Game review: Raptors (18-18) 108, Magic (24-11) 103
The Magic, looking to bounce back against Toronto after a bad loss to Indiana the previous night, instead found themselves trailing the Raptors by 13 points at halftime and 18 points entering the fourth quarter. The Magic still trailed by 16 with 6 1/2 minutes remaining, before a furious comeback attempt in the final minutes that fell just short. The Magic have now lost 3 in a row, and 4 of their last 6 overall.
In a back and forth first quarter, the Raptors led by as many as 3 points and the Magic by as many as 7 points before the Magic settled for a 27-23 lead after one. After the Magic scored the first 4 points of the second quarter to go ahead 31-23, the Raptors then took control, going on a 33-14 run to go ahead by 11 before settling for a 58-49 halftime lead. The Magic tried coming back in the third, coming as close as 69-63 before the Raptors seized back control of the game, going on a 17-5 run to close the third quarter with a 86-68 lead. The Magic looked hopelessly out of it as the Raptors held a 98-82 lead with 6:34 remaining, but the Magic made things very interesting, going on a 19-5 run to close within 103-101 with 43 seconds remaining. After a free throw, the Raptors led 104-101 and the Magic had a chance to tie, but J.J. Redick missed a game-tying three pointer with just under 10 seconds remaining, and the Raptors made their remaining free throws to hang on for the win.
Magic leading scorers
Rashard Lewis: 24 points (7 of 15 FGs, 5 of 10 3 PT FGs), 5 rebounds, 5 steals
J.J. Redick (bench): 22 points (5 of 14 FGs, 10 of 11 FTs)
Dwight Howard: 20 points (7 of 10 FGs), 12 rebounds, 9 turnovers
Jameer Nelson: 16 points (6 of 12 FGs), 8 assists, 0 turnovers
Overall Game Statistics
FG%: TOR 54.9% (39 of 71) ORL 41.9% (31 of 74)
3 PT FG%: TOR 45% (9 of 20) ORL 29% (9 of 31)
FT%: TOR 87.5% (21 of 24) ORL 84.2% (32 of 38)
REB: ORL 35 (10 offensive) TOR 35 (2 offensive)
AST/TO: TOR 31/16 ORL 19/14
BENCH: ORL 30 TOR 28
Other game notes and stats:
-The Raptors had 6 players in double figures, led by Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani with 18 points
-Former Magic player Hedo Turkoglu scored 17 points (3 of 4 3 PT FGs) along with 4 assists
-Vince Carter of the Magic continues to struggle, scoring just 7 points on 2 of 7 shooting in 31 minutes
-Other than Lewis, the Magic shot just 4 of 21 on three pointers
-Other than Howard, the Magic made 26 of 27 free throws
-The Magic bench shot a combined 7 of 27 from the field, with only Redick and Brandon Bass scoring; Pietrus, Williams, and Gortat shot a combined 0 for 8
-Ryan Anderson and Anthony Johnson did not see action for the Magic
-The Raptors went without a field goal the last 5:12 of the game, but made 7 of their last FTs
-The Magic's lead over Atlanta in the SE is now down to 1 1/2 games
Here is the complete recap and box score from nba.com
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:51 AM
3 Comments:
At 3:40 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Another bad loss for the Magic, and this one was at home.
The Magic had been playing well against sub-.500 teams this season before this last week, now they've lost 3 in a row to teams that were under .500.
When any team shoots 55% for the game, 45% from long range, 87 1/2% on their free throws, and has 31 total assists like the Raptors did, that's a good recipe for a win.
The Magic struggled offensively and defensively throughout the game until the final 6 minutes. Nine turnovers from Dwight Howard... yikes! Another poor shooting effort from Carter, now 4 for 22 his last 2 games.
I thought one positive was that Jameer Nelson had a nice game with 16 pts, 8 assists, and 0 TOs.
No question, the Magic are in a bad slump now. What's the best way to snap out of it? Go on a long winning streak. The Magic, though, play a lot of road games this month against quality opponents. The Magic coaches and players have their work cut out for them to right this thing, but they have the talent and personnel to do it. Everyone has to start playing better and up to their capabilities, and SVG has to do a better job of coaching, also.
At 1:13 PM,
Big Figure said…
Well said mike. This team needs time to figure things out. I have faith that they will. Last night the the energy wasnt there until to late and that has nothing to do with talent. At one point in the season VC was playing great and aeverybody else was struggling,now VC cant find his shot and everybody else is starting to play better. Once we can get everybody on the same page i think we'll start to take off. VC has to be more of a playmaker and our overall team energy and defense needs to be better,but i feel like its coming even in the losses.
At 5:21 PM,
Matt said…
I agree in principle with what both Big Figure and Mike have mentioned. I was concerned that three starters - Vince, Rashard and Jameer - played awful in Indianapolis. Last night Rashard and Jameer picked up their games but Vince was really bad. It seems to me that Vince is not fully healthy but he is too good of a professional to express it. The coach should have a sincere talk with him and find out if he really needs to rest a bit more.
Last night, it was a combination of a few things which caused the loss: 1) Team's bad shooting; 2) Dwight's silly frame of mind leading to bad fouls and foolish turnovers; and 3) TOR's good shooting and play-making. It seems that thy are figuring out how to use Hedo as a point-forward.
I would also like to add, as I mentioned in my earlier post, that the team looks tired. This is typically a combination of mental and physical elements. My hard guess is that Magic should realize that they cannot turn it on or off, as they wish. The coach should emphasize this quite frequently, and as soon as there is any drop in energy level he should remind players or make substitutions. It is also possible that the team is physically exhausted. If the latter is the case, I think that the lack of practice on this West Coast road tip may just be the cure.
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