,’ because that’s the number of points they had in the fourth quarter. Obviously we dug in enough to get a win because they had 30 points in the first quarter. That’s not the way we wanted to start a home stand, but we got the win.’’
There could more fallout to come from the Howard-Murphy dustup and Van Gundy’s pleas to the league office for help with the hard fouls on his franchise center. But before that, let’s review the good, the bad and the ugly from Monday’s surprisingly close game:
THE GOOD
---- Howard was an absolute beast inside, grabbing eight offensive rebounds, blocking four shots and getting to the free throw line 22 times (with 13 makes). It was Howard’s third 20-point, 20-rebound game of the season and the 26th of his six-year NBA career. Also, it was the 34th time in his career that he’s corralled at least 20 rebounds.
Indiana tried Roy Hibbert, Jeff Foster, Solomon Jones and Troy Murphy on Howard with little success. The Magic big man has now taken 61 free throws in the past four games and he leads the league in free throw attempts at 267. He said repeatedly that he wasn’t about to let the incessant fouling to get him out of his game.
``I’ve just got to stay calm,’’ said Howard, who made five of six free throws in the fourth quarter. ``Guys are going to do whatever they can to get me frustrated. I’ve just got to do my best to stay calm. My team needs me on the floor, and I understand that. It’s tough at times when you get hit down there. I don’t think people understand it because, `He’s big, he should never complain.’ I’m not complaining, but hey, I’ve just got to stay free from frustration and try to do the best for my team.’’
---- Carter was unable to practice on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning because of a stomach ailment and wasn’t sure until 90 minutes before tipoff that he’d play.
But Carter showed no signs of illness on the floor, scoring 28 points, grabbing seven rebounds and handing out three assists in almost 33 minutes. Most importantly, Carter drove hard into the lane time and again, getting several short jump shots and earning six free throws.
``I was able to get some fluids in me and get some rest and when I got to the arena I was able to get some shots up and I felt OK,’’ Carter said. ``When I walked in (the locker room) I saw my name on the board and said, `I guess I got to play now.’’’
---- For a second consecutive night, Redick and Johnson were very good in the fourth quarter for the Magic. Johnson scored five fourth-quarter points on a layup and a 3-pointer off an assist from Redick. And Redick sealed the game with 1:27 to play by burying a 3-pointer from the corner to put Orlando up 104-96.
Said Redick: ``You always want to be the one to hit the shot that gives the team a little bit more breathing room. That felt good.’’
THE BAD
---- The technical foul was the sixth of the season for Howard, moving him into a tie for third in the NBA with Boston center Kendrick Perkins. Only Boston’s Rasheed Wallace (eight) and Denver’s Carmelo Anthony (seven) have more technical fouls this season.
The first five technical fouls cost Howard $1,000 apiece and Monday’s ``T’’ cost him an additional $1,500. One through five cost $1,000, while six through 10 cost $1,500. Numbers 11 through 15 are $2,000 apiece and a warning letter is sent from the league office following No. 12. At 16 technical fouls and up, the player is fined $2,500 and hit with a one-game suspension.
---- Indiana coach Jim O’Brien openly admitted that part of the Pacers game plan was ``based on fouling the hell out of Dwight Howard.’’ O’Brien said he thought that three of Howard’ foul shots ``had no business going on.’’
He also argued with referee Ken Mauer that Howard should have been ejected for pushing aside Murphy following the hard foul around his neck.
``I thought he threw a punch,’’ O’Brien said. ``They have to just review it. They’ve got to call it. It certainly should have been a technical foul. That’s their call. That’s what they get paid for.’’
At what point can it be deemed a questionable coaching tactic when the entire game plan is centered around hammering Howard an hope that he misses free throws? Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy employed the same tactic last Tuesday in Los Angeles and the plan fell apart when Howard hit his free throws.
THE UGLY
---- The Magic started the game as if they were still on the West Coast, falling behind by as much as 15 points in the first quarter. By the time the Magic were down 21-6, Orlando had made just two of 13 shots, while the Pacers drilled 10 of their first 15 tries.
The Magic made a brief run, but Indiana actually pushed its lead to as many as 17 points (34-17) early in the second period. It wasn’t until them that Orlando snapped out of its funk and started clawing back into the game. One stretch of 14 consecutive points in the second quarter put Orlando up 47-44 just before the half.
``We were a little low energy tonight,’’ Johnson said. ``They did a good job coming out and being aggressive to start the first quarter and built a big lead. We were able to chip away, we played great defense in the second quarter and able to manage a sizeable deficit there at halftime.’’
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Orlando Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard on ESPN 1080 AM on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
By John DentonDecember 14, 2009
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
ORLANDO – Sick of seeing his star center hit up around the neck and head game after game, Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy tried coming to the defense of Dwight Howard on Monday night.
After all, Van Gundy wondered, when is someone in the refereeing corps or the NBA’s league office going to take notice at all of the hard hits that Howard is taking on a nightly basis?
``It’s out of hand what they’re letting people do to Dwight,’’ Van Gundy said after the Magic rode Howard’s 21-point, 23-rebound, four-block effort to rally past the Indiana Pacers 106-98 at Amway Arena. ``If you’re going to let people continue to hit him around the head and grab him around the neck, I don’t care, those are flagrant fouls and they need to be called. I don’t care who you are, you’re only going to take that for so long. It’s absurd what’s going on.’’
Howard was grabbed around the neck by Indiana forward Troy Murphy as he was going up to dunk the ball, and the Magic center angrily responded by pushing Murphy away with his left hand. Howard said there was no punch thrown and doesn’t think the league should hand down any further disciplinary action. Murphy was called for a foul, but not a flagrant foul, and a technical, while Howard was whistled for a technical foul as well.
``It shouldn’t be a suspension. There was no contact, no punches thrown and everybody should know the difference between a punch and a push,’’ Howard said. ``I think if I really wanted to punch somebody I would. I didn’t want to punch anybody; I just wanted to get him off of me. It’s over with and there shouldn’t be any more problems out of it. It’s over with and there shouldn’t be any more problems with it. I’m fine and nobody got injured on the play.’’
The Magic (18-6) needed every bit of Howard’s effort and all of Vince Carter’s 28 points on this night to finally distance themselves from a scrappy Pacers team that was without star forward Danny Granger. And the Magic also got big contributions from J.J. Redick (13 points and three 3-pointers) and Anthony Johnson (13 points, five in the fourth quarter) to stop their losing streak at two points.
Possibly still stuck on Pacific time after nine days on the West Coast, Orlando had to rally out of a 17-point hole in the second quarter. That equaled the largest come-from-behind victory of the season, tying the 17-point rally against the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 28.
``Our defense was lacking at different points,’’ Redick said. ``Stan wrote up on the board, `17,’ because that’s the number of points they had in the fourth quarter. Obviously we dug in enough to get a win because they had 30 points in the first quarter. That’s not the way we wanted to start a home stand, but we got the win.’’
There could more fallout to come from the Howard-Murphy dustup and Van Gundy’s pleas to the league office for help with the hard fouls on his franchise center. But before that, let’s review the good, the bad and the ugly from Monday’s surprisingly close game:
THE GOOD
---- Howard was an absolute beast inside, grabbing eight offensive rebounds, blocking four shots and getting to the free throw line 22 times (with 13 makes). It was Howard’s third 20-point, 20-rebound game of the season and the 26th of his six-year NBA career. Also, it was the 34th time in his career that he’s corralled at least 20 rebounds.
Indiana tried Roy Hibbert, Jeff Foster, Solomon Jones and Troy Murphy on Howard with little success. The Magic big man has now taken 61 free throws in the past four games and he leads the league in free throw attempts at 267. He said repeatedly that he wasn’t about to let the incessant fouling to get him out of his game.
``I’ve just got to stay calm,’’ said Howard, who made five of six free throws in the fourth quarter. ``Guys are going to do whatever they can to get me frustrated. I’ve just got to do my best to stay calm. My team needs me on the floor, and I understand that. It’s tough at times when you get hit down there. I don’t think people understand it because, `He’s big, he should never complain.’ I’m not complaining, but hey, I’ve just got to stay free from frustration and try to do the best for my team.’’
---- Carter was unable to practice on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning because of a stomach ailment and wasn’t sure until 90 minutes before tipoff that he’d play.
But Carter showed no signs of illness on the floor, scoring 28 points, grabbing seven rebounds and handing out three assists in almost 33 minutes. Most importantly, Carter drove hard into the lane time and again, getting several short jump shots and earning six free throws.
``I was able to get some fluids in me and get some rest and when I got to the arena I was able to get some shots up and I felt OK,’’ Carter said. ``When I walked in (the locker room) I saw my name on the board and said, `I guess I got to play now.’’’
---- For a second consecutive night, Redick and Johnson were very good in the fourth quarter for the Magic. Johnson scored five fourth-quarter points on a layup and a 3-pointer off an assist from Redick. And Redick sealed the game with 1:27 to play by burying a 3-pointer from the corner to put Orlando up 104-96.
Said Redick: ``You always want to be the one to hit the shot that gives the team a little bit more breathing room. That felt good.’’
THE BAD
---- The technical foul was the sixth of the season for Howard, moving him into a tie for third in the NBA with Boston center Kendrick Perkins. Only Boston’s Rasheed Wallace (eight) and Denver’s Carmelo Anthony (seven) have more technical fouls this season.
The first five technical fouls cost Howard $1,000 apiece and Monday’s ``T’’ cost him an additional $1,500. One through five cost $1,000, while six through 10 cost $1,500. Numbers 11 through 15 are $2,000 apiece and a warning letter is sent from the league office following No. 12. At 16 technical fouls and up, the player is fined $2,500 and hit with a one-game suspension.
---- Indiana coach Jim O’Brien openly admitted that part of the Pacers game plan was ``based on fouling the hell out of Dwight Howard.’’ O’Brien said he thought that three of Howard’ foul shots ``had no business going on.’’
He also argued with referee Ken Mauer that Howard should have been ejected for pushing aside Murphy following the hard foul around his neck.
``I thought he threw a punch,’’ O’Brien said. ``They have to just review it. They’ve got to call it. It certainly should have been a technical foul. That’s their call. That’s what they get paid for.’’
At what point can it be deemed a questionable coaching tactic when the entire game plan is centered around hammering Howard an hope that he misses free throws? Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy employed the same tactic last Tuesday in Los Angeles and the plan fell apart when Howard hit his free throws.
THE UGLY
---- The Magic started the game as if they were still on the West Coast, falling behind by as much as 15 points in the first quarter. By the time the Magic were down 21-6, Orlando had made just two of 13 shots, while the Pacers drilled 10 of their first 15 tries.
The Magic made a brief run, but Indiana actually pushed its lead to as many as 17 points (34-17) early in the second period. It wasn’t until them that Orlando snapped out of its funk and started clawing back into the game. One stretch of 14 consecutive points in the second quarter put Orlando up 47-44 just before the half.
``We were a little low energy tonight,’’ Johnson said. ``They did a good job coming out and being aggressive to start the first quarter and built a big lead. We were able to chip away, we played great defense in the second quarter and able to manage a sizeable deficit there at halftime.’’
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Orlando Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard on ESPN 1080 AM on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
