So, it finally happened. No, the Orlando Magic didn’t trade Dwight Howard yet (despite his best efforts), but they did finally win a game after their horrendous four-game losing skid. The Magic managed to overcome the woeful Washington Wizards despite some late scares, 109-103.
Ryan Anderson managed to get out of his funk with some impressive shooting on the night. He scored 23 points with six three-pointers; however, as Anderson pointed out after the game, not every Magic player has overcome their individual slumps.
“I think we need to look to the next game and bring the same effort and energy,” Ryan pointed out. “This started our confidence, but we need to follow through with it.”
Let’s be honest though, the Magic’s lack of confidence isn’t from offensive or defensive performances, it’s from the Dwight Howard trade drama that is now threatening to eclipse the Lebron and Melo escapades single-handedly.
You see, it’s during hard times like these that the leader of a team steps up to motivate his team to get back on track. Howard, possessing the maturity of a high school athlete at best, is not a leader for many reasons–one major reason being that his foot is already halfway out of Orlando’s door.
After the game, however, Howard was quick to point out just the opposite.
“It happens to everybody in the league and we just have to continue to remind ourselves that we’re a good team and we’re going to have rough patches. We just have to stay together and remember we can’t allow anything to separate us,” said Howard.
The guy who requested a trade from his team before the season even began, is talking about staying together… the irony.
It’s easy to see how fragile a state the Magic are in at the moment. With concussion-like symptoms, All-Star point guard, Jameer Nelson, is now going to miss several of the next games; in fact, after the game’s end it was announced the Magic waived veteran point guard, Larry Hughes, to sign a new point guard from the D-league.
This means Chris Duhon (hint: he’s no Chris Paul) will have to start games while receiving backup from a D-league point guard (hint: he’s definitely not Chris Paul). Combine that with Howard’s sixth Technical Foul (see: high school maturity level) and the injuries that seem to keep piling up for the Magic and there’s little to actually take away from tonight’s game.
To put it into persepective, the Wizards are now 1-9 on the road. The Magic couldn’t contain Nick Young or former Magic player, Rashard Lewis–both of whom are hardly shot creators. They both scored 24 and 20 points, respectively.
So, yes, Magic fans, you did get a win tonight. But why does it still feel like a loss?
Written by Brandon Hayhurst
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