# Orlando Magic vs. Detroit Pistons Game Thread



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Tuesday January 18, 2005
Orlando Magic vs. Detroit Pistons, 7:00 p.m. ET









Orlando Magic 
Coached by: Johnny Davis 

Projected Starting Lineup:




































S. Francis  | Turkoglu  | Grant Hill  | D. Howard  | K. Cato 

Key Reserves:






















T. Battie  | D. Christie | P. Garrity 












Detroit Pistons 
Coached by: Larry Brown

Projected Starting Lineup:




































C. Billups  | R. Hamilton | T. Prince  | R. Wallace | B. Wallace

Key Reserves:






















A. McDyess  | L. Hunter | E. Campbell  



Key Matchup:
Battle of the Midrange Jumpshooters-















Grant Hill vs. Richard Hamilton


----------



## Babir (Jan 10, 2005)

How serious are Hill's wrist problems?


----------



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Babir</b>!
> How serious are Hill's wrist problems?


He looks fine, playing aggressively and taking the ball to the hole.

Magic are playing excellent offensively, but their D has been atrocious. Hedo's on fire, 13 points in the first quarter including 3-3 from behind the arc, 5-6 overall. He even banked in a 3. 

Great hustle play by Christie there, that's vinatage Doug Christie.


----------



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Turkoglu still on fire, Dwight playing like the Dwight Howard I expect to see on most nights. 8 rebounds already and some solid defense in the second quarter.


----------



## Idunkonyou (Feb 23, 2003)

Christie with some good steals that Mobley couldn't dream of. 

Nice defense in the 2nd quarter. Hopefully the Magic can continue that for the rest of the game.


----------



## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Christie already starting to pay dividends. He made some real nice passes that led to baskets and also got a couple steals that lead directly to points. He is going to be a solid addition and already appears to be fitting in well.

Orlando with the lead and Francis having a pretty off half. Good sign. Dwight was real solid. 

I don't understand though. We go to Howard the first play of the game and he almost always gets a good shot off and most of the time scores or gets fouled. So how come we don't go to him nearly at all after that? I know they are trying to bring him along slowly, but come on. Doesn't make sense.


----------



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Hill having a dreadful shooting night, 2-10 and all of them have been good shots. 

Detroit starts the 2nd half on an 8-0 run, Davis calls timeout. :upset:


----------



## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Need to put Christie back in.


----------



## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

:laugh: Turk lucky. He got stuffed and he knows it.


----------



## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

I wonder if maybe there is a trade coming for Garrity. He hasn't gotten on the court so far this game.


----------



## Idunkonyou (Feb 23, 2003)

This is why we need Howard out there in the 4th. He gets a nice inside bucket and a steal that leads to a 3P shot by Christie.


----------



## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Christie has been the MVP of this game. He shut down Rip in the 4th.


----------



## Idunkonyou (Feb 23, 2003)

Nice start to the 3 game home stand. 21 wins by mid January this year. 

JW for GMOTY!!!!!! :yes:


----------



## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>JNice</b>!
> Christie has been the MVP of this game. He shut down Rip in the 4th.


Damn, you read my mind. What an awesome ball game this was? See I think this deal was important for both teams and made them both better. I like how Turkoglu played as well.

He was terrific out there.


----------



## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

I wouldn't call what Christie did to Rip shutting him down, he was still 3-5 in the fourth quarter. He disrupted the Pistons entire offense more than he did Rip IMO. Christie played a great floor game.


----------



## MLKG (Aug 25, 2003)

Rip abused Christie off of backcuts much of the night, but the last couple possessions he shadowed him really well.

That was the biggest mental breakdown I've ever seen from the Pistons though.


----------



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

What a great aquisition Christie was. 

The difference in the game:
Orlando: 7-9 3PT
Detroit: 5-17 3PT

Great game for the Magic, Francis and Turkoglu go off, the Magic beat the defending world champions with Grant Hill shooting 4-14 and for the first time all season not scoring 10+ points. What a great game.


----------



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>JNice</b>!
> I wonder if maybe there is a trade coming for Garrity. He hasn't gotten on the court so far this game.


I think you're right, Garrity's on his way out in my opinion. Don't expect any big names, or even anyone on Garrity's talent level(not really saying much).


----------



## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Mike luvs KG</b>!
> Rip abused Christie off of backcuts much of the night, but the last couple possessions he shadowed him really well.
> 
> That was the biggest mental breakdown I've ever seen from the Pistons though.


You sure that wasn't Hill you saw getting abused on the picks? Either way, Christie really turned up the D in the 4th and wasn't even letting Rip catch the ball. His defense was fabulous in the 4th. Probably the difference in the game.

On a side note, not really complaining because a lot of people do this, but the Pistons set an awful lot of illegal screens that don't get called.


----------



## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Box Score 

Francis with 32-12-6 ... pretty nice night.


----------



## MLKG (Aug 25, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>JNice</b>!
> 
> 
> You sure that wasn't Hill you saw getting abused on the picks? Either way, Christie really turned up the D in the 4th and wasn't even letting Rip catch the ball. His defense was fabulous in the 4th. Probably the difference in the game.


I saw Christie get beat a couple times, probably overplaying for steals. Late in the game he did do a great job of ball denial though.


----------



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>JNice</b>!
> Box Score
> 
> Francis with 32-12-6 ... pretty nice night.


Francis started out the game scoring a lot of points, but not taking very smart shots. Again, too many jumpers and no penetration. As the game went on he got a lot better, and really turned it into one of his best games of the year.


----------



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Since being inserted into the starting lineup following the Mobley trade, Hedo Turkoglu is averaging 21.3 ppg including 42.9% from 3-point range. And that's including the 2-15 performence a few days ago. He's really been on a tear.


----------



## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>hobojoe</b>!
> Since being inserted into the starting lineup following the Mobley trade, Hedo Turkoglu is averaging 21.3 ppg including 42.9% from 3-point range. And that's including the 2-15 performence a few days ago. He's really been on a tear.


He's without question a much better player when starting. He just has more confidence in his game, when a starter.


----------



## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Mike luvs KG</b>!
> 
> 
> I saw Christie get beat a couple times, probably overplaying for steals. Late in the game he did do a great job of ball denial though.


Actually yeah, I remember the play you are referring to. I think it was out of a timeout. No doubt LB noticed Christie playing denial on Rip so he called a play where Rip could do a quick backcut on the overplay and it worked to perfection. I think that was the play Rip got the wide open two hander.


----------



## JNice (Jul 13, 2002)

Orlando needs to go on a little run right now and take advantage of Hughes being out which without question weakens the Wizards for awhile.

Side note: Nice to see DeClerq return. I see he hasn't lost his unbelievable ability to foul.


----------



## MLKG (Aug 25, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>JNice</b>!
> 
> 
> Actually yeah, I remember the play you are referring to. I think it was out of a timeout. No doubt LB noticed Christie playing denial on Rip so he called a play where Rip could do a quick backcut on the overplay and it worked to perfection. I think that was the play Rip got the wide open two hander.


Yeah that was one, I think there was another play like it in the second half and then another one on an inbounds play. I just remember thinking Christie still had the great hands but his feet didn't look as good.

He really stepped it up when it mattered though on both ends of the floor.


----------



## whizKIDD (Dec 23, 2004)

*Great Win*

HI Guys! 

What a Great Win against the defendig Champion. 

Steve-O with an extrem game. 32 Points, 12 Board on 50% FG is really good  . Just the TO needs to stop.

Hedo gave Steve-O a lot of Help at the offensive end of the court. He shot very well and played a really good game. :bbanana: Dwight was very solid against the wallace connection. He played well in D and got DD in Rebound again :clap:. Cato was also solid.

Doug Christie was a very good addition. He kept RIP in his hands at the End of the game. With him on court our D is much better. I love to see Doug wear a Magic Jersey now and play so well. 

AnDrew is back of his injury. I hope he stays heathly. Pat and Stacey (ok - after the tragedy) didn`t play more than a minute. Is Pat on his way out of O-Town? Jameer need to get more minutes - with him running the point the team plays more Teamplay and he will get more experience. 

Nice to see Steve-O to accept Doug and doing well with him









Now we need a win against the rockets and then the sixers.

@JNice - You`re aright - we need a run now and we also need to win against the wizards twice in back to back games at the end of the next week.

Have a great Day

Bye Whizzy


----------



## DwyaneWade4MVP (Apr 1, 2004)

Hedo is doing great out there starting! and Christie is a nice addition, if we just would have still gotten Mobley...


----------



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Hong Kong Fooey</b>!
> 
> 
> He's without question a much better player when starting. He just has more confidence in his game, when a starter.


I agree. I remember starting a thread before the season started saying that I wanted Hedo to start because he plays so much better in that role. This trade has worked out great so far. The acquisition of Christie is already paying dividends, Turkoglu is excelling in his new role in the starting lineup and Francis has gotten over losing Mobley and is playing well again. 

Another thing I noticed about Steve -- His turnover numbers rarely if ever show how well he plays, or even how smart his decisions are. He seems to have 5 or 6 turnovers in his best games, and sometimes he'll only have 2 but will have played a really crappy game for him. I don't really care how often he turns over the ball anymore quite honestly, I just want him to be taking the ball to the hole and running the fastbreak at every opportunity.


----------

