Anybody want to buy a selfish point guard?

Opponent File
Orlando Magic
The Magic play in the TD Waterhouse Center in Orlando, California. Their 2004 - 2005 record was 36 - 46 (third in the Southeast). Here's the Orlando Magic Roster.

Local Papers:
Orlando Sentinel | Magic
Team Pages:
CNNSI.com | Magic
ESPN.com | Magic
FoxSports | Magic
NBA.com | Magic
Sportsline.com | Magic

Head Coach:
Brian Hill
2005 Draft: C Fran Vasquez (#11), Spain; G Travis Deiner (#38), Marquette; C Martynas Andriuskevicius (#44), Zalgiris (Lithuania) (Traded to Cleveland).
New Players: G Keyon Dooling (Free Agent); F Bo Outlaw (Free Agent)
Season Goal: Develop the monster that is Dwight Howard, try not to feed the demons of Stevie Francis, and hope the rest of the team gels around them. Oh, and a injury-free season for Grant Hill.

Record vs. Nets: 0 - 2
G25: Nets 96, Magic 85
G30: Nets 113, Magic 106


Other Opponent Files

Orlando Magic (19 - 33) - Wednesday, February 22, 2006, 7:30PM EST - Continental Airlines Arena
Franchise For Sale
Reports are that the Magic and G Steve Francis, who are equally sick of each other, will part ways at the trading deadline, with Franchise going to the Knicks for G Jamal Crawford, F Mo Taylor and some other combination of flotsam and/or jetsam. The Magic are clearly rebuilding around C Dwight Howard, having moved Kelvin Cato for C Darko Milicic and G Carlos Arroyo the other day, and are still looking for more things to do to clear cap space and find new bodies. All that's left now is to free themselves of F Grant Hill and his unrealized expectations, and the Magic will be a lab experiment once again.

The Nets, however, would like to grab C Tony Battie from the Magic to shore up their weak front line, thinking he's expendable with Howard and Milicic in Orlando, but the Magic want to resign him. So there goes that idea.
So they'll have to settle for selling the floor out from under the Magic with another win for the stretch drive in this second game of a back-to-back that starts a 6 games in 9 days grind. Will the Nets get a bargain of a home win against the Magic? Or will Orlando foreclose on the Nets plans for a victory?
- Joe

Orlando Magic Cheat Sheet
The Story From Orlando:
The Milicic files, and his thoughts on the trade: "This is the chance," Milicic said after practice at Quicken Loans Arena. "I feel good about it. Good guys, good players, good city. I want to show Coach how hard I want to play."

He'll also be sporting a new look: a nasty sunburn and peeling face. "I fell asleep on the beach," he said, sheepishly.

Pain Game: G Jameer Nelson (foot) and F Bo Outlaw (foot) are sidelined indefinitely. G Travis Diener is on the inactive list. F Hedo Turkoglu (ankle) left Tuesday's game against Cleveland.

Archive | Backlash | Bio | Calendar | Champagne's Blog | Diatribe | Game x Game | History | Home | Joe Netsfan's Blog | Media | Opponents | Players | Playoffs | Search | Specials


© 2006 Shawn Belschwender and Michael Kozlowski