Rockets at Magic
THE STORY: In a story that seemed to take a new shape every day
during the compacted free agency period, Dwight Howard made everyone
aware that he is exploring his options for this season and beyond, and
those options might take him away from the Orlando Magic. For now,
Howard is in uniform with the Magic, who open their 2011-12 campaign by
hosting the Houston Rockets on Monday. Howard was rumored to be headed
to the New Jersey Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and others and was reportedly
upset with Orlando management for not involving him in personnel moves.
Speaking of personnel moves, the Rockets thought they had remade their
team in a trade only to have the commissioner’s office squash the deal
that would have sent Chris Paul to the Lakers and landed Pau Gasol in
Houston. That led Rockets general manager Daryl Morey to say, “Who gives
a (expletive) how hard it is? No one cares, nor should they. We don’t
have any excuses. We’re going to keep fighting and keep winning.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Houston, SunSports (Orlando), NBATV
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (0-0):
Houston was giving up Luis Scola, Kevin Martin and Goran Dragic in the
trade that never happened but returns with basically the same team that
finished 43-39 and just missed the playoffs last season - minus forward
Chuck Hayes. The biggest change is on the bench, where Kevin McHale
replaces Rick Adelman as coach. McHale previously had two largely
unsuccessful stints on the Minnesota Timberwolves bench.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (0-1): Orlando has been in contention in the East
for the last handful of years but seemed to take a step backward in
2010-11 when a mid-season trade shook up the lineup but the team still
fell in the first round of the playoffs. With the cloud of Howard’s
impending free agency looming over the team, the Magic brought in former
Celtic forward Glen Davis but made no other significant changes. Howard
had 15 rebounds but only 11 points in Orlando's 97-89 season-opening
loss at Oklahoma City on Sunday.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Howard has averaged 14.7 points in 14 career games against the Rockets - his lowest mark against any team.
2. McHale is 39-55 overall in his coaching career.
3. Orlando has taken the last four meetings by an average of 15.5 points.