Poor shooting and Violet Palmer dooms Orlando
What do you get when you combine 22% team three-point shooting, an enthusiastically loud fan base and Violet Palmer? A 108-94 loss for the Orlando Magic, that’s what. The Toronto Raptors held off Orlando and took back some momentum in the series after going down 2-1. Toronto outplayed the Magic for most of the game, but Orlando faced an uphill battle from the beginning and never really could overcome the combination of poor shooting and even worse officiating.
Now, I don’t want to turn into one of those guys that blames every loss on piss poor officials, a la Violet Palmer, Crawford and Palmer, the worst officiating tandem in the league. The raptors honestly brought more intensity than the Magic and responded to an amazing home crowd. Those fans were easily the most enthusiastic I’ve seen in the playoffs this year.
The Raptors shot an impressive 49% from the field and had a terrific game from several players, namely their guards. T.J Ford pulled several shots out of his butt and finished the game with 21 points. Ford making jump shot after jump shot doesn’t happen much, so that was a major reason for Toronto’s win. Jose Calderon also was on fire, going 4-of-8 from behind the arc, and Jason Kapono also made 3-of-6 three’s, two of those with hands in his face.
Orlando played uninspired ball through most of the game, and looked fatigued. Maurice Evans , Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu all seemed to be going through the motions. Turkoglu had 26 points, but that was a forced 26. Dwight Howard had 19 points and 12 boards, a dramatic drop off from the last several games against the Raptors, and he also was blockless.
Rashard Lewis finally made a three (he actually made 3) but his performance couldn’t propel Orlando to a win. The team shot just 22% from behind the arc and also lost the turnover and rebound battle…never a good combination.
Despite Toronto’s nifty shooting (Ford can’t keep shooting like that, can he?), Orlando’s poor shooting and total lack of motivation, the Magic actually had a chance to win the game. Trailing by 21 at half, Lewis made two treys to start the half, but after that officiating took over. Palmer made some tick-tack calls on both sides don’t get me wrong, but the brunt of the bad calls went towards the Magic. Sure, Toronto had 24 fouls to Orlando’s 21, but the calls that were or weren’t made we absolutely appalling. Dwight Howard, the all-Star and best big man in the game, was called for three illegal picks. Three! Calderon faked getting fouled after Orlando cut the lead down to 10 or 11 points, and got to the line to take momentum back. Howard also got hacked numerous times and there was nothing called. Orlando was also called for hand-checks on several occasions and Toronto wasn’t called for one, even though I saw it happen time after time. Never in my life have I seen so many tacky calls made in a playoff game.
I have long said Palmer is the worst official in the league, and here inconsistency tonight only validated my theory. Palmer made some b.s calls on Toronto too, but that didn’t come until the game was nearly out of reach.
The team looked fatigued tonight and I can only hope Orlando shows more enthusiasm on Saturday. Tonight was basically an elimination game for the Raptors (only two teams have ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs) so with all the chips on the table and with their loud fans (very impressive), poor officiating and awful Orlando shooting, they still only won by 14, which isn’t overly impressive. My guy tells me that Orlando will be pissed after tonight’s performance and they will come out with a ton of energy. If that’s the case, the Magic will win and will head back to Orlando with a 3-1 series lead.
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16 Responses to “Poor shooting and Violet Palmer dooms Orlando”
April 25th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I have to say, I love the picture of VP on the front page
April 25th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Lol… ohhh poor poor orlando reporter’s… it was all the ref’s fault .. OH.. and you said you had a chance to win!? hahahaha… down by 9 was the closest u came.. where we were down by 5 in the first away game, and had a chance to win it on the final shot in the second away game…
In comparison, Orlando has done a much worse job than Toronto on an away court… but, its only one game.. the second game will double stamp my point though.
Oh… and poor officiating?.. we had more fouls.. so u cant blame that.. and i do recall chris bosh driving on the second last play of the second game and getting body checked in the air with no call.. that would have given the raps the lead.. and we would be up 2 - 1 now…
I look forward to having the raptors win the series in Game 6 and hopefully you can write another article about poor officiating, but i suggest you just write about why the Raptors are a better team and what golf courses Orlando can play now… Canada has some great one’s.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:49 am
What a beat down, down all game, could not get closer than 9. Howard totally frustrated, Turko Teed up for lipping off to the refs, total loss of composure by the team…The Magic just get a taste of Raptor Nation the best fans in the NBA…So how did you like our singing..That’s what home crowd is all about….Did you like the Superman sucks chants…well DH said CB4 is Lex Luther so that make us the villians, and if that’s the case we have no love for your Superman….those 3 pointers are krytonites. Hope Jameer is OK…we wouldn’t want that to be your excuse for getting blown out on Saturday…There will be a different officiating crew at that game so you can’t use them as an excuse either….payback is a bitch
April 25th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
What a joke these Orlando writers are…all the same…just admit you guys got drilled last night and it wasn’t even close other than when you were up 6-2…and have some class, Raps Nation easily couldve cried “foul” on the bodycheck Superman gave CB4 in Game 2…but what did we do? We realized it came down to we weren’t playing our best ball, not because of that one foul…and by the way “Calderon faked getting fouled after Orlando cut the lead down to 10 or 11 points, and got to the line to take momentum back.” faked getting fouled? What? He faked a jumper, Superman bit and Jose went back up and got the contact!! And what momentum? You guys had been down by at least 10 all game up till that point…this Homer attitude makes me laugh…and your fans suck by the way…I don’t think they ever got even close to being as loud as us…the fact that Stan brought JJ off the bench to try and spark your team says a lot…And yeah TJ might not hit his jumpers all series, but Mo Evans hitting everything in Games 1 & 2 wasn’t gonna last either…get a grip on reality
April 25th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I always love the childish rants of fans. It makes things a little more interesting and personal.
I enjoyed the energy of the Toronto crowd. It’s good for the game. As for the singing, I’m sure if there were any other foreign crowds in the NBA, we’d hear more “singing”. What does the song mean anyway? It sounds like the same one I hear at every foreign game.
I’ve also noticed the Raptors have really embraced another foreign trait; flopping. I mean seriously, over half the guys on your team are serious floppers, and of course half of the guys on your team are foreign (soccer mentality). But the thing that has bothered me the most is that I didn’t remember Chris Bosh being such a flop. This dude flails constantly. He’s like a “big man” version of Dwayne Wade. Manu Ginobili also comes to mind.
General NBA:
Since I’m on the topic of flopping, I might as well go on. The NBA seriously needs to do something about it this off season. I know they say they go back and review all the games. I think they need to start fining players, and base the amounts off of the severity of the call. I’ve seen to many calls have big impacts on the outcomes of games; calls that should not have been made.
I’m not just talking about the Magic series. How about Andrei Kirilenko flying out of bounds away from the ball which took a way the tying 3-pointer in the final seconds of the Rockets/Jazz game 2? That was a major call that should have never happened. I know they can go back and do anything to correct such calls. But they could start fining players, and I think they should stop dropping large fines on guys who play that way to make them think about a little. It’s not basketball, its bulls—t and bad for the game.
It’s even worse to think about when you realize these players are all “grown men”. As far as I know, everyone on the court has “a pair”, it’d be nice if they started acting like it, and playing like it.
Back to this series:
I love how when a team gets a single win, all the sudden people’s perspectives change so much. The Magic won their 2 home games and the Raptors went home and won 1, now all the sudden someone is going to say the Raptors are going to win 4 straight games and win in 6? I can respect that you’re a fan of your team, but you’re being a little to much of a “fan boy”. You got to be a little more realistic. I mean honestly, what round did you pick the Raptors to lose in? Because they will lose, it’s just a matter of when. No disrespect, you have nice little team, but Toronto is no contender. Even if you did get past Orlando, you’d only earn yourselves a beating from Detroit. Both our teams are probably alike in that way. Winning a playoff series would make for a successful season for either of us.
What it comes down to is that the Raptors did what they had to do in game 3. We’ve seen this type of series happen plenty of times in the NBA. The odds of the Raptors winning 4 straight is pretty close to impossible, and is foolish to say.
All 3 games played last night, the series were 2-0, and now they’re all 2-1. Heck, after the Wizards got crushed in Cleveland, they came back and beat the hell out of the Cavs. Does that mean the Wizards are in the driver’s seat now?
I’ll say it again; the Raptors did what they had to do. It was a “must win” game for them, because if they lost, the series was over. Now if they can win game 4, the series will get interesting and that will flip the pressure back on the Magic to win game 5 at home. But until that happens, don’t get ahead of yourself, and be reasonable.
With that said, I’m not going to guarantee a victory for the Magic in game 4, but after watching them play 82 games this season, I feel confident in saying game 4 will be a battle and you might be a little disappointed if you’re expecting a relaxing blowout.
General officiating:
Just because two teams are equal or close with fouls doesn’t mean one team can’t be benefiting more than the other. Here are two ways that officials can control games in a major way.
1: Get players that matter in foul trouble. Most teams in this league struggle to win when their key players get into foul trouble. All it takes is a bad call here or there to put a guy you need on the floor on the bench, or still trying to play, but limited on how aggressive they can. Now I know sometimes players get into foul trouble on there own; but often it just depends on what officials you have calling the game. One officiating crew can drastically differ from another, why I’m not sure.
Relating to the Magic this series, Nelson has been in foul trouble, and sure some of them were fouls, but there were others that were awful with a player just taking a dive, and that’s what has put him in foul trouble. Another example; Howard got called for three moving picks last night. They can make that call pretty much anytime they want, in any game. My question is why does it vary so much? What’s the reason?
2: The other way officials can affect the game with a call here or there is by the timing; probably best known as “momentum killers”. A bad call made while the momentum is shifting truly stops the momentum from shifting.
To often people look at the fouls called, or free throws attempted to determine if the game was call fair or not; and that’s just not reality. There are a lot of things that come into play, and the average viewer will not pick up on.
The inconsistency is what makes me nervous, and will always make me question. Why are the officials so inconsistent? A conspiracy theorist would say it’s because of money, after all that is what the world revolves around. Think about it, can you imagine how much revenue is made for a single playoff game? Now, imagine how much is lost when a series ends early.
April 25th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I was going to respond by Damien, you hit the nail on the head with everything I was going to say, as usualy. I cant really say much more.
toronto outplayed Orlando, I said that and dont know why you Toronto fans only read certain parts, but Damien explained everything to a tee. Great job Damien, and again, you said it all.
April 25th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Thanks Brendan. I tried.
Plus, I’m still unable to log in to write anything. Its okay, I feel I’m better at responding, than writing about the obvious, or at least what seems obvious.
Do we sound like biased fans? I know I don’t feel like one. I know the Raptors were better than the Magic in game 3. Hell, the Raptors were better in parts of games 1 and 2. But that’s why I feel confident, besides two 1st quarters and Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson in the first two games we haven’t played great basketball, but we’re still where we need to be.
The fact of the matter is whoever comes out on top is going to struggle to get out of the next round…unless lightening strikes 3 more times for Philly. All I think Philly did was smack Detroit a little and woke a sleeping giant. Detroit is famous for doing this in the playoffs. I wouldn’t be surprised if they win the next 3 games. The longest it goes is 6. Detroit will not lose in the 1st round.
I think what our series comes down to is proving to ones organization that they’re going in the right direction. If either team loses in the 1st round, their season will not be considered a success, which could bring on changes. That is what I feel the significance of this series is for both teams. Which ever teams loses, has a lot more likelihood of seeing change in the off season.
So until the series is tied at 2-2, and we’re on the verge of losing home court in game 5, I’m not going to sweat it.
It’s been fun so far, all I’m hoping for is a little more consistency from the officials. It’d also be nice if they’d stop buying all the flops too, but I know that isn’t going to happen.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
It’s all good, your doing a great job consistently commenting.
I dont think we sound like biast fans….not that bad anyways. Do I favor Orlando and get more intense at a call than I would for another team? Sure, but I always try to look at it from both perspectives and Im the first one to say “we got away with that one”. That’s why when Toronto fans come on here going “boo who” they have no room to talk, they are the most biast fans in the league. RealGm has a poll for who wins the championship…Toronto has the thrid or fourth most votes of any team, and they likely wont make it out of the first round and certainly not the second.
Bosh got bumbed on that shot in game 2, but enough to call a foul? No. Bosh went the line enough the first two games and toronto fans should know that unless your LeBron James, the refs dont make that call to the end unless the guy is hammered, not nudged on the lower body. And if I remember, no foul on Nelson’s jersey being held and then the dooling offensive fould more than made up for any blown calls in that game
April 25th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Howard went straight up on that play. There was nothing he could have done differently. Bosh lost the ball, probably because he got occupied in trying to sell a call. That whistle is not going to be blow at the end of the game, unless of course your name is James or Bryant; but you already said that.
Lightening has struck twice. I’m officially a Philly fan for one series. The Pistons are showing that they might not be legit contenders this year. There is no excuse for a loss like tonight’s one. Regardless if they win the series or not, they’re vulnerable, and there is no way they’re going to contend for a title unless they get their act together fast.
Prediction: Flip Saunders will be fired in the off season.
April 26th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Flip, Flip, Flip game over…unless he can get the team to the finals, that’ll be the case. I cant believe that Philly beat them by 20. Orlando still needs to take care of buisness against Toronto, but the way Detroit has played this series thus far has several implications
1.) Obviously, we’d rather play Philly than Detroit.
2.) Detroit no longer has that aura they had a year ago. Billups missing free throws in the enf of Game 1? This isnt the same Pistons team we have seen over the years.
3.) Even if detroit wins the series, they will have to play in at least 6 games, likely 7 with two more games being played at Philly. Detroit will be tired at the end of the series and that would bode well for the Magic
April 26th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Someone tell me why the Magic vs Raptors series did not get a TRAVEL DAY before game 3. It is customary that teams get an extra day off when changing venues. Magic vs Raptors is playing game 4 before Celtics play game 3.
Magic has players playing over 40 minutes per game vs 38 for the Raps.
GO MAGIC !!!
April 26th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Someone tell me why the Magic vs Raptors series did not get a TRAVEL DAY before game 3. It is customary that teams get an extra day off when changing venues. Magic vs Raptors is playing game 4 before Celtics play game 3.
Magic has players playing over 40 minutes per game vs 38 for the Raps. No wonder our guys looked fatigued, and it doesn’t get any better with NO TRAVEL DAY before game 5.
GO MAGIC !!!
April 26th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Damien Nelson,
I think it’s amusing that you admonish the “childish” rants of fans and then complain that the Raptors have picked up the trait of flopping. That’s what I call mature, for sure.
April 27th, 2008 at 11:03 am
I think it’s Nielsen, Fan….and how is he childish for saying that the Raptors are flopping, when they are. Is stating the obvious being childish? Maybe if you add “poo poo head” to it, but Damien NIELSEN is completely right in his statement.
See what happens when the officiating isnt attrocious. There were some bad calls both ways but the refs didnt change the outcome. Orlando’s players that normally make three’s made them and the Magic beat Toronto at their homecourt. Game 5 will go to Orlando, and finally we dont have to hear biased Toronto fans complain
April 28th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I don’t like any player who flops. It’s bad for the game of basketball. If that is a “childish statement”, okay. How, I’m not sure?
April 28th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
It is Damien, you really need to grow up… :-)
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