[hobojoe]

Boxscore

Francis finishes with 32-9-7 and also 6 turnovers, but like JNice said, you take the good with the bad with Francis. I think I said this a couple weeks ago, but Steve's turnover numbers don't bother me much because he always seems to have 5 or 6 TO's in his best games.

[YoYoYoWasup]

As for that rookie wall for Dwight? He shattered it these past two games.

[JNice]

3 steals as well for Dwight. He seems to have played with a lot more energy the last couple games. He was bigger than the stats show tonight. He grabbed some big rebounds in traffic in the second half tonight. Rebounds that the Wiz probably would have gotten if not for Dwight.

[hobojoe]

Originally posted by YoYoYoWasup!
As for that rookie wall for Dwight? He shattered it these past two games.

Dwight played a very crucial role for the Magic defensively and rebounding in the 2nd half. More importantly, I think Johnny Davis is finally realizing that he needs to be on the court in the 4th quarter.

[JNice]

Originally posted by hobojoe!
Boxscore

Francis finishes with 32-9-7 and also 6 turnovers, but like JNice said, you take the good with the bad with Francis. I think I said this a couple weeks ago, but Steve's turnover numbers don't bother me much because he always seems to have 5 or 6 TO's in his best games.

I remember researching that earlier this season when people were complaining about his TO's and I remember that of the games where he had his highest TO counts, Orlando won almost all of them, if not all... at least at the point I did the research.

[hobojoe]

A couple of huge wins for the Magic on back-to-back games against the Wizards to pull back within 2 games of them in the standings. I know the Wizards didn't have Hughes, but we didn't have Cato for either game either and he's an extremely vital and underrated part of our team. Without him we were forced to play DeClercq more than we'd like, which is never a good thing. Huge wins showing yet again that we can pull out tough games, especially tonight doing it on the road.

[YoYoYoWasup]

Originally posted by hobojoe!


Dwight played a very crucial role for the Magic defensively and rebounding in the 2nd half. More importantly, I think Johnny Davis is finally realizing that he needs to be on the court in the 4th quarter.

You have to be happy with his FT progression as well. He's gone from 40% to about 68%.

[JNice]

Originally posted by YoYoYoWasup!


You have to be happy with his FT progression as well. He's gone from 40% to about 68%.

Yeah, he has been shooting them very well the last couple months. That will be key because he is very good at drawing fouls down low. If he can be a 75-80% free throw shooter, it will do wonders down the road for his PPG. He has got a pretty good stroke so I think 80% is possible. For a big man, that would be great.

And how about the Duncan-esque 15 footer off the glass again tonight with a hand in his face.

Damn this kid is gonna be good.

[YoYoYoWasup]

Originally posted by JNice!


Yeah, he has been shooting them very well the last couple months. That will be key because he is very good at drawing fouls down low. If he can be a 75-80% free throw shooter, it will do wonders down the road for his PPG. He has got a pretty good stroke so I think 80% is possible. For a big man, that would be great.

And how about the Duncan-esque 15 footer off the glass again tonight with a hand in his face.

Damn this kid is gonna be good.

If he ever gets the running sky hook down, watch out

[JNice]

Originally posted by YoYoYoWasup!


If he ever gets the running sky hook down, watch out

true... his running sky hook needs some work. He almost cracked the backboard with one of those tonight.

[hobojoe]

Originally posted by JNice!


I remember researching that earlier this season when people were complaining about his TO's and I remember that of the games where he had his highest TO counts, Orlando won almost all of them, if not all... at least at the point I did the research.

Check this out:

11/7 vs. UTA, Magic win: 33 pts, 11 ast, 9 reb, 7 TO
11/26 @ ATL, Magic win: 29 pts, 8 reb, 6 ast, 6 TO
12/4 vs. MEM, Magic win: 16 pts, 8 ast, 5 reb, 5 stl, 7 TO
1/5 vs. SEA, Magic win: 33 pts, 11 reb, 6 ast, 8 TO
1/7 vs. CHA, Magic win: 10 pts, 13 ast, 7 TO
1/18 vs. DET, Magic win: 32 pts, 12 reb, 6 ast, 6 TO
1/29 @ WAS, Magic win: 32 pts, 9 reb, 7 ast, 6 TO

What do all these games have in common? Francis has played very well, Francis has high TO numbers, and most importantly the Magic have won all these games. Now obviously turnovers don't help the team, but I think Steve has high TO numbers when he's playing well because his TO are indicative of how he's playing. When he's playing well he's attacking the basket, drawing fouls, and consequently turning the ball over more. I'll take that though, because he's looking to attack the basket. He doesn't turn the ball over much when he sits out on the perimeter all day holding the ball then taking one dribble and falling away on the jumper. Doesn't mean he's playing well though.

[hobojoe]

Originally posted by JNice!


Yeah, he has been shooting them very well the last couple months. That will be key because he is very good at drawing fouls down low. If he can be a 75-80% free throw shooter, it will do wonders down the road for his PPG. He has got a pretty good stroke so I think 80% is possible. For a big man, that would be great.

And how about the Duncan-esque 15 footer off the glass again tonight with a hand in his face.

Damn this kid is gonna be good.

That's part of the reason why his potential excites me so much. He's shown over the past couple months that he can be a very good FT shooting big man as long as he keeps working on it, which is great because of how good he is at getting to the line.

Man that bank was beautiful.

[JNice]

Dwight has really shown the ability to adjust his game and learn. Remember back at the beginning of the year when he was seemingly in foul trouble almost every game. Now I can't remember the last time he was in serious foul trouble. Yet he doesn't seem to really be any less aggressive.