Picking up the Pieces

The NBA season is almost over and it’s time to take a look back at the Southeast division

By Kyle Basedow

Well, here we are, the end of another NBA season.

This season went pretty much as predicted, finishing in the same order as last year with the exception of the Washington Wizards who leapfrogged the Orlando Magic for third in the Southeast division.

That being said, here’s a wrap-up and the major story lines from each team in the division this past season.

1. The Miami Heat (61-16)

AP Photo/ Willfredo Lee

Miami absolutely dominated the NBA this season, specifically in the second half. In the beginning they seemed to suffer from a “championship hangover”, playing well, just not at the level they were accustomed to. Miami then caught fire in February, rifling off a string of 27 straight games, finally losing March 27^th to the Chicago Bulls. The Heat are now resting Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and LeBron James, although one of them is always in the starting lineup. They are geared up for another deep playoff run and all signs point to them reaching the Eastern Conference Finals without breaking a sweat.

Biggest Story Line: 27 game win streak. I don’t mean to beat this to death but it was 27 games. That’s nothing short of impressive.

2. The Atlanta Hawks (42-36)

Atlanta has managed to keep itself off the radar this season, merely plugging its way through the season at a pace that guarantees them a playoff berth. They haven’t played great by any stretch of the imagination and at times they’ve looked terrible, but overall, they’ve been above average. The decline from last year can be attributed to the loss of Joe Johnson and the aliens from Space Jam, who seem to sporadically take all of Josh Smith’s talent.

Biggest Story Line: Kyle Korver approaching the record for most consecutive games with at least one three pointer? Honestly, the Hawks haven’t been the center of much except for the chatter about the departure of Josh Smith this summer.

3. The Washington Wizards (29-49)

Washington has actually done a decent job this season, contrary to popular belief. No, they didn’t make the playoffs but they did make significant strides from last year. Yes, they lost their first 12 games and started 4-28 BUT they recovered, especially with the return of John Wall, and are currently 29-49. I’m choosing to be optimistic and once again hoping that they’re good second half play will carry over to next year and hopefully transform them into a low-seeded playoff team.

Biggest Story Line: Either the 4-24 start or the return of John Wall, who currently leads the team in points per game (18.3), assists per game (7.5), and steals per game (1.3).

4. The Orlando Magic (19-59)

The Magic have been the definition of sub-par this season. They have the second worst record in the NBA, only ahead by one game on the lowly Charlotte Bobcats. Orlando actually ranks in the top half of the league in both rebounds and assists per game but where they struggle is actually scoring and defending the other team as they are in the bottom 10 for both. I feel bad for first year coach Jacque Vaughn who inherited a bad team that only got worse.

Biggest Story Line: The trade of J.J. Reddick, AKA another unhappy player demanding his way out of Orlando

5. The Charlotte Bobcats (18-60)

It’s almost unfair to put the Bobcats this far down because the season isn’t over yet and they still have a chance to push past the Magic and finish fourth in the Southeast. The Bobcats however have been nothing short of god-awful for the past two seasons and it doesn’t look good. Sure they have Kemba Walker, a rising star, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, a possible rising star, but besides that, their next best player is Ben Gordon. No bueno.

Biggest Story Line: Michael Jordan beating Kidd-Gilchrist in a one-on-one. When the biggest headline is your first round pick getting beat by a 50 year old, that’s probably not a good sign.

A Glass Half...Full?

 Just over halfway though the season, its time to take stock of the NBA Southeast

By Kyle Basedow

So far the NBA Southeast has followed the script that was written before the season, falling into the same pattern as last year.

AP Photo/ Rich Pedroncelli

The Miami Heat have continued to dominate in the Eastern Conference and are currently in first place in both the Southeast conference and the entire Eastern conference.

The Atlanta Hawks are sitting pretty in the middle of the Eastern Conference standings and are currently second in the Southeast.

The Orlando Magic are falling fast, slipping way out of playoff contention and are struggling to stay in third place in the Southeast.

The Washington Wizards are attempting to surge forward after their dreadful start and have risen past the Bobcats for fourth place in the Southeast.

The Charlotte Bobcats have returned to their losing ways and are trying to gather momentum in order to avoid finishing their season on another terrible note.

The Southeast is still struggling despite the strong leadership brought by the Heat and the Hawks, both of whom look to be playoff caliber teams. At the halfway point, the three teams at the bottom are running in place, all their efforts seeming futile. In order to truly understand what’s going on in the Southeast, though, here’s a short breakdown of each team at the moment.

Miami Heat: There’s not much to say about the Heat because nothing about them has changed over the past year, except for the addition of Ray Allen. LeBron still does more work than anyone else in the league, expect possibly Kobe Bryant, and the rest of the Big Three continue to follow his lead. Dwayne Wade seems to be getting better and is able to play 100% about 85% of the time. Chris Bosh’s play is unpredictable, sometimes playing well, and other times acting almost invisible. Go figure.

Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks have fallen from where they were last season, though not by much, which is impressive considering they lost an All-Star in Joe Johnson, though he isn’t playing like one right now. The addition of Devin Harris hasn’t helped as much as originally thought, but steady play from Josh Smith and Jeff Teague will keep this team on course.

Orlando Magic: The Magic cannot seem to catch a break, literally. Glen “Big Baby” Davis is out for the rest of the season with a broken foot that required surgery and Jameer Nelson, Aaron Afflalo, J.J. Redick, and rookie DeQuan Jones are all listed on the injury report and have missed time this year. With his team falling down right before his eyes, first year coach Jacque Vaughn has watched ten straight losses. There doesn’t seem to be much light at the end of his tunnel. Additionally, J.J. Redick is possibly on the trading block, but only for the right price. The Magic are reportedly looking for either draft picks or a quality young player.

Washington Wizards: The return of John Wall has given the Wizards little of what they’ve hoped for. Looking for a savior, John Wall has come back to become the team leader in both assists and points per game, but even that hasn’t been enough to save them as they also continue to fight the injury bug. The Wizards will look the win most of their games after the break, hoping to finish third in the Southeast conference.

Charlotte Bobcats: The Bobcats just can’t win. Something about the team just makes them unable to win games even though their players really aren’t bad. It’s not just the coach and it’s not just the players, so the blame now falls onto the organization. Something has to slow the team’s fall and right now no one has any clue how they’re going to be saved.

Celtics Win Four Straight, Despite Loss of Rondo

Boston Starts to Win After Losing Rajon Rondo to a Torn ACL

By Ali Koskoris

Last Sunday it was confirmed that Celtics’ star point guard Rajon Rondo had a torn ACL and would be out for the rest of the season.  The loss of Rondo is a big blow to Boston, a team that is not performing as well as they hoped they might this season.

Reportedly, Rondo injured himself in a loss to the Hawks, but finished out the double-overtime game, thinking he had only tweaked his hamstring.  He was in Doc Rivers’ starting lineup for last Sunday’s game against Miami until about 25 minutes before the start.  Instead, Rondo headed to the hospital to get an MRI.

AP Photo/ Tony Dejak

Boston players played against the Heat in an epic double-overtime win without knowing that the situation with Rondo would be dire, and were not told until after the game was over.

The win against Miami broke a six-game losing streak, and started a four-game winning streak.  The Celtics have gone on to defeat the Kings, the Magic, and the Clippers. 

The wins against the Heat and Los Angeles are especially important because Miami leads the Eastern Conference and the Clippers lead the Pacific division of the Western Conference. 

The Kings and the Magic both have losing records, so, although the wins are important in the standings, they are less important to the mental state of the team.  It is important for Boston, now exactly .500, with 23 wins and 23 losses, to defeat teams with .500 records and higher—and the fact that the Celtics have done that without Rondo is significant.

When Rivers found out the news of Rondo, his main concern was ball-handling, not assists. “We have a lot of guards,” he said, “we just don’t have a lot of point guards.”  Rivers said the situation is going to be addressed on a game-to-game basis.

His plan is to have two guards and a forward who can handle the ball well enough. That way, if one is pressured, one of the others can bring the ball up.  Courtney Lee has taken Rondo’s place in the lineup, but Leandro Barbosa, Paul Pierce, Jeff Green and maybe even Avery Bradley will have to take the responsibility as well.

In the past four games, Pierce has stepped up his game, scoring, rebounding, and assisting.  The Celtics will need him, as well as many others on the team, to continue to play well (even above average) if they want to continue to win and make it to the playoffs.

Chopping Down the Beanstalk

Both the Orlando Magic and the Washington Wizards played the upset role this week beating two high caliber teams

By Kyle Basedow

Fee fi fo fum where is Andrew Bynum?

On Sunday night, all Lakers fans were begging that question. The Orlando Magic beat the Los Angeles Lakers 113-103 after an impressive performance from the Magic’s starting five.

The Lakers, on the other hand, were less than spectacular, especially on defense and at the free throw line. Dwight Howard shot 9-21 from the line while scoring 21 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.

Howard was acquired in the blockbuster trade this summer that involved four teams and sent former Lakers center Andrew Bynum to the Philadelphia 76ers where he has yet to play due to injury.

AP Photo/ Mark J. Terrill

The Magic, meanwhile, shined on offense with all five starters scoring in double digits. Arron Afflalo had 30 points with 5 rebounds and 5 assists, Jameer Nelson had 19 points and 13 assists, Glen “Big Baby” Davis scored 23 points with 12 rebounds, and Nikola Vucevic had 17 points with 4 blocks and 12 rebounds. The only Magic starter who had an average night was J.J. Reddick, who scored 14 points with 7 assists.

With both teams scoring close the same amount of points in the paint and on fast breaks, the game ultimately came down to who could shoot free throws better. The Magic shot an impressive 19-20 from the line as a team and the Lakers shot 25-39 with Dwight Howard accounting for all of the misses except for two.

It’s ironic that Howard’s former team beat his new team in their first matchup against each other since the trade. Adding to the irony is that Dwight Howard, who was trying to get out of Orlando as fast as possible, is quite possibly the main reason for the loss, due to his poor shooting and his less than stellar defensive play.

The Washington Wizards also knocked off a giant of their own on Tuesday night, beating the Miami Heat, one of the top ranked teams in the NBA, 105-101.

The Wizards triumphed despite having only one player score above 20 points. The Heat, on the other hand, had every member of the “Big Three” score more than 20 with LeBron James drop a triple-double with 26 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists.

The Heat dominated points in the paint 56-34 but fell short due to poor shooting. As a team, Miami shot 28.6% from three-point range and 68.8% from the free throw line.

The Wizards, on the other hand, shot 36.8% from three-point range and 75.9% from the free throw line.

The difference in shooting wasn’t much, but it was just enough to make a big difference. The Wizards led at the end of every quarter, despite only out scoring the Heat in the opening quarter.

The game was still close in the end, with the Heat within a basket from tying the game up, but poor shooting by Mike Miller and Ray Allen led to the game slipping away from them.

Still, with 0:06 left on the clock, the ball was in LeBron’s hands and he was able to get off an awful shot from the corner that never really had a chance at going in.

Two things that are interesting to note here: this was only the Wizards second win of the season and their second in three games after starting 0-12. The other is that when the game came down to it, LeBron James had the game in his hands as opposed to Dwyane Wade or even Ray Allen. Granted, Wade isn’t a great outside shooter, but Ray Allen is the one of the best in NBA history so it’s an interesting play call by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

Time to Make a Stand for Stan

Van Gundy (left), Dwight Howard (right)/AP Images

Matt makes a stand for Orlando Magic's head coach, Stan Van Gundy.


By Matt Rose


This is all I have to say about my assigned blog topic, the NBA Atlantic: The Sixers are slumping, the Celtics are surging, the Knicks are confusing, and the Nets and Wizards are still sucking. What is much more interesting and in need of coverage is the Orlando Magic.

As the trade deadline approached, reports surfaced that the Magic granted Dwight Howard permission to determine the fate of Head Coach Stan Van Gundy and General Manager Otis Smith. While the reports were originally widely denied, Van Gundy confirmed today that Howard has asked for him to be fired multiple times. Here is the awkward interview where Van Gundy confirms the reports are true, unbeknownst to Howard.

While Dwight Howard is among the most talented, likeable players in the NBA, he is also one of the most immature. He has clashed with Van Gundy for years because Van Gundy does not coddle Howard like most coaches do with their star players. Take Mike Woodson, for example. Immediately after being named Interim Coach of the Knicks he said it was Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire’s team. Unfortunately, the Mike Woodson’s of the NBA typically prevail in these disputes because star players get what they want. It is not at all uncommon for a star to have a vote in coaching decisions, but I have a question for Dwight and the Magic brass: who could do a better job than Stan Van Gundy?

The only possible answer is Phil Jackson; however, I find it highly unlikely that the Magic’s pitiful roster entices Phil back into coaching, which is even more reason that Stan Van Gundy is an amazing coach. Remove Dwight Howard and the Magic are a top-five lottery team that would struggle against the Bobcats. Sure, Ryan Anderson has emerged to be a solid player this season, but outside of him and Howard they have a veteran roster of overpaid and underperforming players: JJ Reddick, Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson, Chris Duhon, Hedo Turkalo, Quinton Richardson. Stan Van Gundy should be up for coach of the year with the Magic in fifth place in the East at 32-22 and that roster.

Van Gundy has amassed a career record of 366-201, a winning percentage of .646%- sixth highest of all time. He ranks one spot below Red Auerbach, and is ahead of greats such as Pat Reilly, Rick Adelman, and Jerry Sloan. In 2008-2009 he led the Magic to their first NBA Finals since 1995, and followed that success with a Conference Finals birth in 2009-2010. Many argue that Dwight Howard is the reason the Magic have survived with minimal talent; however, Van Gundy’s role cannot be overlooked. He has held the Magic together in the midst of the incessant trade rumors surrounding Dwight Howard.

Ultimately, the Magic must handle the Howard-Van Gundy saga with care. If they chose to submit to Dwight’s demands, their next coach will inevitably be a lame duck. In order to avoid the same fate Van Gundy faces and keep Dwight happy, he must cater to Dwight’s every wish. The Magic will be left with a coach who will not get the most out of his players—as Van Gundy does—and a coach who allows Howard to be both lazy and undisciplined.

The NBA is a business; owners must fill seats, and the best way to do so is with a star like Dwight Howard. Unfortunately, a star cannot always carry a team alone (see LeBron James on the Cavs), and the Magic’s record will suffer without Stan Van Gundy as their coach. In turn, fans will stop turning out, regardless of Dwight Howard’s presence.

If Dwight Howard successfully forces out Stan Van Gundy, it will be another sad example of how stars are running the league. By conceding to Howard, the Magic are choosing a Hall of Fame player over a Hall of Fame coach that simply strives to get the most out of his star player. By firing one of the few coaches that refuses to worship and coddle a star player, the Magic set a dangerous precedent. There are plenty of players in the Hall of Fame without a ring—Reggie Miller was just voted in this week. There are few coaches in there without a ring. If I were a betting man, I would put my money on Van Gundy to win a Finals ring before Howard does, but one things for certain today: they will never win one together.