I went to Game 4 of the Pistons-Magic series on Saturday, and I still can’t believe what I saw. Not only did the Magic completely blow a chance to tie the series at 2, they also didn’t get Dwight Howard the ball down the stretch. I mean he only had two points during the final three quarters, to finish with eight total.

How can an All-NBA first team center only have two points during the last three quarters, and barely touch the ball down the stretch? I couldn’t figure it out, until I saw a column in the Sentinel, from Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp.

Sharp’s column had several good points, namely that,

“Howard didn’t get the ball enough, especially late, because he didn’t want the ball enough.”

I agree with Sharp. I don’t recall Howard ever getting extremely mad about not getting the ball. I never saw him go to the bench and yell at his teammates to give him the ball either.

And…

“Howard’s offensive repertoire remains at a rudimentary level. He’s not comfortable making an away-from-the-basket offensive move. He rushes shots, clumsily throwing up garbage and then complaining that the referees aren’t giving him a fair whistle.”

This was a tremendous observation by Sharp, and one that I have not read from the Sentinel’s columnists. Could it be that Howard didn’t want the ball in the clutch because he is still not comfortable when he has the ball in his hands?

Could it be that his teammates are still hesitant to give him the ball in the post, because he looks so uncomfortable with it when he gets it?

As I think back over the season, Howard really has dominated at points, but there aren’t many times when I can remember him getting the ball in the post, making a move, and putting it in the basket. Most of his points still seem to come off rebounds and tips, especially when he runs the floor.

I have read so many times this year about how much Howard has improved, how dominat he has become, and I think he has, but not to the point where most local media members believe. He still has a long, long way to go. Howard should want to be the most dominat player on the court. He should want the ball every time down the floor, and each time he gets it, he should score.

Defensively, his game is there. Also, he might be the best rebounder in the league, but a truly dominant player needs to take over offensively as well.

Last summer, I spent some time working out at the RDV Sportsplex, where the Magic practice. While I was there I watched a pickup game, between a few people, including Howard and Bo Outlaw. I understand that it was just a pickup game, and I understand Dwight is just a kid, playing against some 40 year olds, but I watched him dribble down the floor and heave up jumpers the whole time.

I get that he was probably just trying to have some fun, but it was still kind of strange. If I were him, I would be in the gym working on my post moves, the enitre off-season. Maybe he did, but his performance thus far, especially in the post-season shows that he needs some work.

If the Magic have any chance to get back in this series, Dwight needs to show up on both ends of the floor. He has got to want the ball.

Howard is one of the best players in the game, but there are still times when he disappears offensively. If I were the Magic, I would go find Hakeem Olajuwon and have him work with Dwight all off-season.

“It really hasn’t hit me yet that we’re past the first round….It is just an incredible feeling.”—Dwight Howard

That makes two of us Dwight.

Can you believe they actually made it past the first round?

Let’s hope the Magic can keep this going…..

My buddy and I went to the Magic game earlier today and I was impressed with what I saw. Sure, the game was great. At some points, especially early, the Magic dominated. Dwight Howard is so ridiculously good that it’s scary. The team needs to work on its perimeter defesne, but they have time to figure it out.

What impressed me even more than the team though was that the fans were back into the game. The O-Rena (I refuse to call it the Amway Arena) was rocking at different times throughout the day. There were some times when the crowd was out of it, and the lack energy affecte the team, but when the crowd was into the game, that place was loud, like how it used to be in the old days.

The coolest part of the entire day came as we walked out of the arena. Before the game each fan was handed a noise maker as they walked in. I don’t really like noise makers, but it made the place even louder. Anyway, as we walked outside, a spontaneous let’s go Magic cheer was started by the fans.

“Let’s go Magic!!!” And then you heard the thunder from everybody making noise with the giveaway toys. “Let’s go Magic…” It echoed all the way up the street until we walked out of the parking lot.

It’s the first time since the Shaq/Penny era where I can remember fans being genuinely excited about the team. I’m not saying it’s anywhere close to that level of excitement, it’s not. I’m just saying that people around town are getting excited about the team again, where it goes from here is all up to the team.

That’s why this playoff run is the most important one the Magic have had in the last decade. The team is actually good again. They have a chance to get this whole city to fall in love with the Magic again. You could see the seeds being planted today, people want to support the team, but the only way that will happen is if they win.

If the Magic continue to win, mark my words, this city will go nuts for them once again.

For years, I have listened to some of my buddies complain about The Orlando Sentinel. When they do, I always ask them the same question, “What is it that you don’t like so much?” Everybody has different opinions, but the one I hear most often is that the coverage is biased towards a particular person or team.

I am sure it is a criticism that every newspaper deals with, no matter how you report the news, somebody is going to find something wrong with the way you do it.

I have tried to defend the Sentinel in most cases, because I know some of the people who work there, and I know they work extremely hard. As I have said in this blog before, when I left Syracuse, one of the first papers that gave me a chance to write was the Sentinel, and I will always be grateful for that.

Despite what my friends say, I believe that the Sentinel usually does a good job toeing the line between covering the news, and cozying up too close to sources. Having said that, there was something in today’s paper that I felt crossed the line. It was Mike Bianchi’s column about the lack of fan interest in the Magic’s first-round playoff series against the Raptors.

Bianchi argues that the Magic shouldn’t have to beg fans to come see their playoff games. He believes that each game should be a sell-out because the team is good, and as a city, residents should get behind the team.

These are valid points. It’s the rest of the column that I have problems with though. The more you read into this column, the more it starts to sound like a member of the Magic’s PR Department wrote it. Bianchi lists a series of arguments (that I have put into block quotes), my words come after each set of quotes:

“You can’t say this team is just some one-and-done playoff pattycake. The Magic won a division championship for the first time in a dozen years. They have more than 50 wins for the first time since the days of Shaq and Penny. They have not lost a single series this season to an Eastern Division foe and have the second-best road record in the league.”

That’s all true, but this team also has some serious question marks on it. They don’t have a legitimate point guard. They don’t have a big man who can come in and score if Howard gets into foul trouble. And while I think they are going to knock off the Raptors, who says they will? The first time the Shaq and Penny led Magic went into the playoffs in ‘94, they were a four seed, and got swept away by the fifth seeded Pacers. Let’s see how Howard and Lewis do in their first trip together.

You can’t say management hasn’t spent money in an attempt to get better. The Magic paid $118 million for Rashard Lewis in the offseason and another $120 million extending Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson. That’s $230 million for three players. Who do these guys think they are — the Yankees infield?

No, but you can say that they haven’t spent it well. Signing Howard was a no-brainer, but they so obscenely overpaid for Lewis and Nelson that even Steinbrenner is probably laughing at them.

You can’t say the Magic don’t have star power. I mean, come on, they have Superman on their roster. Does it get any better than that?”

Yes, it does in fact, get better than that. Howard is great, but I would rather have the star power of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen on my team heading into the playoffs.

The list goes on, but when reading those it just sounds like they came straight from an employee of the Magic.

My other big problem with this column is that Bianchi is too good of a writer to continue to use this same angle. I can’t tell you how many times in the last few years he has played the “Come on Orlando, we’re a Major League Town” card in some of his columns.

Conference USA Title Games…”If we don’t fill the stadium up we won’t look good on ESPN.”

New downtown stadium project…”If we don’t build them, we’ll end up like Birmingham!”

I love the passion, but you can’t write the same thing so many times. Orlando is just not a good sports town. Period. I’ve lived here pretty much all my life, and the only time I have ever really seen people get excited about sports was when the Magic were good in the mid ’90s, and when two local Little League teams made it to Williamsport. That’s it. People care about football here, but the only true local team we have, aside from the Magic, is UCF, and they are not a major program right now, no matter what they say.

Instead of writing this column, I wish Bianchi would have written about why fans don’t seem as into the Magic, as they were in the Shaq/Penny era. There have been glimpses this season that things are going back to how they used to be, (both Boston home games come instantly to mind) and there have been a lot of sellout crowds this season. But, I have also been to several games where there are scores of empty seats, and people just don’t seem to care.

Even more than that though, back in the days of Shaq and Penny, you couldn’t walk around town without somebody talking about the Magic. You just don’t hear that anymore though. Why doesn’t somebody write about that?

Now, do I really believe that the Magic had anything to do with the way this column was written…no. I don’t think the people at the Sentinel would let that happen. Furthermore, I think that Mike Bianchi is one of the best columnists in the country, when he puts his mind to it. But, in this case, I think he could have done a lot better.