It has been a weird season for the Magic, no duh. They’ve had the season-long Dwight Howard trade-me-but-don’t-trade-me-but-maybe-still-trade-me-as-long-as-people-will-still-like-me-but-don’t-trade-me-because-then-people-won’t-like-me saga, a drunken phone call from an executive, the most awkward press interaction in league history, two Richardsons who pretty much only shoot threes now, a coach who’s known his best player wants him fired for months and Von Wafer, just to name a few things off the top of my head. It’s been crazy.
But according to Glen Davis, all that adversity has brought the Magic closer together. They’re finally on the same page and Big Baby has the extended reading metaphor to prove it. From the AP:
”Everybody’s on one page and I’ve never felt like we’ve been on such a page,” Davis said. ”We’ve been a good team the whole year, but I think these last couple of games and especially the Philly game we’ve been on the same page. Defensively. Energy-wise. Everybody’s been trying to read the same book.”
It’s worth noting that this came after a game that Dwight Howard didn’t play, his third miss in the team’s last five games. Interesting. Do all of the Magic think it takes Dwight being out for them to “read the same book?” Pinned for later.
The main thing, though, is Glen Davis’ exquisite metaphor usage. Extending it to it’s logical conclusion, it sounds like Glen is saying that through 56 games the Magic have been browsing different aisles at Barnes and Noble, checking out different sections. Him and Hedo Turkoglu have been in the Food and Drink section, J.J. Redick is looking at things in the Self Help and Self Improvement aisle, Jameer Nelson is looking at Wildlife books, Quentin Richardson is at the Starbucks and Dwight Howard is thumbing through Erotica books to prep some new jokes. That’s not how you win a championship. That’s how you kill an hour and a half before heading to a movie.
But now, they’ve all checked out and are heading to the same book club with “The Hunger Games” in hand. They’ll talk about how the Katniss-Peeta-Gale love triangle is a metaphor for Dwight-SVG-Otis Smith and how they can use each other to achieve the ultimate goal of staying alive in their respective tournaments. It’s a complex allegory for the Magic’s season and it’s good that they finally found out that an easy tween read can reveal championship secrets. Unfortunately, Dwight gets a headache if he reads for too long. That’s why he wears those glasses, even though we’re all pretty sure he doesn’t actually need them.
Maybe I am reading (pun) too far in to things, but I don’t think so. I think this is exactly what Glen Davis is trying to say. Either that or he just thinks the Magic played really well together last night. One of the two.
