Frantic Magic comeback comes up just short
It was just too much to ask the Magic to come back from a huge 21 pt deficit at the half. Despite a great effort by Francis, who scored a season-high 36 pts, the Magic's 5 game winning streak came to an end 97-94. The Magic committed 22 TOs (and only 15 assists), which led to 23 NY pts. A bad effort from the bench tonight, outscored by the Knicks bench 45-16. After scoring a combined 42 pts last night, Garrity and Dooling combined to score just 11 pts on 4 of 17 shooting. Dooling, in particular, had a horrible game scoring 6 pts on 2 of 12 FG shooting (1 of 7 from 3 pt) along with 6 TOs and just 1 assist. If the bench played better, the Magic win this game.
The Magic outscored the Knicks 70-66 from the floor, outshooting them 43.1% to 42.1%, but were outscored from the FT line 31 to 24, as the Knicks attempted 44 FTs while the Magic attempted just 29. Howard really struggled offensively, shooting just 3 of 9 (10 pts) in 41 minutes. Turkoglu also struggled, shooting just 4 of 10 but still scored 16 pts.
Though it was a game the Magic should have won, this is only 1 loss, and Washington also lost to the Bulls Friday so the Magic are still only a game behind the Wizards for the last playoff spot, though the Bulls are now a half game ahead of the Magic now. The Magic need to be encouraged by Francis's great performance, correct all the errors they made against the Knicks, and come back ready to rock and start a new winning streak Sunday against the 76ers.
The Magic outscored the Knicks 70-66 from the floor, outshooting them 43.1% to 42.1%, but were outscored from the FT line 31 to 24, as the Knicks attempted 44 FTs while the Magic attempted just 29. Howard really struggled offensively, shooting just 3 of 9 (10 pts) in 41 minutes. Turkoglu also struggled, shooting just 4 of 10 but still scored 16 pts.
Though it was a game the Magic should have won, this is only 1 loss, and Washington also lost to the Bulls Friday so the Magic are still only a game behind the Wizards for the last playoff spot, though the Bulls are now a half game ahead of the Magic now. The Magic need to be encouraged by Francis's great performance, correct all the errors they made against the Knicks, and come back ready to rock and start a new winning streak Sunday against the 76ers.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 11:25 PM
6 Comments:
At 8:01 AM,
Anonymous said…
You kinda felt this loss coming. Rough couple of games, 2 OT's, second game of a back-to-back away game...It's just a shame they couldn't cap their late rush with a win. It ís a game a play-off contender should always win, but, ah, it's not the end of the world. The overall winning streak may be snapped, we still have a home court winning streak to maintain, starting sunday.
At 8:38 AM,
WeRDevos said…
Gamblers maxim says never take the back to back road team.
The key for them is to end the month with a win on Sunday.
At 9:12 AM,
Ken said…
The Magic could have easily won this game if they were a little tougher, mentally. Buy hey, 5 in a row is pretty darn good for these guys right now. It's only one loss. No reason they can't go on another 5 gamer.
Also, the NYK's were on a, what? 6 or 7 game skid? NY had to win this, I think the odds were in their favor, and you can never dismiss a Larry Brown team.
Just my 0.2 worth
At 1:13 PM,
Big Figure said…
Dwight had a terrible shooting game and it filtered right down throughout the rest of the team,but seeing how they played so well in the previous five,they were bound to run into a wall sooner or later,last night the turnover bug bit us,and the basket seemed like it had a lid on it for everybody except steve in the first half! On to the next one,gotta stay away from those losing streaks,if you lose a game,get right back going and win the next one!
At 1:42 PM,
Matt said…
Common sense says the way to beat a team that has lost 6 in a row is to jump on them early. Magic came in sleep walking. Somebody hasn't earned his salary, and if I go any further than that I have to get flat nasty.
At 12:30 PM,
Big Figure said…
Honestly the coach has to be blamed when a team gets down 25 points,at one point against the knicks,the score was 60-35,coach hill's ability to call good offensive sets is lacking,but b/c some of our players are so good in the post,when they play good and win,it covers up the truth!
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