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, December 22, 2009

Game review: Magic (21-7) 104, Jazz (16-12) 99


After a sluggish first half offensively, the Magic came alive in the second half to score 64 points and finished on a great closing run, scoring 25 points in the final 7 1/2 minutes to come away with the victory. Four players finished the game with at least 18 points for the Magic.

In a first quarter which saw both teams shoot poorly, the Magic led 19-18 after one. The Magic were able to open things up in the second quarter with a 11-0 run to go ahead 39-28, but the Jazz closed the half on a 12-1 run as the game was tied at 40 at the half. The Magic led by as many as 6 points in the third quarter, but went into the fourth quarter with just a 70-68 lead. Utah went up by 84-79 with 7 1/2 minutes remaining in the game, but the Magic outscored the Jazz 25-12 from that point on before a meaningless three at the buzzer by the Jazz to account for the final score.

Magic leading scorers

Dwight Howard: 21 points (5 of 8 FGs, 11 of 15 FTs), 9 rebounds, 5 blocks
J.J. Redick (bench): 20 points (7 of 9 FGs, 2 of 2 3 PT FGs)
Rashard Lewis: 18 points (7 of 14 FGs, 4 of 8 3 PT FGs)
Vince Carter: 18 points (5 of 15 FGs, 7 of 9 FTs), 9 rebounds

Overall Game Statistics

FG%: ORL 48.5% (32 of 66) UT 40.4% (36 of 89)
3 PT FG%: ORL 42.9% (9 of 21) UT 38.9% (7 of 18)
FT%: ORL 75.6% (31 of 41) UT 74.1% (20 of 27)
REB: ORL 41 (5 offensive) UT 38 (8 offensive)
AST/TO: UT 26/17 ORL 14/16
BENCH: UT 39 ORL 35

Other game notes and stats:

-Five players scored in double figures for the Jazz, led by 20 points (8 of 11 FGs) off the bench by Paul Millsap; Deron Williams had 18 points, 12 assists, Carlos Boozer 17 points, 8 rebounds
-In Jameer Nelson's return from arthroscopic knee surgery, he scored 2 points on 0 for 6 shooting with an assist and 2 turnovers
-Magic starting PG Jason Williams was charged with a double technical in the third quarter and ejected
-Magic reserve PG Anthony Johnson played the whole fourth quarter and scored 4 points and 2 assists with 2 turnovers
-Marcin Gortat added 5 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 11 minutes
-All 12 active players saw action for the Magic
-The starting backcourt for the Jazz (Williams, Brewer) shot just 8 of 25 from the field
-The Magic trail Boston by 1 game for the top seed in the East

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

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 12:15 AM  

3 Comments:

  • At 4:38 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    First, congratulations to Dwight Howard for being named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the games last week!

    Real nice balance for the Magic scoring-wise and good defense the final 6 minutes helped lead them to the victory. The Jazz missed 13 of their final 16 shots and the Magic committed just 4 turnovers the second half.

    I was worried when Jason Williams got ejected from the game in the third quarter, as the Magic only had Jameer Nelson, just back from injury, and Anthony Johnson in reserve. AJ was able to play the whole fourth quarter, though, and was steady enough to contribute to the win.

    Vince Carter may have shot poorly again, but at least he tried driving to the basket and got rewarded with 9 free throw attempts; he also had 9 rebounds.

    What more can be said about J.J. Redick; another outstanding game off the bench.

    Two Magic wins in a row over +.500 teams, with two more tough teams coming up.

     

  • At 10:08 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    That was more like what is expected of Magic on defense. They played a stingy defense all along although intensified it in the last 6 minutes. They had a block party in between Dwight, Marcin and even Rashard joined the party. Offense will come along when Jameer is acclimated and Rashard and Vince's offense gets more consistent, and in sync with the rest of the team. It is a tough balancing job for SVG to keep RA and BB motivated while finding enough minutes for them. AJ's heroics should be rewarded, as well; I hope that he does not end up at the far end of the bench. I sure do not envy SVG's position.

     

  • At 12:16 PM, Blogger Big Figure said…

    Yea its tough having the deepest team in the league to find minutes for everybody. SVG is just going by match-ups at this point. I'm glad that the guys played hard most of all,because you could see the effort was there. Hopefully VC hitting some shots late will help him get his jumper back going because he's doing everything else. The magic by far arent playing their best basketball and are still piling up victories so i'll take it.

     

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