Orlando Magic vs. Toronto Raptors, Game 2

Above: Magic point guard Jameer Nelson. In Game 2 he played just over 30 minutes, with 12 of his 18 points coming from downtown.

It was a nail-biter by the end but the Magic came out on top Tuesday night. 104-103. Dwight with another awesome game (29 points, 20 rebounds, 3 blocks) and the team still keeping up a high standard of play. Having 2 games up on the Raptors is a big advantage that shouldn't be downplayed (in NBA Playoff history teams that lead a series 2-0 are 191-13).

Game 3 will take place in Toronto tonight, and it'll be tough, but with the Magic's great road record this season (2nd best in the Conference behind the Boston Celtics) they've got a very good opportunity to nab that third straight victory. Continuing success in this series will surely be based on maintaining a vigorous defense (especially in guarding All-Star Chris Bosh), mercilessly snatching rebounds, and keeping cool, level heads.

As for my own personal doubts, I'm a little anxious about the team's self-confidence and endurance, being that Dwight Howard's Magic hasn't yet won an NBA playoff series. D12 has had two fantastic games, but I'd like to see even more contribution from the rest of the squad. On Tuesday, Rashard Lewis came away with 18 points, 6 boards, and 5 assists. Hedo Turkoglu's stat sheet read 12-9-5. These aren't bad numbers, at all, and they don't even tell the whole story. It's difficult for me to appraise the situation, not being able to watch the games, but it seems as though everyone's making a strong effort. Obviously, it'll take more than that to win this series and even more still if we're going to have a good shot against our opponent in round 2 (probably playoff vets Detroit). We're lucky in that we've got a good number of long-range shooters (Hedo and Rashard, "Mogans") who, when allowed to find openings, can wreak serious havoc from three-point land, but it's not something we can rely upon to win games.

Sleepless night. Not really sure how much more of this living situation I can handle. Guess I'm just going to have to deal with it. Here's hoping that the Magic will keep this up and running so I'll have something to distract myself from this ultramodern dung heap.

Caricatures by Dan Hay

Last summer I was lucky enough to basically stumble into a job drawing caricatures of tourists at Sea World Orlando. While I was there I basically sat out under an umbrella drawing passable sketches and sometimes earning a nice healthy commission for myself. On slow days I got to shoot the breeze with some really awesome artists who really know what they're doing and have real gifts for likeness and exaggeration.

I'll post some cool links to their blogs in the coming weeks, but I'd like to start with one of my favorite's. Dan Hay's been doing caricatures for a few years and he's pretty great at it. The above sketch was done by him of someone in the park. You can check out more of his work at his blog:

Blubberlubber

He updates it pretty regularly, so keep checking back.