Sucks about Drew, he was just starting to beast it up again. Same team and same month as last years knee injury, freaky.
Without Drew i hope Phil gets Josh Powell some minutes, he is a tough player and he produces every time he gets on the floor. With some tough teams coming up we need players who are gonna do the little things like challenge shots and hit the boards. The Boston and Cleveland games just got a whole lot harder, but we can weather the storm if we continue to play hard.
Originally posted by guy222
Lakers win 😊Kobe scores 61, Pau 31. woot
Just an incredible performance by #24, he had the whole arsenal going last night. You could tell that we were a bit flat coming into the game after learning that Drew will be out for a couple of months, but Kobe took it on himself to take the fight to the Knicks and make sure that there was no let up. Still the best in the game imo.
Pau had a really strong game to and he is gonna have to sustain that now without Drew. He has the chance to exercise some demons against the Celtics on Thursday, he and Lamar were very ineffective last time in Boston and now he has to except the challenge of going back in there and competing.
Obviously im gutted about Drew getting injured but its gonna be a good test of our mental toughness, we'll see how far we have come since last season.
Nelson likely out for season. 🙁
Orlando has the ability and talent to make due without Nelson, they just need to knuckle down and use the pick and roll more efficiently and up their intensity, esp. on defense.
And if the opposing team keeps everyone guarding the arc, take it to the basket and make a play. e.g. attack the rim to draw the defense but dish it back out to the open man or if the D slacks up on the drive go for the gold. Hell, Dwight is going to be there to back up the play with a rebound or shot if he's given the ball. Boston is a great team for Orlando to model after. They utilize the entire court and have great intensity.
Originally posted by guy222
Nelson has been the reason u guys have a tremendous record
He's been a part of that. But, Orlando's record is not because of him solely. The Magic have other players, ya know.
There's no replacing him and his presence or lack of rather, will be felt but, there's a lot of talent in players like Turkoglu, Lewis and of course Howard. Johnson might not be the caliber of player that Nelson was/is but, he's no slouch. Lee is young but has a lot of potential. Pietrus is back from his injury and just in time. The talent's there.
People said that Nelson isn't one to help Orlando take it to the next level and others said the opposite. Thing is, he had a stellar year. He stepped up and improved by bounds. In fact, it was right around that time that I had doubts about him. Then he just excelled. Now, he's out with an injury that he won't likely return from (for this season) but, that just means the whole team needs to step up in his absence.
I think the team realizes that more than anything and I think they are capable of winning games even without Nelson, so long as they hustle and come to play.