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.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Career night by Howard, late Magic surge helps top SEA

The Magic (14-3, 9-1 road) reverted back to a familiar pattern of having a comfortable second half lead, only to see the other team frantically come back, but then putting the other team away in the final minutes. Against SEA (2-14), the Magic had a 15 pt lead after three qtrs, only to see SEA cut the lead to 1 pt with around five minutes remaining. The Magic then went on a 3 pt shooting tear, scoring 17 of the last 19 pts, to win easily 110-94.

DHoward scored a career-high 39 pts (12 of 17 FGs, 15 of 20 FTs) along with 16 rebs and 5 blocks. HTurkoglu scored 15 pts (4 of 11 FGs); KBogans 14 pts (4 of 10 FGs). RLewis, making his return to SEA, had a horrible shooting game, going just 3 of 19 for 9 pts, but he did grab 10 rebs to go with 2 steals. JRedick took advantage of rare playing time, as KDooling was unavailable for the second straight game, and led the bench with 11 pts (4 of 5 FGs). Also off the bench, CArroyo scored 2 pts, but with an eye-popping 14 asts to just 1 TO.

SEA rookie Kevin Durant led with 22 pts, but shot just 6 of 21 FGs.

The statistical breakdown:

FG... ORL 36 of 83 (43.4%) SEA 34 of 96 (35.4%) ORL 82, SEA 73
3 PT FG... ORL 10 of 30 (33.3%) SEA 5 of 18 (27.8%)
FTs... ORL 28 of 37 (75.7%) SEA 21 of 26 (80.8%)
REBS... ORL 55 SEA 48
AST/TO... ORL 26/15 SEA 18/11
BENCH... SEA 36 ORL 27

Magic lead the NBA in games played and wins, and trail only BOS in winning pct. After a day off, Magic face their toughest test on this road trip at PHO, though the Suns have lost two in a row.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:06 AM  

3 Comments:

  • At 1:29 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Even though Coach Van Gundy probably isn't happy with the team for letting SEA back in the game in the fourth, what an impressive closing surge that was... making 4 of 6 3 pt FGs and ending the game on a 17-2 run.

    Last year, the Magic would have folded completely and lost.

    A number of positives tonight... 1) Howard making 15 of 20 FTs along with his other spectacular numbers. 2) Even though Turkoglu and Lewis combined to shoot just 7 of 30 FGs, they both had double digit rebs. 3) J.J. Redick did not lose his shooting eye, shooting 4 of 5 FGs, and led a strong bench effort. 4) Nelson had a quietly effective game, with 6 pts, 5 rebs, 3 asts, and 2 steals 5) Bogans hitting a couple of killer threes late.

    I know that Arroyo gets a lot of criticism from people because they say he's too selfish, takes poor shots, and doesn't play defense; but how about a 14/1 AST/TO ratio in 24 mins off the bench... fantastic! Our two pt guards are really doing the job.

    I knew Rashard would be really anxious in his return to SEA to have a big game, but he was a little too anxious, as his shooting line indicates. However, he did maintain his focus on the defensive end with the 10 rebs and 2 steals.

    Oh yeah... I really did predict the Magic to win by 16 in my pre-game preview :-)

    On to Phoenix to avenge our big loss to them a few weeks ago!

     

  • At 8:50 AM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    The starters looked sluggish but confident they could take over at any time.

    I spent a lot of time yelling at their sloppy play. But the bench brought some good energy. Nice 17-2 run to finish the game.

    Evans looks like he has earned playing time even after Dooling returns. He has a lot of energy and a pretty good shot.

    Arroyo's play has earned him 24 minutes a game.

    Cook has a lightning fast release, and was pretty effective for his six minutes, but his footwork seems pretty slow. He needs to get in better shape to earn more minutes.

    I don't know what to think of Redick. He shot two beautiful three's, one where he stepped two feet to the right and popped off a shot. But he gets posted up too easily. Howard bailed him out more than once.

    My first thought when JJ was the first off the bench last night was he was being showcased for a trade. At least that's what happened to Ariza after he was a surprise first off the bench sub.

    All road wins are good wins.

     

  • At 1:50 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Good points guys! Another solid victory where the magic won when they should against a bad team,last years team didnt win these type of games as our record showed.

     

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