Vince Carter. Eight time all-star. Explosive Superstar and scorer. Best dunk contest winner in the history of the contest. Vince Carter the injury plagued player that still tries to give it all, but he simply cannot.

As we sit here weeks before the All-Star game and already pass the halfway point of the season, I sit back an evaluate Vince Carter the player. We started hot. The pre-season was amazing. All the guys where playing together. We killed all the teams we faced. Vince looked like he belonged with the team. Season started and we went on a 17-4 run to start the season. Vince was healthy. Then the troubles started. First was the ankle injury. He missed a few games, came back but wasn't the same, lost some step. The killer was that shoulder hit. He hasn't been the same since.

The Magic went on a run where they played .500 ball. Not Elite. Not Contender basketball. Vince Carter has struggled all along. I don't blame him, I mean he is hurt, but, When is it time to shutdown one of your stars?

At this point after weeks of struggles its my personal opinion that maybe, just maybe it is time to sit him. The All-Star game is only about two weeks away. Vince is just hurting us on the court. Lets let him rest. We traded for him to be our go to guy. He can't be that guy if he is playing hurt. We have others that can cover for him and his current level of play. JJ Redick and Mickael Pietrus can both play the position.

I hate to see him trying on the court, but only failing. Its not fair to him, its not fair to his teammates, its not fair to the team, and its not fair to the fans. His constant selection of bad shots and drives to the baskets are not helping anyone. The Boos he heard last night, first time I hear a current Magic player being booed at home by the way, are an indication of how we all feel. Also an indication that it is time to let him rest. The All-Star break would be perfect for him. Give him two weeks to heal. Give him a week to get back in game shape and before the end of the season he'll be back to help the team finish strong and get deep into the playoffs.

Last night was great. Hopefully the start of a new part of the season. We'll face the Hawks tomorrow. We need to be in full force. Vince is not helping. So lets help him.

The Magic downed the Celtics last night and rejuvenated themselves with a great win. The Puns team were inspired, and decided to discuss it. Yeah, we're still alive, sorry about that. So what did this win do for the Magic? Onto the roundtable!

The Nickel Steak:

 It was nice to see Dwight Howard lead the offense in the first half of the 4th. That's what he should have been doing, and was never really given a chance to do, since 2008. That doesn't even take into account how great his defense has been lately(better than ever). If nothing else, that, along with Rashard showing up last night, is a reason for cautious optimism.

El Fantasma de Carlos:

 This is it. Is it time to turn this around? Dwight Howard said so and he delivered. So did everyone else in the team, well except Vince Carter(but I'll give him a pass because of the shoulder). The team started slow which was no surprise, but all of a sudden, everything clicked. Down by 16 to an Elite team and conference rivals, the Magic where able to rise above and accept the challenge. JJ Redick was fantastic in the fourth. Dwight was unbelievable. Marcin Gortat was incredible. The twin towers finally showed us it can work. All the Blocks, Rebounds, Big Shots. This can be the start for the team to flip it all around. Fits perfect to. The December 25th game against the same team started the slump and all the .500 ball play. We finally exorcised those demons last night. You want proof. Check out the next game against the Hawks.

Jareth Cutestory:

This was the type of game that the Magic could leave the arena with a huge smile on their faces. Sure, it appeared to start off slow, but the Magic played hard for 48 minutes. Shots just weren't falling in the 1st, despite some good looks. Dwight Howard proved to be a man amongst boys, and delivered on his promise that change was here. Sure, it's one game, but the Magic had been coasting by and LOSING to sub .500 teams left and right. The morale of this team had to be at an all time low, after going into the season with nothing but championship in mind. This game gave them that confidence boost that they sorely needed, and wins over teams like the Kings couldn't really deliver. This was against a legitimate title contender. A title contender that crushed them for most of the game, only for them to leave the arena wondering what went wrong. The Celtics are the team this morning trying to regroup and bounce back to play an elite Hawks team, while the Magic could feel good going into a game against a team in which they usually dominate. All in all, solid victory for a group of players that may have finally found themselves.

The Big Train:

 Check 1, check 2, sibilance. Well, last night's game sure was entertaining, and it was nice to see Orlando come back from such a large deficit, considering how we blew an equally impressive lead the other night in Memphis. Will this be the game that will start a run of 10 in a row? Will they find a way to get free of Atlanta and Boston and begin to challenge Cleveland? I would like to think that, but perhaps this game told us more about Boston's age than Orlando's new found swagger. Aside from the first quarter Jameer was lousy, Vince still looks like he's lost, and there were plenty of frustrating moments. But maybe this will help Vince put it into the next gear (would that be 2nd?) and perhaps Jameer will remember he was an All-Star last year. Maybe.

Paul Ego:

Dwight warned us that change was coming. The shots didn't fall early on, but this Orlando team didn't put it's head down. They didn't take a quarter or two of the action off. Barnes brought his trademark intensity. Lewis was fighting KG for rebounds. Dwight showed that Perkins and 'Sheed can't keep him contained forever. Nelson gave us an early glimpse of what he can do when he is completely healthy and ready to go. JJ showed us he belongs. Gortat showed us how he earned that contract. Carter even showed some defensive intensity.

This team is on the verge of putting it all together and living up to their potential. Nelson needs to get back to some semblance of last season, and Carter needs something. I'm not sure. I hope it's just the shoulder. He sure seemed like he was getting back the last couple of games until last night. He showed some great moves and drove to the basket early and often against Memphis. I only remember one last night, and it came on the posession after he heard some booing from the crowd after a badly missed three.

Flopping.

Yes, we hate it too.
And like most of you, we have our own special theory as to how to prevent it. However, unlike other people, who's suggestions include things like giving techs for flopping after the fact, our plan is much simpler, much more elegant, and would be relatively simple:

Our plan is to require all NBA referees to have a working understanding of high school physics.

Yeah, that may sound stupid at first, but lets examine what a flop actually is, what a referee is perceiving when they fall for a flop, and why their falling for said flop is bat**** insane.

Take the first flop in the following video:

In the first flop, Pau Gasol is standing just inside the foul lane at the moment of contact. When he flops, he lands with his feet about a foot away from the mid-point of the lane. That's a distance of roughly 5' traveled in 1 second of time.

Pau Gasol is listed at basketball-reference.com as weighing 227lbs. A basic knowledge of physics would lead us, then, to one of two conclusions.

Either Gasol flopped, or else Dwight Howard is secretly part rhinoceros.

You'll often hear the term "horsepower" when the pulling force of something, like a truck, is being described, but in truth, it has an actual mathematical definition: 1 horsepower is the amount of force required to move an object weighing 550 pounds at a rate of 1 foot per second. So lets take that Pau Gasol comparison again:

227 lbs at 5' in 1 second is the physical equivalent of 1135 lbs at 1' in 1 second.

What that means is that if Dwight Howard had actually shoulder bumped Pau Gasol so hard as to legitimately knock him that far backwards, Howard would've needed to hit him at a force of a little over 2 horsepower.

And given the basic understanding that Gasol probably wasn't hit with over 1000 lbs of force(since that much force on that small an area would like result in, at the very least, a few broken ribs and a collapsed lung), we can pretty safely assume that he flopped. Badly.

Now, we know what you're thinking: "Come on, guys. We've all been out running, had someone bump us, and helplessly gone flying way further than was justified by the bump."

Yes, we have. But that logic doesn't apply here. In that instance, your being bumped isn't what's causing you to go spiraling into the bushes at your high school track meet; your own momentum is. All the bump you received accomplished was redirecting your forward momentum towards a different direction, most likely a cream pie stand or two people inexplicably carrying a plate glass window. In Gasol's case, and indeed in the case of nearly all flops, the flopper was stationary. All potential force that would cause Gasol to fall and fly 5' would need to come either from Howard or from Gasol himself.

So there's the plan: basic physics courses for all NBA referees. If I could learn and understand this after two weeks of summer school at Dr. Phillips High School, I'm sure someone getting paid to officiate NBA games could handle it.

From NBA.com:

"Orlando Magic point guard Jameer Nelson will undergo arthroscopic surgery Wednesday morning to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Nelson was injured in the fourth quarter of Monday night's game vs. Charlotte and underwent an MRI Tuesday morning. It is estimated that Nelson will be out four-to-six weeks following the procedure. "

It just seems like the Orlando Magic are never going to get a full season out of Jameer Nelson. Some guys no matter how hard they try cannot seem to escape the injury bug. I feel sorry for Jameer as he got his spectacular season last year cut short and now is looking at missing a good chunk of this one. If there is a silver lining here it is that this injury happened early enough in the season where Jameer should be able to come back with plenty of time for the stretch run.

It seems that Magic have played a different starting lineup every night this season and Wednesday will be no different as I assume Jason Williams will start with Anthony Johnson being defrosted for back up duty.

One suggestion could be to go after Allen Iverson. If your goal is a championship this season you want Iverson. Though he has the baggage the reason he has been so despondent is because he does not want to come off the bench at all. His skill set is tailored for this offense and honestly his defense cannot be any worse than Jameer's. He can also create his own shot and get to the foul line. 

He is not the leader this team needs but that means Dwight and Shard will need to step up in that respect. This would be a tremendous opportunity for Iverson to repair his image where Memphis was a no win situation for him from the beginning. 

I know Jameer's injury is for 4-6 weeks but who is to say it won't be 8 or 10. You just do not know with knee injuries and you cannot rush them. 

For now I assume Otis will browse through the scrap heap of retreads and undrafted free agents. I am sure he will make some calls although getting a Rafer Alston type point guard is not easy to do 2 years in a row. For now I expect the team to move forward with what they have unless there are a couple of ugly blowouts like the Denver and New Orleans games last season.

We will keep you posted as any future point guard developments happen.

Dear Courtney Kirkland, Dan Crawford, Gary Zielinski,

Thank you for taking the biggest Orlando Magic game of the season and rendering it completely unwatchable. Once again a set of NBA referees assumed the game was bigger than them and tried to make themselves the stars. To call those 2 fouls on Dwight less than 3 minutes into the game is completely absurd. The worst part is that this horrendous officiating will continue to take place while the individuals involved will have zero responsibility.

It goes deeper than the stats (even) or the calls to each superstar. You took away our team's best player and defensive anchor and gave the Cavaliers the shot in the arm they needed as they would never look back. A team with the best player in the NBA does not need your help yet there you are to lend a helping hand. I would love to here your reaction to Dwight's blog but we never will because David Stern and Stu Jackson give you all the protection you need. No one likes to be told how to do their job no matter the profession. You simply cannot tell me that Dwight's constant bickering and blog comments do not bother you.

I will take the responsibility for Dwight's part in all of this. He has to be smarter than he is by knowing how sensitive you guys are and how willing you are to penalize someone. When you give him 12 foul shots he certainly needs to make more than 5. When you to take him out of the game he has to be the bigger man and not mentally check out. I just hope that he fights through this and you and your fraternity find a happy medium where I can enjoy watching my team play and not worry about what point you will take Dwight out of the game.

Thanks, The Puns Are Starting To Bore Me