Game review: Hornets (31-28) 100, Magic (39-20) 93
The Magic were unable to hang onto an 18 point third quarter lead as New Orleans, led by David West's 40 points, outscored the Magic 28-13 in the fourth quarter for the victory. The Magic were led by Dwight Howard with 26 points and 10 rebounds, but Howard scored just 2 points in the final quarter.
The Hornets led the entire first quarter, leading by as many as 6 points before settling for a 26-21 lead after one. They Hornets had a 30-23 lead early in the second quarter before the Magic went on a 13-2 run to lead 36-32, and went on a 9-2 run to end the half to lead 56-46 at the half. The Magic continued their strong play to start the second half, as they had their largest lead of the game at 71-53 before things fell apart for the Magic. The Hornets went on a 16-4 run to cut their deficit to 75-69, and trailed the Magic 80-72 going into the fourth quarter. The Hornets took back the lead at 81-80 as the Magic went nearly the first four minutes of the quarter without scoring. J.J. Redick's three pointer put the Magic back up temporarily 83-81, and they led 84-81 before the Hornets went on a 19-6 run to put the game away, as the Magic's last lead was 86-85 with 4:27 left. The Magic attempted five straight three pointers after that, and missed them all. The Magic shot a miserable 4 of 18 in the fourth, including 2 of 13 on threes. Howard attempted just three fourth quarter shots, making one. The Hornets shot 10 of 19 in the fourth quarter, and made 5 of their last 6 shot attempts.
Magic leading scorers
Dwight Howard: 26 points (11 of 18 FGs), 10 rebounds, 3 blocks
Jameer Nelson: 19 points (9 of 14 FGs), 11 assists, 5 turnovers
J.J. Redick (bench): 11 points (4 of 8 FGs)
Matt Barnes: 10 points (4 of 7 FGs), 6 rebounds
Overall Game Statistics
FG%: ORL 49.4% (38 of 77) NO 48.1% (39 of 81)
3 PT FG%: NO 37.5% (3 of 8) ORL 25.9% (7 of 27)
FT%: NO 76% (19 of 25) ORL 62.5% (10 of 16)
REB: NO 43 (12 offensive) ORL 38 (11 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 19/18 NO 13/12
BENCH: NO 26 ORL 21
Other game notes and stats:
-West grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with his 40 points and shot 16 of 24
-Darren Collison added 16 points and 7 assists for the Hornets; Marcus Thornton came off the bench to score 18 points
-Aaron Gray played well off the bench for the Hornets, scoring 6 points along with 7 rebounds and defending well against Dwight Howard; James Posey grabbed 9 rebounds off the bench
-Rashard Lewis (9 points) and Vince Carter (8 points) combined to shoot 6 of 21 from the field, including 3 of 12 on threes and 2 of 5 on free throws, with 5 turnovers
-Howard played nearly 43 minutes
-Jason Williams added 4 assists off the bench
-After scoring 35 second quarter points, the Magic scored just 37 points in the whole second half and were outscored 54-37 in the second half
-West and Collison scored 56 of the Hornets' starters' 74 points; the other three starters scored a combined 18 points
-Other than West, the other four Hornets' starters shot a combined 12 of 38
-The Magic made just 2 of 15 three pointers in the second half before Carter's meaningless three in the final seconds
Here is the complete recap and box score from nba.com.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:53 AM
4 Comments:
At 4:47 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
A disappointing loss, no question. The Magic played great in the second quarter and the first 6 minutes of the third quarter before things fell apart.
What are you supposed to do when two of your top scorers (Lewis and Carter) are shooting so poorly and the team as a whole shot so poorly from three point range. Meanwhile, David West for the Hornets had one of those nights where he just couldn't be stopped, and their role players really stepped up big in the second half.
D12 played well, and so did Nelson, but Howard scored just 2 fourth quarter points and Nelson had 4 second half turnovers.
Still, it's only one loss, and the Magic remain the second seed in the East.
At 11:23 AM,
Matt said…
This is the result of bad coaching decisions. Coach Van Gundy had to deal with David West all night, and yet never tried to use Brandon Bass or a combination of Dwight and Marcin to make it difficult for West. As I have mentioned earlier, it is imperative for the Magic to convert to defensive stance from time to time especially when they have a commanding lead to protect. When Ryan is not shooting well, Brandon is a better defensive option who can knock down mid-range jumpers, as well.
I understand SVG's persistence to use Ryan to enable him back to his previous offensive output. However, when the game gets dangerously threatened, he should adjust for the best mix on the court. Magic is lucky that both BOS and ATL lost, but as all teams are vying for seeding, it is important for the Magic to maintain second seeding in the East while keeping ahead of the teams in the West behind LA. After all, who knows which team may come out of West? Am I thinking too far ahead? May be, but it is unconscionable to lose games that we should have won, amongst which are the recent losses to DAL and this one in NO.
At 6:09 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Don't forget the loss to the Wizards in Orlando a few weeks back, when the Magic had a 21 point first quarter lead only to see the Wizards come back to win.
Well, the Celtics continue to lose, this time at home to the Nets Saturday afternoon.
The Magic are indeed fortunate that the Celtics and Hawks have been unable to take advantage of the Magic's failure to put teams away and have been unable to gain on the Magic.
At 8:42 PM,
Big Figure said…
Yea the magic seemed to be on the right track and poised to run away with the game but turnovers and lack of leadership down the stretch was the difference. The magic have a serious problem with stalling offensively at certain points in a game,last night they got stuck around the 68-70 point mark and couldnt add points for a stretch. I'd have to agree with matt in that SVG needs to do more with rotations and finding something that works when the team's offense is stalling.
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