• The Magic have another man down: Marcin Gortat may miss what John Denton calls "an extended period of time" with an ankle injury he suffered last night. He'll have an M.R.I. done today to determine the extent of the injury. Marcin has only played 20 minutes in 6 games this season, and has yet to score, but he is making his presence felt defensively. He's 4th on the team with 8 blocks on the season, and averaging an absurd 14.4 blocks per 36 minutes. Obviously, that total won't hold up, but it does show that Marcin has great instincts defensively.

• Brian Cook turns 28 today. Usually, I like to give the birthday boys their own post, but in Cook's case, there isn't much to say. Cookie Monster has been healthy and active for all 19 of the Magic's games this season, but has appeared in only 5 of them for a total of 26 minutes. His PER is -5.0.

• Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld has this report from Orlando's win over Minnesota last night:

  Magic star Rashard Lewis was equally impressed with the play of Courtney Lee saying he thought Courtney took his time tonight and let the offense come to him.

  "He's real athletic," explained Lewis. "He did what he was supposed to do tonight. He took his time when he scored, drove to the basket most of all, kind of worked his was from inside to out when he started knocking down the three ball."

• If anyone's curious as to why not many people are taking the Magic seriously yet, check these facts from Denton:

  The Magic (14-5) have feasted on the NBA's dregs this season, beating five of the six teams that are currently in last place. Only the Los Angeles Clippers have yet to fall to the Magic, and Orlando opens a five-game, 10-day roadtrip in L.A. against the Clippers on Monday.

  Thirteen of the Magic's 14 victories have come against teams with losing records. Dallas is the only winning team that the Magic have toppled. Four of the five losses - against Atlanta, Portland, Houston and Boston - have been against winning teams.

  There's nothing wrong with that. Orlando's schedule so far has been heavy with lower-tier teams, and it's taken advantage of that. Just because few people take the Magic seriously doesn't mean they've written them off, either.

• Britt Robson of Minneapolis' The Rake Secrets of the City also has praise for Lee... or is it condemnation of the Wolves?

  [N]one of them [the Wolves' point guards] could contain rookie Courtney Lee, who took advantage of injuries to Magic starters Jameer Nelson and Mickael Pietrus to go off for 19 points (8-10 FG) 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in 34:06, clearly establishing himself as the game's best backcourt player.

• Sad news out of New York, where Cuttino Mobley, whose cup of coffee with the Magic lasted long enough to qualify him as the franchise's leader in three-point percentage, may have to retire due to a heart condition. The Magic originally acquired Mobley and Steve Francis in the trade which sent Tracy McGrady and Juwan Howard to Houston. Months later, they shipped Mobley to the L.A. Clippers for Doug and Jackie Christie. Best wishes to Cuttino. (HT: FanHouse)

Orlando Magic guard Courtney Lee shoots a layup as Minnesota Timberwolves forward Al Jefferson contests in Orlando's 100-89 win on Wednesday night

Photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

At times, it wasn't pretty, but the Orlando Magic still managed to get the job done against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. Dwight Howard dominated Al Jefferson with 23 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 blocked shots. Rashard Lewis also scored 23 for Orlando, and Hedo Turkoglu added 22. In the night's biggest surprise, rookie shooting guard Courtney Lee scored 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting in 34 minutes.

As the table shows, the Magic shot the lights out when they weren't busy turning the ball over. With no disrespect intended to Minnesota, but a majority of Orlando's 19 turnovers were unforced errors. The Magic were airmailing passes into the seats and dribbling the ball into the Wolves' hands. At times, they exhibited spectacular ineptitude handling the ball, which is why this game will raise a big red flag. If the Magic's shots hadn't dropped at the staggering rate they did, they may have ended up on the losing end of this game. The effort wasn't there, and against a better team it would have been a losing effort. I hope Stan Van Gundy is able to whip his team into shape before Friday's matchup against Oklahoma City. Big-time trap game, that.

Orlando didn't pull away from Minnesota until the third period. The 'Wolves had drawn to within 2 points, 44-42, when forward Mike Miller sustained an ankle injury while battling for a rebound. With Miller in the locker room, Minnesota's offense ground to a halt. Playing the next 8:06 of the game without Miller, the 'Wolves scored 4 points and committed two shot-clock violations. When he finally returned, the game was pretty well out of hand, with Orlando holding a 60-46 edge.

I'd be remiss if I concluded this recap without commenting more on Courtney Lee. He showed incredible quickness off the dribble, something I had not noticed in his earlier appearances. He was able to get to the rim at will, even against reasonably quick defenders like Randy Foye. Once he established his driving game, his jump-shot returned to him. He made all 3 of his three-point attempts, and each one was a no-doubter after it left his hand. The rotation on his shot is really a thing of beauty, as is his ability to motor up the floor in transition.

But Lee did more than score tonight. He also played lock-down defense, and came up with 3 steals by playing the passing lanes (and, to be fair, taking some questionable gambles). Finally, he moved the ball well and finished with three assists. Obviously he's not going to shoot 80% from the field every night, but he's showed signs that he could be this team's backup/sparkplug two-guard of the future.

Some final notes follow the jump.

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2008/2009 NBA Regular Season
	@
4-12		13-5
December 3rd, 2008
Amway Arena
7:00 PM
Sun Sports
Probable starters:
Randy Foye	PG	Jameer Nelson
Mike Miller	SG	J.J. Redick
Ryan Gomes	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Al Jefferson	PF	Rashard Lewis
Jason Collins	C	Dwight Howard

Jameer Nelson might be available tonight. Brian Schmitz says the Magic will know for sure once they finish their shootaround today. UPDATE: Nelson is out once again, but may be able for Friday's game against Oklahoma City. Keith Bogans says he's ready to play tonight.

No, the Minnesota Timberwolves are not a particularly good team. However, they were good enough to defeat the Orlando Magic last April (see the most maddening GameFlow of all-time), so they're not to be taken lightly. The trouble with that April loss was the Magic's total lack of focus, coupled with hot shooting nights from 'Wolves guards Randy Foye and Rashad McCants. The good news is that the Magic will be exceptionally motivated after getting pummeled in Boston on Monday night. The bad news is they don't have anyone who can guard Foye or McCants... anyone healthy, anyway. The counter to that is, I suppose, that Foye and McCants don't guard anyone either.

Even if they only manage to break even in the backcourt, the Magic should win the battle up front. Al Jefferson is a load in the low post, but he's nothing probable Defensive Player of the Year award-winner Dwight Howard can't handle. The Magic can shift Rashard Lewis to guard Jason Collins, the Timberwolves' offensively challenged starting center. Although he doesn't play many minutes, Lewis shouldn't have much trouble with rookie Kevin Love, Collins' backup.

But Howard vs. Jefferson is clearly the matchup of the night. Jefferson, for all his offensive gifts, still has trouble guarding a traffic cone. Or he used to, anyway. He's changed his defensive attitude, and as such recorded a career-high six blocked shots in a loss to Charlotte last weekend. The trade-off is that he's expending so much energy on defense that it's affected his offense. Even if Dwight has a pedestrian night offensively--say, 18 points on 50% shooting--he should be able to make up for it by shutting Jefferson down on the other end.

Another matchup to watch is McCants vs. J.J. Redick. I see no reason why Redick can't develop into a rich-man's McCants sort of player. Although his career shooting percentages don't bear it out, Redick is a purer shooter than the man they call 'Shaddy, and he likely won't require as many touches to score. He'll also turn the ball over less. Am I nuts?

I really expect a big night from the Magic. Even with a limited, seven-to-eight-man rotation, Stan Van Gundy has a coaching advantage over Randy Wittman, who's talking like a man about to be out of a job (HT: Canis Hoopus). It should be an easy victory... but last April's game should have been, too, just to show you how much that matters. (I tend to be especially bitter about losses I witnessed live and in-person.)

Head over to Canis Hoopus, SB Nation's 'Wolves blog, for the view from up North. Here's the official preview from the Timberwolves' website. The tip's at 7 on Sun Sports. Go Magic.

Orlando Magic center Tony Battie battles Milwaukee Bucks center Dan Gadzuric for a rebound

File photo by Fernando Medina, NBAE/Getty Images

Tony Battie is the freakin' man.

The Orlando Magic desperately missed his toughness last season as he recovered from shoulder surgery. Now that he's back, Orlando is stronger on the interior, and has an ideal post player to complement Dwight Howard. His modest per-game averages of 5.4 points and 4.4 rebounds don't tell the whole story. Tony's posting those numbers in a mere 16.7 minutes per game. On a per-minute basis, he hasn't scored at this rate since his third season or rebounded at this rate since his fifth. And he's never scored more efficiently, with a crisp shooting percentage of 61.8%, which blasts his previous career best of 54.1%.

It's tempting to compare this current Magic team to the one of the mid-1990s which featured Shaquille O'Neal, Penny Hardaway, and Horace Grant. The Howard/O'Neal and Hedo Turkoglu/Hardaway analogies are a bit stale, but this one rings true: Tony Battie/Horace Grant. Battie's per-minute statistics this season compare favorably to Grant's from 1994/1995, when the Magic made their only NBA Finals appearance.

More praise for Tony after the jump.

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