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, January 30, 2008

Magic pull away in final qtr to beat Heat

The Magic (29-18, 12-8 home) didn't get the blowout that might have been expected with MIA (9-35) missing Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O'Neal, and Udonis Haslem. The Magic had an 11 pt lead at the half, only to see MIA cut the lead to just 3 pts early in the fourth. The Magic then went on a 18-1 run and wound up with a 107-91 win.

Four Magic players scored in double figures, led by another good all-around game from HTurkoglu with 27 pts (8 of 13 FGs), 12 rebs, and 5 asts, despite 6 TOs; RLewis 19 pts (7 of 16 FGs), 8 rebs; DHoward 16 pts (4 of 8 FGs), 13 rebs, 4 blocks; and MEvans 13 pts (5 of 9 FGs). KDooling led the bench with 9 pts (3 of 3 FGs).

Six players scored in double figures for MIA, led by Ricky Davis with 21 pts; Luke Jackson and Chris Quinn each added 14 pts.

The statistical breakdown:

FGs... ORL 34 of 69 (49.3%) MIA 33 of 78 (42.3%) ORL 74 MIA 73
3 PT FGs... MIA 7 of 18 (38.9%) ORL 6 of 19 (31.6%)
FTs... ORL 33 of 40 (82.5%) MIA 18 of 28 (64.3%)
REBs... ORL 52 MIA 29
AST/TO... MIA 21/5 ORL 15/16
BENCH... ORL 26 MIA 23

After a rough start to the month of JAN, losing 5 of their first six games to open the month, the Magic finished the month winning 6 of their final 8 games to finish JAN at 7-7. The Magic also extend their SE division lead over WAS to 3 1/2 games, and play next at PHI FRI night.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 11:46 PM  

3 Comments:

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

    Two statistical areas really stand out where the Magic had a big edge... the 33-18 advantage in FTs made and the 52-29 advantage in rebs.

    Not too often that you see a team with a 21/5 AST/TO ratio lose the game by double digits like the Heat did.

    I wonder why Coach Van Gundy left his starters in so long; he had four of his five starters finish the game, with only Evans on the bench. The Magic had a 20 pt lead with about 5 mins left; that would have been a good time to empty the bench and let the starters relax and enjoy the rest of the game.

    I was surprised not to see Cook get any action; he's proven what a spark he can be off the bench with his 3 PT shooting and improved defense.

    Arroyo did a much better job taking care of the ball than he did against BOS... just 1 TO in 35 mins. Not exactly eye-popping stats with 6 pts, 5 rebs, and 3 asts from Arroyo, but his solid and TO-free play at the point played a big factor.

    Dooling did very well as the backup SG.

    It'll be interesting to see if Arroyo remains the starter with Nelson now healthy enough to play; Nelson had as many asts in 13 mins as Arroyo in 35 mins. However, I would continue to ease Nelson back in the rotation.

    Some +/- numbers... no Magic player had a negative rating. Dooling +15; Lewis +14; Howard +13; Turkoglu +11; Arroyo +10.

    Magic have now won 5 in a row at home.

     

  • At 1:56 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Im glad the guys finally clamped down in the fourth,beating a team while they have guys out isnt always easy to do,but finding a way to get up and beat injured teams is what good teams do. Good win. No action for JJ mike,i thought he might get minutes too but it looks as if SVG is seroius about JJ not getting any meaningful minutes,he had a talk with him and told him already that keyon,keith and mo are all in front of him. If he wants to leave a good team so that he can play (playing time will come on a bad team),then im all for us trading him for something we will use.

     

  • At 2:46 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    i don't think we will trade redick until we sign a contract with evans or dooling, or until bogans announces he won't take the option on his deal.

     

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