Magic Rock The Three-Ball/Guys Injured/China Time!

First off, I had to read the score from the Miami-Magic game twice: 102-69.

Granted, the Heat were without Wade and Shaq, but they will be without those two for a while at least to start the season anyways. Granted, the Bobcats blew them apart the next night, but the Bobcats are improved and the Magic beat them too. Bottom line is that it was a great win and even Pat "The Punching Bag" Garrity played well...which occurs only once a year (he might have used up his good game).

There is a lot to be optimistic about with the Magic, although 3 players (not including swiss cheese rotator cuff) are injured: Lewis has a sprained ankle and won't play Wednesday, Ariza has an inflammation in tendon in left foot and won't play at all this week, and Dooling has some bizarre groin/pubic bone area pain and will play Saturday at the earliest. This isn't too big as these guys would probably play if it were the regular season, but Ariza and Dooling have to realize that their potential starting jobs are slipping between their fingers with the emergences of Redick and Nelson. There's no such thing as job security in the NBA.

The biggest difference between last year and this year's Magic squad appears to be the emergence of the trey. The team has been throwing up anything beyond the line and for the most part they have been going in. JJ Redick has been shooting lights out from that range, and Hedo has been doing decently as well after being given a free pass to shoot from there as much as he wants. To me, this is a wonderful thing to see as the Magic seemed afraid to attempt three pointers in Brian Hill's fascist gameplan, despite the fact that the team was largely full of a bunch of long range guys. If Dwight Howard can refine his passing with Ewing's help, this team could be unstoppable from 3 point land.

Wow, who would have thought I could write that last sentence...including Hedo Turkoglu no less?!...you gotta love Stan Van Gundy.

On a side note, Yahoo Sports' NBA headline is a piece on Darko Milicic starting over again. The pressure the media put on Orlando for not resigning him seems to have subsided a bit as every NBA preview I've seen has his stint in Orlando as average at best. Worth 10 mill? Puh-lease.

This week, the team travels to China to play a few games. I set up my DVR to record the 8am game on Wednesday, although word is that Lebron might not be playing (he probably hurt his shoulder signing autographs). It will be a fun experience for our young guys, but an even better experience for Stan Van Gundy's stomach as there is so much to eat: Egg rolls, Lo Mein, Small Chinese children...the list goes on.

For the Dolphins fans of the blog, here is my short Monday Morning Dolphins Review:

They suck. Cleo Lemon is not the answer. Put John Beck in at QB after the Patriots game next week. That is all.