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.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Magic break Pistons' 10-game winning streak with rout

It looked like it would be another tough go of it for the Magic (34-21, 20-10 road) in DET, as the Pistons (39-14) had a 5 pt lead after the first qtr. The Magic then stunningly turned the game around in the second and third qtrs, as they outscored the Pistons 63-37 in those qtrs, with DET only making 10 of 41 FGs in that time, while the Magic shot 20 of 36 FGs and saw their lead swell to as much as 25 pts in the fourth qtr on their way to a shockingly easy 103-85 win. DET saw their 10 game winning streak come crashing to an end.

Six players scored in double figures for the Magic, led by RLewis with 20 pts (8 of 10 FGs, 4 of 4 3 pt FGs); KBogans off the bench with 19 pts (6 of 8 FGs, 3 of 4 3 pt FGs); MEvans 16 pts (6 of 10 FGs, 4 of 5 3 pt FGs); HTurkoglu 12 pts (4 of 13 FGs), 6 asts; KDooling off the bench 11 pts (3 of 6 FGs); and JNelson 10 pts (5 of 8 FGs). DHoward had a rather quiet night with 8 pts (2 of 9 FGs), 8 rebs, 5 TOs, but 4 blocked shots. The Magic are now 23-2 when Howard blocks at least 3 shots in a game.

Only three DET players scored in double figures, led by reserve Rodney Stuckey with 16 pts.

The statistical breakdown:

FGs... ORL 36 of 74 (48.6%) DET 32 of 83 (38.6%) ORL 85 DET 66
3 PT FGs... ORL 13 of 20 (65%) DET 2 of 14 (14.3%)
FTs... DET 19 of 25 (76%) ORL 18 of 23 (78.3%)
REBs... DET 44 ORL 35
AST/TO... ORL 18/14 DET 17/13
BENCH... ORL 37 DET 37

The Magic won for the first time in DET since FEB of 2004, and split the season series 2 games to 2. Magic now have a whopping 8 game lead in the SE division over WAS. Magic go right back at it WED night with another tough game at TOR.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 11:19 PM  

4 Comments:

  • At 1:38 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    If someone told me before the game that Howard and Turkoglu would combine to score just 20 pts on 6 of 22 FG shooting with 7 TOs, the last thing that I would expect would be that the outcome would be a Magic rout. That shows how much the other players stepped up.

    SVG was very happy with how Howard played defensively; he said that Howard changed almost every Pistons shot in the third qtr (he did block 4 shots for the game). DET shot just 3 of 21 (14.3%) in the third.

    The two shooting guards, Evans and Bogans, combined for 35 pts on 12 of 18 FGs, including 7 of 9 3 pt FGs.

    The two point guards, Nelson and Dooling, combined for 21 pts on 8 of 14 FGs, with 7 rebs, 4 asts, and 2 TOs. It should be noted that Dooling played almost 28 mins, while Nelson played just over 20.

    I like how Lewis has stepped it up these last two games. In addition to his great shooting (8 of 10 FGs) against DET, he grabbed 4 rebs and had 4 asts.

    The five DET starters combined for just 48 pts!

    Some +/- numbers... Bogans +25; Turkoglu +23; Howard, Lewis +17; Dooling +14... Redick, Evans -7; Garrity -6.

    As much as I would like to see Redick play more, with Evans and Bogans doing as well as they are, I won't complain. Same thing goes for Arroyo; it's not really fair that he has received DNP-CDs in 3 of the last 4 games, but Nelson and Dooling are doing fairly well now as the point guard tandem; and as we all know, SVG prefers using the better defensive players.

    With the trade deadline coming up on THU, there are several interesting trade scenarios for the Magic on the very informative thirdquartercollapse.com Magic blog.

    I'm sure it will be a lot tougher game for the Magic WED night at TOR; it would be fantastic if the Magic could make it a sweep of these two games.

     

  • At 8:15 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    While I have been reading the blog, I regret that I did not have much time to post comments. However, since the Magic was doing so well during that period, may be I should refrain from posting as much as I can.

    On a second note, I have been observing for a while now that the +/- numbers don't make much sense. On this last game, as bad as Hedo was shooting he got +23.

     

  • At 3:24 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    I'd have to admitt i dont pay any attention to the + - anymore. Im not really gonna make a big deal about the win,but i will say that we finally gave the pistons a match-up they couldnt handle which was keith bogans and keyon dooling guarding billups instead of jameer for long portions of the game. Combine that with rashard taking the ball to the rim making sure he won his match-up with rasheed and you have a magic victory. The pistons are a jumpshooting team and they've always outshot us,last night was the first time we were able to actually defend them in a way that frustrated them to a point of almost quitting,in their heads they know come playoff time they'll take things more seriously especially if we play them. Great efforts from the guys,and very smart adjustments from SVG. The only thing i wonder is if jameer's minutes are a sign of SVG trying something new with the point guard position? Maybe he's gonna keep using keith and keyon alot more during second and fourth quarters getting size on the court,it worked in the second quarter against the pistons (fourth quarter they werent really needed even though they played).

     

  • At 7:46 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Matt, always good hearing from you. At least you get a chance to read the blog and to comment from time to time.

     

Post a Comment

<< Home