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.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Lewis's three with under five seconds lifts Magic over 76ers

Without Jameer Nelson and Keith Bogans, this would prove to be a diificult game for the Magic against Philadelphia. The Magic started out well, jumping out to their largest lead 26-14 and led 33-23 after one. The Magic were able to maintain their lead in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 55-45 lead. The 76ers were able to cut into their deficit in the third, and took the lead 72-71 going into the fourth. Philly had their largest lead at 80-74 and led 92-88 with 1:15 remaining. A three point bucket by Anthony Johnson and two free throws by Hedo Turkoglu gave the Magic the lead at 93-92 before two free throws gave the 76ers the lead back. Turkoglu, on a drive to the basket, found Rashard Lewis open in the corner who then buried a three with 4.8 seconds remaining putting the Magic up by one as the 76ers had no timeouts remaining and could only put up a desperation three at the buzzer that was well off the mark.

Magic leading scorers

Dwight Howard: 21 points (13 of 18 free throws), 14 rebounds, 5 turnovers
Tony Battie (bench): 20 points (9 of 9 field goals)
Rashard Lewis: 19 points (5 of 10 three point field goals), 4 rebounds
Hedo Turkoglu: 12 points (4 of 11 field goals), 7 assists, 5 rebounds

76ers leading scorers

Elton Brand: 21 points
Andre Iguodala: 17 points

Game Statistics

FG%: ORL 47.1% (32 of 68) PHI 44.4% (36 of 81)
3 PT FG%: ORL 34.6% (9 of 26) PHI 23.1% (3 of 13)
FT%: PHI 79.2% (19 of 24) ORL 76.7% (23 of 30)
REB: PHI 39 (14 offensive) ORL 39 (9 offensive)
AST/TO: PHI 25/14 ORL 18/18
BENCH: PHI 31 ORL 27

Other game notes and stats:

-The Magic were only 11 of 34 from the field in the second half before Lewis's game-winner
-The Magic were outscored from the field 75-73 but their 23-19 advantage at the free throw line helped them to the win
-Magic made six more three pointers than the 76ers
-Tony Battie scored his Magic career high with 20 points
-Battie and J.J. Redick combined to shoot 11 of 12 from the field for 27 points
-Courtney Lee was the only other reserve to see action, going scoreless in 12 minutes
-Philadelphia's starting guards combined to score 25 points on 8 of 26 shooting
-Anthony Johnson and Mickael Pietrus combined to score 17 points on 6 of 19 shooting
-Philadelphia's starting forwards combined for 34 points on 15 of 24 shooting
-Turkoglu and Lewis combined to score 31 points on 11 of 28 shooting, 9 rebounds, 9 assists
-Turkoglu led the Magic with 7 assists

The Magic remain a game and a half ahead of Atlanta in the SE, and travel to Washington for the game Thanksgiving Night.

The Magic have won 7 of their last 8 contests, and 11 of their last 13.

For the complete box score, click here

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:53 AM  

4 Comments:

  • At 2:04 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Yet another game the Magic won where they did not play their best, especially in the second half. The Magic were able to overcome the poor second half shooting and 18 turnovers overall.

    Anthony Johnson, starting in place of Jameer Nelson, did not shoot well and scored only 8 points in 37 minutes, but I will give him credit for hitting a big three with a minute remaining to pull the Magic within one; he also took good care of the ball with a 4/1 assist/turnover ratio.

    Hats off to Tony Battie for having his best game in a Magic uniform, and to J.J. Redick for playing well also off the bench.

    Clutch shot by Lewis to win it for the Magic, and good job by Turk for finding him while driving the lane.

    Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

     

  • At 10:16 AM, Blogger Ken said…

    Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here and their families.

    Great to see the Magic gut this win out on the road. Tony Battie came through for the reserves when we needed him most. It's also nice to see JJ's shots starting to fall. This should earn him a few more minutes of playing time.

    I actually felt good about having Anthony Johnson at PG last night. He doesn't score the points that Nelson does, but his veteran leadership in invaluable. I've never been a big fan of Nelson, and wouldn't mind seeing him come off the bench. But that's another story.

    I expected the Magic to be a letdown in the 2nd half. Just by the way they played in the first 2 quarters. They have always been a 24 minute team. No matter what kind of lead they acquire they always seem to be fighting to pull out the win in the end.

    SVG continues to keep a short rotation. Good thing the Magic are a young team. Hope this doesn't come back to bite them in the ass as the season wears on....

     

  • At 11:52 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    I said rashard had to be big before the game and how much bigger could he have been,game winning three from the corner! This was a good learning experience for the magic,when philly went to the press and made alot of different guys have to handle the ball it really took time off of the shot clock and made it so we couldnt get into our sets. This is what some teams will do while were down two guards,one of them being our ultra quick PG who can break a press with ease. I expect for svg to make some adjustments so that we can be more effective when teams try to press us. Good to see CLee handle the ball well and JJ and TB helping out in the scoring column.

     

  • At 11:53 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! GO MAGIC!!!!

     

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