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MickyEyez · 04-20-2007, 10:18 AM

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School's in session for Orlando Magic
Pistons offer young Magic players the first lesson in playoff basketball

Brian Schmitz | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted April 20, 2007

As a sage philosopher once said, "Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lesson afterward."

It's the first day of playoff school Saturday for Dwight Howard, the tall wide-eyed student in the beanie cap.

The Detroit Pistons are the professors, the graybeards lecturing at the front of the room, puffing on their pipes.

No matter how long this course takes to complete -- most experts expect the underdog Magic to receive a crash course -- the veterans say they believe Howard and their other young core players will benefit from the fiery baptism.

"For the young guys, it can't do anything but help, help us build on what we're trying to accomplish," power forward Tony Battie said. "(The Pistons') track record speaks for itself. But we're just scratching the surface.

"No matter what happens, it's a good start for us."

Howard and Jameer Nelson, Trevor Ariza and rookie J.J. Redick -- considered future Magic building blocks -- will be making their playoff debuts. Howard and Nelson are starters. Another key component, Darko Milicic, received a championship ring from the Pistons, but he was more spectator than contributor in 2004.

Reserves Keith Bogans and Travis Diener never have reached the playoffs, and James Augustine is a rookie.

By contrast, the Pistons' veteran starting five of Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince have a minimum of four playoff seasons on their resume. Only bench players Will Blalock, Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell have no postseason training.

The Magic have more players who've tasted postseason play than you might think: starters Battie, Grant Hill and Hedo Turkoglu as well as Keyon Dooling, Carlos Arroyo, Bo Outlaw and Pat Garrity. But Dooling and Arroyo have had the most recent experience, both in 2005 and with different teams. Arroyo was with Milicic in Detroit, and Dooling was with the Miami Heat.

This will be the injury-cursed Hill's first trip back to the playoffs since 2000, his last season with the Pistons.

Coach Brian Hill, who took a young Magic team to the Finals in 1995, said the lack of experience "doesn't mean you can't get it done. You still have to walk between the lines and play the game."

So the series is going to be an experience for the entire Magic club, but mostly for the young'uns. "For a lot of guys, it'll be a first time for us," Redick said. "So, hopefully, we won't really know what we're getting into, and that'll be a good thing."

They'll have to learn on their own that it's "a different animal" than the regular season, said Brian Hill.

"You can tell guys who've never been there what the playoffs are like," the coach said. "But they won't really know until they go through it."

There's the suffocating pressure of the big stage, the magnitude of each possession that creates goats and heroes and the dynamics of facing the same team in a series.

"Everybody keeps telling me it's a different feeling," Howard said.

All eyes will be on Howard, who is expected to carry the Magic for the next 15 years or so. He has to try to carry them in the playoffs in what -- if he had played in college and stayed -- would be his junior year.

Instead, Howard skipped college to enter the NBA. Now he's getting another education. First comes the test, then the lesson.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sport...orts-headlines

Schmitz' Blog pretty much reiterates what has been said in other threads... still a good read.

hobojoe · 04-20-2007, 10:23 AM

Hopefully Darko's championship experience and inside information on the opponent will guide us through this series

MickyEyez · 04-20-2007, 10:27 AM

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Originally Posted by hobojoe

Hopefully Darko's championship experience and inside information on the opponent will guide us through this series

HAHA!

i dont know about experience, although he could explain to the bench how to avoid from getting splinters...

deanwoof · 04-20-2007, 12:44 PM

haha darko's inside info.... nobody knows anything about how flip saunders performs in the playoffs. ask kg.

ok so for us to win, we have to play dirty. take out billups!!!!

hobojoe · 04-20-2007, 01:27 PM

I'm never going to forgive Billups for the first round series over us a few years ago. It seemed like he set a career high in points every game of that series.

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