Strong second half leads Magic to victory over Bobcats

After trailing 51-38 at halftime against Charlotte, the Magic outscored the Bobcats 56-33 in the second half to come away with a 94-84 victory for their third win in a row this preseason.

Leading scorers

Starters

Rashard Lewis: 26 points (9 of 18 field goals), 5 rebounds
Dwight Howard: 15 points ( 6 of 11 field goals), 8 rebounds, 2 blocks

Reserves

Keith Bogans: 14 points (5 of 10 field goals), 3 rebounds
Courtney Lee: 7 points, 2 assists

Key Game Stats

FG%: ORL 43% (34 of 79) CHA 37.8% (28 OF 74)
3 PT FG %: CHA 37.5% (6 of 16) ORL 31.3% (10 of 32)
FT%: CHA 78.6% (22 of 28) ORL 57.1% (16 of 28)
REB: ORL 50 CHA 40
AST/TO: ORL 20/13 CHA 16/15
BENCH: ORL 40 CHA 30

Other game stats and notes:

-Four Bobcats scored in double figures, led by Gerald Wallace with 18 points
-Mickael Pietrus shot an awful 1 of 10 from the field, but did contribute 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals
-Two Magic players (Pietrus and Lewis) played as much as 30 minutes
-Hedo Turkoglu played only 8 minutes, scoring 2 points with 3 assists; according to the Sentinel's Brian Schmitz, Turkoglu was taken out with a sore groin in the first quarter, and reserve point guard Mike Wilks injured his leg in the fourth quarter
-The Magic had a poor game shooting free throws, with Dwight Howard making only 3 of 9
-Jameer Nelson took only three shots in 26 minutes, making two, and adding 3 assists with 3 turnovers
-Marcin Gortat grabbed 12 rebounds off the bench in just 23 minutes
-J.J. Redick had his second straight poor shooting game, just 2 of 7 from the field (4 of 15 combined the last two games) and 0 for 2 on free throws, but did have 4 rebounds and 3 assists in 23 minutes
-Bogans had by far his best preseason game, and is probably back in the picture for being the first SG off the bench
-Dwayne Jones had 6 rebounds in just 8 minutes
-Five different Magic players had 3 assists
-Tony Battie, Anthony Johnson, and Adonal Foyle did not play

For the complete box score, click here