Orlando
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
What can you say about a guy like Grant Hill, who comes off of four ankle surgeries and immediately plays like an All-Star. Sure it's only an exhibition game but 20 points, six rebounds, five assists, a steal, and a block is a great stat night for any level of competition, especially when it comes in just 26 minutes of action. Hill proves what every recovering athlete can only hope to show: that basketball is in the mind and the body is just the tool of its expression. Is it too early to predict a five-by-five sometime this season for Hill?
A five-by-five is a rare offensive achievement of getting five or more points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. It happens incredibly rarely unless your name is Andrei Kirilenko, who did it twice last year. Apart from him, it's been accomplished twice in the past decade, once by Vlade Divac and once by Jamaal Tinsley. Of all the players on the Magic, Hill is the most likely to get himself in that record book.
But what he has shown is more than that he is a talented player or that his ankle really is fine this time. He has shown that an athlete's body is simply the most obvious part of his talent but far from the important one. Hill is older, weaker, and more fragile, yet he is able to come back and play so well. He is making a strong case for the fact that basketball is very much a mental game.
It is not mere sprinting or leaping ability that makes a basketball player. It is his mind and the connections his neurons form to his arm for the unnatural shooting motion that hoops is heir to. It is his brain that is most important.
Perhaps it was partly for that lesson and partly to welcome him back to the fold and partly just to express their unbridled joy that the Orlando Magic fans stood up as one to applaud Grant Hill as he exited the game.
He gives us all hope.
NEXT GAME
The Magic take on the New Orleans Hornets on Thursday at 8pm. The game is not likely to be televised anywhere.
TEAM NOTES
Tim Povtak ofThe Orlando Sentinel notes: At the game Sunday was former Magic General Manager John Gabriel, who was scouting for the Portland Trail Blazers. ... - Dallas guard/forward Marquis Daniels - who is from Edgewater High School - sat out his second consecutive exhibition game with a sprained left ankle. Daniels is expected to be the Mavs' starting small forward this season. ... Dallas guard Jerry Stackhouse, obtained in a trade with Washington, left the game with a right thigh bruise.
INJURY UPDATE
Grant Hill(coming back from ankle surgery) is not injured but head coach Johnny Davis is taking it easy with him and did not play him last night, saying that an NBA game is not a controlled practice and he wants to bring Hill along slowly.Pat Garrity(hip flexor injury) is out until Friday.
John Denton ofFlorida Todaywrites: Whether it was Grant Hill’s moves along the baseline, Steve Francis’ passing to set up others or Cuttino Mobley’s long-range shooting, the Magic could do little wrong in the first game in which they actually pushed their starters into heavy duty.“Building chemistry is a process, and we can’t hurry that,” Magic Coach Johnny Davis said. “This was a huge step for us. We’ve been together for 20-something days now, and it just takes time to tie it all together.” The Magic had 37 fast-break points and 26 assists. Mobley scored 16 of his 22 points in the third quarter, and Hill, a former Piston, looked to be the best player on the floor most of the night. He shook off the rust that characterized his two previous shaky outings in the exhibition season, getting 20 points, six rebounds and five assists.
John Denton ofFlorida Todaywrites: The Orlando Magic have a logjam at shooting guard with Keith Bogans and DeShawn Stevenson fighting for minutes behind Cuttino Mobley. But general manager John Weisbrod insists that no deal is imminent even though one is most assuredly destined for a demotion to the injured list come opening night.Neither Bogans nor Stevenson has distinguished himself through the first four games of the preseason.
James Jones ofThe Sun Heraldwrites: The Magic (21-61 last year) hope to hit the jackpot again with their recent top overall selection, high school forward Dwight Howard.He has a $10 million deal. Howard and the Magic will be available for viewing Thursday when they play at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum against the New Orleans Hornets. "This is something I've always wanted to be," Howard said. "This is something I'm looking forward to. I'm going against the best."
Tim Povtak ofThe Orlando Sentinelwrites: No one on the Magic is learning more from the exhibition season than rookie power forward Dwight Howard, the No. 1 pick of the NBA draft. Howard on Sunday faced Dallas all-star power forward Dirk Nowitzki and played him reasonably well. His earlier game assignments included Pau Gasol of Memphis, Antoine Walker of Atlanta and Udonis Haslem of Miami.