Orlando Magic: 2008-'09 Eastern Conference Champions! ECF Game 6: Magic 103 Cavaliers 90
The Magic led the game from start to finish in a resounding victory, as Cleveland could only get as close as ten points in the second half. The Magic were led by a playoff career-game from Dwight Howard with 40 points and 14 rebounds, while LeBron James had his worst game of the series scoring just 25 points.
The Magic, feeding off a great home crowd, jumped out to a 30-20 lead before settling for a 30-25 lead after one quarter. The Magic steadily built on that lead in the second quarter and went into the half with a commanding 58-40 lead.
The Cavaliers started quickly in the third, scoring eight points in the opening minute to get within 59-48. They eventually got to within 66-56, but could get no closer as the Magic led 86-70 going into the fourth quarter. The Magic, who were notorious earlier in the playoffs for blowing big leads, would not blow this one. The Magic's largest lead was 91-70 with under ten minutes remaining, and they still led 99-79 with just over three minutes left before cruising to the final.
Magic leading scorers
Dwight Howard: 40 points (14 of 21 field goals), 14 rebounds, 4 assists
Rashard Lewis: 18 points (6 of 13 field goals), 8 rebounds, 2 assists
Mickael Pietrus (bench): 14 points (4 of 7 three point field goals), 5 rebounds, 2 steals
Rafer Alston: 13 points (3 of 7 three point field goals), 2 steals
Hedo Turkoglu: 10 points (3 of 12 field goals), 7 rebounds, 5 assists
Cleveland leading scorers
LeBron James: 25 points (8 of 20 field goals, 7 of 11 free throws), 7 rebounds, 7 assists
Delonte West: 22 points (9 of 19 field goals), 2 steals
Mo Williams: 17 points (6 of 12 field goals), 5 assists
Anderson Varejao: 14 points (7 of 12 field goals), 8 rebounds
Overall Game Statistics
FG%: ORL 46.2% (37 of 80) CLE 44.3% (35 of 79)
3 PT FG%: CLE 45% (9 of 20) ORL 12 of 29 (41.4%)
FT%: ORL 81.0% (17 of 21) CLE 50% (11 of 22)
REB: ORL 47 (11 offensive) CLE 34 (8 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 19/12 CLE 17/10
BENCH: ORL 14 CLE 10
Other game notes and stats:
-Courtney Lee was the only Magic starter not to score in double figures, scoring eight points with four rebounds
-Cavaliers' center Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored just two points in 22 minutes
-The Cavaliers' trio of West, Williams, and Ilgauskas combined to score 41 points, after scoring 53 points in Game 5
-Alston and Lewis combined to score 31 points, after scoring just 18 points in Game 5
-The Cavaliers' bench shot a combined 4 for 11
-The Magic used an eight-man rotation, with Anthony Johnson and Marcin Gortat along with Pietrus; Pietrus scored all the bench points for the Magic
-Only two other Magic players other than Howard attempted free throws (Lewis and Turkoglu, who went a combined 5 for 5)
-Cavaliers were called for 21 fouls, the Magic 20 fouls
-James scored 13 of his points in the first quarter, and only 12 more points the remaining three quarters
The city of Cleveland, which hasn't won a major sports championship since 1964, will have to continue to wait after a franchise-best 66 win season by the Cavaliers went all for naught.
The NBA Finals start in Los Angeles next Thursday, June 4th.
Here is the complete box score from nba.com
Here is the complete recap from nba.com
The Magic, feeding off a great home crowd, jumped out to a 30-20 lead before settling for a 30-25 lead after one quarter. The Magic steadily built on that lead in the second quarter and went into the half with a commanding 58-40 lead.
The Cavaliers started quickly in the third, scoring eight points in the opening minute to get within 59-48. They eventually got to within 66-56, but could get no closer as the Magic led 86-70 going into the fourth quarter. The Magic, who were notorious earlier in the playoffs for blowing big leads, would not blow this one. The Magic's largest lead was 91-70 with under ten minutes remaining, and they still led 99-79 with just over three minutes left before cruising to the final.
Magic leading scorers
Dwight Howard: 40 points (14 of 21 field goals), 14 rebounds, 4 assists
Rashard Lewis: 18 points (6 of 13 field goals), 8 rebounds, 2 assists
Mickael Pietrus (bench): 14 points (4 of 7 three point field goals), 5 rebounds, 2 steals
Rafer Alston: 13 points (3 of 7 three point field goals), 2 steals
Hedo Turkoglu: 10 points (3 of 12 field goals), 7 rebounds, 5 assists
Cleveland leading scorers
LeBron James: 25 points (8 of 20 field goals, 7 of 11 free throws), 7 rebounds, 7 assists
Delonte West: 22 points (9 of 19 field goals), 2 steals
Mo Williams: 17 points (6 of 12 field goals), 5 assists
Anderson Varejao: 14 points (7 of 12 field goals), 8 rebounds
Overall Game Statistics
FG%: ORL 46.2% (37 of 80) CLE 44.3% (35 of 79)
3 PT FG%: CLE 45% (9 of 20) ORL 12 of 29 (41.4%)
FT%: ORL 81.0% (17 of 21) CLE 50% (11 of 22)
REB: ORL 47 (11 offensive) CLE 34 (8 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 19/12 CLE 17/10
BENCH: ORL 14 CLE 10
Other game notes and stats:
-Courtney Lee was the only Magic starter not to score in double figures, scoring eight points with four rebounds
-Cavaliers' center Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored just two points in 22 minutes
-The Cavaliers' trio of West, Williams, and Ilgauskas combined to score 41 points, after scoring 53 points in Game 5
-Alston and Lewis combined to score 31 points, after scoring just 18 points in Game 5
-The Cavaliers' bench shot a combined 4 for 11
-The Magic used an eight-man rotation, with Anthony Johnson and Marcin Gortat along with Pietrus; Pietrus scored all the bench points for the Magic
-Only two other Magic players other than Howard attempted free throws (Lewis and Turkoglu, who went a combined 5 for 5)
-Cavaliers were called for 21 fouls, the Magic 20 fouls
-James scored 13 of his points in the first quarter, and only 12 more points the remaining three quarters
The city of Cleveland, which hasn't won a major sports championship since 1964, will have to continue to wait after a franchise-best 66 win season by the Cavaliers went all for naught.
The NBA Finals start in Los Angeles next Thursday, June 4th.
Here is the complete box score from nba.com
Here is the complete recap from nba.com
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:05 AM
6 Comments:
At 5:30 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Like the Sunday Sentinel front page says... WOW
I had commented before the game that I didn't think the Cavs could play as well as they did in Game 5. They certainly didn't; LeBron James scored 15 fewer points than in Game 5, and West, Williams, and Ilgauskas scored a combined 14 points less than in Game 5.
Meantime, Alston and Lewis scored a combined 31 points for the Magic, which was 13 points more than their Game 5 total, and D12, as well as he played in Game 5, scored 16 more points in Game 6.
The Cavaliers simply had no answer for the Magic. The Magic's superior depth, athleticism, and matchup advantages over Cleveland was apparent throughout the series.
What the Magic have done here in the playoffs is no fluke; they defeated the defending World Champion Boston Celtics in seven games, becoming the first team ever to beat the Celtics after trailing three games to two in a series; and they defeated the Cavaliers, who had the best record in the NBA and a franchise-record 66 wins.
Congratulations Magic... let's not stop now!
At 10:54 AM,
Big Figure said…
WAY TO GO MAGIC!!! I knew they could do it and i didnt even expect it to be close. Game 5 took so much out of them that i knew if the magic came with a good defensive effort in game 6 cleveland would crumble. RA,rashard and dwight really won the game early for us by getting us off to a good start,then the magic's quality depth took over. Just an all around beat down and boy it feels good!!! Get them damn puppets off the TV!!!
At 2:27 AM,
OVERWADED said…
I absolutely love how the Magic are the "wrench in the system". All the commercials, everyone, and everything, promoting Lebron and Kobe together in the Finals...DONE.
Dethroning The Champs and The King all in one post season; it doesn't get to much sweeter than that.
Or does it...
Here's a question: If the Magic win the Finals, will Dwight's new nickname be "The Puppet Master"?
But seriously, I'm honestly still in shock. I mean, I knew how good this team was, but it's just been so long. I was there back in the day, but I was a teenager. And to finally be going back to The Finals after all these years, man, I can't even describe the feeling. Unfortunately I haven't been able to go to any of these recent games, but I have been to some awesome viewing parties. The last two series we closed out I was at Buffalo Wild Wings, and it was INSANE.
Gotta love the buzz being back in O-Town!
LETS GO MAGIC!
And...
BEAT L.A.! BEAT L.A.! BEAT L.A.!
At 3:00 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Hey OVERWADED, great hearing from you again... it's been quite a while!
Glad to hear you've been able to follow the Magic at the various viewing parties, and have been able to partake in the victory celebrations at Buffalo Wild Wings... must have been a great atmosphere there!
"The Puppet Master"... that's a good one!
I remember very well how rough it was to watch the Magic get swept by Houston in the '95 Finals. It's been a long, sometimes painful, 14 years waiting for the Magic to resurface as an NBA power, but it was worth the wait as here they are in the NBA Finals!
When we first started this blog back in January of '06, it was almost all negativity on here because of the sad state of the franchise.
Three years later... the NBA Finals! Incredible!
I'll be in Orlando on vacation from June 10th to the 22nd, and I really hope to get lucky and score a ticket to Game 4 and/or Game 5.
At 8:00 PM,
OVERWADED said…
Yeah...lots of issues kept me from the blog world. The death of two computers helped too, haha.
Although, I always checked in and read what was happening on here on my phone. But the commenting thing was just to much of a pain in the butt to do like that.
But I finally got a new computer, so I'll probably be commenting a little more now.
No better time than now right?
Mike, I hope you're able to land some tickets. That would be awesome. I'm going to try and figure something out myself. So hopefully I'll make at least one of them.
At 9:15 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Sounds good, OVERWADED! I always thought you contributed some really good thoughts on the blog since its inception.
Nice that you have a new computer... like you said, what no better time than now!
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