Denton: Cavs Prepare For Howard
By John Denton
November 11, 2009
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
Looking back on the Orlando Magic’s lopsided defeat of Cleveland in last spring’s Eastern Conference Finals, Cavs coach Mike Brown has repeatedly second-guessed himself with the game plan guarding Rashard Lewis and the indifference showed to Magic guard Mickael Pietrus.
But what Brown couldn’t come up regardless of how many times he replayed the series was a way to slow down Magic superstar center Dwight Howard, who battered the Cavs for 25.8 points on 65 percent shooting in addition to grabbing 13 rebounds and swatting 1.17 shots a game.
Hence Cleveland’s offseason addition of Shaquille O’Neal, who Cleveland hopes will be a 340-pound answer to Howard in the post. The two Eastern Conference finalists face off tonight at 8 p.m. at Amway Arena in a game that will be nationally televised by ESPN.
``Against Dwight we tried everything imaginable and he still had a great series and you have to commend him for that,’’ Brown said Wednesday. ``He made it tough on us no matter what we did. You just have to give the Magic credit. They were the better team, Stan (Van Gundy) did a terrific job, he was the better coach and they won the series.’’
The much-anticipated rematch comes tonight, but in actuality both the Magic and the Cavs hardly resemble the two teams that played last spring in a series won 4-2 by Orlando.
The Magic traded for Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson, signed Brandon Bass and Matt Barnes in free agency and now have a healthy Jameer Nelson. Cleveland traded for O’Neal, a four-time champion and a future Hall of Famer, and signed Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon to give it more depth on the wing.
The early stages of the season has required a bit of transition for both teams. Carter missed four games with a sprained ankle, while Anderson is out with an ankle injury of his own. And even though the Magic have yet to get Lewis back from a 10-game suspension, they are 6-2 through eight games.
The 4-3 Cavs have struggled incorporating O’Neal’s low post game and have already lost more home games (two) than they did all last season (one). Brown said the addition of the aging O’Neal hasn’t slowed down the Cavs, but he did admit that it’s taken some getting used to looking in the post for the all-star center for everyone on the Cavs.
``It’s an adjustment that I’m working through first and foremost,’’ Brown said. ``And it’s an adjustment for the other guys too, and Shaq too. There’s a learning curve there that has to be dealt with. Our guys are doing a nice job with it.’’
Cleveland certainly comes into the game well-rested, having not played since last Friday against New York. Meanwhile, the Magic just completed a two-game roadtrip and played in Charlotte Tuesday night.
``They’re different and we’re different right now without Rashard and Ryan. We can’t really spread them out now the way we could last year,’’ Van Gundy said. ``We’re a lot more different in the way we play at this point in the season than they are. And we’re going to get a very rested team with four days off and they’ll have great energy. We’ll need to come with everything that we’ve got and be solid offensively and very intense defensively.’’
And undoubtedly the matchup to watch will be that of Howard and O’Neal. The winner of that matchup could very well decide the winner between the Magic and the Cavs.
``It’s a fun matchup to have a big guy in Dwight and a big guy in Shaq,’’ Brown said. ``Even if I wasn’t coaching these two big guys personally it would be fun to watch. I’m looking forward to seeing them go against one another.’’
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Orlando Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard on ESPN 1080 AM on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
By John DentonNovember 11, 2009
Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Magic and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
Looking back on the Orlando Magic’s lopsided defeat of Cleveland in last spring’s Eastern Conference Finals, Cavs coach Mike Brown has repeatedly second-guessed himself with the game plan guarding Rashard Lewis and the indifference showed to Magic guard Mickael Pietrus.
But what Brown couldn’t come up regardless of how many times he replayed the series was a way to slow down Magic superstar center Dwight Howard, who battered the Cavs for 25.8 points on 65 percent shooting in addition to grabbing 13 rebounds and swatting 1.17 shots a game.
Hence Cleveland’s offseason addition of Shaquille O’Neal, who Cleveland hopes will be a 340-pound answer to Howard in the post. The two Eastern Conference finalists face off tonight at 8 p.m. at Amway Arena in a game that will be nationally televised by ESPN.
``Against Dwight we tried everything imaginable and he still had a great series and you have to commend him for that,’’ Brown said Wednesday. ``He made it tough on us no matter what we did. You just have to give the Magic credit. They were the better team, Stan (Van Gundy) did a terrific job, he was the better coach and they won the series.’’
The much-anticipated rematch comes tonight, but in actuality both the Magic and the Cavs hardly resemble the two teams that played last spring in a series won 4-2 by Orlando.
The Magic traded for Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson, signed Brandon Bass and Matt Barnes in free agency and now have a healthy Jameer Nelson. Cleveland traded for O’Neal, a four-time champion and a future Hall of Famer, and signed Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon to give it more depth on the wing.
The early stages of the season has required a bit of transition for both teams. Carter missed four games with a sprained ankle, while Anderson is out with an ankle injury of his own. And even though the Magic have yet to get Lewis back from a 10-game suspension, they are 6-2 through eight games.
The 4-3 Cavs have struggled incorporating O’Neal’s low post game and have already lost more home games (two) than they did all last season (one). Brown said the addition of the aging O’Neal hasn’t slowed down the Cavs, but he did admit that it’s taken some getting used to looking in the post for the all-star center for everyone on the Cavs.
``It’s an adjustment that I’m working through first and foremost,’’ Brown said. ``And it’s an adjustment for the other guys too, and Shaq too. There’s a learning curve there that has to be dealt with. Our guys are doing a nice job with it.’’
Cleveland certainly comes into the game well-rested, having not played since last Friday against New York. Meanwhile, the Magic just completed a two-game roadtrip and played in Charlotte Tuesday night.
``They’re different and we’re different right now without Rashard and Ryan. We can’t really spread them out now the way we could last year,’’ Van Gundy said. ``We’re a lot more different in the way we play at this point in the season than they are. And we’re going to get a very rested team with four days off and they’ll have great energy. We’ll need to come with everything that we’ve got and be solid offensively and very intense defensively.’’
And undoubtedly the matchup to watch will be that of Howard and O’Neal. The winner of that matchup could very well decide the winner between the Magic and the Cavs.
``It’s a fun matchup to have a big guy in Dwight and a big guy in Shaq,’’ Brown said. ``Even if I wasn’t coaching these two big guys personally it would be fun to watch. I’m looking forward to seeing them go against one another.’’
John Denton writes for Orlandomagic.com. His Orlando Magic ``Behind the Scenes’’ segment can be heard on ESPN 1080 AM on Thursday at 5:05 p.m. Submit questions to John for his ``Ask J.D.’’ mailbag feature that will appear every Friday at AskJD@orlandomagic.com.
