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.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Depleted Heat give Magic huge scare in 9 pt Magic win

Already missing Alonzo Mourning, Dwyane Wade, and Dorell Wright for the rest of the season, MIA (11-53) was also without regulars Shawn Marion, Udonis Haslem, Marcus Banks, and Earl Barron and coach Pat Riley for FRI night's game against the Magic. To the Heat's credit, they came to play and played the Magic tight throughout before the Magic (43-24, 23-12 road) scored 9 of the game's final 11 pts to pull out a 103-94 victory. The Magic survived a career game from MIA G Jason Williams who scored 34 pts, along with 7 asts and 6 rebs.

The Magic had five players in double figures, led by JNelson with 21 pts (6 of 7 FGs), 7 asts, 0 TOs; HTurkoglu 20 pts (7 of 16 FGs), 6 asts, 5 rebs; DHoward 18 pts (6 of 13 FGs, 6 of 16 FTs), 16 rebs; RLewis 15 pts (6 of 13 FGs), 8 rebs; and KDooling off the bench with 10 pts (3 of 4 FGs).

In addition to Williams' 34 pts, which is 26 pts above his season average, Daequan Cook scored 15 pts, which is double his season average. Reserve C Joel Anthony scored 10 pts, his first pts of the season.

Stat of the night: The Magic attempted 30 more FTs than the Heat.

The statistical breakdown:

FGs... MIA 39 of 82 (47.6%) ORL 35 of 74 (47.3%) MIA 88 ORL 80
3 PT FGs... ORL 10 of 30 (33.3%) MIA 10 of 30 (33.3%)
FTs... ORL 23 of 36 (63.9%) MIA 6 of 6 (100%)
REBs... ORL 41 MIA 31
AST/TO... ORL 20/11 MIA 16/12
BENCH... ORL 21 MIA 19

The Magic swept the season series from the Heat and have now beaten them 9 games in a row. The Magic continue to lead the NBA in road wins with 23, and have won 11 of their last 14 games overall. Magic are right back at it SAT night hosting IND.

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:59 PM  

2 Comments:

  • At 4:21 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    I don't think I can recall a game where the visiting team had 30 more FT attempts than the home team. This game would have been a little easier had Howard done better than 6 of 16 FTs. The other Magic players shot an outstanding 17 of 20 from the FT line.

    Dooling finally played some meaningful minutes, and it's a good thing he did, because he hit some big shots in the fourth when the Heat were really close.

    Nelson so far has had an outstanding month of March at PG after the horrible three games he had to close last month. In those three games, he scored a combined 12 pts on 4 of 21 FGs. In six games this month, he has averaged 13.0 ppg on 26 of 44 FGs (59.1% FGs), 11 of 19 3 pt FGs (57.9%), and 15 of 16 FTs (93.8%). Perhaps even more impressive is his AST/TO ratio of 35/5. Very encouraging sign for the Magic that Nelson is playing like we know he's capable of playing after a very difficult season both professionally and personally.

    Tough night for the SGs, Evans and Bogans, who combined to score just 13 pts on 5 of 12 FGs.

    Our starting backcourt was outscored 49-29 by the Heat starting backcourt, but the starting frontcourt of the Magic outscored the Heat starting frontcourt 53-26.

    Magic set a team record for most 3 pt FGs in a season, and remain undefeated when holding the opposing team to 95 or fewer pts.

     

  • At 2:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I would say that Nelson did a good job offensively, but he was torched by J. Williams. Backcourt defense remains a problem for our team.

     

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