They aren't legit contenders. The Lakers and Blazers are average teams that anyone can beat. Spurs and Utah just had off nights vs. Orlando.
Off the top of my head i know they have beaten
Lakers
Jazz
Spurs
Blazers?
Who else have they taken care of this season?
They aren't legit contenders. The Lakers and Blazers are average teams that anyone can beat. Spurs and Utah just had off nights vs. Orlando.
Blazers beat them in orlando already.. orlandos been legit the whole season but everyone seems to forget about them.
They are legit for the regular season. They melt come playoffs time.
all i kno is yao pwns dwight EVERY time they face each other and they will be our favorite finals opponent
I don't ever remember Jameer Nelson being as good as he is now.
Isn't this the 2nd night of a back to back for L.A.? (granted it was Miami hahaha)
Same for the Spurs loss.
That's a good point and I actually agree.. that's probably why people don't look at them alot in the regular season like so far.
Went from T-Mac leaving, In the 20's win season, to 1st round, 1st round, and 2nd round last year. I don't get what we were supposed to do with a VERY young Dwight + crappy core the first 2 years. Not every team is going to goto the finals after a couple years (Cavs). Most good/great playoff teams have been together a while save Boston/Cleveland. It's just not a valid excuse for not getting exposure.
The Suns almost lost to the Magic, in Phoenix, a week ago. We won by 1, but it was a nailbiter.
The Pistons have beaten the Cavs, and the Lakers and Spurs on the road. And, they aren't legit contenders at all. Not even close. It's not just the good teams you beat. It has to be everything, how you play, how you handle adversity, how you perform on the road, how you play on the second of a back-to-back, how you play through injuries.
Just beating a handful of very good teams doesn't mean a team is automatically a legit contender.
They still don't have much of a bench, size, and depend too much on 3pt shooting. They will be good for the regular season but those drawbacks keep them from being in Cle/Bos class. But their two key players (Nelson and Howard) are very young, Lewis and Turk are not old by any means, so if they can add one more player, preferably a rugged PF who can bring them more defensive toughness they will be really good. But Howard has to improve as well, offensively he isn't very good yet. He still is too stiff I think, maybe the huge weight he has put on isn't neccesarily a good thing.
pietrus will be a big help once he's back and lee looks like he could become a decent guy off the bench.
1. How we play? I guess pretty good.
2. Adversity - Down 8 in Rose Garden with 2 minutes left and win. Win 2 road trip games without Dwight.
3. 10-3 on the road.
4. Beat Blazers on a b2b on the road, and the Jazz IIRC.
Not saying we're elite but c'mon dude.
Give the Magic their dues. They deserve it. They did not choke in the playoffs. They just faced a better Detroit team. Do you expect the 3rd seed to beat the 2nd seed?
Why even argue if you don't even think you're elite right now?
I'm talking about being a "legit contender" as it's the topic of the thread. Magic have been playing really well. They're good, really good. Still a ways before we can claim they are "legit contenders."
And, the things I wrote were more generalizations than anything, and not just specific to the Magic. Like I said, the Magic have played well this season. Are they "legit contenders?" Not yet convinced.
They're not elite. There defense is not good enough among other things.
When the jumper is falling for a guy like him, he'll look that good. He's strong, quick and can finish despite contact. An efficient jumper is all he really needs.
Orlando's defense is actually 3rd in the league in efficiency.
From what I've seen they get exploited by the better teams, and they live and die by the three; not a very conducive style to winning in the PO's.
But we'll see. They'll probably end up playing the Pistons in the 1st round but CB usually owned them so who knows what that match up will look like now. AI's inability to play defense on even stationary objects i'm sure will come into play.
Orlando is not a very good team IMHO. Not on BOS or CLE's level.
As ty as the Lakers are playing lately they still had a chance to beat them on the road. This is with getting ZERO production from Bynum, Odom, and Pau.
I think Orlando is underrated. Yes Boston and Cleveland are great teams but Orlando is right there. I would not envy either Boston or Cleveland dealing with them in a 7 game series. Not saying they will win the East but they can have a say in who wins the East.
wtf is jameer smoking, he's been lighting it up like a mad man lately
Nah they got a fakie.
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