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.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Spurs pull away in fourth to end Magic road streak at seven

The Magic (10-3) were more than competitive for the first three qtrs against SA, as the Magic held a 5 pt halftime advantage and trailed by just 3 entering the fourth. However, the Spurs (10-2) upped their game to another level in the final stanza, as they shot 67%, including a perfect 5 of 5 from 3 pt range in that final qtr, to pull away from the Magic 128-110 to give the Magic their first road loss of the year. SA committed a franchise-low 3 TOs.

The Magic had another monster game from DHoward, and all 5 starters scored in double figures. Howard scored 34 pts (14 of 19 FGs), 16 rebs; HTurkoglu 26 pts (9 of 18 FGs); JNelson 15 pts (6 of 11 FGs), 9 asts; and RLewis (5 of 10 FGs) and KBogans (4 of 7 FGs) 12 apiece. CArroyo led the bench (newcomers Brian Cook and Maurice Evans were unavailable) with 7 pts. SA had 5 players in double figures, led by Tony Parker (14 of 22 FGs) with 32 pts, 9 asts, and Tim Duncan 20 pts, 16 rebs. Manu Ginobili led a strong bench effort with 27 pts (8 of 17 FGs).

The statistical breakdown:

FG... SA 48 of 93 (51.6%) ORL 42 of 75 (56%) SA 109 ORL 94
3 PT FG... SA 13 of 24 (54.2%) ORL 10 of 20 (50%)
FT... SA 19 of 24 (79.2%) ORL 16 of 24 (66.7%)
REB... SA 40 ORL 37
AST/TO... SA 30/3 ORL 20/11
BENCH... SA 51 ORL 11

Magic have nothing to be ashamed of, as the Spurs played at another level this game and proved why they are the world champs. The Magic go back at it FRI night at home against CHA

6 Comments:

  • At 12:30 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    If someone had told me before the game that the Magic would shoot 56%, including 50% on 3 pt FGs, I would have figured that the Magic would have had a pretty darn good chance of winning the game, but geez, the Spurs played at an unbelievable level... a 30/3 AST/TO ratio? Are you kidding me?

    The Magic lost every major statistical category to SA except FG%, but the Spurs still shot 52%, and also attempted 18 more FGs than the Magic, thanks to 9 offensive rebounds.

    Big Figure, in your pre-game analysis, you said that Tony Parker/Jameer Nelson would be a wash. As much as I like the way Nelson is playing, he can't be put in the same category as Parker yet. Parkers stat line... 32 pts, 9 asts, 0 TOs... out of this world! Nelson's stat line... 15 pts, 9 asts, 2 TOs. Pretty respectable, but it pales in comparison to Parker.

    RLewis only took 10 shots in 44 mins. He has to take more shots than that... Turkoglu and Howard had to bear too much of the responsibility on offense.

    Ginobili and Brent Barry really torched the Magic off the bench, though the Magic were shorthanded without Cook and Evans. It wouldn't have made any difference anyhow this night.

    Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

     
  • At 8:03 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    This loss was nothing to be ashamed of, as Mike has pointed out. The main reason that we lost the game was that we could not stop dribble penetration by Parker and Ginobili resulting in lay-ups or passing to open 3-point shooters. We don't need additional BIGs for offense; we need them for defense and Brian Cook is not the answer. In reality we have traded Trevor for Evans and have picked up the salary of both him (which should be larger than Trevor's) and the 3.5 million salary of Cook for the next 3 years. Quite a dumb trade, in my view, in a rush to bring a BIG in, any BIG. We could have used Trevor last night to at least contain Ginobili.

    In a couple of days I would be leaving for a long assignment overseas where my sports exposure would be limited. I would log on to our blog from time to time, as my schedule permits.

    Happy Thanksgiving, you all.

     
  • At 11:51 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Yeah you have to give credit to the spurs,the magic really didnt play that bad. As matt said dribble penetration was key for the spurs,i didnt think parker would be able to get to the basket like that with dwight down low,but he showed how crafty he is with the ball,very nash like without the outside jumper and yes still on another level above jameer,i was wrong calling the match-up a wash but jameer has closed the gap some compared to last year,we are 10-3! Also,my prediction was based on the fact that i thought we'd be better defensively against their role players (barry,findlay,oberto)who cant create their own offense,but as we saw parker makes everything go with dribble penetration and gets guys open looks,and with good three point shooters they were able to beat us at the game we play hitting 13 three's to our 10. Good to see/hear SVG take some blame for the loss also and not put it on the players like you-know-who,rashard finishing with 12 points had alot to do with the fact that there wasnt alot of plays called for him in the first half,SVG made some adjustments and got him going in the second half.

     
  • At 11:54 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!!!!!

     
  • At 3:05 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Matt, have a great trip overseas and check our blog whenever you get the chance!

     
  • At 4:09 AM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    The Spurs had only 3 turnovers the entire game, which is beyond amazing. They really couldn't have played any better than they did. No shame in the loss.

    I hope you guys enjoyed your day off!

     

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