Magic clinch playoff berth with win over IND
By virtue of their 122-111 victory over IND, the Magic (44-24, 21-12 home) have now officially clinched a playoff spot. With NJ's win over UT, the Nets, at 28-38, move into the eighth and final seed in the East over ATL, who is 27-38. Since NJ and ATL play each other next week, one of the teams will lose and whichever one does can not finish higher than the Magic, hence the Magic being able to clinch with the win over IND. The Magic's sizzling shooting of 63.6% from the field and 60% from the 3 PT line was enough to overcome 22 TOs and IND's 50% FG shooting, as the Pacers crept to within 4 pts with 4 and a half mins remaining before the Magic pulled away late.
The Magic had five players in double figures, led by HTurkoglu with 27 pts (13 of 23 FGs), 6 asts; RLewis 22 pts (8 of 11 FGs), 5 rebs; MEvans 19 pts (7 of 8 FGs), DHoward 18 pts (9 of 13 FGs), 12 rebs, 3 blocks, but 7 TOs; and KBogans off the bench with 11 pts (4 of 6 FGs).
IND placed six players in double figures, led by Danny Granger with 24 pts. Former Magic Travis Diener, in a reserve role, scored 5 pts with 5 asts.
The statistical breakdown:
FGs... ORL 49 of 77 (63.6%) IND 41 of 82 (50%) ORL 110 IND 90
3 PT FGs... ORL 12 of 20 (60%) IND 8 of 21 (38.1%)
FTs... IND 21 of 32 (65.6%) ORL 12 of 19 (63.2%)
REBs... ORL 36 IND 30
AST/TO... ORL 30/22 IND 25/13
BENCH... IND 35 ORL 28
TO PTs... IND 25 ORL 14
The Magic have now won 12 of their last 15 games, and are now 14-1 in their last 15 games against teams under .500 entering that game. Magic host LeBron James and CLE MON night.
The Magic had five players in double figures, led by HTurkoglu with 27 pts (13 of 23 FGs), 6 asts; RLewis 22 pts (8 of 11 FGs), 5 rebs; MEvans 19 pts (7 of 8 FGs), DHoward 18 pts (9 of 13 FGs), 12 rebs, 3 blocks, but 7 TOs; and KBogans off the bench with 11 pts (4 of 6 FGs).
IND placed six players in double figures, led by Danny Granger with 24 pts. Former Magic Travis Diener, in a reserve role, scored 5 pts with 5 asts.
The statistical breakdown:
FGs... ORL 49 of 77 (63.6%) IND 41 of 82 (50%) ORL 110 IND 90
3 PT FGs... ORL 12 of 20 (60%) IND 8 of 21 (38.1%)
FTs... IND 21 of 32 (65.6%) ORL 12 of 19 (63.2%)
REBs... ORL 36 IND 30
AST/TO... ORL 30/22 IND 25/13
BENCH... IND 35 ORL 28
TO PTs... IND 25 ORL 14
The Magic have now won 12 of their last 15 games, and are now 14-1 in their last 15 games against teams under .500 entering that game. Magic host LeBron James and CLE MON night.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:37 PM
2 Comments:
At 11:13 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Good thing the Magic shot so well, which more than made up for their sloppy play with the 22 TOs, and allowing IND to score 111 pts.
The Magic continue to do what's necessary to beat the teams they should beat, even though it hasn't exactly been of a dominating nature these last two games. The Magic continue to gain momentum as the playoffs draw near.
Some statistical notes:
- Howard is now 6 of 21 from the FT line his last two games, with 11 TOs. On the positive side, in those two games, he scored 36 pts with 28 rebs
- Turkoglu and Lewis combined to score 21 of the Magic's 31 fourth qtr pts against IND on 8 of 13 FGs
- The Magic's starting frontcourt, with a combined 67 pts, continues to be a handful for the opposing starting frontcourt, who scored just 49 pts
- Good night for the SGs, as Evans and Bogans combined for 30 pts on 11 of 14 FGs
Nelson's 5 TOs were as many as he had the previous six games combined. He did have 9 asts though along with 3 steals.
Arroyo got the backup PG playing time instead of Dooling against the Pacers, and scored 9 pts with 4 asts but 3 TOs.
At 6:07 PM,
Big Figure said…
Boy mo evans was on fire in the third qtr,and obviously a great game from the rest of the guys minus the turns,cant say enough about how well they are playing. Clinching this early feels real good.
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