The Amount of Time It Took You to Read This Title...

...was greater than the amount of time Dwight Howard spent in the lane last night during a crucial play near the end of the Magic's loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Howard was whistled for a three-second violation that negated the Magic’s possession and gave the ball back to Cleveland with 30 seconds left and a two point lead.

Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy was beside himself in reaction to the call. Three-second violations are not uncommon, in general, but they are rarely called late in a close game.

“You won't see that call again. That, I guarantee you," Van Gundy said. "You will not see, with the game on the line, a 3-second call in the last 10 seconds. That's part of the reason they're 30-1 at home. They're a very good team, and when you get calls like that [expletive], you're in pretty good shape."

What made it worse is the fact that Howard was on his way out of the lane when the ref blew the whistle. So, Howard was policing himself, going by the rules, and exited the lane in the time allotted. But the ref jumped the whistle. Howard implied that their may have been some home cooking involved.

"I was very surprised," Howard said. "I was in the lane and I got out. It seemed like their bench or their coaching staff got into the ref's ear about me being in the lane. Instead of letting the refs make the call, I guess the bench made the call."

I had the game recorded on my DVR and reviewed that play over and over with my stop watch from the moment that Howard entered the lane until the moment that I could hear referee Jack Nies blow his whistle. By my measurement, the whistle was blown well before 3 seconds, in fact, it was barely past two seconds. This makes me think that the ref had been watching Howard the whole game and maybe after enough complaining from the Cavs bench, he made a conscious decision to blow his whistle right then.

The problem I have with this goes beyond the idea of “make up” calls or even placing an emphasis on when during the course of a game it is acceptable to make or not make certain calls. The idea that rules already being enforced by subjective individuals are themselves subjective is extremely consternating. But in this case, the problem is that the call was incorrect! Howard was not in the lane for three seconds. Had he clearly been in the lane for over three seconds and the ref blew the whistle, we would still be talking about the call not being appropriate at that time. But at least we would have to admit that it was the right call. But this isn’t the case. Howard was not in the lane for three seconds…not even close.

I won’t go so far as to say that this call cost us the game. Most folks in the Magic blogosphere prefer to place the focus on Rashard Lewis and his recent slump. I agree that this is a bigger issue than one call. However, it is clear to me that when two elite teams are this evenly matched, it only takes one bad call to make a difference in which team wins and which team loses.

Paging Rashard Lewis

Last night Orlando dropped a close one at Cleveland 97-93 thanks to a late Lebron 3 and 3 second call on Dwight Howard. The most disappointing aspect of last night's loss has to be the poor effort put in by big money man Rashard Lewis. Let's take a quick look at his last few games.

• In last night's loss Rashard went 3 for 15 from the field and 0 for 8 from 3 point land. That's 6 points. He also pulled in a whopping 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Whoopy.
• On Sunday, in a win against the Utah Jazz Mr. Lewis went 2 for 9 from the field and 0 for 6 from beyond the arch for a wonderful 5 points. However, he did manage to grab 6 rebounds and provide 4 assists. Horay.
• In what is the statistical outlier, last week against the Wizards he posted 19 points on 6 of 13 shooting. Lewis went 3 of 9 from the 3 point line and added 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Blah.
• And finally, against the Bulls Rashard contributed a whopping 3 points on 0 for 9 shooting... 3 of those missed shots coming from 3 point land. However, he did pull in 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Whicked.

So, let's do some math. 6 points. 5 points. 19 points. 3 points. Carry the two... That's 33 points the last 4 games. An average of 8.2 points. He has made 11 of 46 from the field and 3 of 26 from 3 point land. Barf.

As I'm sure all Magic fans know, Rashard is currently working under a lovely little 6 year, $118 million dollar contract. That's an average of just a shade under $20 million a year. That's $243,000 a game. And if you take the last four games you get an impressive $30,000 per point. Not good.

Quickie

Here are two interesting tidbits from the Elias Sports Bureau and ESPN:

• Dwight Howard dominated the Knicks with 24 points and 21 rebounds to lead the Magic to a 114-109 win in New York. It was the sixth game this season in which Howard reached 20 in both points and rebounds, matching the total for the rest of the league combined. David Lee, Amare Stoudemire, Troy Murphy, Andrew Bogut, Brad Miller and Al Jefferson have each done that once.

• Rashard Lewis went 1-for-6 from beyond the arc but his 24-foot jump shot with fewer than three minutes remaining in the final period extended his streak of consecutive games with a 3-point field goal to 50. Only four other players have had a streak of at least 50 straight games with a 3-point field goal within one season: Dennis Scott (74 games in 1995-96), Reggie Miller (68, 1996-97), Dana Barros (58, 1994-95) and Tracy McGrady (50, also for Orlando, 2002-03).

So for the 5 players who have hit 3's in 50 straight games during a single season, 3 (Tracy, 3D, and Rashard) have done so while playing for the Magic.

Happy Thursday Magic Fans, as today is the 58th anniversary of the ratification of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.

Dwight reminds us there's no reason to panic

The Magic get back to action tonight against division foe Charlotte at Amway and yes, Jemeer won't be playing. As the Orlando Sentinel is reporting, SVG is pretty much putting it all on Dwight's shoulders the rest of the way, hopefully with some help from Hedo and Rashard.

However, as many of us are still depressed due to the injury bug, Dwight seems to be doing what he does... Have fun.



The championship might be out of reach this season, but Dwight is still the youngest man on our team, which is full of hope and rather poorly executed pranks.

Fun and failure both start out the same way

Warning: This is one of those "the sky is falling" posts.

Hedo fumbled around with the ball from about 27 feet out, dribbled a few to his right and threw up a prayer over Travis Outlaw. It banked in. The Magic pulled one out from nowhere and improved to 17-5 on the year. Things were going good. They kept winning. Several weeks later Orlando was beating up on Atlanta by 38... And it was only halftime. They swept San Antonio and the Lakers. All over the internet Magic fans were demanding respect from ESPN, arguing that aside from the puns Orlando was playing forth fiddle to LA, Boston, and Cleveland, despite having the best record in the whole, wide National Basketball Association.

Everyone's favorite columnist at the Orlando Sentinel was jumping on the bandwagon, his shinny bald head visible from row T of the upper bowl at home games. Perhaps it was because Tim Tebow can only be talked about so much, but even Mike Bianchi was saying that this team must be watched. Boston came to Orlando on a Thursday and beat the Magic, but there was still plenty of rejoicing around town. After all, we really had a chance! That was just one game.

The All-Star rosters were released. Dwight was already in, but Jameer and Rashard were going to be joining D12 in Phoenix. Orlando was the only franchise with 3 players on the team. Cleveland's Mo Williams was disappointed, and it didn't get much better because the same night Orlando beat Lebron and Mo and the Cavs by 11.

A few days later, Jameer dribbles at the top of the key, looking for an opening. He takes a few to his right and spins through two Toronto defenders; a slick highlight move on the way to an easy layup. The win in Toronto seemed like another day at the office.




Then Jameer got hurt and things changed. The mood at Amway was somber as everyone knew the chances of winning it all died at that exact moment. But it wasn't necessarily because Jameer got hurt that it wasn't going to happen anymore. Ya see, us Magic fans fooled ourselves into believing we could do it at all. But when you think about it, it was never going to happen. Here are some of the reasons why:

1. The Big Train likes the Magic. The list could stop here, but I'll continue.
2. A team that relies so much on the 3 point shot won't be able to continue it during the playoffs when the game slows down.
3. God revels in our disappointment.
4. Many of the tools over at ESPN (Yeah, I'm talking about you Stephen A., Jamal Mashburn, and Jalen Rose) actually said the Magic were a legitimate contender.
   
5. Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, and Rashard Lewis were on the All-Star team.
   
6. Brian Cook still plays for the Magic.
   
7. The Magic still had to get by potentially both the Cavs and Celtics, not to mention whoever would be waiting for them from the other side. Face it, the odds were still not too high.
8. Our best player, Mr. Dwight Howard, is still the youngest player on the team.
9. Tiger Woods would more than likely show up for some playoff games.
   

Of course there were reasons why the Magic could have won it all too. They have the best big man in the game. SVG is one of the best coaches in the NBA. Although they relied heavily on the 3 pointer the Magic are still one of the best defensive teams in the league. But why look at the positives right now when it is much easier to be depressed?

There is still a lot more basketball to be played this year, and crazier things have happened, so there's still a chance... Until the basketball gods remember that The Big Train is a Magic fan.


Thanks to Lifes Padawan and the pure genius of Arrested Development for the Fun and Failure poster. Also, Michael Cera better sign on for the AD movie. We all want to see it more than he will... Never know.

How the Arizona Cardinals and Orlando Magic are somewhat alike.

The Arizona Cardinals lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers last night, though came very close to pulling off the upset. Many sports pundits doubted whether or not the Cardinals were a legitimate playoff team, let alone a Superbowl team up until kickoff of the game. After last nights showing, they proved they were, yet came up short regardless.

The Orlando Magic are coming off one of their most successful road trips to date, a thumping of the Cavs, and are riding high in the league. However, sporting one of the best records in the NBA still doesn't prove to the brass of the sports world that they are legit. A team with the best big man in the league, 2 All-Star reserves at the foward and guard positions, and a record of 36-10 is not considered a legitimate title contender. And why is that?

So 2 teams, 2 different sports, yet are comparable in terms of talent and the respect they receive. Let's take a look...

• Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin are the most dynamic and exciting receiving duos in the NFL. Both have 1,000 yard and multiple touchdown seasons year after year. Yet both are constantly overlooked when talked about as the "stars" of the league.

• Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. Both average nearly 20 points a game. Both help their team in other categories nearly every night, whether it be rebounding or dishing out some assists. And both are key players to a team that is 36-10. Yet, both are constantly overlooked when talked about as the "stars" of the league. Now, some can make an argument about considering these two players "stars", however, how many people would mention their names when talking about the top 15 forwards in this league?

• Both teams have rookies who have surpassed expectations in their young careers. Dominique Rodger-Cromartie has turned into one of the best young cornerbacks in the game, while Courtney Lee has shown he could one day develop into one of the best defenders in the league.

• Ken Whisenhunt and Stan Van Gundy. Both, err....remind me to send Whisenhunt an email to grow a stache.

Both teams have surpassed expectations that the ESPNs and other sports analysts gave them in the beginning of the season. While the Magic still have a while to go before the playoffs, it's safe to assume barring a complete and utter meltdown that they are a lock for one of the top seeds in their conference. Both teams are very young and hungry for a championship their respective franchises have lacked in their history. And both teams are severly underrated when talked about among their leagues "elite".

The Cardinals surprised alot of people this year, but if you paid any attention, you knew this team was bound to breakout after putting the right pieces on that team. The Magic are doing the same, and if the Cardinals proved anything this year it's that anything is possible, and the Magic have a legitimate shot at playing for that championship this year. Let's just hope the outcome is slightly different for us.


Credit: John Raoux (AP) and Getty Images for the photos.