Magic break open close game in third qtr, coast past CHI
The Magic (24-16, 8-8 home), with a 14 pt second qtr lead, saw CHI (14-22) cut the deficit to 54-52 late in the second qtr. The Magic then went on a tear, outscoring the Bulls 35-10, including 32-10 in the third qtr, to go into the fourth qtr with a 27 pt lead, and cruised to a 102-88 victory, evening their home record to .500. CHI made just 3 of 14 FGs in the third qtr.
Four players scored in double figures for the Magic, led by RLewis with 26 pts (8 of 12 FGs), 6 rebs; DHoward 15 pts (4 of 9 FGs), 11 rebs; KBogans off the bench with 15 pts (5 of 7 FGs); and BCook also off the bench with 14 pts (5 of 8 FGs), including 10 pts in the first half. All twelve Magic players played, and ten of them scored.
CHI PG Kirk Hinrich missed the game due to back spasms, and was replaced in the lineup by Thabo Sefolosha, who scored 9 pts. Only 3 CHI players scored in double figures, led by Joe Smith with 13 pts. Former Gator Joakim Noah added a double-double of 12 pts, 11 rebs. All twelve CHI players scored at least 4 pts.
The statistical breakdown:
FGs... CHI 37 of 78 (47.4%) ORL 32 of 70 (45.7%) CHI 78 ORL 75
3 PT FGs... ORL 11 of 28 (39.3%) CHI 4 of 9 FGs (44.4%)
FTs... ORL 27 of 33 (81.8%) CHI 10 of 19 (52.6%)
REBs... ORL 41 CHI 37
AST/TO... CHI 20/13 ORL 19/14
BENCH... CHI 45 ORL 38
This was one of the rare games this year where the Magic had the game all but locked up going into the fourth qtr; the Magic also held an opponent to under 100 pts for the first time in 5 games. Magic play WED night at CHA.
Four players scored in double figures for the Magic, led by RLewis with 26 pts (8 of 12 FGs), 6 rebs; DHoward 15 pts (4 of 9 FGs), 11 rebs; KBogans off the bench with 15 pts (5 of 7 FGs); and BCook also off the bench with 14 pts (5 of 8 FGs), including 10 pts in the first half. All twelve Magic players played, and ten of them scored.
CHI PG Kirk Hinrich missed the game due to back spasms, and was replaced in the lineup by Thabo Sefolosha, who scored 9 pts. Only 3 CHI players scored in double figures, led by Joe Smith with 13 pts. Former Gator Joakim Noah added a double-double of 12 pts, 11 rebs. All twelve CHI players scored at least 4 pts.
The statistical breakdown:
FGs... CHI 37 of 78 (47.4%) ORL 32 of 70 (45.7%) CHI 78 ORL 75
3 PT FGs... ORL 11 of 28 (39.3%) CHI 4 of 9 FGs (44.4%)
FTs... ORL 27 of 33 (81.8%) CHI 10 of 19 (52.6%)
REBs... ORL 41 CHI 37
AST/TO... CHI 20/13 ORL 19/14
BENCH... CHI 45 ORL 38
This was one of the rare games this year where the Magic had the game all but locked up going into the fourth qtr; the Magic also held an opponent to under 100 pts for the first time in 5 games. Magic play WED night at CHA.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:38 PM
2 Comments:
At 11:27 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
The Magic were finally able to take advantage of a struggling team missing a key player; maybe the Magic can use this game as a springboard to future success.
Lewis was the star of the game for the Magic, with timely shooting and decent defense, more than making up for another lackluster offensive game by Turkoglu.
I thought Cook really gave the Magic a nice spark off the bench in the first half with 10 pts. However, he fouled out after playing less than 15 mins, but his spark certainly warrants more playing time in the future.
Nice performance by Bogans off the bench also.
Looking at the final stats, CHI actually had an edge in many areas, but two areas that the Magic had an advantage really stand out... 3 PT FGs made (11-4) and FTs made (27-10).
Some +/- numbers for the game... Lewis and Turkoglu +18, Nelson +16, Howard +15, Bogans +9... Augustine -6, Dooling -5.
Four CHI players had a +/- of -20 or worse, with Ben Wallace leading at a terrible -28.
The Magic held Ben Gordon to 33 fewer pts than he scored against them in CHI.
No starter played more than 33 mins for the Magic, so hopefully they'll be ready when they go to CHA WED night.
At 1:26 PM,
Big Figure said…
WOW,who were the guys in the white uni's? Was that the magic? Boy,the guys must have had it tough at practice because that was the best defensive effort(to put a game away)that i've seen the magic play all year in a third quarter,you play that well and you can coast through the fourth quarter with subs in the game. Everybody was scrappin (even carlos looked decent),and we were even creating steals and getting on the break,so there's no excuse now we know they can do it when they want. We've got portland,detroit twice and boston coming up coupled in with a few more games to finish out the month,i cant wait to test out the new rotation against high quality competition. The more and more i watch mo evans the more i like him,he truely knows how to move without the ball,he also has supreme hops while being a quick jumper to boot,easily gets us 2 or 3 extra dunks per game something keith really couldnt offer,he went baseline one time and basically dunked on the whole bulls defense and you could see the bulls start to bitch and moan at each other,sometimes dunks can be deflating and i'm glad we finally have a solid energy guy (that brings so much athletically to the position)starting at the two. Even though the bulls played without hinrich,and gordon being played out of position at the point guard,the magic still could have played like they did in sac(with players out),so beating a team while they were down was good to see,thats what good teams do.
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