ORLANDO, Fla. - Magic shooting guard J.J. Redick is mired in one of the worst shooting slumps of his life - making three of his last 25 shots - so the advice he received from coach Stan Van Gundy during his off day was a little surprising.
Van Gundy told Redick not to come near the practice floor Friday.
"He told me not to touch the ball," Redick said after a light practice yesterday. "Usually, throughout the playoffs, I've been taking extra shooting practice. This time I did nothing but watch some film. Maybe that will work."
Redick is expected to start tonight in Game 7, despite his problems. He missed all seven of his shots in Game 6 Thursday before he was mercifully yanked midway through the third quarter.
"I saw some things on film that may help me," he said. "At practice today, I didn't miss a shot."
Go-to guys
There are some players on the roster who will get yanked if they aren't hitting shots, but Van Gundy said there are others who will be on the floor at the end if it still is close, regardless of how they are shooting. "If it's close, you know for sure that
Hedo [
Turkoglu],
Rashard [ Lewis], and
Dwight [
Howard] are going to be out there. If one of them is 0 for 19, he still is going to be out there. I can guarantee you that it will be the same way with
Paul Pierce and
Ray Allen."
History lessened
Howard helped save the Magic from elimination with an inspired performance in Game 6, and he expects the same kind of performance from himself tonight. He has heard all the stories about how tough the Celtics are in big playoff games. He has heard the history, too, about their Game 7 records, and how impressive they are at home. And he seemed a little tired of hearing about it. "I don't know too much history," said Howard. "I'm so young. Sometimes history is rewritten. Things that happened in the past, sometimes different things happen in the future. We believe we can win this game."
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
