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.

Friday, February 05, 2010

Game review: Wizards (17-32) 92, Magic (33-17) 91


Washington, in absolutely stunning fashion, was able to overcome a 21 point first quarter deficit to take a 9 point lead early in the fourth quarter. The Magic came back to take a 91-90 lead with 4.6 seconds remaining thanks to Rashard Lewis's three pointer, but Caron Butler's jumper with 0.5 seconds remaining gave the Wizards the improbable win as Lewis's last-second three point attempt was not attempted in time and missed anyhow on the final play. Butler and Randy Foye were the only Wizards' players to score in double figures.

The game started out as if it was going to be a blowout of epic proportions for the Magic, as they jumped out to leads of 10-0, 15-2, and 28-7 before settling for a seemingly comfortable 32-13 lead after one. The Magic still had a 50-31 lead with under a minute remaining in the half, but the Wizards scored the final 4 points to make the score 50-35 Magic at the half. The Magic then proceeded to play probably their worst quarter of the season in the third quarter, as the Wizards outscored them 39-17 in the quarter to take a 74-67 lead after three as the Magic shot a woeful 4 of 19 in the third, while the Wizards shot 11 of 16, and 14 of 14 on FTs. The Wizards scored the first two points of the fourth quarter before the Magic finally woke up and scored 11 points in a row to take a 78-76 lead with 8:20 remaining. The game went back-and-forth from that point on, as neither team had more than a 2 point lead which set up the tense final minute.

The Magic's failure to give Howard the ball after the first quarter played a huge part in them losing the game. Howard was 5 of 9 in the first quarter for 10 points, but just 3 of 6 the rest of the game, including 2 of 5 in the second half.

Magic leading scorers

Vince Carter: 21 points (5 of 17 FGs, 10 of 10 FTs)
Dwight Howard: 20 points (8 of 14 FGs, 4 of 6 FTs), 18 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals, 4 turnovers
Rashard Lewis: 12 points (5 of 10 FGs, 2 of 5 3 PT FGs), 5 rebounds, 2 steals
Jameer Nelson: 12 points (4 of 13 FGs, 2 of 4 3 PT FGs), 5 assists, 2 steals

Overall Game Statistics

FG%: WAS 43.0% (34 of 79) ORL 38.6% (32 of 83)
3 PT FG%: ORL 31.8% (7 of 22) WAS 28.6% (4 of 14)
FT%: WAS 90.9% (20 of 22) ORL 80% (20 of 25)
REB: WAS 52 (9 offensive) ORL 41 (8 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 16/11 WAS 12/20
BENCH: ORL 20 WAS 16

Other game notes and stats:

-The Wizards' Butler (31 points) and Foye (22 points) combined for 53 of the Wizards' 92 points on 17 of 36 FGs and 17 of 18 FTs
-The remaining nine Wizards combined for 17 FGs and 39 points
-Wizards' C Brendan Haywood led them with 10 rebounds; Butler added 9 rebounds, while Foye added 7 assists
-The starting Magic frontcourt outscored the Wizards' starting frontcourt 38-23, but the Wizards' starting backcourt outscored the Magic starting backcourt 53-33
-The Wizards outscored the Magic 61-35 in the second and third quarters
-The Magic shot 14 of 23 in the first quarter, and 18 of 60 (30%) thereafter
-The Wizards made just 7 of their first 26 shots, and 27 of 53 from that point forward
-J.J. Redick led the Magic bench with 9 points on 4 of 8 shooting
-Mickael Pietrus, Ryan Anderson, and Marcin Gortat combined to score 4 points (all by Pietrus) on 1 of 11 shooting
-The Magic are now just 1/2 game ahead of Atlanta in the SE

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

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 11:52 PM  

6 Comments:

  • At 4:08 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Not exactly a confidence-building game going into Boston Sunday, blowing a big first quarter lead like that and having such a bad third quarter on offense and defense. A team should not lose a game when they are up 21 points at home against a team that is struggling.

    I thought Howard was on his way to a spectacular game after the first quarter, but the Magic ignored him too much as the game went on, as evidenced by just 6 shots attempted after the first quarter.

    Vince Carter led the Magic in scoring, but shot just 5 of 17 and did not record an assist, so he didn't have the good all-around game like he had against Milwaukee. He did make an effort to take the ball to the hoop, though, as evidenced by his 10 free throws and he did not turn the ball over.

    Jameer Nelson played alright after sitting out against the Bucks, as he had 5 assists to 1 turnover and scored 12 points, but shot just 4 of 13.

    I'm surprised that Foye and Butler continued to burn the Magic time after time throughout the game, especially Butler in the second half; he hit clutch shot after clutch shot.

    As bad as it was, it's still only one loss and the Magic have still won 7 of their last 9 games and should be motivated to play well in Boston Sunday after the egg they laid against the Wizards.

     

  • At 5:21 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Quote from Stan Van Gundy after the game from the cbssports.com recap:

    "Quite honestly, we deserved to lose," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "The way we came out and played in the third quarter, defensively, put nothing into it. A sign of real immaturity and very, very disappointing.

    "And there you go, exactly what I've been talking about, you start to think, 'Oh, we've turned the corner or whatever.' There's no corners to turn. We need to keep playing hard."

     

  • At 10:07 AM, Blogger Matt said…

    We deserved to lose this one. Any time a crappy team keeps pushing, one score could break the chain, but time after time we missed easy lay-ups which I lost the count on. Barnes, Dwight, Gortat, and Rashard were the main culprits in that order. Real disappointing since it caused the loss of second spot, and have put more pressure on us for Sunday's game with BOS.

     

  • At 7:51 PM, Blogger Ken said…

    SVG better be careful what he says.. this team doesn't take criticizem very well..

     

  • At 10:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    It amazes me that Van Gundy is still going with Carter. His shooting is horrible and when you are in a slump like that you shouldnt be taking 17 shots. Redick needs more shots during the game.

     

  • At 3:48 PM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Carter does need to be more selective in his shot selection, agreed. The other day he had 7 assists; that would be great if he continues to look for his teammates more as compared to putting up low-percentage shots.

    At least he drew fouls and went to the FT line 10 times against the Wizards.

     

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