Denton: Magic Set For Finals Rematch
By John Denton
January 17, 2010
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
LOS ANGELES – When the clinching game was complete last spring and the NBA championship belonged to the Los Angeles Lakers instead of the Orlando Magic, captains Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson stayed on the bench to make sure the visions of the L.A. celebration were burned into their memories.
And in case those bitter memories had faded, the Magic were reminded each of the past two days when they drilled at the Lakers’ practice facility. The 2008-09 banner, one of 10 the tradition-rich Lakers own, is affixed on one wall for all to see. And owner Jerry Buss’ office window overlooks the floor and features all 10 golden championship balls, including the one from last June.
The Magic’s players had to walk right under that window on their way to the bus on Sunday and admitted that the visions all around the gymnasium reminded them of the pain from last June. And it stoked their edge going into Monday night’s Finals rematch between the Magic (26-14) and the Lakers (31-9).
``You look at all of these banners around here and see that this is where we want to take our organization,’’ Nelson said. ``We stayed out there on the bench during the Lakers celebration because wanted that feeling stuck in our heads. We don’t want anybody ever celebrating on our homecourt again.
``I don’t know if you ever get over losing in The Finals until you win a championship. You get so close and you don’t accomplish your goal, that’s tough. We know we’re still a good team and we plenty to still strive for.’’
Howard said he tried diverting his eyes from the championship banner at the end of the practice court. After all, he said he’s got enough on his mind these days with trying to get the Magic back on track after losing six of the past eight games. No, the Magic aren’t coming into this nationally televised rematch playing as well as they’d like, but Howard thinks a game against the Lakers is just what Orlando needs to snap itself out of this funk.
``I’ve tried to not even look around here. I’m trying to keep my focus on getting us back to playing well and playing good team basketball,’’ Howard said on Sunday. ``It’s hard to say that we’ve gotten over losing to the Lakers, but I know I haven’t. People don’t understand how I felt playing in the NBA Finals because that was a life-long dream. But then you get so close and lose and it’s like losing something in your life that you cherish the most.’’
Coming off disappointing losses to Denver and Portland, the Magic have spent most of the past two days on improving their own play instead of preparing for the Lakers. Coach Stan Van Gundy said the team won’t even start installing the game plan until Monday morning.
``It hasn’t been perfect, but our guys are making a good effort to do more of the things that we want,’’ Van Gundy said. ``The Lakers are not even the big issue. It’s about us getting ourselves right. It’s not going to happen overnight, but if we make better effort and do things better we have a chance to get better.’’
The Magic are hardly the same team that made it to The Finals last spring, adding five new players this season to the roster. That newness, combined with injuries to Nelson and Vince Carter, has led to the Magic’s lack of chemistry 40 games into the season. Orlando’s four all-stars – Rashard Lewis, Howard, Carter and Nelson – have been together for just 11 games and the Magic are 5-6 in those games.
``We’ve all got to take responsibility for where we’re at, but this is an entirely different team than last year,’’ Magic guard J.J. Redick said. ``Really, the comparisons to last year, those are unfair because this is a different team and there’s a different dynamic there. We really have to push the thoughts of last year out of our heads. We have to figure out how do we win a game now this season and not about how last year’s Magic team won games.’’
Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant said he was somewhat shocked that the Magic broke apart a team that beat Cleveland and Boston in the playoffs and gave the Lakers more of a battle than the 4-1 Finals might suggest. Bryant pointed out that the Lakers kept their core players together after losing to Boston in 2008 and came back to win a title in 2009.
``It’s always surprising to make it to the Finals and not stick together,’’ said Bryant, who needs 30 points tonight to hit 25,000 points for his career. ``That’s what we did. We pretty much brought everybody back and just got better.
``(Adding Vince Carter in place of Hedo Turkoglu) makes them smaller. Vince can do some things that Hedo couldn’t do and vice versa,’’ Bryant continued. ``But the biggest difference from last year to this year is that they are a little more conventional now. Hedo’s size made them a very unconventional matchup, but Vince poses problems in his own right.’’
Lakers power forward Pau Gasol said experience tells him that L.A. will get the Magic’s best shot tonight. He called the Magic ``a very tough opponent with quality players.’’
``I remember when we played Boston last year we were ready to go, both at home and at their place. We were ready to fight the whole game and losing in the Finals to them gave us that extra edge,’’ Gasol said. ``I’m sure Orlando will have that same edge and we’ll have to be ready for it.’’
Van Gundy said the whole storyline of the Finals rematch against the Lakers will take a back seat in his eyes to the Magic simply playing better. An Orlando team that started the season 17-4 and seemingly rolling as one of the league’s elite teams has slumped badly to 9-10 over the past month.
``We’re not taking the step from (last June’s Finals),’’ Van Gundy said. ``What we need to be concerned about is taking the next step from where we are now.’’
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Orlando Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard on ESPN 1080 AM on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
By John DentonJanuary 17, 2010
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
LOS ANGELES – When the clinching game was complete last spring and the NBA championship belonged to the Los Angeles Lakers instead of the Orlando Magic, captains Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson stayed on the bench to make sure the visions of the L.A. celebration were burned into their memories.
And in case those bitter memories had faded, the Magic were reminded each of the past two days when they drilled at the Lakers’ practice facility. The 2008-09 banner, one of 10 the tradition-rich Lakers own, is affixed on one wall for all to see. And owner Jerry Buss’ office window overlooks the floor and features all 10 golden championship balls, including the one from last June.
The Magic’s players had to walk right under that window on their way to the bus on Sunday and admitted that the visions all around the gymnasium reminded them of the pain from last June. And it stoked their edge going into Monday night’s Finals rematch between the Magic (26-14) and the Lakers (31-9).
``You look at all of these banners around here and see that this is where we want to take our organization,’’ Nelson said. ``We stayed out there on the bench during the Lakers celebration because wanted that feeling stuck in our heads. We don’t want anybody ever celebrating on our homecourt again.
``I don’t know if you ever get over losing in The Finals until you win a championship. You get so close and you don’t accomplish your goal, that’s tough. We know we’re still a good team and we plenty to still strive for.’’
Howard said he tried diverting his eyes from the championship banner at the end of the practice court. After all, he said he’s got enough on his mind these days with trying to get the Magic back on track after losing six of the past eight games. No, the Magic aren’t coming into this nationally televised rematch playing as well as they’d like, but Howard thinks a game against the Lakers is just what Orlando needs to snap itself out of this funk.
``I’ve tried to not even look around here. I’m trying to keep my focus on getting us back to playing well and playing good team basketball,’’ Howard said on Sunday. ``It’s hard to say that we’ve gotten over losing to the Lakers, but I know I haven’t. People don’t understand how I felt playing in the NBA Finals because that was a life-long dream. But then you get so close and lose and it’s like losing something in your life that you cherish the most.’’
Coming off disappointing losses to Denver and Portland, the Magic have spent most of the past two days on improving their own play instead of preparing for the Lakers. Coach Stan Van Gundy said the team won’t even start installing the game plan until Monday morning.
``It hasn’t been perfect, but our guys are making a good effort to do more of the things that we want,’’ Van Gundy said. ``The Lakers are not even the big issue. It’s about us getting ourselves right. It’s not going to happen overnight, but if we make better effort and do things better we have a chance to get better.’’
The Magic are hardly the same team that made it to The Finals last spring, adding five new players this season to the roster. That newness, combined with injuries to Nelson and Vince Carter, has led to the Magic’s lack of chemistry 40 games into the season. Orlando’s four all-stars – Rashard Lewis, Howard, Carter and Nelson – have been together for just 11 games and the Magic are 5-6 in those games.
``We’ve all got to take responsibility for where we’re at, but this is an entirely different team than last year,’’ Magic guard J.J. Redick said. ``Really, the comparisons to last year, those are unfair because this is a different team and there’s a different dynamic there. We really have to push the thoughts of last year out of our heads. We have to figure out how do we win a game now this season and not about how last year’s Magic team won games.’’
Lakers star guard Kobe Bryant said he was somewhat shocked that the Magic broke apart a team that beat Cleveland and Boston in the playoffs and gave the Lakers more of a battle than the 4-1 Finals might suggest. Bryant pointed out that the Lakers kept their core players together after losing to Boston in 2008 and came back to win a title in 2009.
``It’s always surprising to make it to the Finals and not stick together,’’ said Bryant, who needs 30 points tonight to hit 25,000 points for his career. ``That’s what we did. We pretty much brought everybody back and just got better.
``(Adding Vince Carter in place of Hedo Turkoglu) makes them smaller. Vince can do some things that Hedo couldn’t do and vice versa,’’ Bryant continued. ``But the biggest difference from last year to this year is that they are a little more conventional now. Hedo’s size made them a very unconventional matchup, but Vince poses problems in his own right.’’
Lakers power forward Pau Gasol said experience tells him that L.A. will get the Magic’s best shot tonight. He called the Magic ``a very tough opponent with quality players.’’
``I remember when we played Boston last year we were ready to go, both at home and at their place. We were ready to fight the whole game and losing in the Finals to them gave us that extra edge,’’ Gasol said. ``I’m sure Orlando will have that same edge and we’ll have to be ready for it.’’
Van Gundy said the whole storyline of the Finals rematch against the Lakers will take a back seat in his eyes to the Magic simply playing better. An Orlando team that started the season 17-4 and seemingly rolling as one of the league’s elite teams has slumped badly to 9-10 over the past month.
``We’re not taking the step from (last June’s Finals),’’ Van Gundy said. ``What we need to be concerned about is taking the next step from where we are now.’’
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Orlando Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard on ESPN 1080 AM on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
