From Downtown to Dwight-town :: 12-1 :: Week 3 Recap

[TomCat]

4-2, win over 76ers, Nets, Raptors, Pistons (Nov 6th). Lose to Pistons (Nov 3rd) & Suns

That's right, I'm going for the big one immediately in the first week

I look forward to seeing this story play out

[dare]

5-1, win over 76ers, Nets, Raptors, Pistons, lose to Suns

[Mark.]

Sweet guys. Recap for the week will be about 20ish hours from now.

Just want to re-emphasize that you don't have to predict the results of each individual game if you don't want to, although I know some of are keen gamblers

[hova-]

5-1, W to 76ers, L to Nets (!)

[TomCat]

L to Nets

[hova-]

Somewhat they are rockin in my Dynasty and are at 14-6 or something. And as he sims the game, it could happen

[TomCat]

Somewhat they are rockin in my Dynasty and are at 14-6 or something. And as he sims the game, it could happen

Damn that's true, they're fairly awesome in my Association as well..

[Clutch]

4-2 lose to PHX

[kibaxx7]

5-1, L against Phoenix.

[Its_asdf]

I'm going to go against the majority and say that losses will be incurred by the Pistons on the first night of the back to back and against the Raptors. Just because I'm a Raptors fan....

[Mark.]

I'm going to go against the majority and say that losses will be incurred by the Pistons on the first night of the back to back and against the Raptors. Just because I'm a Raptors fan....

Are you not going to give a prediction? Or do you mean I will go 4-2?

[Mark.]

Recap will have to be tomorrow now. My main pet peeve with this game is the boxscores, surely they could make them more manangeable.

[Martti.]

5-1, L to the Suns.

Great idea.

[Mark.]

Sorry guys not sure when exactly the recap is gonna be up, was hoping to get it done this lunch time but ran out of time. Will probably have to wait till after Xmas, probably the 27th.

Don't worry it is coming, pretty much all done just have to get it all posted.

[TomCat]

Yeah that's cool mate... I'm looking forward to seeing how man points into the negatives I get

[dare]

Oh man the longer this takes the more nervous I am hopefully you do updates soon

[Phreezy P]

Aw man! Foyle is my distant cousin and you IR him!! I am sad.

[Fresh8]

So we gonna see an update soon?

[Mark.]

Note: The first November recap will also include the two October games.

Welcome to the first weekly recap of the season. Each week I will recap 1-2 games in depth while the others I will just give a brief run down of top performer etc.
Week 1 saw the Magic start the 09/10 season off with a relatively easy schedule with many pundits predicting them record a 4-2 or 5-1 record over the week.
Two games against boggie team Detroit each side of a home game against the fast paced Phoenix Suns would likely prove to be the toughest challenge of the week for Orlando.


Week One Games:


Box Scores: [76ers][Magic]
The season opener gave Orlando a chance to prove that last years near playoffs upset from the 76ers was a mear fluke, and that is what they did.
Dwight Howard couldn't be contained with 32 points, 14 rebounds and 4 steals, while Vince Carter proved that he can easily fit in on this team with 25 points at an efficient 11-17 clip.
Andre Iguodala and Thadeus Young performed well in the losing effort with 26 and 24 points respectively.



Box Scores: [Magic][Nets]
Orlando continued the new season with another win against a young inexperienced side. This game was about the battle of the point guards.
Both Jameer Nelson and Devin Harris went at it all night recording very similar performances (27 points, 11 assists, 3 steals and 27 points, 12 assists, 3 steals respectively).
However Nelson was more efficient from the field (8-12 to 11-25) and his team came out on top. Dwight Howard terroized any forrays into the paint by the Nets recording 7 blocks.



Box Scores: [Magic][Raptors]



What Rivalry?
Orlando coast past Toronto in first meeting with Turkoglu.



Yes it was the first meeting against Hedo since he left, and yes there is the sense of a brewing rivalry between these two sides (well according to Toronto fans anway) however this game just didn't live up to the billing in terms of intensity. Toronto never really fired from the field (39-85 and 4-14 from downtown) and it could have been a lot worse had the Magic played at full defensive intensity, thats not a knock on the Magic who simply never really had to try. The storyline of the traitor Turkoglu and the man brought into fill his shoes never really eventuated as neither guarded the other for long and neither shot all that well. Turkoglu did manage 9 assists but his 12 points on 18 shots was less than desired. Vinsanity did manage a more attractive statline (21,5,5) however it took almost as many shots to get his 21.

Both the Magic and Raptors moved the ball well (32 assists on 41 makes and 28 on 39 respectively) however the big difference was the inside battle with Orlando winning the battle on the boards 44-36 and scoring with ease on the inside. Dwight Howard monstered the Toronto front court players with his first 20-20 game of the season. After a strong second game of the season Jameer Nelson was kept quiet due to foul trouble but still managed 9 assists in 28 cautious minutes.

The Magic pulled away early in the first thanks to 3 consecutive treys from Carter and Pietrus early on. They never trailed pulling the lead out to 25 at one point during the second quarter. A brief comeback attempt by the Raptors thanks to a 15-4 run fueled by Jose Calderon (17 points, 8 assists) which brought the score back to 79-70 during the thrid was quickly silenced when Howard was brought back into the game and reeled off 3 straight dunks, each followed by a defensive stop on the other end.

Fans most likely came away from this game a little let down having come in expecting a hard fought battle when in the end what they got was a low physical (only 22 freethrows attempted in total), low intensity contest. The Magic leave Toronto 3-0 and aiming towards a perfect first week of the season while the Raptors are left to wonder if they are yet ready to battle with the big boys of the East as many over the offseason suggested.

Image Gallery




Box Scores: [Magic][Pistons]
Vince Carter shot the lights out from downtown en route to 20 points as he led the Magic to their fourth win in as many games against a determined Detroit team.
Rashard Lewis added 19 points while Dwight Howard added 17, 8 rebounds and 7 blocks as the Magic used superior shooting and 6 extra threes to squeeze past the Pistons.
Ben Wallace had 3 blocks and 16 rebounds as the Pistons outrebounded the Magic 41-39 in the losing effort. Rodney Stuckey added 18 points and 7 assists on 14 shot attempts.



Box Scores: [Suns][Magic]
Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis each had 26 points as the Magic smashed the Phoenix Suns by 47 points in a much anticipated game where only one team lived up to the high scoring predicitons.
Dwight Howard chipped in with 22 and a game high 15 rebounds as the Magic out rebounded the Suns 57-40 as well as making 17 treys to the Suns' 4.
Jason Richardson had 17 points and Amar'e had 12 and 14 rebounds. Steve Nash was held to 8 points and 5 assists in the losing effort due in-part to a great lockdown performance by Jameer Nelson.



Box Scores: [Pistons][Magic]
Dwight Howard posted 24 points and 14 rebounds as the Magic completed the perfect opening week with a great defensive performance against the Detroit Pistons.
Jameer Nelson added 17 points as the Magic, unable to really find a shooting stroke, turned up the heat on defense to hold the Pistons to 85 points and take their 6th win in a row.
Tayshaun Prince had 19 points and Rip Hamilton 18 as the Magic held the Pistons to 36% shooting and only allowed 5 makes from downtown.


Weekly Summary
The Magic supprised all with their great start to the season. A week that featured a double over boggie team Detroit and a easy win over the Toronto Raptors was highlighed by a huge drubbing of the highly rated offense of Phoenix suns.
Jameer Nelson would have to earn the performance of the week with his huge defensive performance against Steve Nash, what makes this stand out even more is the fact that Nelson is often criticised for his defensive limitations.
Dwight Howard will once again be looking to make a MVP bid and if he continues his current performances he will well be in with a shot, hiw week was highlighted by his first 20-20 game of the season at Toronto.
Orlando will look to continue their good form into the next week and onwards as their schedule will no doubt provide more challenging weeks than this.

[Mark.]

Aw man! Foyle is my distant cousin and you IR him!! I am sad.

Haha don't worry man he will get his chance at some stage

So we gonna see an update soon?

Funny you should mention that

Sweet guys, sorry about the delay, been away for holidays etc and its been far too sunny to get much time inside once ive been back.
I will update the leader board for the prediction challenge at the end of each month as it will be too much work to post it weekly.
Week 2 preview should hopefully be up tonight

[Fresh8]

Fucking mad recap! Looks awesome man!!!

[Azzdogs]

That pick of DeRozan looks almost real and great start to the season.

[3PK]

That pick of DeRozan looks almost real and great start to the season.

Agreed. Nice win. Looking like a nice dynasty, massive win over the suns, you must've played great defense. I look forward to the season!

[hova-]

Oh man, 6-0. Very nice start to the season The pics are A+ !! I love the Derozan slam, the PC graphics are way better than the PS3. I also envy you for your boxscores as I always have to take photos which end up being blurry and somewhat ugly.

Keep this one up!

[The X]

Nice pics, especially like the thumbnails (the Raptors' pics look sweet )