46 points, 19 rebounds 16-23 shooting sounds like an amazing night and it was for Dwight Howard, the Defensive MVP and dynamic front man for the Magic. But when you score 46 and Jameer Nelson scores 27 and you LOSE its not a magical night.
Howard and Nelson combined for 78% of the Magics points in their game one loss to the Hawks. The Magic shot 45% from the field as a team but everyone except Nelson and Howard shot 25% including 27% from behind the arc which is where the Magic win games, with kick outs from Howard to wide open jump shooters who were left alone to double the big man in the post.
"Superman" did everything he could in game one to help Orlando win the game. He altered almost every shot in the paint for the Hawks who moved the ball extremely well on the night finishing with 5 players in double figures led by Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford who scored 25 and 23 respectively. He almost single handily out rebounded the Hawks as well with 19 to their 29. But the Hawks played great team basketball.
Even though the ball handling for the Magic was sloppy, the Hawks put pressure on ball handlers all night and played tough, physical in your face defense. Atlanta forced 18 turnovers which resulted in 21 points while Orlando only scored 8 points off of 10 Hawk turnovers.
In order to even the series up the Magic will need to have a better overall team performance handling the ball and making their peremeter jump shots. Or Dwight Howard may have to become more than Superman in this series for Orlando.
No comments:
Post a Comment