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Posts Tagged ‘Hedo Turkoglu’

Having fun with some trick shots

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Heyyyyyy wooooooorlllllld!!! We played one of our best games of the season Wednesday against Toronto because we focused on our defense first and foremost. We all know that defense is how we’re going to get back to the Finals this year, but sometimes we forget and slip back into bad habits. But it was good to play the way we did and get some stops vs. the Raptors.

We all got to see Turk, who got a pretty nice ovation from the fans in Orlando. I don’t blame Turk for leaving last summer because he had to make a business decision for what was best for his family.

Now onto today’s real topic…When I’m out and about in the community people ask me all the time about the crazy stuff that I do before games. If ya’ll watch me close, I’m firing up shots from the ball rack at halfcourt and I’m doing silly dunks in the pregame layup line. We work so hard all the time, I really think that’s a time when I can sort of just relax, have fun and get my mind right before the game.

I usually get in most of my work before the fans even get in their seats. I’m working out, shooting free throws and getting up post-up shots. So when the game is about to start you can’t wait to get going. So to try and relax I’m shooting my half-court shots and my one-handed shots and my shots sitting down.

I think our team is kind of known for hitting those trick shots before games. There will come a time in a game, trust me, when one of those shots will come in handy and I’ll make one.

Me, Marcin Gortat and Mickael Pietrus shoot half-court shots every day at the end of practice, and we make them a lot more than you might think. When we make them before the game, I always hear the ooooohs and aaaaaahs from the crowd. It sort of gets them going and it gets me going too.

So it’s just all about having fun and getting my mind right to play. Of course, I gotta do my Dream Shake with the sticky paper before every game, too. LeBron has his chalk and I have my Shake-and-Bake with the paper.

I don’t know, it’s just a routine that works for me. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? It’s fun and I’m all about having fun and winning.

We in Miami tonight for what will be a tough game, I’m sure. We owe those guys one after they beat us a couple of weeks ago. Ya’ll hit me back and let me know what you think about my pregame trick shots and I might try some of your suggestions in the next couple of weeks.

Holla.

—DWIGHT

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HAPPY DAY, SAD DAY

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Last Thursday was a weird, weird day for me. First, I was so sad to hear that Michael Jackson died so suddenly. I have every song MJ ever put out and it’s hard to believe that he’s dead. That should just let us all know we need to tell the people around us that we love them because you never know when your time might be up.

Then, came out big trade. I was so happy that we got VC on board here. He’s been telling me for years that he wanted to play in Orlando and that me and him would be good playing together. He lives in Orlando in the summer and he’s usually working out at RDV, so we’ve played together some already on pick-up teams. Vince is one of the best three-men in the league because he can score, pass and get shots for other people.

But losing my man, Courtney, and my big brother Tony Battie and the legend, Skip To My Lou, that was tough.

I really grew close to Courtney and kind of took him under my wing. The night he was drafted, we texted for about an hour. I would always tease him that he was a rookie, but he was still a few months older than me. He’s going to be a great player in this league and it’s hard for me to think about him playing somewhere else. But in Jersey, he’ll have a bigger role now and get more shots.

Tony was like my older brother here in Orlando. He’s been here five years, the same as me. He’s always been in my ear, giving me advice on how to handle things. He was always in my corner, no matter what happened. I’m going to miss him.

Skip to My Lou helped us so much last season. He’s a legend, man!!! We wouldn’t have gotten to the Finals without you Skip. All three of those guys we traded, those were good dudes.

So I’m happy we got Vince and sad that some other guys had to go. I’m still holding out hope that we can get Turk back, too. Turk has been here for five years and I feel like I owe part of my development as a player to him. He’s one of the best passers I’ve ever played with in my career. If we can get him back we could be the team to beat next season. Without Turk, that would hurt us.

We’re trying to win a championship here right away. The NBA is a business, but sometimes it just hurts to see your teammates go.

I’m out. Hope yall’s summer is going great. I’ve been busy and about to get back in the gym and start working again. C YA WHEN I C YA.

– DWIGHT

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ME AND THE TROPHY

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Ya’ll will get to see my new commercial tonight during the game. ABC took some pictures of us with the NBA championship trophy the other day to run during the games, but if you look really close you will notice that I don’t touch it.

They had seven us take the pictures (Rafer, Turk, C-Lee, Shard, AJ, MP and me) with the trophy and some of my guys were holding it and rubbing it. But I’m not touching the trophy until we win it all and that baby re ally is mine. Then it’s on, and I’ll be kissing it and hugging it and everything.

We got the silver ball last Saturday night and it was nice, but I gotta tell you that gold one is beautiful. I want one of those so bad now.

We’re glad that game night is finally here. It’s been good to get some rest these last few days, but it actually seems like two weeks since we beat Cleveland. I think guys are focused and ready to go. We know what we have to do.

Yesterday’s practice was kinda crazy because cameras were popping and reporters were lined up around the court. I think some of our guys got to see how the Finals are different with more eyes looking at us. To me, it reminded me of the all-star games and even the Olympics from this past summer. You’re constantly getting pulled around with so much stuff to do.

I think we’ll adjust to all of this stuff pretty quick. Everybody who has been following the Magic knows that we’re a loose bunch. That’s why we’ve been so good on the road the last couple of years. That why we could go to Philly, Boston and Cleveland and win on the road in the playoffs.

We just know if we play our game by running, playing defense and rebounding we can beat anybody and win anywhere. That shouldn’t be any different tonight in L.A. We’ve won here the last two years, and we know we can do it again.

OK, ya’ll cheer us on tonight because we need the support from everywhere. That love I felt in Games 6 against Cleveland was the happiest I’ve been in a long time. We need to keep it going and get a W tonight and start these Finals off the right way.

– D-12

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LET’S DO THIS ON THURSDAY NIGHT

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Whew!!!!!! Are ya’ll as exhausted as I am after that killer game? That was a gut-check of all gut-check games for us and the Magic came through again? What are they gonna say now?

We’re so, so close to playing for that championship in the Finals, but now is no time to celebrate because really we haven’t done anything yet. We’ve won three games, but you don’t get anything for that. If you think winning last night was hard, t rying to close out the Cavs at The Q will be super hard and we know it. That’s a good team that won 66 games and they aren’t going down without a fight.


Speaking of fighting, how about those tackles that Varejao put on me a couple of times during the game??? And I’m the one who gets the technical foul!!!! I was just playing with emotion. You get in the game and you score a big bucket, you let your emotions take over. I wasn’t taunting Varejao or anything. My thing was, it was a tough play, he grabbed me around the neck and I made the shot, so hopefully they will look at it.

And on that final lob play, he rode me out of bounds, but there was nothing called. I just feel like if that had been a certain guy on the other team, the whistle would have been blowing.

This thing with the T’s is bugging me pretty bad right no w, but I can’t let it take me away from my focus on helping us get the job done. I can’t believe that I’ve had six of them called on me so far, and some of them have just been crazy. I’m not a dirty player, I don’t talk a lot of trash and I don’t curse the officials, so I can’t figure out why I keep getting them again and again.

Hopefully, the league office will look at this one and realize it was just the heat of the game. There was no taunting. I’ve already had to miss one game because of my elbows, and I made a promise to myself that I’d never have that happen again with my elbows. The thought of me having to miss another game is killing me, so I’ve got to keep my mouth shut and my elbows down.

We’re getting contributions from so many guys now – Shard, Turk, MP, C-Lee and my man Skip to My Lou. That wasn’t Rafer Alston out there tonight, that was professional street baler, Skip To My Lou!!!!

We just feel like when we’re playing like we did last night, getting help from everybody, moving the ball, running and playing defense, that we can beat anybody.

We’ve got to close this baby out now. It won’t be easy, but we feel we can get it done against anybody if we just play our game.

I’ll be ready and my guys will be ready, so let’s go do this.

Holla. — DWIGHT

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ANOTHER BUZZER-BEATER???

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

I played with LeBron in the Olympics and I’ve seen him do some crazy things, but that was the sickest of them all. I mean, that was a tough, tough shot. Turk played great defense, did all he could do really, and LeBron just made a heck of a shot.

He’s the MVP of the league, and that’s what he does best – make plays nobody thinks he can make.

What’s up with us losing all of these buzzer-beaters??? I mean, dang, Philly got us twice in the first round, Big Baby hit that crazy jumper from the wing against Boston and now this from LeBron??? I guess when you think about it, we won a couple of games at the end with Turk in Philly and Rashard here in Game 1. I thought Turk had done it for us again, running the clock down to one and hitting hit shot, but that was a tough way to lose.

Now, you have to watch that shot over and over again on the TV and there’s no getting away from it. But we’ve got to bounce back from this, and I know we will because we’ve done that all season.

We were almost up 2-0 on their home court, which would have been huge, but we just have to realize it’s all tied up now.

We’re going home and we know what we have to do to beat this team. I think Cleveland knows we ain’t no joke and we ain’t going away anytime soon. They know we’re going to keep scrapping and fighting and clawing, and we expect the same thing from them.

Now, we gotta take care of business back in Orlando. Everybody thought I was going to be all frustrated about not getting many shots Friday night, but I’m more upset about how bad we’re starting games. We’re giving up threes and dunks and we’re not running on offense. That just can’t keep happening, especially when we get home.

My man, Bron Bron, hurt us with that shot, but ya’ll know we’ll be back from that. We always bounce back whether it’s in the middle of games or after tough losses.

We’ll be at home now, and we’ll be there to win these next two games. We still think we have the talent and the team to win this series, and one loss – make that one shot – hasn’t changed our minds about that.

I’m out, ya’ll. Bring it for Game 3 cause we need ya’ll.

– D

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