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.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Howard leaves game with sore knee in last-second Magic loss to Suns

Things didn't look good for the Magic as they entered the fourth quarter trailing Phoenix 87-77, and without Dwight Howard, who had to leave the game with under 8 minutes remaining in the third quarter with what was reported as a sore knee. Brian Cook and Jameer Nelson each hit a three in the opening minute of the fourth to get the Magic right back in it, and it would be a close game the rest of the way. Hedo Turkoglu hit a 22 footer to give the Magic a one point lead with just under 10 seconds remaining, but Grant Hill was able to sneak underneath for a game-winning reverse layup with 2.7 seconds remaining. Rashard Lewis's three attempt afterward that would have won the game wasn't close, and the Suns (14-10) edged the Magic (17-6) 113-112.

Magic leading scorers

Dwight Howard: 19 points (8 of 12 field goals), 7 rebounds
Rashard Lewis: 18 points (6 of 15 field goals), 8 rebounds
Jameer Nelson: 16 points (7 of 16 field goals), 6 assists
Keith Bogans: 16 points (4 of 6 three point field goals)
Hedo Turkoglu: 13 points (4 of 18 field goals), 6 rebounds

Phoenix leading scorers

Steve Nash: 21 points, 10 assists
Amare Stoudemire: 21 points, 14 rebounds
Jason Richardson: 21 points

Overall Game Stats

FG: PHO 50.6% (44 of 87) ORL 45.3% (39 of 86)
3 PT FG%: PHO 52.6% (10 of 19) ORL 43.3% (13 of 30)
FT%: ORL 95.5% (21 of 22) PHO 78.9% (15 of 19)
REB: PHO 44 ORL 39
AST/TO: PHO 21/13 ORL 20/11
BENCH: PHO 38 ORL 30

Other game notes and stats:

-The Suns outscored the Magic 98-91 from the field to offset the Magic's 21-15 advantage at the free throw line, where the Magic shot a brilliant 95.5%
-The Magic had their largest lead at 53-40 with 7 minutes remaining in the second
-The Suns then went on a 47-22 run for their largest lead at 87-75 late in the third quarter
-The Magic were only 5 of 29 shooting spanning the last 7 minutes of the second through most of the third quarter
-The Magic came back to shoot 13 of 23 from the field in the fourth
-Courtney Lee and Marcin Gortat each led the reserves with 8 points each
-Eleven Magic players saw action and all scored; only J.J. Redick failed to see action
-After scoring a combined 51 points against Portland, Lewis and Turkoglu were held to just 33 points against the Suns on 10 of 33 shooting (4 of 12 on threes); they did combine for 14 rebounds and 6 assists
-Nelson scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter; it was reported after the game he was playing with a stomach virus
-Former Magic Grant Hill hurt his former team with 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 steals in addition to the game-winner
-Former Magic center Shaquille O'Neal was inactive due to a death in his family

The Magic are 3 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta in the SE as they play a back-to-back Saturday night against Utah.

For the complete box score, click here

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:46 AM  

3 Comments:

  • At 4:29 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Howard, on his sore left knee after the game on the NBA.com game recap:

    "I made a move on (Robin) Lopez and I guess I came down the wrong way or something," he said. "I don't even remember what happened but I was trying to run back on defense and my knee started hurting. I'm not going to play with any pains like this."

    Howard said there was only soreness and no apparent structural damage.

    "It's none of my ligaments," he said. "Everything is fine. I'll be alright."

    Well, that's the good news, that the injury is nothing serious, and hopefully DH will be ready to go against Utah Saturday night.

    His teammates gave a heck of an effort in the fourth quarter, even though they were down ten entering the quarter and without Howard.

    Grant Hill hurt his old team, that's for sure. Sure wish he could have done more of that while he was with the Magic. Oh well...

    Hope the Magic have enough left to beat a very tough Utah team Saturday night.

     

  • At 11:22 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    No doubt in my mind that if dwight was playing grant never gets that lay-up to win it. Dwight by nature sags in the lane when guarding shooters,amare might have gotten off a three pointer on dwight but not a pass right by him. I would have liked to see TB in the game in that type of situation but SVG cant really be blamed for leaving marcin out there he was playing well. Moving on,hopefully dwight can play tonight and if not marcin looks like he's ready to contribute and with more minutes he should do an even better job playing against a perimeter guy in okur. Sure would be nice to get MP back also,hopefully he'll be ready soon.

     

  • At 1:57 AM, Blogger Jarhead Scott said…

    It had to be Grant Hill, right? SOB

     

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