Orlando
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Grant Hill was named a starting All-Star to cap his amazing recovery from multiple ankle injuries and surgeries. It will be his seventh All-Star selection and first since 2001 when he couldn't play due to... an ankle injury. Meanwhile, could tonight's rematch between Doc Rivers's old and new teams be a playoff preview? If the Boston Celtics maintain their Atlantic Division lead and the Orlando Magic maintain their sixth seed, then we will see up to seven more games between these two clubs in the postseason.
The Magic have already lost the season series to the Celtics, but because of Orlando's better record, the Magic would actually have home court advantage against the higher-seeded Celtics. Boston automatically gets the three seed by being in first place in the Atlantic, but home advantage goes to the team with the better record, ignoring seedings. In the event of a tie, one of the first tiebreakers is their head-to-head matchup, which will be 2-1, at best, for the Magic if they can win tonight's game.
It's important for the Magic to win tonight, not only to get a win, and not only to prove to themselves that they CAN beat the Celtics, but to have some positive footage to go over come April. If they find themselves in the playoffs facing a team they went 0-3 to during the regular season, they will have a much higher psychological hurdle both in prepping and in the actual game. They need a victorious history to help them psychologically, and to hurt the Celtics. Otherwise Boston will have nothing but positive game film to review.
Tonight Doc Rivers is hosting his former team. Rivers may well have been an All-Star coach had he had a healthy Grant Hill in seasons past. Will the Magic finally get some retribution?
NEXT GAME
The Orlando Magic (25-20, third in the Southeast) travel to Boston to take on their former coach Doc Rivers and his new team, the Celtics (22-24, first in the Atlantic) TONIGHT. The game starts at 7:30pm Eastern and will be broadcast on WRBW and NBA League Pass.
TEAM NOTES
HAVE A QUESTION FOR ONE OF THE MAGIC PLAYERS? Submit it!Q: Steve, how much do you bench press? A: "210 lbs." Archive
INJURY UPDATE
Mario Kasun(knee) andBrandon Hunter(elbow) are on the injured list.Grant Hill(bronchitis) is questionable for tonight.
Brian Schmitz ofThe Orlando Sentinelwrites: Orlando Magic forward Grant Hill spent more time rehabilitating his left ankle in the pool than playing on the court the past four seasons. After a total of five surgeries, he said he didn't believe his comeback this season would go so swimmingly. "It just all came together. It's kind of a shock," he said. "I was planning to use this year to get ready for next year." Instead, Hill was good enough to be voted a starter for the 2005 NBA All-Star Game in Denver on Feb. 20. The teams were announced Thursday night on TNT. Hill claimed a starting spot for the Eastern Conference at forward, alongside Vince Carter of the New Jersey Nets, highlighting one of the most dramatic and improbable comebacks in sports.
The Associated Press writes inThe Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: Grant Hill of the Orlando Magic edged Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal by slightly more than 65,000 votes for a starting spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team.Hill received 1,497,489 votes in fan balloting to O’Neal’s 1,432,438, allowing him to join Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, Vince Carter and LeBron James as the starting five for the East at the All-Star game Feb. 20 in Denver.
Jason Garcia ofThe Orlando Sentinelwrites: International Drive hotel magnate Harris Rosen has his eye on almost $10 million of Orange County's tourist taxes -- the same pot of cash everyone from the Orlando Magic to the Florida Citrus Bowl wants to tap.