that''s my assumption. I think they will finish 6th and play Boston which they could win. During this losing tide, Turkoglu has not been playing well and Stevie has struggled since the all-star break. If they start playing as they are capable, then they will make the 2nd round which is not bad considering their lack of depth (see my first post). Personally, I just wanna see Steve do really well in the playoffs and at least make the second round so all these loser haters will get off his balls. Matt Jackson said stevie doesn't belong in the nba, he belongs in the and1 tapes. That's funny cause I don't see any other players make history by averaging 15+ppg, 6+rbdg, and 6+ asstsg for their first 5 years like Steve, O Roberson, Magic and KG have done. That's pretty great company if you ask me and I seriously doubt any of those And1 players could do that b/c they never score points, their ultimate goal is to embarass the oponent. Good luck Steve.
Francis could lead the Magic past the Celtics with 35, 8, and 8 written all across his stat sheet and it still won't matter, because as soon as the Magic lose against the Heat the haters will be back. No use wanting them to stop hating on him, or wanting them to respect him, if doing his best to help the Rockets win for 5 years didn't get him respect nothing he can do with the Orlando Magic will. YOU appreciate him just like a few others around here do, that's all that matters. Matt Jackson's a moron (long pause) the definition of a hater (longer pause) don't worry about him (long pause) he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Stop with the "hater" crap. I have been a big supporter of Francis as has others who are criticizing. But facts are facts. Just because people criticize him doesn't mean they didn't appreciate him. We don't have to kiss his ass 24 hours a day. Bottomline, Orlando is in serious trouble. Philadelphia and Indiana are hovering around, and unless Mr. Appreciation steps up his game consistently the "haters" will be criticizing him as he's sitting at home for the playoffs.
The Magic seem to have righted the ship a little bit which coincided with Christie being given more quality time with his lovely wife. Basically, the Magic ditched Mobley for nothing - which is what Christie gave them. Man, Orlando, if you wanted to just cut him, we would have taken him off your hands.
The Magic are tied for the 4th best record in the East, one that is just 4.5 games behind the Rockets' own record. They've blown out the Knicks and Nets, beat the Kings, and look much better with Nelson running the show and Francis at the 2 guard. Orlando's not in serious trouble. If anything, they're poised now to make a run towards home court in the 1st round. Funny how things change in a week, huh? I'm amazed at how you try to come across as knowledgable about the Magic, yet appear to have not been following them at all. Indy's "hovering" around, but they are without Jermaine O'Neal for an indefinite period of time -- probably a couple of weeks, even longer before being at full strength, with the same injury Cato had earlier this year. They're 3.5 games behind the Magic anyway. Philly's just as far back and is still trying to work Webber into the mix with varying degrees of success per game. Heck, the Rockets are 4 games ahead of being out of a playoff spot themselves! If the Magic are in trouble, the Rockets are every bit as much in trouble, with a fast-charging Denver team making up ground and Minnesota and the Lakers "lurking" behind in the 8th-10th spots. The difference? There's not all of this crap about "team turmoil" with the Rockets, at least not right now. Win and let the stats do the talking. That's what the Rockets decided to do awhile back, and what the Magic have decided to do. They'll make the postseason and it won't be close.
But that doesn't really matter. They're a solid 2 games behind Washington for the 4th seed, tied with Cleveland for the 5th seed, and 1 game ahead of Chicago in the 7th seed. Indy's 2.5 back. Never compare injuries with Cato. Either Cato always gets a severe case of everything, or he has a slow healing time. Probably the latter. I do think that Jermaine O'Neal's injury will probably be the straw that broke the camel's back for Indy, after the melee and other injuries (like Bender), which means Orlando should stay relative ly safe. I do know that teams with 34% road winning percentages generally don't go anywhere in the playoffs.
Criticizing him is fine, I did it after he sulked and stopped competing for a few games once he realized that the Mobley trade was a huge mistake, but some talk about Francis in the negative exclusively. They'll post articles about the Magic after losses in which he plays bad, but won't post the ones after wins in which he plays well, so why post them at all? Some of the radio guys get annoyed when they're branded Steve Francis haters, after they dedicate five minutes of air time to one of his bad games, but will turn around and brand the callers that point that out Steve Francis lovers, huh? He obviously strikes a nerve and they can't seem to avoid letting their emotions affect their opinions, so be professional, and don't talk about him at all. As far as the Magic and the playoffs go, they're with the Bulls, Cavaliers, Sixers, and Pacers, (barring major injuries) you could stick them all in a hat, pull them out one by one, and possibly get seeds 5-9. If the Magic finish as the ninth seed then people should get on Francis, but we all know they wouldn't be the same ones congratulating him if the Magic finish as the fifth seed.
When Orlando was doing well at the beginning of the season someone called in about Orlando and Lance said he didn't want to talk about them and was a Rockets fan and only wanted to talk about the Rockets. When Francis missed the practice he talked about it for a whole segment and John talked about the Magc after the National T.V. loss and claimed Sura was a better player than Francis. Its so funny with some of those guys, Rich never talked about the Magic till Francis made some comment about JVG. You're right, its unprofessional and weak, if they don't want to acknowledge when the Magic are doing well, then don't at all.
This is right; In this respect they now seem better off than the Rockets, who along with Memphis, Lakers, Nuggets and Timberwolves are in the hat for 6-10 Maybe the start of this thread marked the high point of the season in terms of Rockets > Magic, and playing the 2 will extend Stevie's all star career. Hopefully this is unduly pessimistic wrt the Rockets, we'll see.
The Magic only have 2 more losses than the Rockets, I love all the people piling on though. I'm positive the people in Orlando wouldn't trade this season for last one.
Hey its lucky that philly are currently as bad as they are and the rest of the mediocre pack is a long way back, because Orlando really isnt doing well....
They are getting handled by the Nets at home. If any other Eastern conference team steps up, the Magic will be dead in the water. As of now, my prediction is that they'll get the eighth seed.
I think the reason so many people here are piling on Steve right now is not because of Steve or Orlando's actions...But more in response to all of the people running around early in the season that would point at the W-L records as the definitive evidence in saying who won the trade. Anyone that has two working eyes can turn on the TV and see that T-Mac is so much better than Steve it is almost a joke to compare the two. People also love seeing Weisbrod screw up his team after talking so much trash.
Piling on? You mean like the threads/posts in here when the Rockets were 6-11 and the closet Magic fans here had ORL penciled in for the EC Finals? ORL fans surely must be enjoying this season more then last but I wonder if many ORL fans would like to have seen the end result of McGrady and Howard surrounded by Grant Hill, Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkoglu, Mike James (in a trade for Reece Gaines) and Jon Barry (in a trade for Ty Lue). If they could have gotten the Rockets to trade Gooden and Garrity for Cato, they could have had a rotation of .... 1) Mike James / Jameer Nelson 2) TMac / Hedo / Barry 3) Grant Hill / Hedo 4) Dwight Howard / Juwan / FA 5) Kelvin Cato / Kasun / FA Then again....I'm sure the current season has been much more enjoyable for them than another Me-Mac season.
Oh cmon GATER, they fastbreak so well and play with so much emotion. Well, at least Steve's happier now than he was last year...JVG isn't handcuffing him and his obvious strength in the uptempo game.
You're so right. It's hard to put a premium on passionate play. Steve got ejected from the NJ game for protecting Hedo and Dwight Howard from Nenad Krystic. You gotta love that passion.
