OFFICIAL: ORLANDO MAGIC (3) @ TORONTO RAPTORS (6) - GAME 3 - 7:30PM - The Score/NBA TV

[brownin187]

We payed the refs off. We flopped. Welcome to the NBA you salty magicians.

 

[ce0 mal]

Howard had 3 offensive fouls. 2 from "moving screens", and one from when Bosh tried to cuddle up next to Dwight when coming down the floor andflopped.

And the fans had nothing to do with Dwight mising his fts, he was 1-9 in shootaround before the game; he just had a bad night at the line.

The only reason Dwight didn't dominate is because of foul trouble.

There were at least 2 plays a qrt when Dwight could get hacked by Andrea or racked by a guard coming to double team and didn't get the call. The only timeDwight isn't dominating is when he's on the bench in this series.

 

[carlos tevez]

I've already stated I think the Magic will take this series but...

To blame the refs and flopping for the loss yesterday is ridiculous. The Raptors dominated the game for almost 48 minutes yesterday, the Magic were never ableto get a run going and make it close.

The Raptors live and die by the jumpshot, a perfect example is a comparison between games 1+2 and 3. When our shots are falling, the team jumps out in frontearly and it's difficult to catch up. However, when the entire team is cold they get absolutely dismantled as seen in the 1st quarters of games 1+2.

There were some suspect calls by the refs yesterday, no question, but the game was not decided by the refs.

BTW, did anyone watch the game on The Score? At around 6:30 of the 4th quarter two drunk dudes in the crowd were rubbing each others balls

Funniest thing I've seen in a while

 

[ultrasur1]

good effort by toronto last night. hopefully they can take the next one too, though i also don't think they'll come out in the long run.

i kinda find it unfair that some are taking shots at chris bosh. he's not kobe, but he's a pretty good player. just needs to put on some more weightand be a bit more aggressive

 

[brownin187]

oh my gosh, did this dude just cite a statistic from the shootaround? thats hilarious.

 

[soulize dp]

We're soft and we know it...Raptors fans are fickles as hell if you ever visit a real sports forum or listen to Toronto media, Toronto is a harsh city toplay in, especially if you aren't producing, ask the Leafs and Jays.

You win some, you lose some. Why are you so salty?

When you guys win, we give you your props and blame our own players and their mistakes. Maybe you should do the same and we'll give you Magic"fans" the same respect back when we win.

 

[ballinboykz]

Originally Posted by chikickz

What we did was as soon as Dwight got the ball, a Magic player would cut baseline/through the key, thus leaving someone to double Howard. As soon as we got a good chance, we had a big guard (Parker, Delfino) to come over and double, and force Dwight to make a bad decision. Least to say, it worked. I think that is the only way you can play the game against him. Everybody knows he is going to get 20/10, at least (or in this series, 30/20).

Where on the court was Howard receiving the ball when the double teams would come? Was this high post-elbow territory or on the low block?

I know the scouting reports say make Howard hold the ball longer than he wants to. You do it with double teams and forcing his open view away from his teammates as they rotate on the baseline to go camp on the perimeter. SVG tells Howard to catch the ball and start making moves right away.

Did the double teams lead to offensive fouls from Howard? Because on those doubles at the high post if you just hold your ground his pivot rotation is going to knock defenders over for a charge.

Dwight was regularily on the low block when we caused turnovers. The rare time he was up top, we got him to get rid of the ball quick.
The only time he is a threat is down low; however, the only time he makes mistakes is also down low.

The offensive fouls came above the three on moving screens. One was a good call, the other was a bit iffy.

Anyway, back to the info; the way we got turnovers is by making him hold onto the ball. I guess you can say that the magic played into our defensive scheme bygiving Howard one on one iso opportunities. When he was given the iso, it became a 1 v 3 matchup in our favor. When the team was spread out evenly on thefloor, the Magic scored nearly every time.

As for the question about the high post, I think he learned from that from games one and two. He rarely touched the ball in the high post. And like I said, ifhe did, he got rid of it mighty fast. No offensive calls up at the elbow (from what I saw at least, watched only up until midway point of the third).

I guess, well first I am no NBA coach, and never will be. But I can tell you this; we have to let Howard get the ball just outside the low block to have achance. The times he was dominant against us was when he had a good 2-3 steps into the key already when he got the ball. I know that is a concept to stop anybig man, but it has to be stressed when playing Dwight. Second key is to make him hold onto the ball as long as possible. I dont know if a zone would help thatout, but once he gets the ball down low, a double must come immediately. The only way he beats us with an immediate double, is if he gets the ball out rightaway; a chance that I think any coach would take when having a big man throw cross court.

Anyway, thats what I saw, some may differ a bit