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

[buzzy]

Holy shit.

[Jing]

Those are some sweet screenshots man, really captures the moment of the game.

[Fresh8]

Love the screens man.

[Mark.]

thierry , Nah Vince isnt injured seriously. I think he returned and played some hurt minutes vs the Nets but then he was healthy at the start of the next week.

hova-, Cheers dude Haha well your Bobcats will get a chance for revenge this coming week, lets see if they take it

dare, buzzy, Jing, Sit, Cheers guys, im really happy with how they are coming out. I will make sure to provide more in the future

Next weekly preview will be up shortly. Got another week off work so I want to get to the end of November and get monthly recap stuff done during that time so I might be posting recaps before some people get a chance to predict but I will try to leave about 12 hours between each if I can. Shouldn't matter too much if you miss predictions anyways as there are plenty of weeks to catch up.

[Mark.]

Welcome to the third weekly preview fo the season. These will be kept short, their main purpose is to let you know which games will be played and simmed.
They will also help readers who are invloved in the "From the NLSC to the League" feature to get a look at who I am playing to aide in their predicitions.


Week Three Games:

Note: Games highlighted in blue will be played games.

This week starts off with pretty much a mirror image of the begininng of week 2. The Bobcats and Thunder will both travel to Orlando, the Bobcats hoping to reap revenge for the beating the Magic gave them the previous week while the Thunder will be hoping to avoid Orlando's wrath after they conquered them in Oklahoma.
The highlight of the week however will be the matchup against the Celtics in Boston. Ask any Celtic fan and they will say that the Magic would not have beaten them last playoffs if they had Kevin Garnett, well this time there will hopefully be no injuries and it will be a chance for the Magic to prove that the 4-3 series win was not as hollow as they say.


Example of Making Predicitions:

There are 6 games in Week 1 so "Player A" decides to predict a 5-1 record for the week. "Player A" also decides that they are confident that I will beat the Nets but I will lose to the Suns.
"Player A" will there for make a guess of "5-1, Wins over: Nets, Loses to: Suns."
This will give "Player A" a maximum possible points total of 35 (20 for correct record, 5 for participating, 5 for each result guess correctly)
or a minimum possible of -1 (5 for participation, -3 for each result guessed incorrectly)
Of course there are also different points total possibilities in between these two limits that "Player A" could receive.

[kibaxx7]

2-1, lose to the Celtics. Buzzer-beater by Pierce.

[dare]

2-1 lose to Celtics, Alley-oop by Rondo

[Fresh8]

3-0

[Azzdogs]

3-0, three by Rasard Lewis for the winner against Celtics

[Martti.]

3-0

[Mark.]

Welcome to the third weekly recap of the season.
Week 2 of the season saw the Magic suffer their first loss at the hands of the Thunder however they managed to pick themselves back up and record 3 more wins in row.
Week 3 poses a similar challenge with the Magic facing two team from the previous week as well as the veteran Celtics at Boston.


Week Three Games:


Box Scores: [Bobcats][Magic]
The Magic continued with their good form vs the Charlotte Bobcats coasting to a 5 point victory in a rematch of last weeks away game.
Dwight Howard starred for Orlando with 22 points 15 rebounds and 5 blocks. Vince Carter chipped in with 15, 6 and 6 in a off shooting night taking 13 shots to get his total.
Stephen Jackson paced the Bobcats in the loss with 16 points and 3 steals while Borris Diaw added 15 and 4 rebounds. Gerald Wallace was held to 9 points and 7 rebounds on 2-13 shooting.



Box Scores: [Thunder][Magic]
After last weeks loss in Oklahoma the Magic were sure to come out firing in search of revenge in this game. And revenge they got. Using a huge 49 point first quarter on a blistering 89% from the field the Magic had it easy the whole game.
Jameer Nelson and Rashard combined for 52 points on 19-31 shooting while adding 11 of the Magic's 21 treys between them. Dwight Howard posted a double double (12 points 11 rebounds 3 blocks) in limited minutes due to foul trouble.
Kevin Durant attempted to carry his team with 28 points on 11-26 shooting. He was aided by Russell Westbrook who once again was troublesome for the Magic with 23 points and 5 assists on 8-12 shooting.



Box Scores: [Magic][Celtics][Team Stats][Starters][Quarter Breakdown]

Last Years Playoffs No Mere Fluke.
Magic claim second major scalp in as many weeks.



Boston learned a lesson in this game that you would think they already knew; the Magic are a great shooting team. The Celtics let this game slip away by simply not closing out early enough in the first quarter allowing Orlando to rain treys en route to a 32-17 first quarter lead.
To Boston's credit for the final 3 quarters they began to play like the great defensive team that they are and managed to outscore the Magic in each of those quarters however it was never going to be enough because unfortunately the Magic are just that good. After last seasons loss in the finals to the Lakers Coach Van Gundy has been working on adding new weapons to the bread and butter inside-out game and high pick and roll. Vince Carter is perhaps the biggest difference this season adding his driving ability to the team which Hedo Turkoglu just couldn't quite match.

Once again the Magic restricted themselves from relying on the 3 ball too much, going inside when the matchups worked and taking their opponents to the hole when that was on. These varried attacks proved to be too much for Boston to handle defensively as Doc Rivers struggled to find a lineup that could match up with the versatile Orlando lineup which shot an efficient 56% from outside compared to the Celtics 16%.
Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis had a field day against a perimeter defense that just couldn't decide how to defend them. Lewis finished with a game high 28 points including 6 treys, 5 of which were in the key first quarter. Vince Carter was the catalyst for Orlando recording 27 points and 6 assists on 12-21 shooting as Paul Pierce and Ray Allen struggled to keep him from getting into the lane. Dwight Howard was the best value on the court with 17 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocks on 6-6 shooting and 5-5 from the freethrow lane, the best part of his performance was his willingness to deffer to the outside shooters when the moment was right and to demand the ball inside when it wasn't.
Kevin Garnett was one of the main reasons the Celtics managed to keep the game this close, making 12 of his 19 shots to finish the game with 24 points as well as 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Rajon Rondo had his usual all round performance from the point recording 12 points 5 rebounds and 14 assists.

The Celtics allowed the Magic to get too hot too early in the first and could never really stem the flow of points until the fourth quarter where the Celtics got as close as they had since the beginning of the game cutting the lead to 5 with 7 minutes left, however the resinsertion of Vince Carter into the lineup cut the run as Orlando matched Boston basket for basket for the rest of the game.
A dejected Boston team left the court with many questions to answer, it would seem that all the pre season talk of a 70 win season was already long forgotten and now the main question was what they had to change to make it past the 2nd round of the playoffs. Orlando continue on their roll and leave the game with the best record in the league at 12-1. Any talk of a record breaking season is still being kept under raps, but there is a deffinate vibe brewing that this squad could do something special this season.

Image Gallery




Weekly Summary
Week 3 was Orlando's second perfect week of the season and saw them execute another important win against another conference rival, especially on their home court.
Revenge at home against the Thunder was sweet and another win against Charlotte kept the momentum going into the last game of the week vs Boston. Nobody expects this roll to continue forever but the optimists out there are already whispering of a potential record breaking season and the franchise's first title.
The schedule will continue to get more difficult and losses and bad runs will come, however the Magic are already proving that last season's postseason run was no mere fluke.

[kibaxx7]

Ah, wrong prediction... OMG, Bill Walker actually played!

[Fresh8]

Nice win against the Celtics!

Loved the recap!

[Azzdogs]

OMG Ray Allen shot 1-6 in 3 point territory. Great defence and superb game by Howard 5 blocks

[Mark.]

Thierry., Yeah the record has supprised me a bit too, deffinately rewarding the risk takers at this stage. Some of the sim results have been huge. To be honest I didn't expect to beat both the Cavs and Celtics but the beauty of playing with Orlando is that we seem to get hot at some stage of the game and as long as I capitalise on that then we build a lead that the other team can't catch.

Sit, Cheers dude, was deffinately an important win to get on their home court.

Azzdogs, Yeah I was very happy with the defense, especially when they managed to shut us down for periods we managed to do the same to them in most cases.

I was in a rush to post that recap before training so didn't get a chance to proof read. Quite a few mistakes that I had to fix, and im sure there are more in there!

Week 4 preview will be up shortly.

[hova-]

17/16/5 vs Celtics
I could not give my prediction, had no time, but it's safe that I had bet on my Cats, and failed once again ^^

Your pics are so nice ... really makes me envious !

[Valor]

damn, sucks you are not perfect anymore (stupid thunder) but you just had another perfect week and crushed the Celtics!
love the pics and the presentation, keep it up bro

[Martti.]

Great recap as always. And way to go 3-0.

[Mark.]

Welcome to the fourth weekly preview fo the season. These will be kept short, their main purpose is to let you know which games will be played and simmed.
They will also help readers who are invloved in the "From the NLSC to the League" feature to get a look at who I am playing to aide in their predicitions.


Week Four Games:

Note: Games highlighted in blue will be played games.

This week is probably the toughest yet for the Magic. They start off with another matchup against the Raptors in Orlando which they will hope to win, however after that it gets a little tougher.
Two games in two days against conference rivals Miami (Home) and Atlanta (Away) will be tough tests for the Magic, especially the Atlanta game as fatigue may begin to set in.
Orlando will finish off the week with an away game against the Bucks in Milwaukee. Expect this to be a tough week for the Magic but if they can keep their momentum is could be a defining one.


Example of Making Predicitions:

There are 6 games in Week 1 so "Player A" decides to predict a 5-1 record for the week. "Player A" also decides that they are confident that I will beat the Nets but I will lose to the Suns.
"Player A" will there for make a guess of "5-1, Wins over: Nets, Loses to: Suns."
This will give "Player A" a maximum possible points total of 35 (20 for correct record, 5 for participating, 5 for each result guess correctly)
or a minimum possible of -1 (5 for participation, -3 for each result guessed incorrectly)
Of course there are also different points total possibilities in between these two limits that "Player A" could receive.

[kibaxx7]

3-1, L at Hawks.

[hova-]

3-1 loss @ATL. Damn, I need to got to bed as it seems like you guys are online right now. (Usually none of you is online while I'm posting, I guess sleeping)

[Fresh8]

2-2, L to Heat/Hawks.

[Mark.]

hova-, Don't worry about missing the predicitions for that week, there will be plenty more to come. Get your ones in for this coming week Glad you like the pics

Valor, Yeah it would be a bit silly to be perfect for too long though, I think once we start hitting the big Western Conference teams the record could take a bit of a hit. Good to see you following

Martti., Thanks mate, yeap the 3-0 made up for the loss against the Thunder in the previous week.

Next recap will probably be tomorrow, so plenty of time to get the predicitions in for the fourth week

[Mark.]

hova-, Haha yeah, its midday here now.

Damn you guys got your predictions in quick

[Fresh8]

It's only the start of the day here in Aussieland. Go to sleep Hova.

Mark, does NZ show NBA game??? We got it on free to air TV! Spurs, Lakers in 3 hours time! Too bad I'm at work.