Magic vs Mavericks: What Didn't Work

The Dallas Mavericks snapped the Orlando Magic's four game win steak 107-98, at the Amway Arena on Monday night in front of a crowd of 16,974. The game was uglier than the final score for the Magic, as they made one fourth quarter run to trim the Dallas lead to three, before the visiting Mavericks put them away for good. We are going to examine what didn't go right for Orlando.

1. No early energy- Dallas played Sunday at Detroit and was blown out before getting on a plane and heading south to Orlando, yet the Mavericks seemed to be the team with all the energy. The visitors from the lonestar state were up by 13 after one period, and the game was effectively over.

2. Defense- It's what you do when the opponent has the ball to try and keep them from scoring (just a reminder). The Magic didn't play great defense, or even good defense. Dallas made 41 of their 80 field goal attempts (51.3%) en route to an 107 point effort.

3. Rebounding- Dallas hit the boards hard, and the final tally was 47-34 in the Mavs favor. 13 offensive rebounds for the Mavs led to 16 second chance points. The NBA's leader in rebounding, Dwight Howard grabbed just 7 boards, 2 of which came in the final minute when the outcome was already decided.

4. Free throw shooting- Orlando missed on 8 of their 26 free throw attempts finishing at 69.2%. Dallas made 20 of their 25 free throw attempts (80%).

5. Defense of Jason Terry- Terry came off the bench and scored 20 points and grabbed five rebounds in just 30 minutes. Neither Carlos Arroyo nor Keyon Dooling could defend him effectively, and when Arroyo came in for Dooling in the fourth quarter, Terry scored 10 quick points to end the Orlando run and put the game out of reach.

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Charlie Bernstein is the Editor-in-Chief of MagicIllustrated.com, and a regular syndicated contributor to FoxSports.com, Sirius Radio, MySpace Sports and Sportsillustrated.com. Charlie is also a columnist for the New Smyrna Observer. Feel free to contact him -HERE- with questions or comments.


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