Shaq downplays Orlando's Howard, but Magic starting to command respect
NEW YORK -- No matter what the Orlando Magic do, it's not good enough.
They bring a seven-game winning streak and the best record in the NBA into Thursday night's matchup with Boston, and the general reaction is -- only seven? The Celtics had a 19-game winning streak. Orlando also has the best road record in the league (17-5), but all anyone can talk about is how Cleveland is 20-0 at home.
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| Shaq feels that Hedo Turkoglu is the MVP of the impressive Magic. (Getty Images) |
I lobbed a softball question in Shaq's direction before the Suns played the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, and O'Neal hit it out of the park -- to the opposite field.
"If there's such a thing as the 'next Shaq,' is Dwight Howard the closest thing you've seen?" I asked.
"No," he said. "Not at all. He's a good player. He can jump. But no. I was the type of player that they had to have secret meetings and change the rules and do all that. Probably never be another me. He's a good player, but everything he's done, I've invented. So I'm not impressed."
In fact, O'Neal says his 4-year-old son, Shaqir, is the only living candidate for the title "Next Shaq." Why?
"He's a juvenile delinquent," O'Neal said. "Chip off the old Shaq."
But no love for Howard, the most feared big man in the game. Not from Shaq, the most feared big man of his generation.
"He's a good player," O'Neal said, "a fabulous player. But for me to get my eyes wide open about another big man, he'll have to do something that I haven't seen before or something that I haven't invented."
The Magic, on the other hand, are trying to reinvent public perception. Orlando (33-8) looks like a team that doesn't intend to squander a 50-win season with a second-round playoff exit, like last season. The No. 1 playoff seed in the East would just about ensure that. If the Magic can hold on to the No. 1 spot, they won't have to face Boston or Cleveland until the conference finals.
"I think the national public is finally waking up to them," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, Orlando's coach from 1999-2003. "Last year they had the second-or third-best road record in the NBA as well. So they've been here. Last year they advanced for the first time in a while, so they deserve to be in the discussion. Right now, there's nobody in the NBA playing better than Orlando. They're the best team in the NBA right now."
Howard, who has added some diversity to his offensive arsenal to go with his defensive prowess, is a big reason for that. So is point guard Jameer Nelson, who has finally emerged as the floor leader coach Stan Van Gundy needed him to be.
"He's running the team," Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo said.
That was impossible last season, when Nelson's father, Floyd, died accidentally while working as a welder for a tugboat company. His body was pulled from the Delaware River in September, a month before the Magic opened training camp. He was 57.
As if that weren't enough, the uncertainty of entering a contract year also was weighing on Nelson, who ultimately received a five-year, $30 million extension. But Nelson went on to have the lowest scoring average (10.9) since his rookie year. Whenever he faltered -- and it was often -- Keyon Dooling and Carlos Arroyo were never far from Van Gundy's thoughts.
"I think it's been them just putting the faith in him, putting the trust in him and saying, 'We're not going to have backups that can take your minutes,'" said Dooling, now with the Nets. "'We're just going to put the ball in your hands and let you play.' He's taking advantage of it. He's always been capable of it."
Nelson's scoring average is back up to 17.1, and his field-goal percentage (.511) and three-point percentage (.454) are both career highs. But if you ask Shaq -- and I did -- Orlando's best player isn't Howard or Nelson. It's Hedo Turkoglu, who is averaging 20.1 points and 5.7 assists while shooting 55 percent from 3-point range during Orlando's seven-game winning streak.
You start to get the picture about how many ways Orlando can hurt you when you realize I haven't even mentioned Rashard Lewis yet.
"They have a great young team," O'Neal said. "They're hungry, and they play together. Turkoglu is probably the MVP of their team. He's always been one of my favorites. When I was in the East, he really used to scare us. They're playing well."
Are the Magic good enough to instill fear in the Celtics and Cavs come playoff time? Only time will tell. Orlando is sixth in the NBA in points allowed (93.7) and third in opponent field-goal percentage (.426). The Magic's only Achilles' heel is rebounding; they are 15th in the league in rebounding differential, giving up nearly a full rebound per game more than they get.
They haven't played the Cavs yet, and Thursday night is their first meeting with the Celtics since Dec. 1, when they lost 107-88. It's a big week, with Cleveland visiting Orlando for the first time this season Jan. 29. Think it's time to start talking about the Magic?
"Their record is better than ours," Rondo said. "So if you're talking about us, you have to talk about them, too."
