Orlando Magic End of Season Wrap Up

Predicted Outcome: 55-27, tied first place Southeast Division
Finished: 52-30, second place Southeast Division, 2-4 in the playoffs

It was supposed to be a routine a** whipping for the Orlando Magic. They were facing a team that lost six of their last ten regular season games and was a team that Orlando faced and swept last season—the Atlanta Hawks. This was supposed to be a cake walk; However, that was further from the truth. Orlando lost the first playoff game on its own home floor and went down to 3-1 in the first round series. The Magic ended up losing the first round series four games to two to a team they had no business losing to. Atlanta Hawks were the giant killer and here’s how they did it: they turned Orlando’s greatest strength into its greatest weakness.

In the first round of the playoffs Dwight Howard was simply crushing the Hawks’ defense to the tune of 27.0 points and 15.5 rebounds per game. The Hawks really had no answer for him, so instead of trying in vain to contain him, they decided to do the exact opposite. They let Dwight have his power game and force him to win the series on his own. While Dwight merciless pounded Atlanta’s interior, the rest of his team stood around like spectators. While he shot a scintillating .632 from the field, the rest of the team could not even buy a bucket. Overall the Magic shot .409 from the field in the series—a far cry from .461 they shot in the regular season (16th in the league). (Click here to finish reading this article and check out my other postings on JT's Hoops Blog)