Without Nelson and Turkoglu in second half, Magic see Spurs pull away late in loss
The Magic, playing much of the game including the whole second half without starters HTurkoglu (wrist) and JNelson (collision with DHoward), were able to stay close to SA and pulled to within 87-85 halfway through the fourth qtr before the Spurs scored 20 of the game's final 32 pts to win 107-97. The Magic (46-27, 23-14 home) even had a 69-61 lead in the third qtr, but proceeded to go almost 6 1/2 minutes without scoring as the Spurs (48-23) scored 15 straight pts to go ahead permanently the rest of the way (a true third quarter collapse, as Ben Q Rock of thirdquartercollapse.com would say).
With Nelson and Turkoglu each scoring just 2 pts in their limited action, the Magic had four players in double figures, led by DHoward with 24 pts (10 of 18 FGs), 21 rebs; RLewis 24 pts (7 of 12 FGs); KDooling off the bench with 19 pts (7 of 12 FGs), 4 steals; CArroyo also off the bench 17 pts (7 of 14 FGs). It was a horrible night for the three Magic SGs, as KBogans (4 pts), MEvans (3 pts), and JRedick (2 pts) combined for 9 pts on 2 of 13 FGs (2 of 6 3 pt FGs) in a combined 67 mins.
SA had five players in double figures, led by Manu Ginobili off the bench with 28 pts. Michael Finley added 24 pts, Tim Duncan 19 pts, 15 rebs, and Tony Parker 11 pts, 9 asts.
The statistical breakdown:
FGs... SA 40 of 74 (54.1%) ORL 35 of 77 (45.4%) SA 87 ORL 77
3 PT FGs... ORL 7 of 16 (43.8%) SA 7 of 18 (38.9%)
FTs... SA 20 of 26 (76.9%) ORL 20 of 30 (66.7%)
REBs... ORL 41 SA 35
AST/TO... SA 20/10 ORL 15/11
BENCH... ORL 42 SA 40
The Magic have lost two in a row for the first time since FEB 11. It was a decent effort by the Magic, but without their go-to guy Turkoglu unavailable for the second half, they needed to play nearly a perfect game to have a chance at beating the defending world champs, and obviously they didn't. Magic get two more days off before closing the month at MIL FRI night.
With Nelson and Turkoglu each scoring just 2 pts in their limited action, the Magic had four players in double figures, led by DHoward with 24 pts (10 of 18 FGs), 21 rebs; RLewis 24 pts (7 of 12 FGs); KDooling off the bench with 19 pts (7 of 12 FGs), 4 steals; CArroyo also off the bench 17 pts (7 of 14 FGs). It was a horrible night for the three Magic SGs, as KBogans (4 pts), MEvans (3 pts), and JRedick (2 pts) combined for 9 pts on 2 of 13 FGs (2 of 6 3 pt FGs) in a combined 67 mins.
SA had five players in double figures, led by Manu Ginobili off the bench with 28 pts. Michael Finley added 24 pts, Tim Duncan 19 pts, 15 rebs, and Tony Parker 11 pts, 9 asts.
The statistical breakdown:
FGs... SA 40 of 74 (54.1%) ORL 35 of 77 (45.4%) SA 87 ORL 77
3 PT FGs... ORL 7 of 16 (43.8%) SA 7 of 18 (38.9%)
FTs... SA 20 of 26 (76.9%) ORL 20 of 30 (66.7%)
REBs... ORL 41 SA 35
AST/TO... SA 20/10 ORL 15/11
BENCH... ORL 42 SA 40
The Magic have lost two in a row for the first time since FEB 11. It was a decent effort by the Magic, but without their go-to guy Turkoglu unavailable for the second half, they needed to play nearly a perfect game to have a chance at beating the defending world champs, and obviously they didn't. Magic get two more days off before closing the month at MIL FRI night.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:45 PM
3 Comments:
At 5:27 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
I'm not going to sweat this loss too much, especially with Turkoglu and Nelson missing much of the game. They did well to hang in the game for so long, but the Spurs were just too much to handle. SA had a better FG%, FT%, and AST/TO ratio, with Finley, Ginobili, Duncan having outstanding games. Parker ran the team well from PG despite his shooting struggles.
Wish Redick could have done more with the rare first half playing time of almost 9 minutes that he received. 2 pts on 1 of 5 FGs and a TO isn't exactly making a case for more playing time.
Cook's struggles continue, as he was scoreless in just 4 minutes of play. He needs to start picking up his play (like he did in late JAN and FEB) or he may find himself out of the rotation before long.
There were a few positives in the game... Howard's 24/21 effort (despite only 4 of 8 FT shooting), and the outstanding play of both Dooling and Arroyo. Evans did have 7 asts despite his struggles scoring.
Hopefully Turk and Nelson will recover from their injuries and will return for the game FRI against the Bucks.
At 6:57 AM,
John said…
Great blog you have here.
What a game it was, I'm glad my man perform outstanding tonight.
Lets hope that the Howard & Magic will go all the way in the Eastern Conference.
http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2008/03/nba-news-magic-manu.html
At 1:01 PM,
Big Figure said…
I was proud of the teams effort. You take the best play-maker off of any team and they'll struggle,but the magic fought and kept the game close as long as they could. Hopefully hedo's injury isnt serious and he'll be back friday and ready to go,if he's out for a week or two thats still better than his season being over. Jameer should be ready to go on friday.
Post a Comment
<< Home