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 26, 2008

Magic pull away late to defeat NJ

Through three qtrs, this was a very close game as the lead changed hands many times with the Magic holding a 3 pt lead entering the final qtr. NJ (25-32) then scored the first 8 pts of the fourth for a 5 pt lead at 75-70, then the Magic (37-22, 21-11 road) took over as they outscored the Nets 32-17 the rest of the way as HTurkoglu scored 17 of his 25 pts in the final qtr and the Magic took advantage of a huge edge in FTs for a 102-92 win.

Five Magic players scored in double figures, led by Turkoglu with 25 pts (8 of 13 FGs), 5 rebs; RLewis also with 25 pts (7 of 10 FGs), 6 rebs; DHoward 17 pts (5 of 10 FGs), 10 rebs; MEvans 14 pts (7 of 12 FGs), 5 rebs; and KDooling off the bench with 14 pts (4 of 6 FGs). JNelson, with 4 pts, added 5 asts.

Vince Carter (26 pts) and Richard Jefferson (20 pts) combined for 46 pts for NJ.

The statistical breakdown:

FGs... NJ 35 of 82 (42.7%) ORL 34 of 65 (52.3%) NJ 82 ORL 73
3 PT FGs... NJ 12 of 26 (46.2%) ORL 5 of 17 (29.4%)
FTs... ORL 29 of 43 (67.4%) NJ 10 of 16 (62.5%)
REBs... NJ 40 ORL 37
AST/TO... NJ 25/13 ORL 16/10
BENCH... NJ 19 ORL 17

The Magic shot 60.7% in the second half (17 of 28 FGs), including 5 of 10 3 pt FGs after not making a single 3 pt shot in the first half. The Magic have now won 5 of their last 6 games and are a season-high 15 games over .500. Magic go right back at it WED night at PHI.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 11:16 PM  

6 Comments:

  • At 4:14 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    There are a couple of stats from the game that really jump out and show why the Magic were able to win. First, they outshot NJ from the floor 52.3% to 42.7%; second, the Magic attempted 27 more FTs than the Nets did and made 19 more than the Nets did. Rarely do you ever see a road team get awarded nearly three times the number of FTs than the home team.

    The Magic have made at least five 3 pt Fgs in every game this season... that's another amazing stat. They tied the season low in threes against NJ, but made the five all in the second half.

    Individually, great statistical night from Turk and Lewis, who combined to shoot 15 of 23 from the field, including 5 of 8 from 3 pt range and 15 of 20 FTs for 50 pts. They also combined for 11 rebs, 7 asts, and 3 steals.

    Dooling got the majority of the minutes at PG over Nelson (26-22). Dooling did a solid job with 14 pts and 3 asts. Nelson, while struggling offensively, did manage 5 asts with 0 TOs. Overall, an 8/1 AST/TO ratio from the PGs which is really good.

    On another topic, what do you guys think about GM Otis Smith probably being offered an extension in the offseason? I think he has made what turned out to be smart moves, like hiring SVG, the Cook-Evans trade for Ariza, and relinquishing the rights to Darko Milicic (though some may not agree), while he has been criticized for other decisions, like the Nelson contract extension, his questionable draft picks, overpaying for Lewis, and the failure to acquire an extra big man before the deadline.

    Bottom line is the Magic are 37-22 with a solid nucleus of players, and are well on the way to a 50 win season with a good chance at making a solid playoff run. Even though I haven't agreed with all of Otis's decisions, I would not object to an extension for him to continue as GM.

     

  • At 12:29 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    My answer to the issue of extending Otis Smith's contract is an emphatic NO. It is time for the Magic to hire a GM befitting the coach and the nucleous of players. Otis Smith still remains an inexperienced GM with plenty of Goof ups on rather simple matters.

     

  • At 12:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Well i have been gone for a while but back and ready to start blogging!!!!

    Last night the magic played a well rounded game on the road, they shot the ball well hung around all game and made their final bite with about 3 minutes left!!! That is what a road game is all about and SVG has done a good job of making our young team understand that! Once again Turk played saviour at the end of the game and continues to prove himself as one of the best scorers in the east! He is still a bit inconsistent but he seems to score at will and it is really nice to watch him break down defenses. Lewis is doing exactly what we asked him to do when we brought him here and that is hit his jumper and score between 15 and 20ppg. An all around great win on the road to a team that has firepower with carter and jefferson and has a clear cut chance at the playoffs in the east.

    Now, Otis smith's extension is not a horrible move but i do think that it is a premature one! Let's not forget that his first draft pick as a GM is in barcelona, spain as we speak and jj has become more of a problem than anything else, and not to mention the lewis contract negotiations in which he completely overpaid. Lets not let what happened with the nelson extension happen with smith, lets see what he does this offseason in the draft and with all these free agents and then grade him, yes he has done some great things including the extension of howard and the SVG signing after the Donovan scandal, but its still a little early for a long term extension. We have to face it guys, we do not have a team built for a long playoff run, yes we will make noise in the playoffs but we cannot beat teams like boston, detroit or even cleveland now in a 7 game series. Lets show otis that he has the support from ownership and from the fans but hold off on the extension till after the free agency period.

    Well, we have another game tonight that we should win but have to bite early and set the tempo from the beginning, Philly reminds me of Phoenix about three years back, they are constantly in transition, im looking to see how the magic can handle running up and down the floor in a back to back and in the tail end of a long 82 game season.

     

  • At 3:33 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Matt, I had a feeling you'd be pretty ticked off if Otis Smith was offered an extension.

    Welcome back Paul... I disagree that CLE could beat the Magic in a playoff series; and while the Magic may not be able to beat either DET or BOS in a 7 game series, they would give both teams a run for their money, as the Magic have beaten DET twice and BOS twice this season.

    Generally, I'm happy with the progress of the Magic, as they seem to peaking as a team now, and most important, are improving their defense after some mid-season struggles and are well on their way to a 50 win season.

    OVERWADED, where are you hiding, my friend? Haven't heard from you since the All-Star Break.

     

  • At 4:12 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    The team played with some toughness last night and you can see that coaching mixed with some good players equals wins. Dwight punishes the paint for four quarters,and throughout hedo and rashard cause mismatch problems for their guys on the perimeter (being 6ft10 a piece)while taking turns catching fire and dominating certain periods of the game,its becoming really fun to watch(i guess this is what tracy,grant and timmy was supposed to look like). When it comes to otis,as long as the wins keep piling up his case for getting an extention gets better and better. In my personal opinion it doesnt bother me either way so i guess that means i have no opinion because we're winning and he's the architect,but i agree there have been questionable moves,i'm not ashamed to say im on the fence with it.

     

  • At 7:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Mike you are very right in not agreeing with me in the Cleveland series because lets face it even with wallace, west and scerbiak playing for them all you have to really do is contain lebron and the magic do have the manpower and the talent to do that but to really from the bottom of your heart believe that we can beat detroit or boston in a seven game series is completely ludicrous, first of all detroit is a team that has won a ring with pretty much the same team they have now and have been in the conference finals 5 straight years and flatout know how to win late in the season, we have a young nucleus that is lacking expirience and are bound to get that experience in these upcoming playoffs. I love my magic and i hope we win a ring this year but experience is what we need and otis had a chance to get us some expirience but didnt pull the trigger. Otis Smith is not a bad GM at all but its still premature to sign him on long term, lets allow him to find us a strong backcourt and find us a big man to take the pressure off "superman" and then talk extension. Otis has done an outstanding job so far but he still has a little bit left on his plate before we are a conference contender!!!! We got the division this year now lets work the conference next year!!!! I hope you kind of understand the point im trying to get across mike. Man its good to be back!!!LOL!!

     

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