Orlando Magic: 3 reasons the Nuggets wouldn’t have swept them in 2009

3. The Magic had more talent

In 2008-09, the Nuggets were a really fun team to watch, and they had a good deal of talent. Anthony obviously being their best player, as he averaged 22.8 points per game. The Nuggets went 50-32, but interestingly this represented something of a down year for Melo personally. This was the only occasion between 2007 and 2017 when he was not named an All-Star.

Anthony’s scoring, while still notable and of great importance to his team, also suffered a down year. He had averaged 25.7 points the year before and would average 28.2 the year after. Points are what Anthony was there for, and it was not his best year. In his defense though, his scoring did jump to 27.2 points per game in the playoffs.

For the Magic, they had a center named Dwight Howard. He would win the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2009, before going on to win in for the next two years as well. To borrow a phrase used elsewhere often, 2009 was getting pretty close to Howard’s apex, even if we didn’t know it yet. Anthony, while close to that himself, would have better statistical seasons.

In terms of the talent around them, the Magic were built in such a way that they could dominate then, but also would be a really good outfit now. They put four shooters around Howard, with their next best player probably being Jameer Nelson (even if untimely injuries that season meant he wasn’t quite at his best when it mattered).

Rashard Lewis was a stretch four ahead of his time, and so too was Hedo Turkoglu, despite playing more as a small forward at the time. His ball-handling and passing, not to mention shooting, were really important for the Magic. J.J. Redick was rounding into the sniper he is today, and Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee were good bench guys (Alston even more than that because of Nelson’s injury). Mickael Pietrus was not only a fan favorite but ahead of his time.

On the other hand, the Nugget’s second-best player was, Chauncey Billups? He was a great point guard with title-winning experience, but also 32 (he was an All-Star that year). Allen Iverson? 33 at the time and his All-Star selection may have had more to do with the fact he’s one of the most beloved players ever (again though did average 18.7 points per game).

Nene? A young J.R. Smith? Chris Andersen? All of these combined to make a solid rotation that rightly made it to the Western Conference Finals. Did they have more talent than the Magic though? The Magic beat the defending champion Boston Celtics and LeBron James on the way to the Finals that year, so hard to argue that was the case.