| 24 April 2010
(Photo by Brock Williams-Smith/NBAE via Getty Images)
Orlando Magic 90, Charlotte Bobcats 86
I have a rule of thumb: when Larry Hughes is your best player in a playoff game you probably have very little chance of pulling through a playoff game.
This isn’t breaking news or anything but the Bobcats are a very bad team at scoring the basketball. They were 24th this year in offensive efficiency and in efficient field goal percentage. They don’t have pure scorers in the slightest. They don’t have a lot of scoring off the bench. They get virtually nothing in terms of scoring from their post players. They just can’t score.
And they didn’t get here by being able to put the ball in the basket better than most teams either. This is a physical, scrappy, Larry Brown-led defensive team that tries to stop you from scoring more than they try to worry about their own offense. At the same time, when you’re a no-offense, all-defense team going against an all-offense, all-defense team it’s going to be hard to close out games.
Even if Dwight Howard is in foul trouble.
The Magic didn’t have to be very good on offense in this game. They just had to be good enough. With the way the Magic force you into long shots and protect the paint (they did a decent job of doing this even when Dwight fouled out), you can get by with two guys carrying the offensive load. And they did that in the fourth quarter with the scoring of Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis. Dwight was big throughout much of the quarter with the way he protected the rim and got to the free throw line. He scored eight points in the quarter and was helped by a big three and crucial free throws from Rashard Lewis and his seven fourth quarter points.
The Bobcats, however, didn’t have that go-to scorer to get them buckets when they needed it. They had guys like Boris Diaw, Larry Hughes and DJ Augustin taking WAY too many shots. I don’t mind these guys trying to score on occasion but they were taking far too many long two-point jumpers when that isn’t really their game.
Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson were being hounded by Mickael Pietrus and Vince Carter (yes, THAT Vince Carter). Raymond Felton couldn’t get his scoring going and the Bobcats had a lot of attempts near the rim violently rejected by Dwight Howard. There was just no room for any offensive rhythm.
Why Orlando Won This Game
Even though the Magic were sloppy with the ball (21 turnovers that turned into 31 Bobcats points), they had a stabilizing scoring force throughout the game in Jameer Nelson. He made Raymond Felton look like Troy Hudson on the defensive end and Raymond Felton is actually a heck of a defender. When the Magic were sloppy with the ball, Nelson had a secure grip on it. He never turned the ball over once, stole the ball four times, dished out a few assists and made five of his nine three-point attempts. His 32 points were just too much for the Bobcats to overcome in this game.
Why Charlotte Lost This Game
Larry Hughes was the best player on the floor for the Bobs through much of this game. That’s no way to properly win a playoff game; I don’t care how good you are defensively.
Heading Into Game Four
You can expect more of the same from what we’ve seen in this series. Charlotte is going to be physical. They’re going to scrap against the Magic and make them earn every single point they score in that game. They’re going to get Dwight Howard into foul trouble and try to keep the game close at the free throw line. But they’re not going to have enough scoring to capitalize on key stops late in the game. They’re one dynamic scorer away from truly scaring teams like Orlando in the playoffs.
Prediction: Orlando Closes Out The Sweep
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