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Posts Tagged ‘Marcin Gortat’

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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AN INCREDIBLE NIGHT FOR US

Friday, May 1st, 2009

First for foremost, I have to give a shout-out to all of the fans who joined me last night on the Twitter chat during the game. At one point during the game, we had more than 10,000 people following me. That’s just cra-zeee to me. But thanks yall for the support. It really helped me get through a frustrating situation.

Me and my sister tweeting

Me and my sister tweeting

Now, how about my teammates??? They were awesome. Those boys went out there with something to prove and they really did me proud. They dominated that game from start to finish and never gave Philly an ounce of hope. That’s how we have to play on both ends of the court if we want to keep winning in the playoffs and bring that championship back to O-town.

The Polish Hammer was dunking on their heads. J.J. was drilling those 3s. Rafer was doing his thing. And ‘Shard was a beast on the low block. Everybody pitched in and helped out and it was cool to see the whole team working together like that.

As for my suspension, everybody knows that was out of character for me. I don’t play mean or ever try to hurt anyone. That’s just not me at all. All my fans and teammates know that I’m playing to win and I’m all about having fun.

That suspension I got was fair I guess. I’m more mad at myself than anything that I let Philly’s big dudes get in my head. I have to learn from this and keep my cool in the next series.

But I’m just so happy with the way my teammates played. They were incredible.

Thank yall for tweeting with me in the game. I was hating not being out there on the court, but I actually had a fun night with my fam and my fans.

Let’s keep this winning going. We really think we can do it this year, but it’s going to take all of us staying together. Goooooo Magic!!!!

– D-12

Fans: Be sure to check out Dwight on Twitter and Facebook

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MY MEMORIES OF THE SEASON

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

The regular season finally comes to an end and we can’t wait to get to the playoffs starting this weekend. We haven’t played great down the stretch and we’ve still got some nagging things going on with injuries, but we’ll make the best of it and be ready when the playoffs start.

It’s been a really good season for us. We went from 52 wins to 58 (and maybe 59). I still remember back to when we lost the first two games in a row and people were saying that the Magic were going to have a bad year. But we turned everything around very quickly and I think it shows how we matured.

We don’t get a lot of recognition nationally, but I guess people forget that we beat the Lakers twice, Cleveland twice, Boston twice and San Antonio twice. That has to count for something, right?

Because we have played so well against the best teams, we think we can win a championship. We know the playoffs are a different beast, but we’re confident that we can do anything we can put our minds to.

I promised myself and my teammates that I would be better defensively this season and I went out and led the NBA in blocks. That’s just proof that when you put your mind to something you can accomplish it.

Of all the good memories from this season, I have one that I still think is the absolutely funniest of the year. It was a couple of weeks ago against Cleveland when Marcin Gortat became the first Polish player in the history of basketball since James Naismith to hit a 3-pointer. Now that was a sight to see. That’s one for the historians and record books all time.

I’m out. Take care, ya’ll. — DWIGHT

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MY MIND WAS ON CELTICS ALL DAY

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

When I woke up Wednesday morning the first thing I thought about was how physical Boston was going to be and what I could do to not get involved with all the pushing and fighting. I tried to keep a level head, smile everything off and it actually felt good to play that way.

Marcin Gortat and I had an inside bet that if I talked to the refs more than five times in the game that I had to take him out to dinner. I only got to four with the refs, so it was a pretty good job by me.

I wasn’t fighting with the refs and I was just focused on playing basketball. The game is not always going to go the way that I want it to, so I’m just focusing on playing basketball and having fun out there. I’m happy with the way we played as a team, and the way I kept my cool.

We got a big, big win against the Celtics and we really needed it. It allowed us to win the Southeast Division and it helps us get closer to possibly getting the No. 2 seed and winning 60 games. We’re getting another banner for winning the division, but it’s that big championship banner that I want so bad.

Knowing how the Celtics were going to play me, I tried to be really assertive on the defensive end and on offense I was trying to attack the glass on every play. I knew they were going to push me a lot and I wasn’t going to let it stop me from going to get the ball.

I told myself all day long that Boston is going to be physical and they are going to fight and hold. I had to ask myself: Can you withstand all of that pushing and fighting and keep playing basketball? You have to be able to overcome that. It’s all about how you respond to what they are doing that matters most.

The playoffs will be the same way if we get to play Boston again, and I really think we will. It will be physical, and because they are the champions, they will be allowed to play physical basketball. Going into a series with them we know we have to withstand the pushing and fighting.

That was a really good game for us, beating Boston the way we did. It should show us that we can beat any team as long as we play our style of basketball. You have to have that kind of confidence because if you don’t believe in yourself nobody will ever believe in you.

I’m happy with this win, but we have to keep it up now. We have 11 games left and all of our goals are still within reach. We want to finish strong, and hopefully we can bring that championship home to Orlando when all is said and done.

Peace. — DWIGHT

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