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.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Howard's big game leads Magic past Nets

Playing without Vince Carter, out with a hyperextended elbow, the Nets only had the lead once in the game, and that was at 8-7. The Magic outscored the Nets 25-10 after that to lead 32-18 after one. The Magic increased the lead to 54-35 in the second quarter, before settling for a 59-45 halftime lead. The Magic's shooting cooled off in the second half, but they still owned a 79-65 lead after three. The Nets attempted to make the game close in the fourth quarter, as they pulled within 9 points with under four minutes remaining, but the Magic, led by Dwight Howard's 30 points and 16 rebounds, pulled away for a 101-84 victory.

Magic leading scorers

Dwight Howard: 30 points (9 of 13 field goals, 12 of 18 free throws), 16 rebounds
Mickael Pietrus: 17 points (6 of 10 field goals, 4 of 5 three point field goals)
Hedo Turkoglu: 15 points (6 of 10 field goals), 8 assists, 5 rebounds
Rashard Lewis: 14 points (4 of 12 field goals)

New Jersey leading scorers

Devin Harris: 28 points, 12 assists
Brook Lopez: 19 points, 12 rebounds

Overall game stats:

FG%: ORL 47.9% (35 of 73) NJ 39.5% (34 of 86)
3 PT FG%: NJ 35.7% (5 of 14) ORL 30% (6 of 20)
FT%: ORL 67.6% (25 of 37) NJ 64.7% (11 of 17)
REB: ORL 45 (11 offensive) NJ 39 (13 offensive)
AST/TO: NJ 19/12 ORL 17/13
BENCH: ORL 19 NJ 13

Other game notes and stats:

-Former Magic guard Keyon Dooling played his first game against the Magic, going scoreless on 0 for 7 shooting in 32 minutes off the bench; he did have 3 assists and 2 rebounds
-Harris and Dooling combined to shoot just 9 of 32
-Starting Magic PG Anthony Johnson chipped in with 6 points, 8 rebounds, along with a 4/1 assist/turnover ratio
-New Magic PG Tyronn Lue saw his first action with the Magic, making two free throws in three minutes
-The Magic starting frontline outscored the Nets' starting frontline 59-30 and outrebounded them 25-18
-The Magic attempted more than twice as many free throws (37) as the Nets (17)
-The Magic used a ten-man rotation, with Tony Battie leading the reserves with 6 points and 6 rebounds
-Brian Cook and Jeremy Richardson did not see action
-The Magic made 17 of their first 23 shots, then made only 18 of their remaining 50 shots
-Pietrus and Lewis were a combined 6 of 10 from the three point line; the rest of the Magic were a collective 0 for 10.

The Magic now trail Boston by 2 1/2 games, and Cleveland by 1 1/2 games; both teams lost at home Sunday.

For the complete box score, click here

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 10:01 PM  

2 Comments:

  • At 10:52 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    It looks like Coach Van Gundy is going to wait to play Tyronn Lue major minutes until Lue gets more acclimated with the offense.

    Magic needed to get back on track after that clunker against the Pacers, especially with Vince Carter not able to play for the Nets. The Magic were able to do that, for the most part, even though they did not play very well in the second half and let the Nets creep to within single digits in the fourth before putting them away.

    Johnson scored only 6 points, but did add 8 boards and had a 4/1 AST/TO ratio. We can't expect the moon and the stars each game from A.J., so wherever he can contribute, it's a bonus, I think.

    He doesn't have to score like Jameer did every game, but as long as he can have a good assist/turnover ratio, contribute some boards and hit a few shots, I'll accept that.

    CLee and Johnson basically split the minutes at PG. Lee had a quiet night, scoring just 2 points on 1 of 5 shooting, but his plus/minus was an impressive +21.

    With eight assists against the Nets, Turk now has 19 assists the last two games. He's doing a great job distributing the ball to the guys, and also had an impressive plus/minus of +21.

    Howard hit 9 of his last 11 free throws, which is much above his usual average. Heck, if he can hit 67% every game, like he did against the Nets, I would happily accept that.

     

  • At 5:42 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Good win,the thing i liked most was seeing CL on the floor to end the game for defensive purposes at PG. He did about as good a job you can do down the stretch against harris. SVG is using his guys to perfection,when i saw AJ come out of the game with 4:00 minutes to go i realized what SVG was doing,he was getting his best players on the floor to finish the game. AJ may start,but CL may be our finisher. I'll take a double-headed-monster at PG any day.

     

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