Chris Paul leads Hornets to easy win over flat Magic
Coming off Tuesday night's emotional overtime victory against Charlotte, the Magic had nothing left as the Hornets led from beginning to end in an old-fashioned whipping 117-85 over the Magic, as Chris Paul scored 26 first-half points on his way to a game-high 36 points.
The Hornets led 35-20 after one, and upped their lead to 41-21 in the second before settling for a 56-43 halftime lead. The Magic had a glimmer of hope in the third quarter as they cut their deficit to 58-50. That was as close as they would get, though, as the Hornets outscored the Magic 28-12 the rest of the way to lead 86-62 going into the fourth. The reserves from both teams played heavy minutes in the last quarter as the Hornets continued to build on their already big lead.
Dwight Howard saw his streak of 18 double-doubles in a row come to an end, as he had just 8 rebounds. The Hornets elected to foul Howard as much as they could, and as a result, Howard attempted just four field goals and 15 free throws.
Magic leading scorers
Rashard Lewis: 17 points (6 of 14 field goals), 8 assists, 5 rebounds
J.J. Redick (bench): 14 points (4 of 8 three point field goals)
Dwight Howard: 12 points (2 of 4 field goals), 8 rebounds
New Orleans leading scorers
Chris Paul: 36 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds
Rasual Butler: 15 points, 8 rebounds
David West: 14 points
Overall Game Stats:
FG%: NO 58.2% (46 of 79) ORL 37.1% (26 of 70)
3 PT FG%: NO 50% (8 of 16) ORL 39.4% (13 of 33)
FT%: NO 60.7% (17 of 28) ORL 55.6% (20 of 36)
REB: NO 46 (7 offensive) ORL 35 (7 assists)
AST/TO: NO 23/7 ORL 17/14
BENCH: NO 40 ORL 39
Other game notes and stats:
-The Magic starters were outscored by the Hornets' starters 77-46
-The Hornets' starting guards, Paul and Butler, outscored the Magic starting guards, Johnson and Pietrus, 51-10
-Six Hornets scored in double figures as all 12 Hornets scored
-11 of the 12 Magic players scored; only Marcin Gortat failed to score for the Magic
-Johnson and Tyronn Lue had 3 assists between them
-Lewis and Turkoglu combined to shoot just 8 of 24 for 24 points
-Turkoglu is now 5 for 23 shooting the last two games
-The Magic started out 5 of 25 from the field
-The Magic made just 9 of their final 23 free throw attempts
-The Magic starting frontline of Howard, Lewis, and Turkoglu combined to score just 36 points
For the complete box score, click here
The Hornets led 35-20 after one, and upped their lead to 41-21 in the second before settling for a 56-43 halftime lead. The Magic had a glimmer of hope in the third quarter as they cut their deficit to 58-50. That was as close as they would get, though, as the Hornets outscored the Magic 28-12 the rest of the way to lead 86-62 going into the fourth. The reserves from both teams played heavy minutes in the last quarter as the Hornets continued to build on their already big lead.
Dwight Howard saw his streak of 18 double-doubles in a row come to an end, as he had just 8 rebounds. The Hornets elected to foul Howard as much as they could, and as a result, Howard attempted just four field goals and 15 free throws.
Magic leading scorers
Rashard Lewis: 17 points (6 of 14 field goals), 8 assists, 5 rebounds
J.J. Redick (bench): 14 points (4 of 8 three point field goals)
Dwight Howard: 12 points (2 of 4 field goals), 8 rebounds
New Orleans leading scorers
Chris Paul: 36 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds
Rasual Butler: 15 points, 8 rebounds
David West: 14 points
Overall Game Stats:
FG%: NO 58.2% (46 of 79) ORL 37.1% (26 of 70)
3 PT FG%: NO 50% (8 of 16) ORL 39.4% (13 of 33)
FT%: NO 60.7% (17 of 28) ORL 55.6% (20 of 36)
REB: NO 46 (7 offensive) ORL 35 (7 assists)
AST/TO: NO 23/7 ORL 17/14
BENCH: NO 40 ORL 39
Other game notes and stats:
-The Magic starters were outscored by the Hornets' starters 77-46
-The Hornets' starting guards, Paul and Butler, outscored the Magic starting guards, Johnson and Pietrus, 51-10
-Six Hornets scored in double figures as all 12 Hornets scored
-11 of the 12 Magic players scored; only Marcin Gortat failed to score for the Magic
-Johnson and Tyronn Lue had 3 assists between them
-Lewis and Turkoglu combined to shoot just 8 of 24 for 24 points
-Turkoglu is now 5 for 23 shooting the last two games
-The Magic started out 5 of 25 from the field
-The Magic made just 9 of their final 23 free throw attempts
-The Magic starting frontline of Howard, Lewis, and Turkoglu combined to score just 36 points
For the complete box score, click here
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:36 AM
6 Comments:
At 5:08 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
From the post-game recap from cbssports.com:
"It was a nightmare tonight,"(Dwight) Howard said. "We just have to regroup. It's just one game."
"It was one of those nights a player just obliterated us," Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. "You can complain about your defense all you want, but sometimes great players just make you look worse than you are."
Those two quotes just about sum up this game. Very poor effort, both offensively and defensively.
We knew that the Magic would not be as good of an offensive team with Jameer Nelson out, but this is a little ridiculous!
Pietrus, Lewis, and Turk have got to pick up their scoring sooner rather than later.
How long will Coach Van Gundy continue to start Anthony Johnson at the point?
The Magic have alternated wins and losses every game this month, and are 6-6 since their 33-8 start.
At 9:43 AM,
Anonymous said…
What a horrible game. AJ & Lue just plain out suck! I still don't know why SVG didn't bring CLee earlier into the game (like 1 minute in) and have him guard CP3 instead of AJ & Lue. I feel like it's going to be a long second half of the season.
At 10:57 AM,
Big Figure said…
Coaching was a little better but CP3 wasnt going to let us win in that building. We continue to struggle scoring points and we dont have anyone who can create shots outside of hedo. We are in trouble and there arent any real fixes to the problem. The best solution i've heard is to part ways with a few different players and try and get a young PG. If we stand pat the way we are,forget this season. First or second round loss and probably in 4-5 games or so.
At 10:59 AM,
Big Figure said…
After watching opposing point guards light them up like a video-game machine, the Magic are likely looking to see if they can pull off another trade for more help.
Veterans Anthony Johnson and Ty Lue don't have the quickness to stay with the top point guards --- from T.J. Ford to Chris Paul to Raymond Felton (tonight's headache). Courtney Lee is a good defender, but he's also a rookie learning on the fly.
Mike Wilks might have helped with his speed, but the Magic's original third point guard was lost for the year during the preseason.
The Magic have been hamstrung because they can't take a financial leap to sign a point, given they want to hang onto to small forward Hedo Turkoglu, who can opt out this season.
But they also believe they can make a run at the Eastern Conference finals, and need some assistance since they are not counting on Jameer Nelson to return from a dislocated shoulder. Nelson's absence has caused a trickle-down effect and the team looks as if it has lost some confidence, not to mention offensive cohesion. Stan Van Gundy admits as much.
The Magic might also have no choice, given they are butting up against the luxury tax, but to wait until next season to make that run after finding another point this summer.
You can second-guess General Manager Otis Smith for not keeping Keyon Dooling, who wanted more than Smith was willing to pay and ended up in New Jersey on the wings of a sign-and-trade.
Smith went after Chris Duhon this summer, but he wanted too much money or Nelson's job. Smith rolled the dice --- even given Nelson's injury history --- and signed Pietrus.
Whatever, the Magic were vulnerable.
Nobody gives up a good point guard, and the Magic's options are limited. But they need to solve this point-guard quandary anyway, a situation that Nelson's injury exposed.
They'd have to give up J.J. Redick or Mickael Pietrus and/or draft picks to acquire a Mike Conley Jr. or a Sebastian Telfair. Pietrus still has four more years on his relatively cheap $23 million deal. Forward Tony Battie has another year left at around $7 million. Forward Brian Cook has another season remaining at $3.5.
The Magic can do something that Smith really doesn't want to do --- and that's make a play for estranged Indiana point guard Jamaal Tinsley, who has been in exile and hasn't played in over a year. He also is owed another $14 million. Risk vs. reward.
Stephon Marbury? Same deal as Tinsley --- both are walking red flags who have been begging for buyouts.
Smith can't mortgage the future for t he present. The trade deadline is 3 p.m. today. Maybe he can pull off something. If not, it's likely going to be a rocky ride through the postseason.
At 11:03 AM,
Big Figure said…
I was kinda wondering what we truthfully could do,moves that are actually possible. Some good stuff in that article,to me we've already turned hedo into a PG and we stand the chance of losing him this summer,why not trade him for a top notch PG and move peitrus to SF? That would be my fix. Anyone else with idea's?
At 4:11 PM,
Big Figure said…
Truely shocking! The magic traded for rafer alston!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!! I would have never thought we'd get him or any other PG(he wasnt in any rumors)without losing some core peice's,credit otis for making a move which all of us here thought he needed to do. Rafer and jameer have gone head to head plenty of times and rafer is just as good as jameer leadership wise,we'll never replace jameer's low-to-the-ground magical dribbling skills and quickness,but rafer does alot of really good things. He shoots the ball very well,he's a good defender with size and like i said before he will lead us. He has a sportcenter top 10 highlight right now where he drops a dime behind his back to scolla,the pass was sick and we could use alot of that right now. The thing i like about rafer the most is probably his basketball IQ,you rarely see him make a bad play shooting or passing the ball.
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