Orlando and Dawn

[opi@unesco.org]

The Orlando Magic (18-24) have lost 13 of its last 16 games, but brings
two straight confidence-building road wins (over the Grizzlies and
Clippers) into tonight's home game.

Only Antoine Walker (28 points in 32 minutes) played over 26 minutes
last night among our starters (not that the team is particularly healthy

or rested).

Tariq Abdul-Wahad (11.9 ppg) has suddenly led the Magic in scoring four
of the past six games. His former name is Olivier Saint-Jean and he was
the first brie-and-baguette-eating "Frenchie" to be drafted in the first

round and to play in the NBA. No one over here seems to know or care who

he is, since Paris is not exactly like Indiana or the Bronx in terms of
being a basketball hotbed.

Darrell Armstrong leads Orlando with 16.6 ppg and 6.5 apg (but 3.6
turnovers). He ranks 4th in the NBA in steals with 2.02 spg. He also
hits .902  on FTs (4th in NBA) but just .322 on treys.

Orlando is well known as one of the best rebounding teams (4th in the
NBA with 46.0 per game) to have such a mediocre record. Of course, they
are also one of the worst teams (23rd) in rebounds allowed (44.5).

Ben Wallace, Bo Outlaw and Chris Gatling combine for 19.7 rebound per
game (in 73 minutes combined), mostly off the bench.

Last year's over-achievers Garrity, Harpring and Doleac have been subpar

this year for one reason or another. Doleac gets the most minutes at
16.6 per game, but he shoots just .417 and averages just 4.2 boards and
0.37 blocks.

Top rookie Corey Maggette plays sparingly (18.5 mpg) just as was the
case at Duke. He still manages 8.3ppg on .473 shooting, with a season
high of 20 points and 8 rebounds this month against Detroit.

Also look out for generic players you may have never heard of like John
Amaechi (8.6 ppg) and Chuck Atkins (8.5 ppg 3.0 apg) to be among the
regulars out there tonight.

Orlando is not a great deep shooting team on paper (.315 on treys with
less than 10 attempts per game). They've been outscored by a staggering
7.8 points per game from that distance this year. This could provide a
relief for the Celts after the way we got rained on by the Heat last
night (9-13 on treys off a crisp 27 assists).

Orlando is just 7-11 at home, but Boston  has only one road win against
teams with a sub.500 record. Hopefully they got that problem out of
their system with the big win in Washington ten days ago (which also
marked their first and only road "winning streak"). Overall, Boston is
4-16 on the road with two straight blowout losses in a row (by 14
against Charlotte, by 26 against Miami).

At an individual level, the backcourt of Cheaney and Anderson will be
focused on bouncing back tonight from their 2-15 combined shooting last
night. Danny Fortson also needs to play smarter (6 points, 5 fouls) and
learn new plays at power forward or else he risks getting relegated back

to the bench when everyone returns.

Although Fort's double-figure rebounding streak ended without a whimper
last night, his presence seemingly continues to help bring out the
hustle from Vitaly and Antoine. Those two guys grabbed 9 offensive
boards (and 15 rebounds) in limited minutes last night. They also
drilled a combined .588 (20-34) for 44 points. This was actually a
subpar rebounding game for the duo this month. Both Antoine and Vitaly
have been delivering whup-ass on the boards in January, as I highlighted

in a previous post.

Here are several reasons why tonight's Celtics game is really big IMO:
1) the Celts look to break last year's 19 win total. As psychological
barriers go, it is sort of akin to breaking ten thousand on the Dow
index or whatever. I'm sick of the number 19 already.
2) a win will assure an above .500 January to start Y2K. A loss to will
mean they have to beat Phoenix to not finish below .500
4) a loss would have them tied again with Orlando in the win column. The

last time they faced this kind of divisional challenge (against the hard

charging NJ Nets), they were able to deliver solid basketball and
strengthen their hold on fourth place over the bottom feeders.
5) the Celts could FINALLY win their first back-to-back game on the road

this season.
6) they also need to show fans some pride and composure by getting right

back on track after two difficult, embarrassing blowouts.
7) this game is a key conference (13-12) and divisional (6-4) showdown
with possible future consequences in the Celts Y2K playoff chase.
8) this is the first game of the second half.

Go Celts!

Joe

p.s. If everyone on this list busts our collective asses and acts
professional at work (or school) today, the Celts will also go out and
win for us. I honestly believe in this kind of karma. We basically need
to hustle all day and dive for loose balls, whatever the hell that means

in the context of our jobs.

****