Howard's big game leads Magic over CHA
Led by DHoward's 34 pts (11 of 14 FGs), 17 rebs, 4 blocks, and 3 steals, the Magic (11-3) widened their SE division lead with a 105-92 win over CHA (6-6), in a game the Magic led throughout.
Six Magic players finished in double figures, including all 5 starters. In addition to Howard, HTurkoglu scored 16 pts (6 of 17 FGs), 7 rebs, 6 asts; JNelson 14 pts (6 of 11 FGs), 3 asts; RLewis 12 pts (4 of 12 FGs), 6 rebs; and KBogans 11 pts (4 of 10 FGs). KDooling played well off the bench with 14 pts (6 of 8 FGs). Brian Cook made his Magic debut, playing 8 mins and making a 3 pt FG finishing with 3 pts. CHA also had six players in double figures, led by reserve Walter Hermann with 16 pts. Emeka Okafor added 12 pts, 18 rebs.
The statistical breakdown:
FG... ORL 38 of 80 (47.5%) CHA 37 of 90 (41.1%) ORL 83 CHA 79
3 PT FG... ORL 7 of 28 (25%) CHA 5 of 21 (23.8%)
FT... ORL 22 of 39 (56.4%) CHA 13 of 20 (65%)
REB... ORL 52 CHA 50
AST/TO... ORL 20/12 CHA 18/9
BENCH... CHA 50 ORL 18
Not a pretty game for the Magic statistically. If you subtract Howard's stats, the Magic shot just 27 of 66 FGs (40.9%), including just 7 of 28 3 PT FGs. However, the Magic got a break when CHA's Gerald Wallace had to leave the game after the first qtr with a calf strain; and the Bobcats had no answer for Howard, who continues to show why he is becoming one of the top players in the NBA. Magic go right back at it SAT night, hosting the rival Heat.
Six Magic players finished in double figures, including all 5 starters. In addition to Howard, HTurkoglu scored 16 pts (6 of 17 FGs), 7 rebs, 6 asts; JNelson 14 pts (6 of 11 FGs), 3 asts; RLewis 12 pts (4 of 12 FGs), 6 rebs; and KBogans 11 pts (4 of 10 FGs). KDooling played well off the bench with 14 pts (6 of 8 FGs). Brian Cook made his Magic debut, playing 8 mins and making a 3 pt FG finishing with 3 pts. CHA also had six players in double figures, led by reserve Walter Hermann with 16 pts. Emeka Okafor added 12 pts, 18 rebs.
The statistical breakdown:
FG... ORL 38 of 80 (47.5%) CHA 37 of 90 (41.1%) ORL 83 CHA 79
3 PT FG... ORL 7 of 28 (25%) CHA 5 of 21 (23.8%)
FT... ORL 22 of 39 (56.4%) CHA 13 of 20 (65%)
REB... ORL 52 CHA 50
AST/TO... ORL 20/12 CHA 18/9
BENCH... CHA 50 ORL 18
Not a pretty game for the Magic statistically. If you subtract Howard's stats, the Magic shot just 27 of 66 FGs (40.9%), including just 7 of 28 3 PT FGs. However, the Magic got a break when CHA's Gerald Wallace had to leave the game after the first qtr with a calf strain; and the Bobcats had no answer for Howard, who continues to show why he is becoming one of the top players in the NBA. Magic go right back at it SAT night, hosting the rival Heat.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:19 PM
4 Comments:
At 11:10 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Even though we got the win, I could imagine that Coach Van Gundy isn't going to be too happy with several things... 1) the poor outside shooting 2) the poor FT % and 3) having trouble closing out the game, as SVG had to reinsert Howard and Nelson in the final few minutes as the Magic let the Bobcats chip away at a 99-78 deficit.
Thank goodness for Howard's strong performance and Dooling's performance off the bench. Lewis had his second straight sub-par outing, and he, Turkoglu, and Bogans combined for just 14 of 39 FGs, including 5 of 19 3 pt FGs.
It seems that SVG is sticking with CArroyo as his backup PG and Dooling as the backup SG. Cook saw 8 mins of action against CHA; it'll be interesting to see if he'll get more action in the upcoming games. Maurice Evans will probably see even less time than Ariza did, and as for J.J. Redick, it looks like the only time we'll see him is the last few minutes of a blowout.
It's kinda funny, last season we were all so high on the young, talented, trio of Darko, Ariza, and Redick. Now, two of them are gone from the team and the other rarely ever plays. Well, we're 11-3, the future still looks bright, so I won't complain... it's early, but things are working out so far.
By the way, my pre-game preview and prediction were right on target :-)
At 4:17 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Quote from SVG after the game:
"Dwight had a tremendous, tremendous night and I'm thankful for that because our other guys didn't play well enough for us to win. We get up 20 and think the game is over. That happens to us every night and I'm not happy with it."
At 5:42 AM,
OVERWADED said…
I love my NBA League Pass!
Tonight was the Dwight Howard Show, period. The rest of the team didn't look that great, but they did do a decent job of getting the ball to Howard.
The rest of the league is in trouble. Dwight is emerging, big time.
At 10:31 AM,
Big Figure said…
Good game and great win! Even though char isnt a bottom feeder,this is the type of game we lost last year,it was good to see the team put the loss behind them and get back in the win column. Rashard wasnt able to get it going like i thought he may but at least we got the win.
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