F_ck the Orlando Magic

[EC123]

I really don't care which team the Bobcats play in the Playoffs, but I keep hearing this crap about how the Bobcats don't match up well with the Orlando Magic and how there's no way they could be the Magic in a Playoff series.

Sure, the Bobcats lost 3 out of 4 to Orlando, but that was before the Bobcats became the unit that they are now. Constructed as they currently are, I think the Bobcats are the team other than Cleveland (because of Shaq and Ilguaskis) that has THE best chance of beating Orlando.

When the Bobcats enter the Playoffs, they should have a healthy Ratliff, Chandler, Muhammad, and Diop to throw at Dwight Howard, in addition to Thomas providing help defense. This is a significant development. When they were getting decimated by Orlando in the first 3 matches, they never had "ALL" of those guys playing. They destroyed Orlando last time they played with just Chandler, Ratliff, and Thomas playing. Add Muhammad and Diop, and Howard will eventually get frustrated. Might even play a couple of those guys together.

Larry Hughes will make a big difference against the Magic since he can play all three wing positions. With Hughes, the Bobcats now have a huge advantage in the backcourt. Sure, the Magic have Carter and Nelson, and Carter is probably a future Hall of Famer (if he ever wins one), but the Bobcats have more quality overall now, when you have Augustine, Hughes, and Graham coming off the bench to compliment Felton, Jackson, and Wallace.

I think Diaw and Lewis are a wash unless Lewis is on, but you never know when either of those guys will bother to show up.

I do not fear the Magic at all, even though the last game where the Bobcats beat the Magic was a back to back for the Magic with one hour of sleep lost due to Daylights Savings Time.

Based on the bench the Bobcats now have, I think they have more quality depth than Orlando, and that will be the difference, despite Howard and Carter.

We haven't seen the entire Bobcats roster healthy all season, and we still aren't these last few games of the season but if all of their bigs are available in that series (as they are expected to be), I think Magic players are going to be in for a big surprise.

[ammofan]

I think it would be great fun to play ORL in rd 1. I can only imagine the hecklers getting on "superman", Vince, J-Will etc etc......
But playing Boston would be freaking awesome.........I would be in KG's ear all night lol

As far as who we can win easiest againest........I dont really care. We can beat anyone!

[BETCATS]

I think we can beat Orlando. They are a team that dies on the three as much as they live off it, and if we force them to try (they will oblige) we can beat them as long as we dont do the same thing. And as you said, Dwight will be flustered by our collection of bigs. I see us winning or at least taking it to 7 games. If we can win 1 in Orlando and just defend our home court the way we have all season, its ours. Its easier to type that then do it.

[nazsquad]

While Orlando might be tough to beat, we might as well get them out of the way early. Win one the first 2, win the next two at home, and try to seal the deal in 5 or 6.

IF we can beat Orlando, Atl will most likely be next which we match up very well against. Just think, the Bobcats could be in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cavs.....who we are 3-1 against this year. How amazing would that be.

I think our best bet is to let D. Howard get his points and not double him too much. This way we cover the three point shot and shut down streaky shooters like Vince, Lewis, etc

[Ribs]

I'll take my chances with the shooters of Orlando and trust that our club can play good enough defense to contain them in that area. The one thing that can't happen is letting Howard beat us down low. They should be fouling him every single time he gets the ball on the block. He's a career 53% free throw shooter so keep him on the line and make him win it that way. We've got enough bigs to platoon them and rotate the fouls.

It will be interesting to see what strategy LB decides to use.

[CatNation]

The strategy we used last game seemed to work pretty well. Let our Cs guard him one on one and get his. He went 12/14 or something vs theo last time but we won because nobody else on the team knew what to do when they werent spotting up for wide open 3s. Not to mention they got a very lucky performance from Pietrus who was playing way above his normal level.

We definitely can beat them, its a matter of if stern and the refs want to give us a chance.

[Dexmor]

I actually think they matchup very well vs them.

Howard-We got 18 fouls
Lewis-We got 2 pf's who can guard the 3
Barnes-His strenth is toughness but would Crash even notice?
Carter-his and Jackson take out each other
Nelson-Got Felton and DJ, perfect.

[BRNC]

...does not matter who we play...there are not going to be any "bad teams" (unless the Raptors make it LOL) this year...so we play who we're matched with and hopefully win the first round...

[EC123]

I actually think they matchup very well vs them.

Howard-We got 18 fouls
Lewis-We got 2 pf's who can guard the 3
Barnes-His strenth is toughness but would Crash even notice?
Carter-his and Jackson take out each other
Nelson-Got Felton and DJ, perfect.

We've got 24 fouls to use on Howard (6 each for Ratliff, Muhammad, Chandler, and Diop).

Barnes didn't play last time we beat them, but his strength is atheleticism and his ability to get to the basket. He is a quicker version of Wallace, just smaller. He will matter.

Lewis couldn't make a basket last time. The fact that Pietrus had a great game against us last time didn't keep the Magic in the game as much as Lewis having a bad game and Barnes not playing kept them out of it, in addition to the Magic being on a back-to-back on the day after the clock was set ahead an hour as they were flying from Boston to Orlando.

With that said, I repeat, the addition of Hughes in the backcourt as someone who can guard any of the wing positions will be big for the Bobcats against the Magic, and the 24 fouls that can be used against Howard, those two things will make the biggest impact in this series.

None of the teams in the East have as much ***QUALITY*** depth as the Bobcats do. The Bobcats don't have the superstars that the others do, they don't have the big names, but on any given night the Bobcats could have a different player lead the team in scoring, any of them, not just the starters.

Who else in the East can say that?

Who else in the East has the depth at Center for matching up with Orlando (Howard) and Cleveland (Shaq)?

I could even see a situation if they play Orlando where you might have Chandler on the court with any of the other three Centers to either double Howard or to spend some time guarding Lewis who is not a great ball-handler. Diaw, Tyrus Thomas, Chandler, and maybe even a lengthy Derrick Brown could all be used against Rashard Lewis if he decides to regain his shot in this series.

I don't see any weaknesses for the Bobcats against the Magic. Jackson and Wallace require Carter to at least think about the wings on the other team, which the best two guards in the league don't always have to do.

Mark my words, the Bobcats will take one of the first two in Orlando, and Orlando will implode.

[Counturakt]

People are forgetting that Orlando's defense can be just as suffocating as their offense was in that last game.

And they've also shown to be a great road team; compared to the Bobcats.. who rarely wins on the road. In fact, they've beaten the Bobcats at home twice.