Orlando Magic B-Ball
Hill key for Magic
Grant Hill presented gift watches to all of the players, coaches and front-office staff members of the Orlando Magic at the team's end-of-season meeting Thursday.
And like clockwork, the question of whether time has passed the injury-plagued forward by resurfaced going into another summer.
Hill has now missed 357 games, the equivalent of more than four full seasons, since coming to the Magic in 2000. He played in none of their last 21 games, meaning he was no factor in their 16-6 finish -- which, impressive as it was, left the Magic with no better than the record they had one year ago (36-46).
Assistant general manager Otis Smith said Hill, who turns 34 in October and is entering the final year of his $93 million contract, needs to spend three months strengthening his core abdominal muscles in a rehabilitation program before he can play again. It has yet to be determined when the program will begin or who will supervise him, although Alex McKechnie -- who worked with Tracy McGrady during a Magic playoff appearance several years ago -- is a strong possibility.
The Magic seem committed to keeping Hill, in part because their only other small forwards are Hedo Turkoglu, Trevor Ariza -- who will become a restricted free agent July 1 -- and soon-to-be 38-year-old Stacey Augmon.
"When he's on the floor, he's still one of the best players there," Smith said. "It's like having a Cadillac in the garage, but I'm going to drive the Yugo instead."
Hill, who left the RDV Sportsplex before reporters could speak to him, had surgery for a sports hernia in late October. He started in nine straight games after returning in mid-December before coming down with a strained groin, and he played in no more than four consecutive games the rest of the season.
"He's had so many ups and downs the last five years," Smith said. "So I expect him to go up, go down, back up and come full circle."
"Knowing Grant and the type of work he puts into everything, I think he'll be ready to go," coach Brian Hill said. "Hopefully he'll be ready to go by the start of training camp. And I certainly look forward to having him with us next year. I think he could be a key, key component to us being an improved team next year."
The six-time all-star remained visible on the Magic's bench the past six weeks, even if it was only in street clothes, and was frequently cited by Smith for his leadership behind the scenes.
"For us, Grant, playing or not playing, has a role on this team," Smith said.
"A lot of guys who are stars, when they get hurt and they're out for the season, they disappear and they're not around," forward Pat Garrity said. "And he was always around. He was always at practice. He was always offering encouragement to guys."
Despite losses this week to Chicago and Indiana, the way in which the Magic finished their season was an encouraging sign. They came within a game of tying the longest winning streak in franchise history, and the trades they made with Detroit and New York in February helped rejuvenate a team that had been going nowhere fast.
"Finally we have character guys that care about winning, care about doing the little things," Smith said.
But further attention needs to be paid to some details before next season. The Magic had the sixth-highest total of turnovers of any team in the league, and Dwight Howard made only 59.5 percent of his free throws in an otherwise stellar second season for him.
"Nobody likes to go home early," guard Jameer Nelson said. "I know I don't. I would love to be in the playoffs right now playing any team anywhere."
The Magic continues as Orlando drops Philly to stay alive
Dwight Howard poured in a season-high 28 points and pulled down a career-high 26 rebounds, as the red-hot Orlando Magic held on to their slim playoff hopes while seriously hurting Philadelphia's chances with a 102-97 victory over the Sixers at TD Waterhouse Centre.
Jameer Nelson, who attended Philadelphia's St. Joseph's University, tallied 21 points and dished out eight assists while Hedo Turkoglu contributed 23 points in the Magic's eighth straight victory. Orlando also won its 12th in a row at home and now sits 2 1/2 games behind idle Chicago for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Magic host the Bulls next Monday night.
"We'd love to make the playoffs," said Orlando head coach Brian Hill."But I've said all along that the key thing is that we finish up this season on a positive note so that these guys, whenever the last game is, and they walk out of here that they feel good about themselves and they feel good about what we can accomplish next year because that's going to be the impetus for them to work hard during the offseason."
Allen Iverson scored a game-high 36 points in the losing effort while Chris Webber posted a double-double with 20 points and 11 boards. Steven Hunter recorded 12 points and six rebounds in Philadelphia's second straight loss. The late-season slide significantly hurts the Sixers' playoff hopes, as the club now finds itself 1 1/2 games behind the Bulls with Chicago holding all tiebreakers.
"We have to win thse last two," said Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala. "All year long it has been like a roller coaster ride. It has been one of those seasons."
Iverson's driving layup with 10:41 to play in the game gave the Sixers an 84-83 advantage, their first lead since the 11:02 mark of the first stanza.
Later in the period, Iguodala's tough fadeaway jumper from the left elbow and Samuel Dalembert's free throw gave Philadelphia a 95-92 lead with 3:58 left.
Howard then drained two free throws and the big man converted a short hook to give the Magic a one-point edge. Next, Nelson connected on a pull-up jumper from the right wing to expand the edge to 98-95 with 2:24 on the clock.
Iguodala responded with a tough scoop shot in the lane, but Nelson scored amongst the trees in the paint to again increase the lead to three.
Webber missed an easy bucket in the paint with about 40 ticks remaining, and the Sixers couldn't corral the rebound off of Tony Battie's missed jumper. Turkoglu drained a pair from the charity stripe to make the score 102-97, and Iverson missed a three on the other end to end any hope of a comeback.
The Magic jumped to an early double-digit lead due in large part to a heavy helping of Howard. The forward scored 10 straight Magic points, with his slam giving Orlando a 20-14 lead with 5:05 left to play.
Iverson answered by scoring seven straight points for the Sixers, but the Magic expanded their lead to 37-27 at the end of the first period. Nelson and Darko Milicic combined for Orlando's final 10 points, with the former first- round selection of the Pistons draining a jumper to close out the scoring with two ticks remaining.
The Sixers battled back in the second stanza behind Iverson and an active supporting cast. Philadelphia outscored Orlando 29-21 in the period, as Kyle Korver just beat the buzzer with a jumper that cut the deficit to 58-56.
Orlando held an 83-80 edge after three stanzas.
Game Notes
Orlando won three of four games in the season series between the clubs...Philadelphia fell to 15-25 on the road...Orlando improved to 26-14 at home...The Magic held a 46-33 edge on the glass...Korver had 10 points in the loss...Milicic had eight points off the bench in the victory.
Magic's Playoff Picture in Focus
At what point does this stirring run that the Orlando Magic are in the midst of become classified as simply a stretch-run streak, or is it the start of something much grander?
Considering the way the Magic cast aside the fatigue of playing on consecutive nights and calmly swatted away the Atlanta Hawks on Monday the way a parent might a pestering child, Orlando has clearly reached a level of confidence now thought to be out of reach.
The Magic kept their improbable and impressive rally back into playoff contention alive Monday, crafting a 16-2 closing kick in the fourth quarter to dispatch the lowly Hawks 105-88 before 15,841 fans at TD Waterhouse Centre.
With the outcome all but decided late in the fourth quarter, a segment of fans began a chant that soon spread around the arena like wildfire. "We Want Playoffs! We Want Playoffs!" the group demanded of a team that once considered that notion a pipe dream.
But mentioning the Magic (33-44) and playoffs in the same sentence is no longer a stretch. With their fifth consecutive victory, their ninth win in 10 tries and 13th in the last 17, the Magic kept the Heat on Philadelphia and Chicago. The Magic pulled within 21/2 games of the ninth-seeded Bulls and remained three games back of the Sixers, who defeated Washington Monday.
"I'm not going to lie to you, we're thinking about possibly getting to the playoffs," admitted Magic shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson, who had 14 points, six rebounds and limited Atlanta star Joe Johnson to 12 points with his smothering defense. "Right now, we're not trying to put too much pressure on ourselves by thinking about the playoffs. We just have to keep winning."
The Magic have certainly done plenty of winning at home of late. Orlando won at home for a 10th consecutive time, its longest home streak since 2000. Remarkably, the Magic haven't lost at TD Waterhouse Centre since Feb. 26 to Houston. To put things in perspective, Orlando was 20-35 at the time of their last home loss.
Orlando also kept alive another jaw-dropping streak. It shot 53 percent from the floor _ the fifth game in a row it has bettered 50 percent from the floor and 17th time in the past 26 games. The Magic are third in the league in shooting and first in the NBA since the all-star break.
So is this merely a hot streak or are the Magic simply this good?
"I'd like to think that we're building an identity now," Magic coach Brian Hill said.
The Magic are off today -- no practice is another of Hill's perks for winning -- before embarking on their final back-to-back set of games of the season. Orlando gets lowly Toronto at home on Wednesday before traveling to powerful San Antonio on Thursday.
Orlando still has games remaining against Philadelphia, Chicago and Indiana -- the bottom three seeds in the East -- but with just five games remaining, every game is almost a must win.
"It would have meant nothing to beat Dallas, Detroit and Miami if we would have gone out here and lost to Atlanta," said Magic point guard Jameer Nelson, who had 17 points and six assists. "You've got to beat the teams that you're supposed to beat."
The night was also significant for the strides that Dwight Howard showed. He finished the game with 20 points, 16 rebounds and six assists. The 6-foot-11, 265-pound Atlanta native finished the season averaging 18 points and 15 rebounds against his hometown team.
Howard ended the third quarter with a thunderous follow-up dunk of a Keyon Dooling miss, sending the Magic into the fourth quarter with a 78-65 lead. But it was Howard's passing -- rather than his dunking -- that allowed the Magic to pick apart the Hawks defense.
After battering the Hawks in the previous three games, Atlanta coach Mike Woodson made the decision to double team Howard every time he got the ball in the post. And the second-year forward, who has had trouble with turnovers all season, made the Hawks pay with a career-high six assists through three quarters.
A first half that started off poorly ended well for the Magic. Orlando fell behind by as many as nine early on before snapping to and leading 52-47 at the break.
"We're not playing desperate," Howard said. "Like I've been preaching all season, hard work will eventually turn out and show up for our team."
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