Thats significant. When your "star" is put into foul trouble by a seldom used bench player, you have a problem.

Guess the legend continues. People are going to see what they want to see. Did Darko "trigger" things or were the other Magic players driving and slashing for easy baskets?

What I saw was a Magic team driven by Howard, Hill, Nelson and their bench.

Our team just does not get inside much so I would not take that as exclusivly Orlando's defense.

We close to the situation think the Brahma is already a star, just seldom used.

I've been following the Darko saga for longer than anyone. Up front, I want him to fail and I want the Magic to fail so we get a better pick. The only way Darko will escape my criticism is if he leaves the Magic as a free agent. I can live with that.

Anyways, since he's the ultimate message board topics, let's cover Darko first and the Pistons second.

Darko was everything he was built up to be. He was an incredible +/- impact when he was on the court. The Magic play differently when he was in. Defensively, they perform at a high level. Darko also rebounded well.

Offensively, Darko is what Darko is. He's a 4th or 5th piece, he's very mobile but not very intelligent about where to space himself.

I am not sad about losing this player at all. For every plus there is an equal minus. His only asset is his youth. Once he grows up, he'll have to make big strides if he wants to live up to the hype. Right now, he's a young, very mobile Shawn Bradley.

Magic/Darko fans here have revised their opinion of him so many times, it's not funny. 2 years ago, he was a devastating offensive weapon. Now he is a devastating defensive weapon. All I see is a really tall athlete with not a lot of court sense.

Pistons played well. I was kinda sad that Sheed couldn't score in bunches once he got ticked off, we might have to invoke the Howard rules and beat that kid up in the paint if he thinks he's gunna be a Shaq style bully. Make him earn it at the line like Shaq.

Billups played his second strong game. A few slips into bad decision, I wanna be a shooting guard Chauncey, but mostly under control and very aggressive in the paint. I don't know what he finished with, but at 9one point he had 5 boards which is really good for him.

Tay was really disappointing jacking up so many long jumpers. He's not an off the dribble shooter. Catch and shoot, he can be devastating. I think his game with the ball is vastly overrated outside the post.

Flip Murray continues to find a groove. He's still very slow and non-chalant, definitely not a hustle or energy type player, but when he gets going, he can score.

Jason Maxiell came in and got two fouls on Darko that chased him to the bench. It was very important because the Pistons were struggling to score with Darko in the game. Other than that, and a dunk, Max didn't contribute much. He needs a lot more playing time to get comfortable out there on defense.

That's all I can remember until I watch it again. Good game. We made them play at a pace that favours us on the road.

Now let's rested up!

And Sheed didn't have foul trouble? Darko drew a foul on him, Dwight drew 3-4 fouls on him, isn't Sheed supposed to be our star? Why can't he keep himself out of foul trouble. It didn't seem too hard to draw fouls on Sheed. He's our highest paid player but he couldn't seem to keep himself on the court, maybe he should learn to stop fouling, especially when a bench player (Darko) who rarely gets touches can draw fouls on him. Or when a 3rd year player like Dwight can pretty much kill Sheed inside and all Sheed can do is foul him.

I think there are a few DHOF members who would dispute your claim, myself included.

We did get inside against Dampier and Dallas, we didn't even seem to try against Orlando. They had this big tall lanky kid clogging up the paint, we didn't challenge him too often and when we did, we shot fadeaways and got blocked a couple times by him.

Uh Ta - checked your watch lately? It's nearly been a workday since the game finished. When do you guys sleep?

Fun game to watch. I can't believe no one is talking about Rip. Yeah, CB shot them into the game in the fourth, but Rip got the two key ones, and TEN boards including two on the offensive end - 14 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block, all in a nice compact 33 minutes. The guards and Prince all rebound better out of this matchup zone they're playing.

I did expect more from Darko. BBJay is right about his defense. His length and strength make him very tough. He took Dice right out of his game. Otherwise, I didn't see the little things he would need to do to earn him more minutes.

__________________
"But first, are you experienced? Or have you you ever been experienced? Well, I have."
Jimi

If I just arrived from another planet and started reading this Darko stuff, I would think he was the second coming of Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain or something.

Dayamm.

If Darko isn`t an all star in a couple of years, (hell the way some talk about him he should be an all star now) the Darko supporters will have some explaining to do. Or should I say some excuses to give!

have you ever seen jmax play??? he gives anybody fits in the post and yes he can get people into foul trouble. flip should have been using him like this all year. did you see the preseason??? anyway darko wasn't checking jmax on his fouls he was playing help defense. he isn't the star of orlando either.

i didn't see you posting like this when the young big men of the league were taking turns owning ben wallace.