I caught most of the 2nd half. He was playing agressively, but really got shut down by Hunter and Dalembert. On one possession, he got blocked at least 3 straight times on dunk attempts. Howard got blocked a few times too. The 76ers were very active. Man would the Pistons be good if we had Dalembert instead of Nazr.
From Charley Rosen: "Darko Milicic tossed in a pair of left-handed jump hooks on strong drives from the right-box — 2-5, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 points. In so doing, he made excellent use of his right elbow to fend off his opponent. He also played splendid post-up defense against Wallace (who was 1-5 against him) and against Antonio McDyess (0-2). Otherwise, Milicic was rarely involved. In fact, he often allowed his man to cut unopposed across the lane as he laid back and sought to block any subsequent shot. Milicic also failed to meet an entry pass that was intercepted and committed a critical 3-second violation in the waning moments of the game. And, because he recoiled his body as he released the ball, he missed both of his free throws. How often does Milicic put together a complete ball game? Not often enough for the Magic to seriously think about challenging for the championship."
Someone needs to introduce Rosen to the correct camera angles. His analysis is clearly biased and, frankly, just plain wrong.
During last night's Magic game, the Orlando broadcast ran about a 10 minutes special at halftime called "going home with Darko" or something like that. They went back to Serbia with him last summer and showed his house, interviewed his parents, and showed the surrounding area a little. The whole thing was pretty funny. He had a really nice basketball 1/2 court that it looked like they built in a valley behind their house. The general vibe of the area was a lot more like Spain than what I would have imagined Serbia looking like. Anyways, Darko showed zero personality as he was giving the tour. It could have been the language barrier, but it also could be that he is just really boring. This is more how I imagined Serbia to be: IOL: Serbia's sulkers become cult figures Also, here is a picture of Darko when he was younger trying to get a scoring opportunity (in the plaid shorts): I think the bridge behind him got bombed by NATO. Any guesses at which pick-up line he used?
Luke, that upside down drawbridge behind the girl. It goes down in the middle rather than up so the boats can go over it instead of under it.
What happened to him trying to shoot baskets in his youth with bombs falling all around? Thats what they told us when we drafted him.
They say that he still hears the explosions and the screaming when he's at the free throw line. For some reason, the beach volleyball was omitted from his pre-draft profile.
Okafor is absolutely owning Darko tonight. I haven't seen a physical dominance like this since I whipped on my little brother 10 years ago. Emeka has to be in the running for most improved this year.
Okafor had 13 points in 41 minutes. What about Sean May's 32 points and 17 free throws? That is where most of the "owning" was going on. How did Charlotte's starting center do? He got shut out. How about the Magic's starting center? 3 points and 1 rebound. The Magic starting 5 had 20 turnovers! If the Pistons were missing the starters the Magic are missing, it would mean that Chauncey, Rip, and Tayshaun would all be out. We wouldn't beat anybody either.
lol. You really are a diehard Orlando/Darko fan. Seems like you're taking the Orlando loss hard. My comment was based on how Okafor was pushing Darko around getting rebounds and scoring. He was literally man handling him. Besides, most of the time Emeka was playing center with Darko guarding him so I don't see the point about Primo Brezec being relevant. Darko's statline was actually a little more robust than usual. He had 5 assists, 4 boards, 3 blocks tonight. His shooting stank up the place. You're right though, the story of the game was Sean May. The Magic couldn't double on him because of how active Okafur was. A good number of those shots came against Darko by the way. I just couldn't believe how Okafur was pushing Darko around though. Its amazing how much Okafor has changed physically since his rookie season. Looks like those summer sessions with Olajuwan have been paying off because he's had an excellent season so far. Light day for games tonight on NBA League Pass.
Mo, here's the thing. Okafor played for 41 minutes and Darko played for 26 minutes. Here is how Okafor performed: In the 24 minutes that they were on the court together, Okafor had 3 points and 5 rebounds to Darko's 6 points and 4 rebounds. In the 15 minutes that Okafor was on the court without Darko, he scored 10 points and picked up 6 rebounds. You don't man handle somebody for 3 points.
hmm... are you sure? I seem to remember a lot more scores than 3 points. lol. I'll take your word for it though Tashawn, maybe I mistook Darko for another Magic player. If so, I stand corrected. Thanks for the clarification and I apologize for the misguided diss.
Okafor abuses averybody with his combination of speed and strength. I thnk darko needs to get more aggressive or more involved...he makes good things happen when he has the ball and sometimes be makes great things happen. That touch pass early on was nuts!!!! People keep saying he is better with HO but I disagree. Darko needs to be a 1st or 2nd option not a 4th option. He needs more responsibility. He needs to carry the team instead of float around. He needs to learn to be dominant. hopefully he'll make strides in that next year.
This was the point I was trying to make, but, unfortunately was not as eloquent. Thanks Slip! I'll take it easy on you in the open league now. ;)
Emeka O is a very physical player. That's sort of his forte. The few times they were in contact were when Darko was trying to box him out, which I agree was unsuccessful. But Okafor had his full attention and just fought through it. I think Okafor also took a charge when DM was trying to post him up. Other noteworthy performances were Adam Morrison and Trav Deiner. The 2 of them were a combined 12-18 with 6 threes. I'm just wondering why in the World Brian Hill continues to give Pat Garrity playing time. Last night he was -10 in 10 minutes. They had Garrity, Diener, Reddick, Dooling, and Howard in the game. All you need is 1 defensive weak link to get pounded, and they had 4 in there. It's a good example for Flip Saunders. If the Magic are sacrificing games to develop players, then we can.
I guess I'm beginning to think of Garrity as one of those guys that sucks, but who all coaches like... Michael Curry was like that too. These are the guys that laugh at every joke the coach makes, ask questions during film sessions, and tell on the guys that go to the strip clubs after curfew.
MoTown, you are very fair and it's time I acknowledged it. I was feeling that you were wrong about this particular diss of DMC because I did not see it that way, but I did not want to come on and argue about it. But when Tay did, you handled it very fairly. And that's not the first time. I, myself, was more provoked with DMC last night for the way Sean May kept scoring. Darko was keeping his hands straight up, probably because he is trying to avoid fouls, and May understood and was scoring on him. By the way, that touch pass was absolutely . . . . . And right before it, the pass to Dwight under the basket was so fast that if some blinked, they would have missed it. Anyway, this bad streak is helping the Piston draft position but I think it is like a stock market correction. Finishing up last year 16-6 and continuing that same pace at the start of this year, it is not possible to keep that pace. A correction was called-for. I still think they will finish just under the Pistons, though. It is still a long season remaining. And they have their longest west coast trip out of the way. Surprising how much like the Pistons they are though, playing down to teams they should beat. Downright disconcerting.
