Orlando Magic Blog

Group Blog talking about the NBA 2009 Eastern Conference Champions. Due to the amazing success of the 2009 playoff run comments are now frequently deleted to kill offensive comments, incoherence, or asininity. Comments can no longer be anonymous and require either a Blogger or OpenID account.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Hill's last-second shot wins it for Magic

The Magic, who had been doing such a good job closing out teams in the fourth quarter during their winning streak, let an 84-76 lead with 5 minutes remaining slip away to POR. However, GHill's 2 FTs tied the game at 89, and after holding POR, Hill took an inbounds pass to sink the game-winning shot.

The Magic won their 6th game in a row and 10 out of 11 overall. DHoward had his usual double-double with 18 pts, 16 rebs, 4 blocks. Hill added 16 pts, HTurkoglu 13 pts, and KDooling, DMilicic, and TAriza all chipped in with 10 pts off the bench. JNelson had his worst game of the year with 1 pt on 0-4 shooting, but had 5 assists. Zach Randolph led POR with 28 pts 13 rebs, and Jarret Jack added 14 pts.

The Magic (37 of 75, 49.3%) outscored the Blazers (32 of 78, 41%) from the field 77-66. The Magic shot 3 of 11 on 3 pters, while POR shot just 2 of 16. POR (23 of 30, 76.7%) had the edge at the FT line (ORL 14 of 19 73.7%). POR also had the slight edge on the boards 42-41. POR had just 10 TOs, the Magic 14, but the Magic moved the ball better with 22 assists, compared to 17 by POR. The Magic bench did well again, outscoring the Blazers bench 37-33.

The Magic are now 13-4, a game and a half ahead of DET in the East, and 5 1/2 games ahead in the SE over ATL. They are now tied with Utah for the best record in the NBA. Great job by Grant bailing the Magic out after blowing a late 4th quarter lead. The long trip continues in LA against the Clippers SUN night.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:40 AM  

7 Comments:

  • At 4:58 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    I'm sorry, but why was the Marshmallow Man Randolph getting so much love with the officials? Don't get me wrong, they guy has some offensive skills, a really nice touch, but nothing else. I didn't understand the touch calls he kept getting in the end? He's on a bad team putting up meaningless numbers. He reminds me of one of those players like Juwan Howard or Sprewell that always puts up solid numbers, but they never meant anything.

    Regardless, the Magic pulled out the win, like a LEGIT team does. It'll be interesting to see what happens on the 2nd half of the road trip. You'd think the Magic are due for a loss, but they've been pulling out victories without playing their best. It's going to be really easy to get carried away with this team.

     

  • At 10:21 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Clutch call by bsh,clutch free-throws by hedo and grant,and just another good defensive performance from the whole team,even when you dont shoot well,taking the ball to the basket and solid defense can still win games for you.

     

  • At 12:15 PM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    I woke up this morning and watched the last two minutes of the game just to enjoy it all over again. This team has not been this casual, dominant and lucky since Shaq left.

    Grant Hill couldn't get a call last night if he was bleeding. I'll bet at least half of his seven turnovers followed a bad no-call by the refs. If that were Randolph being held and pushed into the goalpost would it have been a flagrant 2 at least?

    I kept thinking throughout the game that the Magic were on cruise control instead of burying the Blazers and it would cost them the game. But right now they are good AND charmed.

    Yawn. Howard's line was 18-16 plus four blocks. Just another day at the office...

    Ariza is fun to watch right now, (except when he is taking 20 footers during crunch time.) Matty Guokos came close to calling him a true shut down defender last night before backing off and saying it was unfair to tag him with that yet. But you can see it coming. And he's only the fourth guy coming off the bench.

    Magic mostly dominated the whole game while the Jameer Arroyo PG scored 8 points on 3/13 shooting.

    13-4 and 6-3 on the road!

    This time last year: 7-10, 3-5 on the road. That seems like such a long time ago.

     

  • At 1:52 PM, Blogger Ken said…

    Grant Hill deserved to get the game winning shot last night. The way he was being knocked around and not getting any calls, it was a nice in-your-face ending to the game.

    Get ready to move over guys and make room for all the late commers who are gonna be jumping on our little bandwagon.

     

  • At 2:11 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    I guess it was that obvious that G Hill wasn't getting any respect from the officials last night. That's why it was even harder for me to swallow all the calls Randolph was getting, especially down the stretch. It didn't make sense.

    Ariza is the Next Gen Plastic Man.

    Did Brian Hill actually do a decent job last night?

    I knew Nelson had a rough night, but I didn't realize Arroyo was right there with him. He was the only one of the two that actually make any field goals. That just makes the win that much more impressive seeing we got little to zero production from our PG spot. I bet that will change on Sunday, which is good because the Clippers will be tough.

    Sometimes the people in Orlando are a little slow to catch on. But it'll become a reality soon, and all of the sudden, they'll be Magic fans everywhere. I can live with it; better than the alternative.

     

  • At 3:05 PM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    I know I need to temper my enthusiasm but simply don't want to at the moment. It's about to get really tough, but one more win in the next 3 means a winning road trip.

    Clippers at 7-1 at home including wins over PHX, DAL, DEN.

    Sacramento 6-2 at home.

    Indiana is 4-2 at home.

     

  • At 3:42 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Even though Jameer had such a tough game, great screen by him at the end there to free up Grant for the game-winner.

     

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