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.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Magic struggle past Wizards

Despite holding Washington to six second quarter points on brutal 2 of 19 shooting from the Wizards, the Magic could not put away the game until the final minute as the Wizards narrowed what was once a 50-33 Magic lead in the third down to 83-80 in the final minute and twenty seconds of the game. The Magic scored the final six points to win 89-80.

Magic leading scorers

Hedo Turkoglu: 22 points (6 of 12 field goals), 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals
Dwight Howard: 15 points (5 of 9 field goals), 16 rebounds
Jameer Nelson: 14 points (5 of 17 field goals)
Rashard Lewis: 12 points (4 of 12 field goals), 8 rebounds

Washington leading scorers

Caron Butler: 29 points
Antawn Jamison: 13 points

Overall Game Statistics

FG%: ORL 41.3% (31 of 75) WAS 39.5% (34 of 86)
3 PT FG%: ORL 38.5% (10 of 26) WAS 27.3% (3 of 11)
FT%: ORL 85% (17 of 20) WAS 75% (9 of 12)
REB: ORL 49 (9 offensive) WAS 39 (8 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 17/15 WAS 17/15
BENCH: ORL 18 WAS 16

Other game notes and stats:

-The two teams combined for 22 points on 8 of 38 shooting in the second quarter
-The Wizards made 13 field goals in the third quarter, as many as they made in the entire first half
-The Wizards scored a combined 23 points in the second and fourth quarter on 10 of 42 shooting
-The Wizards' Butler scored all of his 29 points in the second half
-The Wizards scored only 30 first half points on 31% shooting
-Butler and Jamison were the only Wizards in double figures
-The Magic starting frontline outscored the Wizards' starting frontline 49-28 and outrebounded them 29-16
-Courtney Lee made his first start of the season for the Magic in place of the injured Keith Bogans and scored 8 points with 3 rebounds and 2 steals in 28 minutes
-The Magic used a nine-man rotation with J.J. Redick and Tony Battie leading the reserves with 8 points
-Lewis and Turkoglu combined for 34 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists, and 4 steals
-The Wizards' reserves combined to shoot just 7 of 22

The Magic also gained a game on Boston, who were stunned by Charlotte in OT 114-106. The Magic trail the Celtics by just 1 1/2 games for the top spot in the East, and trail Cleveland by just a game for second in the East.

The Magic play the first of a home-and-home against their closest competitors, the Atlanta Hawks, in Atlanta on Wednesday night.

3 Comments:

  • At 10:28 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Hey a win is a win and i'll take it. SVG obviously wanted to get hedo involved early so he ran plays for him to start the game,it helped and hedo bounced back against a bad team. Can you give him much credit for that? Its becoming hedo's m o to play well against the bad/average teams. I'm starting to get nit picky with this team and if were gonna win a championship thats the only place my analysis of this team allows me to go. Its time. The magic are a game back of second place in the east,game and a half back of first in the east. But at the same time i still dont beleive they can beat det,cle or boston in a seven game series so somethings not right.

     
  • At 10:58 AM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    I'll never understand why SVG allows hedo to guard anybody's scoring players,Caron was lighting hedo up in the second half like he wasnt even there. At least when CL was guarding him in the first half he was able to challenge shots forcing misses.

     
  • At 4:32 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    I don't think it would have mattered who was guarding Butler in the second half... he was simply in a "zone" and could not miss.

    Obviously, the win last night left a lot to be desired; the Magic will need to play a lot better against Atlanta.

     

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