# Orlando Magic vs. New Orleans Hornets Game Thread



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

New Orleans (10-40) at Orlando (26-24) 6:00 pm EST  

One night after getting torched by Allen Iverson, the Orlando Magic try to regroup when they host the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday. 

On Friday, the Magic lost at Philadelphia, 112-99, after allowing Iverson to score an NBA season-high 60 points. 

Steve Francis contributed 32 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists but committed seven turnovers for Orlando, which had 21 giveaways that the 76ers converted into 26 points. 

The Hornets beat Golden State at home on Friday, 111-108, for just their second winning streak of the season. 

Rodney Rogers scored 20 points and Bostjan Nachbar added 19 for New Orleans, which has not won three straight games this campaign. 

Before the game, the Hornets activated guard Baron Davis from the injured list, but he did not play. Davis, who is suffering from a bruised right Achilles, is not expected to play before the All-Star break. 

New Orleans is 3-25 on the road. 

On November 5, Orlando beat New Orleans, 90-89, on a three-point play by Francis with 2.7 seconds remaining.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Should be an easy win, should being the key word here.

Looks like the Magic are wearing their retros again tonight. It also looks like Francis will be wearing the Horace Grant style goggles after getting poked in the eye yesterday by Iverson.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

The Magic need to be careful with this one, because a number of guys on New Orleans can get hot at any time. Nachbar's 8-8 from behind the arc in the last two games, Jacobsen's always dangerous from long range, JR Smith has incredible range, and Dan Dickau has been playing very well for New Orleans this year.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

I didn't realize there was a game tonight. I don't get it here. Looks like a definite loss, I can't watch.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Hornets can't miss, go on an 11-0 run to take a 15-7 lead. 

Very sloppy start by the Magic. :nonono:


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## Captain Obvious (Jun 15, 2003)

After being down 20-9 the Magic fight back to tie it at 26 at the end of the first. If we don't win this game I will be VERY worried about this team. Thank god for the All-Star break, that's all I can say.


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## YoYoYoWasup (Nov 14, 2004)

Break up Pat Garrity.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Great bench play from Garrity and Stevenson. I'm loving the effort I'm seeing on both ends of the court from those two.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

The bench really saved the Magic in the first half. They outscored the starters 26-23 led by Garrity with 10, Hedo with 8 and Stevenson with 6. JR Smith, Dan Dickau and PJ Brown are all in double figures for New Orleans already. 

Francis really didn't get involved in the offense too much in the first half, only 2-5 from the floor for 9 points, but he does have 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Dwight Howard picked up 2 quick fouls limiting him to only 12 minutes, but he was very active, picking up 7 points and 4 rebounds. Grant Hill's shot isn't on tonight, but he does have 5 rebounds and 4 steals at the half. Surprisingly, Jameer Nelson hasn't made an appearance in the game yet.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Hmm, almost the end of the 3rd and still no Jameer. I wonder if he is in the doghouse for some reason.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Dickau just couldn't miss in that quarter, and the Magic still dominated it despite Dickau's 4-4 from behind the arc. The Magic had a 12 point lead and would've had the ball except for an awful call where Garrity was thrown to the ground and somehow he commit the foul which resulted in a 3-point play for New Orleans. Nachbar then drove right down the lane on the next possession and cut the Magic lead to 7, where it's at now headed into the 4th quarter.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Make that a 9-0 run since the crap call on Garrity. :upset:


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## YoYoYoWasup (Nov 14, 2004)

This team has issues.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

I'm calling out Steve-O on his defense. Letting Dickau drop 23 so far, for whatever reason, is ridiculous. 

I'm kind of hoping we lose this one and a couple more so Johnny gets fired. Isn't Eric Musselman available? I think he could be a good one.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

:laugh: 

Dwight gets the steal, Francis calls for the ball about a foot behind him, Dwight looks back and decides instead to throw a baseball pass all the way down the court right into the hands of Hedo Turkoglu who catches it in stride and lays it in for an easy two. Good decision by Howard.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>JNice</b>!
> 
> I'm kind of hoping we lose this one and a couple more so Johnny gets fired. Isn't Eric Musselman available? I think he could be a good one.


Musselman was going to come on as an assistant before the season started but Davis didn't want him aboard. Probably was threatened by him.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Magic up 3 with 30 seconds to play, New Orleans ball. You know they're gonna get the ball in Dickau's hands, you gotta get a hand in his face. No open looks.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Magic get an unimpressive win, barely pulling this one out, 97-94.


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## YoYoYoWasup (Nov 14, 2004)

Crappy win, but a win is a win. In other news, Dwight collected his 3rd straight DD tonight.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

3rd straight double-double for Howard, 11 and 10. 

Francis has a rather quiet 22 points and 10 assists. Not a great game for him, but he got the job done in the 4th.


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## YoYoYoWasup (Nov 14, 2004)

Dan Dickau set his career high against us, no surprise here. Francis has been great this year aside from the fact that he is an atrocious defender. PGs regularly light him up.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>YoYoYoWasup</b>!
> Dan Dickau set his career high against us, no surprise here. Francis has been great this year aside from the fact that he is an atrocious defender. PGs regularly light him up.


Seems like over the last 4 or 5 years, Orlando seems to give up a lot of career highs and career games to guys.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Post-Game Quotes 



> On whether Coach Davis thinks this is a better team since the trade of Cuttino Mobley for Doug Christie: “Is it a better team? I think Doug offers a different look than Cuttino. As far as being better or worse, they’re both good players. I think it’s a trade that we were looking for certain things, a defensive presence, a good ball mover and a veteran player in that position and I think we have that. I don’t think you can conclusively say that it was good or bad until the dust has settled on this season.”


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## Captain Obvious (Jun 15, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>JNice</b>!
> Post-Game Quotes


Davis doesn't sound very convinced that it was a good deal. This team needs to change something very soon. We need to start playing like we did at the beginning of the year.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Captain Obvious</b>!
> 
> 
> Davis doesn't sound very convinced that it was a good deal. This team needs to change something very soon. We need to start playing like we did at the beginning of the year.


I agree. A tough question for Johnny to answer because obviously right now it is not looking like a good trade because Mobley has played pretty well for Sac-Town, whereas Doug's play has been mediocre with the exception of a nice defensive play here and there. Couple that with pissing of Francis and it isn't looking like a good deal right now.

I'm not sure what options the team has other than firing Davis. There aren't many moves to be made and there isn't a whole lot of tinkering with the lineup that can happen. Maybe moving Hedo back to the SL instead of Christie, but that is about it.


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## Geaux Tigers (Apr 26, 2004)

I really thought Christie and Francis would shut down Dickau and Smith. They both had some of the best games of their careers vs them. Boy was I wrong.

Anyway since Dan Dickau scored 25+ that means I have to get a supporting membership. Im proud to donate to this site especially for a good reason such as Dan "The Man" Dickau!


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## efes pilsen (Feb 9, 2005)

I'll take another lucky win. i wonder when our luck leaves us what this team gonna do? this must be the 3 rd or 4th win that we didin't deserve. i am not even going to talk about our guy at the bench with suit on cause his capacity is this nothing more. some of you talk about francis' defense well that never been the case. one of the biggest reason why he is in orlando instead of houstonis that he and van gundy weren't on the same page especially on defense. i mean the guy can give you 20+ points 7 rebaunds 7 assist and bunch of TO's but his man almost always kills us. either like tonite, dickau had 27 points or last week payton had 19 points. i don't expect him to be the defensive stopper but at least he should try to stop the opposing point guards' penetration . i believe that is the weakest part of our defense because most guards penetrate and dish to the wings so our wing guys like hill, hedo , and our 2's like christy have to rotate to stop the penetrations. so because of that opposition has always had open looks agaist magic.


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## Idunkonyou (Feb 23, 2003)

I love watching Howard play. His 3rd D/D in a row. 

Any way, I say we get rid of Davis or demote him to assistant coach. Since Saunders is available, we need to get him. This team is playing like crap right now. We have a lot of talent and we should be above 30 wins already.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Jsimo12</b>!
> I really thought Christie and Francis would shut down Dickau and Smith. They both had some of the best games of their careers vs them. Boy was I wrong.
> 
> Anyway since Dan Dickau scored 25+ that means I have to get a supporting membership. Im proud to donate to this site especially for a good reason such as Dan "The Man" Dickau!


Yeah, get yourself an SM and I'll whip you up a sweet Dickau avatar.  I'm betting you'd be the only person with one.


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## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Idunkonyou</b>!
> I love watching Howard play. His 3rd D/D in a row.
> 
> Any way, I say we get rid of Davis or demote him to assistant coach. Since Saunders is available, we need to get him. This team is playing like crap right now. We have a lot of talent and we should be above 30 wins already.


Orlando has most definitely under-achieved so far this season. You can go back and look at some of the wins we've had against the best teams in the league and see how good this team can be.

There are some quotes at OrlandoSentinel.com where Weisbrod talks about the team relying too much on emotion and not enough on execution and fundamentals. Seems like he hit the nail on the head. That is really the only explanation for losing to some of the crap teams we have.


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## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>JNice</b>!
> There are some quotes at OrlandoSentinel.com where Weisbrod talks about the team relying too much on emotion and not enough on execution and fundamentals. Seems like he hit the nail on the head. That is really the only explanation for losing to some of the crap teams we have.


Same old story with a Francis-led team. Houston seemed to do that a lot over the past 4 or 5 years when Francis led them-- They'd knock off the top teams in the league on a semi-regular basis and blow the easy ones way too often. I know that quote by Weis referred to the whole team, but it definitely holds true with Francis more than anyone else on the team.


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