Orlando

Three Game Skid Must End


Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services 

The Orlando Magic have gone on a three-game skid against less-than-quality opponents in some cases and now face the Atlanta Hawks tonight, a team that should be a rollover victory but which actually beat the Magic 10 days ago. In fact, it it weren't for a three-point victory over Cleveland 9 days ago, the Magic would be staring at a five-game losing streak.

There is no room for error tonight. Dwight Howard has had fantastic games against his beloved hometown Hawks and he will need to step it up again tonight. Every snubbed All-Star-wanna-be has had a huge game since being left off the roster (witness Elton Brand's 30-point, 10-rebound performance last night). It's time for Steve Francis to explode with a triple-double or, and this would be huge, a five-by-five, which is a statistical accomplishment so rare (get five or more points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks), it's only been done a handful of times in the past decade.

GM John Weisbrod is saying he is not losing confidence in his coach Johnny Davis, and he doesn't think the players are either, and he is happy, in a sense, that the troubles are coming now rather than during the playoffs so there is still time to address and fix all the issues, but he's got to be wondering what's going wrong. Have the Magic been overachieving early in the season and are now falling back down to earth? Or are they merely going through a little phase that needs to be shucked off?

The Magic face four easy opponents in the next four games: the Hawks, the Sixers, the Hornets, and the Clippers. Nothing will shut up critics like a four-game winning streak.

NEXT GAME
The Magic (25-23, third in the Southeast division) host the Atlanta Hawks (10-37, fifth in the Southeast Division) TONIGHT. The game starts at 7:00pm Eastern and will be broadcast on Sun Sports and NBA League Pass.

TEAM NOTES
Changing of the Guard: When the Orlando Magic revamped their roster this summer, one of the first areas of concern for the team was the point and shooting guard positions. Now, as the season has reached the half-way mark, we take a look at what has - and hasn’t - worked with transformation of the backcourt so far this season.

Looking Forward: While the Orlando Magic’s guards may have been a work in progress throughout much of the early portion of the season, the squad’s forwards have anchored the team through the first 41 games on the schedule.

Center of Attention: If anyone out there doesn’t know the difference a post presence brings to a team, just ask Magic Head Coach Johnny Davis.

INJURY UPDATE
Mario Kasun(knee) andBrandon Hunter(elbow) are on the injured list.

NEWSLINES

Brian Schmitz ofThe Orlando Sentinelwrites: Weisbrod gave Davis a vote of confidence, but he also acknowledged that something's amiss with a 25-23 team he feels is underachieving and "should be able to play with anybody" in the Eastern Conference."I'm comfortable that Johnny is doing the right things," Weisbrod said after Wednesday's practice. "But something that Johnny and I have to face is that some of those things aren't making it to the cutting-room floor. "Those things aren't showing themselves in games. Maybe we need to focus more intently on things or change the way we do things so that we build some accountability." He added, "You can't encourage guys to do things the right way; we need to require it. It can't be optional.''

Brian Schmitz ofThe Orlando Sentinelwrites: Orlando has lost three games in a row, the latest a 113-109 debacle Tuesday against the hapless Golden State Warriors at home. F Grant Hill, probably overdramatically, calls tonight's game "the biggest of the season coming off the heels of a tough loss."

Helene St. James ofThe Detroit Free Presswrites: Johnny Davis was an assistant in Orlando when Wallace was there, and is now the Magic's head coach. He's the man who encouraged Wallace to aim for 16 rebounds a game, and was one of the first to realize why Wallace was so easy to adore."When a guy works that hard, everyone can respect that," Davis said. "When you watch Ben perform, you say, 'Wow, here's a guy with limited skills in terms of offensive ability, but this guy outworks everyone every night.' You can't name me another guy in this league who outworks Ben Wallace."

Dick Scanlon ofThe Ledgerwrites: Steve Francis, an All-Star with the Houston Rockets in each of the last three seasons, figures he has played well enough to make the Eastern Conference team in his first season in Orlando. He may be right. But whether he is right or whether he is wrong, he isn't on the team. "I'll give you an analogy," Francis said Tuesday night. "It's like Jay-Z going to the Grammys, knowing he's a Grammy winner and not getting it.He doesn't stop making hits. So I'm not going to stop playing ball; I'm not going to stop making hits like Jay-Z."

Digital Post Productionwrites: The Orlando Magic, a National Basketball Association professional sports franchise located in Orlando, Florida, announced today that it has launched a new broadcast production service that will facilitate the transport of live and non-live video content originating from its two Orlando production locations.