so......

[BETCATS]

Im writting the Bobcat-Magic playoff preview for Slamonline's coverage of the playoffs. In bold are the sub topics that Ryne Nelson (online Editior) asked me to hit. I would like everyone (even more so the Magic fans, who i am gradually comming to accept now that the troll is gone. I have only seen about 12 magic games this year so you probably know more than i do) to please read it and suggest things to add or change.My deadline is Thursday night. This is my outline (which is just the main points i am going to elaborate on in the final):

Break-down both teams. Don't focus on a single squad.

Magic: three point shooting team that uses its best player to rebound and spread the floor for their shooters.
Bobcats: Use defense to make offense/control the tempo. Stops + fastbreaks is the prefered style. When they set up
Predict the series’ winner with an exact number of games.
Short term winners: Magic in 7 games. The experience and the home court advantage for the final game will give them the series. While i hate to write against my Bobcats, its the truth. The only way the Bobcats can win is if they win all their home games plus one in Orlando. This is do-able but unlikely.

Long term winners: Bobcats- players/coaches/fans/media will see the fight put up and respect Charlotte. Combined with the MJ factor it could be enough to convince free agents to consider Charlotte as a desirable location. Similar to the effect Hawks achieved after their first series vs the Celtics.

Break-down key matchups, injuries, X-factor players, history, clutch performers, Playoff experience, home court crowd/advantage, etc.
Matchups: Nelson v Felton
Jackson v Carter
Dwight v Charlotte plethora of Centers (sidenote, i know their is a lengthy thread on this, so i will just reference that for your input on thi subject, but if you want to offer it thats fine)

X-Factors: Rashard Lewis -underwhelming this year during regular season, but is a huge part of the playoff run last year. Whether he produces or not, he is a huge part of team chemistry. It is really about what Rashard shows up; the one everyone either loved (or feared) in last year's playoffs, or the one that is fans are disgusted with (or love due to lack of production) from this regular season.

Boris Diaw- Same as Rashard. Was a big part of the final push the Bobcats made last year. This year he has had many games of 0-6 points, but as had several 28+ point games and a couple near to complete triple doubles. If the focused and motivated Diaw shows up, the Bobcats have a real chance at winning, if the lazy 'i just wanna chill' Diaw shows up they are finished.

Clutch performers: Felton, Jackson, Lewis, Carter, Nelson

Playoff experience: Orlando-lost Finals last year, Bobcats- First time in playoffs ever

Home Court: Orlando-Winning team with lots of support/lots of people looking for another trip to the finals
Bobcats- Lots of new fans excited about the potential this group has/old Hornet supporters and fair-weather folks coming out of the woodworks

Break-down each team’s strengths, weaknesses and tendencies.
Orlando- Strengths: when shots fall they are hard to beat, Dwight their to clean up mistakes on offense. Not the best defense team, but has a lot of defensive minded guys that make other teams get out of sync, Dwight is leading candidate for DPOY for a reason
Weaknesses: Shots dont always fall. IF you can contain Dwight and get their shots to miss, you can beat them. Their defense has been tested
and has faltered in the past

Bobcats- Strengths: Larry Brown defense strangles opponets. Defense dictates tempo of game and creates lots of fast breaks. Offense knows how to bang and bruise until the ball gets in the basket; it may not look pretty but it gets wins
Weaknesses: Sometimes takes too many jump shots. Permeter defense leaves guys for open looks.
Most common format: Matchups by position—PG, SG, SF, PF, C, bench, coach, intangibles, etc.
(my plan is just to provide a short 1-2 sentence description of each player on both teams starting lineups, 1-2 sentences about each coach, 2-3 sentences about each bench, 1-2 sentences about each team's special thing the other team doesnt have)
PG- Felton
SG- Jackson
SF- Wallace
PF- Diaw
C- Ratliff
Bench- Larry Hughes, Tyrus Thomas, Tyson Chandler, DJ, Stephen Graham
Coach- Larry Brown
Special thing the other team doesnt have- Jackson/Wallace 1-2 punch

PG- Nelson
SG- Carter
SF- Barnes
PF- Lewis
C- Howard
Bench- Jason Williams, Pietrus, Gortat, JJ Reddick, Anthony Johnson, Brandon Bass, Ryan Anderson
Coach- Stan Van Gundy
Special thing the other team doesnt have-????(THIS IS WHERE I NEED A MAGIC FAN!)

If you have read all this, thank you for your time. I will make sure to give a shoutout to Bobcatsplanet at the end of my piece. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me some input/critisim. I will not get mad if you disagree with me, i will take everything everyone has to say with a open mind

[teej]

I don't think Nelson vs. Felton is so much a key matchup as Nelson is an X-Factor (depending on Felton's D). Either of them could play poorly and their team could still win depending on other factors.

Other than that it looks pretty good.

[nazsquad]

I think some key things for the Bobcats against the Magic are:
Gerald Wallace attacking the basket
DJ's three ball is falling
Jackson has above decent shooting %
Closing out on Orlando shooters (I'd rather let Dwight Howard slow down the game, then double team him so much. I feel like this would get their offense out of sync

[tondi]

I would disagree about Orlando not being one of the best defensive teams in the league. I may be mistaken but I believe they have been among the league leaders in defensive efficiency all season. SVG and LB are both coaches who preach defense and this will be a battle to see whose defense falters first. Obviously since Orlando is a much better offensive team than us our D will be under much more pressure since our relative struggles on offense will leave such a tiny margin for error.

[LadyCats Rule]

3 Keys for the 'Cats

1) 18 fouls on Howard (Nazr, Tyson, Theo). He is a 59% FT shooter this year, and 60% for his career. It's and ugly shot.

2) Limit turnovers. Less turnovers means more scoring opportunities for the 'Cats.

3) Need to limit Magic's offensive rebounds, to limit their possesions. They already shoot 47% overall (7th best in NBA) and 38% from 3 (4th best in NBA).

And yes, Orlando's defense is 4th in the NBA (95.3 ppg allowed). As everyone knows, 'Cats are #1 at 93.8

[lforce31]

thats a great article about the upcoming matchup between these two squads, i agree with most everything you said other than the magic in 7, i would say magic in 6 but i am biased soooo...

also as the bobcats may have the lowest points allowed per game the magic have the #1 D when we are talking field goal percentage allowed , as well as a very potent offense. either way it will be a good series.

and mods i know that my first post was a bit harsh but i really didnt mean for it to come off like that and i did later appologize for it, could you please get rid of the gayness on my profile. thanks. lol

[jdsingar]

lol wow that is hilarious.

I would say the "special thing" the Magic has is the most dominant defensive presence in the game today. It is extremely difficult to take the ball to the hole with Dwight Howard roaming around. That neutralizes what the Bobcats do best, which is driving to the basket for the easy 2.

[ziggy]

thats a great article about the upcoming matchup between these two squads, i agree with most everything you said other than the magic in 7, i would say magic in 6 but i am biased soooo...

also as the bobcats may have the lowest points allowed per game the magic have the #1 D when we are talking field goal percentage allowed , as well as a very potent offense. either way it will be a good series.

and mods i know that my first post was a bit harsh but i really didnt mean for it to come off like that and i did later appologize for it, could you please get rid of the gayness on my profile. thanks. lol

shoot me a pm to remind me, and i'l remove it this evening.

it was pretty funny though

[Chef]

aside from the cat's games, i have not watched a full magic game all season. but, i have seen parts of many of their national games. it seems to me, the times when orlando is at its worst is when howard gets into early foul trouble. you can tell he feels he does not get superstar calls and even more so, gets fouls called on him that a superstar shot-blocking center shouldn't. it really gets to his head and he is pretty limited for the rest of the game. i think the best part of the "we have 18 fouls to throw at him" is he only has 6.

magic in 6. we have serious road issues.

[lforce31]

you are very right, he gets very very frustrated on the offensive end when he is not getting calls. the thing about that is he gets mad on the defensive end and plays with a purpose. so i guess you win a little and lose a little, the problem with him playing super hard on D is he does get in foul trouble that way.

great observations though.

[BETCATS]

thanks for the help guys! I really have overlooked the Orlando defense, good catch! I will try and encorporate all of what was said into the preview, and will give you guys a link to see the final copy when it is posted.

[BETCATS]

The article is posted! Here is the link:
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/04/magicbobcats-series-preview/

Thanks so much to everyone who helped. I urge you all to read it.





~Spoilers~ i managed to get a link to Bobcatsplanet added to the bottom/threw in a FHB reference somewhere in the article. ~Spoilers~

[swetooth9]

I think the big thing the magic have that we don't (besides dwight's anchoring defense) is their 3 pt shooters (vince, lewis, nelson). we don't have that great of a 3 pt shooting team

[teej]

Great read. Better than anything I've seen here or at ESPN.