By Josh Cohen & Dan Savage | Week Ahead Archive
The contest will mark the 13th time this season that Orlando takes on an opponent on the second night of a back-to-back.
“We just go out there and play the games they put on the schedule,” said point guard Jameer Nelson of the arduous task of playing a back-to-back with travel in between. “I’ll play every night if I have to.”
While the NBA’s schedule makers didn’t do Orlando any favors during January and early February, the Magic’s task tonight is made a little bit easier since New Orleans will not have Chris Paul in its lineup. The All-Star point guard recently underwent surgery on his left knee and is expected to miss four to six weeks of action.
“Obviously this is a tough thing for me,” said Paul of his injury. “But, I have the utmost confidence in Darren Collison to step up in my absence.”
Collison, a speedy rookie out of UCLA, recently helped the Hornets snap a three-game losing skid by erupting for a season-high 25 points in New Orleans’ victory over the Bobcats on Saturday.
“I have a chance to use my speed and quickness,” said Collison, who is averaging 16.6 points and 9.8 assists in his last five games. “Like (assistant coach) Tim Floyd told me, ‘if you have a cannon, shoot it.’”
On Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, the Magic and Bulls will look to renew their once riveting feud when they meet at the United Center in the Windy City.
The contest features several intriguing matchups, including one at point guard between an All-Star from last season and one from this season. Jameer Nelson, who has scored in double figures in six of his last seven games, and Derrick Rose, arguably a top-five guard in the Eastern Conference, will battle in the backcourt. It will be vital for Orlando to stop Rose’s explosive penetration to the basket.
It’s very possible that these two squads will meet in the First Round of the playoffs. Last season, the Magic and Bulls almost met in the postseason, but a Chicago loss to Toronto and a Philadelphia win at Cleveland on the final day of the regular season denied that from happening. At the start of the week, Orlando sat in second place in the conference, while Chicago and Charlotte were tied for sixth/seventh.
There continues to be plenty of speculation about the Bulls’ future plans. Various published reports have suggested that Chicago desires to get salary cap space in hopes of signing one of the marquee free agents this summer. Kirk Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas seem to be at the forefront of trade discussions.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Magic, each seeded No. 1 and 2 respectively in the East at the beginning of the week, will clash in a pivotal meeting on Thursday, the final night before the All-Star break, at 8 p.m. ET in the Forest City. This will be the second meeting between these two clubs this season. The Cavaliers won in O-Town in November.
Last season, Cleveland and Orlando battled in a memorable playoff series, featuring extraordinary comebacks by the Magic, a game-winning buzzer-beater by LeBron James and a monster performance by Dwight Howard to seal Orlando’s trip to the NBA Finals.
Unlike 2008-09, however, each team’s roster is vastly different. The Cavs possess one of the game’s all-time greatest centers in Shaquille O’Neal and the Magic have eight-time All-Star Vince Carter to go along with a deeper bench.
Although they will be exhausted playing for the fifth time in seven days, the Magic understand how important this game is and one can expect them to come out with a vengeance in front of a national audience. This is a can’t-miss showdown for Magic fans so make sure you are around a television or radio to watch or listen to the game. Otherwise, you may want to book a flight to Cleveland to catch the action in person.
Along with Dwight Howard, who will start at center in the All-Star Game and Stan Van Gundy, the East’s coach, Magic assistant Patrick Ewing will now serve as the head coach of the Sophomores in the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge.
“It’s going to be fun for me,” Ewing said of the opportunity. “It’s going to be a good experience and it’s a chance to be a head coach.”
The Hall-of-Fame center, who dazzled crowds for years at Madison Square Garden as a member of the New York Knicks, has made it no secret that he’d like to get the opportunity to be a head coach for an NBA squad. And this may be the perfect platform to assist him in getting there.
“He deserves an opportunity pretty soon to be a head coach,” Van Gundy said. “Anything that sort of gets your name and face out there again and raises your profile is a good thing.”
While All-Star contests usually remain pressure free, there will be some high expectations for Ewing’s squad. The Sophomores have won nine consecutive T-Mobile Rookie Challenges.
