Eagle Eye Regains Golden Touch
|
March 22, 2009
ORLANDO -- If there’s one thing that Rashard Lewis is known for in this league – outside of his deadly shot – it’s his consistency.
That’s why when the Magic’s reliable All-Star forward hit a shooting skid over the past two weeks it drew a lot of attention.
But while critics in the media clamored for Stan Van Gundy to sit Lewis down in order to set him straight, the Magic’s head coach had a better prescription; let him keep shooting.
According to Van Gundy’s diagnosis, there wasn’t much to be worried about. He didn’t see any hesitation in Lewis’ shot selection and believed that the forward’s case history provided enough evidence to show that he would eventually work his way out of the slump.
He was right.
After being mired in a 15-of-57 shooting skid, making only 26 percent of his shots over the past five games, Lewis erupted for a brilliant performance against the Knicks on Saturday.
He regained his Eagle Eye persona and knocked down 11-of-18 from the floor on his way to 27 points in Orlando’s 110-103 thrilling home triumph over New York.
“When he’s aggressive, confident and feeling good about himself, he gets it going,” Van Gundy said about Lewis during his postgame press conference. “That’s the way he was tonight.”
His turnaround could not have come at a better time.
With Dwight Howard again battling foul trouble throughout the contest – he eventually fouled out in the fourth quarter – the Magic needed their top shooter to come through.
And according to point guard Rafer Alston, that’s exactly what he did.
“He played terrific,” Alston said about his teammate following the game. “I knew where to find him. The other guys found him more than I did tonight. We need him to continue that. We like it better when he’s not going through stretches where he’s not making it. He’s a guy that can really stretch the defense for us.”
While people outside the organization had their doubts about Lewis’ ability to find his mark, his teammates’ confidence in him never wavered. And like their coach, they knew the solution; keep feeding him the rock.
“That’s what you have to do,” Howard said about the answer to Lewis’ shooting woes. “Even though people think he is not playing well, he still can come out and shoot the ball well. It’s ok if he misses one or two shots. We want him to shoot the ball. That’s what is going to take once a guy does not having a lot of confidence in his shot. The only thing you can do is keep shooting.”
Eagle Eye couldn’t agree more.
“Keep shooting,” was Lewis’ response for how to fix his stroke. “Never stop shooting. Shooters always shoot. Once you knock that first one down, then it will open it up for you. Honestly the shots I was missing felt good. The shots for some reason just would not fall. Tonight I shot the same shots and tonight they went down.”
While Lewis’ form may have remained the same, the legs he was releasing his shots from were slightly fresher.
After a brutal schedule that had the Magic playing seven games in 11 days, Lewis was finally granted two consecutive days of rest in between Wednesday matchup in Milwaukee and Saturday’s contest with New York.
Although that may not seem like much of a reprieve, he believes it was exactly the type of treatment his right knee needed.
The Magic’s All-Star forward has been battling tendonitis in his right knee for a few months now and the arduous schedule aggravated the condition. But with Orlando battling for playoff positioning with Cleveland and Boston, he was certainly not about to take any time off.
Instead he tried to rest the knee as much as possible in between games and iced it up after use. With the way the Magic close out their season, he doesn’t foresee it being a big problem again.
“I think with the remainder of the schedule, we have days in between that will help a lot,” Lewis forecasted about his knee. “I am trying my best to get healthy before playoffs start, because you’re going to have to go all out once playoffs start.”
With Lewis’s stroke and the Magic’s backcourt both finally in order, Howard hit the nail on the head when he proclaimed the Magic are going to be a “very good team come playoff time.”
