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.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Game review: Magic (4-1) 122, Suns (4-1) 100

The Magic played well following an awful performance Tuesday night and beat previously unbeaten Phoenix 122-100, as the Magic broke the game open in the second half and won just about every major statistical category, with six players in double figures. The Magic welcomed the return of Mickael Pietrus off the bench after missing the previous two games, while Vince Carter sat out to rest his injured ankle.

The Magic started out quickly, jumping out to a 27-13 lead in the first quarter, but held on to a 29-25 lead after one. The Magic had their largest lead of the second quarter at 44-33, but the Suns cut into their deficit to make it a 58-52 halftime game. The Magic outscored the Suns 25-8 to begin the third quarter, but the Suns ended the quarter on a 9-0 run to cut the Magic lead to 92-78 after three. The Magic put an end to any Suns' hope of a fourth quarter comeback, as they outscored the Suns 17-5 to begin the quarter on their way to their largest lead of 119-91 before the final of 122-100.

Magic leading scorers:

Dwight Howard: 25 points (9 of 14 FGs), 6 rebounds
Ryan Anderson: 20 points (8 of 14 FGs), 10 rebounds
Jameer Nelson: 16 points (7 of 13 FGs), 10 assists
Mickael Pietrus: 15 points (4 of 10 FGs)
Matt Barnes: 13 points (5 of 9 FGs), 11 rebounds
Brandon Bass: 12 points (6 of 8 FGs)

Overall Game Statistics:

FG%: ORL 52.3% (46 of 88 FGs) PHO 45.5% (40 of 88)
3 PT FG%: ORL 52.2% (12 of 23) PHO 31.8% (7 of 22)
FT%: ORL 75% (18 of 24) PHO 65% (13 of 20)
REB: ORL 47 (14 offensive) PHO 44 (16 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 26/15 PHO 18/18
BENCH: PHO 58 ORL 39

Other game notes and stats:

-Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 25 points and 14 rebounds, but scored only six points in the second half
-Former Magic swingman Grant Hill was held scoreless in 18 minutes, after averaging 17.2 points coming into the game
-Suns' guard Steve Nash was held to 12 points and 4 assists
-Three Magic players (Barnes, Anderson, Nelson) achieved a double/double
-Every Magic starter, except for J.J. Redick, shot over 50% from the field
-Barnes and Anderson combined for 21 rebounds
-Howard finished 7 of 8 from the FT line

Here is the complete box score and recap from nba.com

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 11:59 PM  

5 Comments:

  • At 1:41 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Much better performance by the Magic, beating a quality team in the Suns who were undefeated. I know the Suns played the previous night, but how many times in past years have we seen a team that played the previous night come into Orlando and beat the Magic.

    Now that's the kind of performance I expect from Jameer Nelson; more important than his 16 pts was his 10 assists and and only 1 turnover.

    Whoever came on the blog earlier and posted that they think Nelson should be traded, I don't think we'll be hearing from him for a while hopefully.

    Magic were much smarter in their shot selection, as they took 65 2 point shots and 23 3 point shots, and made 52% on each.

    Also, they had a much better assist/turnover ratio than against the Pistons.

    I'm really looking forward to having Mickael Pietrus available for the Pistons' game Friday; no doubt he would have helped the Magic big-time had he been available Tuesday night.

    Good bounce-back win!

     

  • At 11:37 AM, Blogger WeRDevos said…

    much better. Good job from the new guys.

    Nice game from Barnes.

    Bass got in Amare's head.

    Anderson came back huge after the awful Detroit game.

    Williams still looking good.

     

  • At 6:36 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    From Brian Schmitz's recap in Thursday's Orlando Sentinel of the Magic win:

    Against the Suns, (Dwight Howard) picked up two quick fouls and another technical foul, but fought through it after a stern halftime visit from General Manager Otis Smith.

    Smith told Howard to stop whining about the whistles, the soccer-like flopping by opponents and squash the Suns like a monster in a sci-fi movie.

    "I'm frustrated and the refs feed off that," Howard said. "They know they can get me going. The other teams know that also. That's the thing Otis told me at halftime. 'Don't let them frustrate you.'"

    ************************************

    Another job well-done by Otis Smith!

     

  • At 12:39 AM, Blogger Ken said…

    When Dwight picked up his 2 quick fouls I had flashbacks to the pistons game.. Oh no, deja-vu all over again.. But the 2nd half we saw an entirely different Dwight. This was the first i heard of Otis having a talk with him at halftime. To me, that shows real leadership of the team. If not for that talk, who knows how this game could have turned out for Dwight. Kudos Otis..

    Great job all around by our new guys and a tremendous game by Jameer.. 10 assists with only 1 turnover. That's why he is a All-Star..

     

  • At 1:42 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    That is the coach's job, and SVG is pretty good at it. Even if Smith got in there, good for him, but nonsensical to make a big deal out of it.

     

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