Magic come back to beat Cavs in China
Not much can be taken from the Magic 90-86 comeback win over CLE, which was played on the outskirts of Shanghai. CLE's two best players, LeBron James and Larry Hughes sat the whole fourth quarter, and none of CLE's starters played more than 28 minutes, while the five ORL starters playede between 32 and 40 mins.
"It shows that their first team is better than our second team" CLE coach Mike Brown said after the game.
Dwight Howard continues to impress, scoring 31 pts (9 of 17 FGs) with 14 rebs in 37 min. The most encouraging sign was the 13 of 16 FTs by Dwight. Jameer Nelson also continues his excellent preseason, with 24 pts (6 of 10 FGs 12 of 12 FTs), 6 asts, and just 2 TOs in 40 minutes. Hedo Turkoglu added 12 pts, and Keith Bogans 11 pts, 8 rebs. Pat Garrity led the reserves with 5 pts, 5 rebs. J.J. Redick, who had shot the ball so well this preseason, had an off-game with just 3 pts (1 of 6 FGs) in 33 min.
The Magic shot just 25 of 65 (38.5%), and 5 of 18 (27.8%) from 3 pt land. Take away Nelson and Howard's stats, and the Magic shot a frigid 10 of 38. However, the Magic did excellent at the FT line, shooting 35 of 40 (87.5%). The Magic also had their worst AST/TO ratio of the preseason at 12/17.
Rashard Lewis, Trevor Ariza, and Keyon Dooling sat out for the Magic.
Magic next play on THU against the Chinese national team, and will play CLE again SAT.
"It shows that their first team is better than our second team" CLE coach Mike Brown said after the game.
Dwight Howard continues to impress, scoring 31 pts (9 of 17 FGs) with 14 rebs in 37 min. The most encouraging sign was the 13 of 16 FTs by Dwight. Jameer Nelson also continues his excellent preseason, with 24 pts (6 of 10 FGs 12 of 12 FTs), 6 asts, and just 2 TOs in 40 minutes. Hedo Turkoglu added 12 pts, and Keith Bogans 11 pts, 8 rebs. Pat Garrity led the reserves with 5 pts, 5 rebs. J.J. Redick, who had shot the ball so well this preseason, had an off-game with just 3 pts (1 of 6 FGs) in 33 min.
The Magic shot just 25 of 65 (38.5%), and 5 of 18 (27.8%) from 3 pt land. Take away Nelson and Howard's stats, and the Magic shot a frigid 10 of 38. However, the Magic did excellent at the FT line, shooting 35 of 40 (87.5%). The Magic also had their worst AST/TO ratio of the preseason at 12/17.
Rashard Lewis, Trevor Ariza, and Keyon Dooling sat out for the Magic.
Magic next play on THU against the Chinese national team, and will play CLE again SAT.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 4:12 PM
3 Comments:
At 4:27 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Despite what Mike Brown said, I'll gladly take the Magic first team over the Cavs' first team, even with LeBron!
I'm sure this game was just an aberration for J.J. Hopefully, he won't let it get him down. With Ariza being hurt most of this preseason, it looks like Redick will get the starting spot at SG to open the season.
Great games by Dwight and Jameer. Just as I thought, Jameer has really picked up his play and playing like he is capable of playing, and has left no doubt that he should be starting this season.
At 4:32 PM,
Anonymous said…
The one three-pointer that J.J. hit was impressive, though. It went straight through without touching the rim, and the net swished up and hung onto the other side of the rim. That was nice.
Jameer would have had four or five more assists if Bogans, Garrity, and Redick weren't missing wide-open threes.
At 11:51 AM,
Big Figure said…
For the first time being able to watch the team play i didnt really even care about the score,we all know its a pre-season game and it doesnt count. With that said,i was more interested in watching the style of play for the magic,were we gonna commit to running? And are we gonna step it up on the defensive end playing smaller line-ups? I was very impressed and happy to see jameer push the tempo throughout the game. Even when the magic were down by 14,i was saying to myself sloopy passing and missed wide open looks are the only reason the score isnt close,but this is fun to watch because were playing the right way. And on the defensive end,we werent fouling,and we did a good job of contesting shots for the most part,dwight being able to roam the paint by himself means if any of our defenders on the perimeter get beat,that offensive player gets funneled into dwight everytime which is gonna lead to a boat load of blocks for dwight this year. Dwight is the perfect center to play this way,and if you think about it him playing for the U.S. team was a lesson at playing small with four perimeter players,lebron and carmelo started at the forwards,thats kinda like rashard and hedo. This is gonna be a fun team to watch. Carlos didnt look good at all though,because he cant really get to the basket combined with the fact that hes not a great shooter either,he doesnt really fit our style of play now. In an uptempo offense the point guard has to be able to score,as we saw when jameer was in the game we did fine pushing the ball,when carlos came in it seemed like we ram more sets,and i think thats what SVG was talking about after that first loss,jameer seemed to force the action and make something when things werent even there because he can attack the basket so good. Just some of the things i saw.
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