For the second consecutive night the Phoenix Suns were hammered on national television, this time by the Orlando Magic 105-89, which might have happened regardless but looked twice as bad without Steve Nash at the point.

Check out the box-score HERE and the game video recap HERE.

Nash is nursing a groin injury and sat this one out which led the way for Goran Dragic to run this usually potent offense. Not the results they were looking for, I’m afraid.

Dragic was made to look foolish on more than a few possessions, throwing unbelievably careless turnovers and displaying butterfingers on a few passes thrown his way. I remarked in my previous column reviewing Suns vs. Heat that Dragic had a bright future running this team – he sure didn’t look the part tonight. The Jameer Nelson crossover that had him stumbling was not exactly a “Kodak moment”. Stop the needless dribbling, please!

Hedo? Absolutely terrible. Terrible defensive rotations, weak screen setting, and he doesn’t even look confident shooting the rock anymore (check out his follow-through these days). Passes into traffic allowing the long-armed Lewis easy interceptions? You know better! Zero-for-eight shooting by Turkoglu tonight,  continuing an abysmal long-range performance that has reached 2-11 in his last three games.

And where did these guys learn to set screens? Several times Dragic attempted to run the pick-and-roll with Warrick and had the play busted because Warrick barely made any contact with the Magic defender. When you are a 6-10 power forward in the National Basketball Association I don’t expect you to shoot fifty-percent from downtown but you better be able to set a hard screen.

Grant Hill continues to be a bright spot for these guys, however. Twenty-one points on 8-9 shooting and a few VERY difficult makes. His one-on-one defense is surprisingly stellar for his advanced age and injury history – Phoenix is lucky to have his reliability right now.

The Magic? Very potent when all of the puzzle pieces come together like this. Dwight Howard was his usual beastly self down low and he took complete advantage of the Suns’ bigs’ terrible rotations and rebounding positioning. On the alley-oop from the top of the key from Nelson to Howard in the first half I couldn’t believe how easily Howard held position. Effort matters, guys!

Vince Carter displayed a few throwback moments as well, scoring just thirteen points but looking the part offensively on a spectacular jam and moving well without the ball. Rashard Lewis was active coming off screens too, finally shooting above .500 from the field (1st time since Nov. 6), and when the Magic shooters are spaced properly and everyone is moving this is a fun team to watch. Carter still annoys me with how soft he can be - there were several opportunities for rebounds that this guy just didn’t put 100% effort into. You could’ve been great, Vince…

Jameer Nelson paced the Magic with twelve assists and added fifteen points in this one as Phoenix allowed Orlando to shoot .541 from the floor and .400 from downtown. When Orlando’s shooters have it going along with their already suffocating defense, look out.

As it has been all season, when the Suns don’t hit their long-range bombs (.167 accuracy tonight) they simply can’t score effectively. Add to that the absence of Nash to steady the offense and they were in for a long night.

For one night Orlando looked devastatingly good. They have the Spurs and Heat coming up soon so we’ll see where they stand after those contests.

Oh, and some love needs to be handed out for my “Breakout Player” choice, Roy Hibbert of the Pacers, who continues to fill it up with averages of 16.5 points, ten boards, and 2.8 blocks this year. Eighteen points, eight boards, and three blocks in Indiana’s win last night over the Clippers. Way to be big!

I’m looking forward to watching tonight’s game between the Thunder and Celtics - NBA Game Notebook will resume on Monday night.

Until next time….