Jameer Nelson, First Victim of Orlando’s Mini-Slide?

by Marcel Mutoni

A few weeks ago, everyone was in love with the Orlando Magic. I went as far as to declare that it was time to hop on their bandwagon and ride it all the way to Disneworld.

Ever since, they’ve hit a snag in the road, and have only won three of their last ten ballgames. As it happens in most cases when a team struggles, fingers get pointed, and someone has to take the blame. In the Magic’s case, it appears as though point guard Jameer Nelson will be the first to fall on the proverbial sword. Coach Stan Van Gundy is openly talking about benching his pg.

“If you go back to the first 15 games, Jameer was playing very well, and it was key to us getting out of the gates as quickly as we did,” Van Gundy said.

“But he simply has not played to that level in the past three weeks, and that’s a concern right now. You want to stick with guys as long as you can because player’s performances will (sometimes) go up and down like his have, but he’s got to get it going pretty quickly.”

Nelson, who has struggled mightily in the past three weeks, is averaging 11 points and 6 assists per night.

Fear not, though, Magic fans, your team is still in great shape: At 19-11, Orlando continues to lead its division, and the next seven games are very winnable.