Suns stop Magic winning streak in decisive victory
This first home game after an undefeated road trip did prove to be a trap game for the Magic (5-2), as they were not up to the challenge of facing PHO (5-2), who blew out to a 16 pt halftime lead, led by as much as 23 in the third, and coasted to a 106-96 victory. In the second half, the Magic could get no closer than the final score.
The Suns were led by a career-high 39 pts from Leandro Barbosa (15 of 26 FGs, 8 of 13 3 pt FGs), who started in place of an injured Raja Bell; Steve Nash added 19 pts (9 of 13 FGs) and 11 asts; the three other Suns starters also scored in double figures, including Grant Hill in his return to ORL with 14 pts, 8 rebs. With RLewis scoring just 7 pts (3 of 14 FGs) and HTurkoglu scoring just 11 pts (5 of 11 FGs), DHoward tried his best to carry the load for the Magic with 33 pts (13 of 24 FGs) and 18 rebs; however, Howard made just 7 of 16 FTs.
The Magic bench, seeing their first extended playing time of the season, did well as three players scored in double figures: CArroyo 13 pts, 8 asts; TAriza 11 pts, and KDooling 10 pts.
The statistical breakdown:
FG... PHO 45 of 94 (47.9%) ORL 40 of 85 (47.1%) PHO 102 ORL 88
3 PT FG... PHO 12 of 29 (41.4%) ORL 8 of 19 (42.1%)
FT... ORL 8 of 19 (42.1%) PHO 4 of 5 (80%)
REB... ORL 43 PHO 42
AST/TO... PHO 29/11 ORL 25/14
BENCH... ORL 36 PHO 10
Magic have two days off before getting back in action hosting SEA on TUE.
The Suns were led by a career-high 39 pts from Leandro Barbosa (15 of 26 FGs, 8 of 13 3 pt FGs), who started in place of an injured Raja Bell; Steve Nash added 19 pts (9 of 13 FGs) and 11 asts; the three other Suns starters also scored in double figures, including Grant Hill in his return to ORL with 14 pts, 8 rebs. With RLewis scoring just 7 pts (3 of 14 FGs) and HTurkoglu scoring just 11 pts (5 of 11 FGs), DHoward tried his best to carry the load for the Magic with 33 pts (13 of 24 FGs) and 18 rebs; however, Howard made just 7 of 16 FTs.
The Magic bench, seeing their first extended playing time of the season, did well as three players scored in double figures: CArroyo 13 pts, 8 asts; TAriza 11 pts, and KDooling 10 pts.
The statistical breakdown:
FG... PHO 45 of 94 (47.9%) ORL 40 of 85 (47.1%) PHO 102 ORL 88
3 PT FG... PHO 12 of 29 (41.4%) ORL 8 of 19 (42.1%)
FT... ORL 8 of 19 (42.1%) PHO 4 of 5 (80%)
REB... ORL 43 PHO 42
AST/TO... PHO 29/11 ORL 25/14
BENCH... ORL 36 PHO 10
Magic have two days off before getting back in action hosting SEA on TUE.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:41 PM
4 Comments:
At 11:36 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
How many times have we seen a team return to play at home after a long road trip, only to see that team play flat and lose. I thought the Magic would be up for the challenge against the Suns, but this just proves the Magic, despite the promising start to the season, have a ways to go before they can be compared to the Suns, who are one of the best teams in the NBA.
I guess it was only a matter of time before the starters, with the exception of Howard, would collectively have a poor game. Turkoglu and Lewis combined for just 18 pts on 8 of 25 FGs; Bogans scored just 2 pts in 13 mins, and Nelson had an alarming 5 TOs in just 17 mins. If either Hedo or Rashard score their average, this game is a lot closer. Even Howard shot a poor 7 of 16 from the FT line, along with 4 TOs.
If one positive came from this game, other than Dwight's performance, it was the performance of the bench. Ariza scored 11 pts in 20 mins; Arroyo had a stellar game with 13 pts on 5 of 6 FGs, 8 asts, 2 steals and 0 TOs in 30 mins; and Dooling added 10 pts. I'm surprised Ariza didn't see more action in the first half, when the Magic weren't playing much dfense at all.
A statistical oddity... the Magic stats from the 3 pt line and the FT line were identical... 8 of 19. Also, PHO only attempted 5 FTs the whole game.
Bottom line is, if both Hedo and Rashard struggle, it's going to be really tough for the Magic to win that particular game.
At 11:48 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
I understand there were a lot of boos directed towards Grant Hill during the game. I don't know exactly what that accomplished, but hopefully all Magic fans will now focus on the present and the promising future, instead of all the negativity and failure of the franchise in the past 7 years associated with GHill.
At 7:23 AM,
Matt said…
Nights like this are expected since the Magic has become more dependent on jump-shooters to win he games, and there will be nights when shots are not falling. Booing Grant Hill shows lack of knowledge. The Magic management did not try to bring Grant back except in a limited role that was not acceptable to him. Right or wrong, he believes that he could be more productive than the Magic intended for him.
At 11:27 AM,
Big Figure said…
This was a simple case of the teacher giving the student a lesson. The suns have played this way for-ever,the magic on the other hand have played this way for what 7 games?. Sometimes learning experiences are needed to get where you want to be.Our two losses are against the pistons and suns,if we just keep beating the teams we should the magic will be fine,losing streaks and losing to bad teams is what got the magic into trouble under you-know-who!
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