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, February 06, 2008

Magic overcome slow start to rout NJ

Magic Coach Van Gundy had seen enough after seeing his team fall behind 15-4 in the first 5 1/2 minutes. Reserves KDooling and BCook led the Magic charge from behind, as the Magic built a 9 pt halftime lead and eventually a 17 pt lead after 3 qtrs, as the Magic (32-19, 13-9 home) avenged a 1 pt loss to the Nets (20-29) last month 100-84.

Six Magic players scored in double figures, led by DHoward with 21 pts (6 of 11 FGs), 13 rebs; RLewis 19 pts (6 of 14 FGs), 6 rebs, 4 steals; HTurkoglu 19 pts (7 of 13 FGs), 6 asts. Three reserves scored 11 pts for the Magic... JNelson (3 of 6 FG, 8 asts, 1 TO); BCook (4 of 8 FGs, all in the first qtr); and KDooling (4 of 6 FGs).

Five players scored in double figures for NJ, led by Vince Carter's 18 pts.

The statistical breakdown:

FGs... ORL 34 of 72 (47.2%) NJ 33 of 79 (41.8%) ORL 78 NJ 71
3 PT FGs... ORL 10 of 27 (37%) NJ 5 of 15 (33.3%)
FTs... ORL 22 of 28 (78.6%) NJ 13 of 16 (81.2%)
REBs... ORL 42 NJ 42
AST/TO... ORL 22/12 NJ 20/16
BENCH... ORL 35 NJ 28

With Arroyo's quick hook at PG and Nelson's effective performance in reserve, it looks like the Magic's ever-changing PG rotation will be changing once again. Magic have now increased their SE division lead to 6 1/2 games over WAS, and face the new-look Lakers with Pau Gasol FRI night as the five game homestand continues.

4 Comments:

  • At 4:27 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Not much of a night for Arroyo... 2 missed 3 pt FG attempts, a TO and steal in just the first 5 1/2 minutes, then sat the rest of the game as Dooling and Nelson did very well at PG.

    Great move by Coach Van Gundy to get the subs in there at the halfway point in the first qtr after the Magic got off to another poor start. Cook and Dooling really energized the team.

    Wish we could bottle the performance by Nelson and have him duplicate it the rest of the year, then our PG problems would be solved. An 8/1 AST/TO ratio, 11 pts, and 5 rebs in about 26 mins of play.

    Wouldn't be surprised at all to see Nelson start against the Lakers.

    Turk and Lewis combined to shoot 13 of 27 after a dismal combined 9 of 30 outing against DAL.

    Some +/- numbers for the game... Howard/Dooling both +15; Lewis +13; Turkoglu, Nelson, and Bogans all +12. Arroyo had the only negative rating at -11.

    Tough remaining three games on this homestand starting FRI against the Lakers.

     
  • At 1:21 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    I'm not gonna say anything bad about carlos because the truth is we'd be lost without him,but his unspectacular play isnt getting the job done anymore. Being steady got us a 7-1 record since jameer's injury,but as teams adjust to his game his performance seems to tally off,this happened earlier in the season where jameer got his job back because carlos is just steady. Good effort from the guys in the second half,and the bench for always being prepared.

     
  • At 1:30 PM, Blogger OVERWADED said…

    Mike, those were my thoughts exactly in regards to Nelson.

    The thing that's hard for me to understand is how the play of our point guards seem to "tally off" once they've been in the starting spot for a little. Both Nelson and Arroyo have done it. You think both of them would be the type of player to continue fighting hard for their job, and not take it for granted. The only thing that seems to keep balance to the position is continually promoting and demoting each of them.

    I didn’t expect anything out of the Nets this season, but I continue to be amazed how bad a team with Kidd, Carter, and Jefferson can be.

     
  • At 9:09 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Otis Smith is probably the worst GM in the league, He has two small forwards and neither can guard anyone but I admit that they can score. He needs to move Turk or Lewis to the SG position and try to acquire a big power forward that can help HOWARD. Evans, Arroyo, Redick,and Nelson with his 35M , they all should be on the MARKET for a trade if they want to make a run. Everyone blames the PG GUARDS performance for the losses but it is far for the truth, the bottom line that the Magic can’t close games due to fact that Howard does not have any help inside. Arroyo is the only natural PG in the team. We will never know about Redick due the lack of playing time and I don’t blame him to try to get out, Dooling need to stay, he is a great defender with a lot hart, Nelson is inconsistent and he‘s playing in the wrong position, he is a scorer. I hate to see Evans leaves but we need to a big man. Otis wake up and make a trade.

     

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