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.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Game review: Magic (51-22) 106, Timberwolves (14-59) 97


The Magic held Minnesota to 43 second half points to send the Timberwolves to their 15th consecutive defeat. Dwight Howard led the Magic with 24 points, 19 boards. Ryan Anderson came off the bench to score 19 points, his first game in double figures since February 17th.

The Magic got off to a slow start, as the T-Wolves led for virtually the whole first quarter and had their largest lead of 25-18 before settling for a 29-27 lead after one. The lead changed hands several times in the second quarter, as the T-Wolves last lead of the game was 53-52 with 2:58 remaining. The Magic scored 6 of the final 7 points of the half and led 59-54 going into halftime. The Magic extended their lead to 75-60 in the third quarter, but the T-Wolves cut the lead back to single digits 82-73 going into the fourth. They could get no closer, as the Magic put the T-Wolves away with a 18-6 run to open the fourth for a 100-79 lead with 5:21 left. Minnesota scored the final 7 points of the game to make the final somewhat respectable.

Magic leading scorers

Dwight Howard: 24 points (6 of 7 FGs, 12 of 16 FTs), 19 rebounds, 4 blocks, 4 assists, 3 steals, 5 turnovers
Ryan Anderson (bench): 19 points (6 of 16 FGs, 3 of 9 3 PT FGs), 9 rebounds, 2 steals
J.J. Redick (bench): 14 points (4 of 8 FGs, 2 of 3 3 PT FGs)
Vince Carter: 13 points (5 of 9 FGs, 2 of 4 3 PT FGs), 5 assists
Matt Barnes: 11 points (5 of 11 FGs) 7 rebounds
Rashard Lewis: 10 points (4 of 10 FGs, 2 of 6 3 PT FGs)

Overall Game Statistics

FG%: ORL 45.6% (36 of 79) MIN 44.3% (39 of 88)
3 PT FG%: ORL 36.1% (13 of 36) MIN 31.2% (5 of 16)
FT%: ORL 80.8% (21 of 26) MIN 73.7% (14 of 19)
REB: ORL 51 (15 offensive) MIN 39 (10 offensive)
AST/TO: ORL 24/17 MIN 14/12
BENCH: ORL 45 MIN 29

Other game stats and notes:

-Jameer Nelson was 1 of 4 for 3 points and was the only Magic starter not to score in double figures, but he led the Magic with 7 assists with just 1 turnover
-Five T-Wolves scored in double figures, led by F Al Jefferson with 18 points, 13 rebounds
-Former Magic C Darko Mikicic, starting for the T-Wolves, scored 14 points on 7 of 16 shooting and added 5 assists and 4 rebounds
-F Kevin Love led the Minnesota reserves with 14 points, 7 rebounds
-Anderson scored his 19 points in 23 minutes for the Magic, and came within one point of a season high
-Jason Williams added 8 points, 5 assists off the bench for the Magic
-The T-Wolves outscored the Magic 68-46 on two point shots, but the Magic outscored the T-Wolves 39-15 on three pointers
-From the 3:22 mark of the second quarter to the 3:57 mark of the third quarter (11:25 total), the T-Wolves missed 19 of 21 shot attempts
-The T-Wolves made just 6 of 20 shots in the third quarter
-Cleveland's magic number to clinching the East remains at 4, as the Cavaliers lost to the Spurs to allow the Magic to gain a game to pull within 6 games with 9 remaining
-Atlanta lost, while Boston won their game to allow the Celtics to take over the third seed in the East (the Magic, if they win the first round, would play the winner of the matchup between the third and sixth seeds in the second round)

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

posted by Mike from Illinois @ 1:26 AM  

2 Comments:

  • At 2:01 AM, Blogger Mike from Illinois said…

    Nice to see Ryan Anderson get some meaningful minutes, and he made the most of them. His shooting percentage wasn't the greatest at 37 1/2%, but he made 3 of his first 4 shots for 9 quick points. Also, the 9 rebounds are very impressive, plus the 2 steals and a block.

    Hopefully, this gives Ryan's confidence a boost.

    It'll be interesting to see who Coach Van Gundy gives the majority of the playing time to at backup PF the remaining 9 games... Bass or Anderson.

    The bench played much better than they did against the Hawks; J.J. Redick also did well.

    Jameer ran the offense well and did not look to score, and VC continues to do a nice job setting up his teammates also.

    Nice statline for D12.

    I'm happy for Darko Milicic that he is finally on a team that is giving him regular playing time. His 16 points and 5 assists shows that he still has the talent to help a team, and he's still relatively young.

     

  • At 2:18 PM, Blogger Matt said…

    CLE lost to SA. After Sunday's game with DEN we would know better where we are. Then back-to-backs with DAL and SA after a long gap of 5 days. The Magic should have plenty of time to prepare for those games, and if they win both watch out. CLE has a tough schedule (ATL 2 times, MIL, BOS, SAC, TOR and CHI). The last two teams could be dangerous because they are playing for the last spot in the East.

    The game on Sunday is pivotal, and if Magic wins that one they probably will be locked in the second spot since they can lose 4 games (CLE, SA, DAL and MEM) and still win out on tiebreaker against BOS. With the loss last night, ATL pretty much has no chance of catching the Magic.

     

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