Game 2: Magic 92, Bobcats 77
The Magic were able to parlay balanced scoring, strong defense, and a large advantage in free throw attempts to win their second straight game over Charlotte, even though they could not put away the Bobcats until late in the game despite a 20 point fourth quarter lead.
The Magic led from start to finish, as they led by as much as 10 points in the opening quarter before settling for a 18-14 lead after one. The Magic extended their lead to 12 points in the second quarter and led 41-30 at the half. The Bobcats came as close as 8 points in the third quarter before the Magic were finally able to open up their offense in the third quarter, scoring 34 points, and led 75-55 after three. The Magic had a seemingly comfortable lead of 81-62 with 7:37 remaining before they went on a dry spell as the Bobcats went on a 13-2 run to get to within 83-75 with 3:16 remaining. Charlotte scored only once more though, as the Magic finally pulled away.
Magic leading scorers
Vince Carter: 19 points (5 of 10 FGs, 9 of 11 FTs), 5 rebounds
Dwight Howard: 15 points (5 of 10 FGs, 5 of 12 FTs), 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 6 turnovers
Rashard Lewis: 13 points (5 of 12 FGs, 3 of 7 3 PT FGs), 7 rebounds, 2 steals
Jameer Nelson: 13 points (4 of 11 FGs, 4 of 5 FTs), 5 assists, 3 steals
Matt Barnes: 11 points (4 of 6 FGs), 6 rebounds, 4 assists
Overall Game Statistics
FG%: ORL 45.3% (29 of 64) CHA 43.9% (29 of 66)
3 PT FG%: CHA 42.9% (6 of 14) ORL 37.0% (10 of 27)
FT%: CHA 72.2% (13 of 18) ORL 68.6% (24 of 35)
REB: ORL 36 (11 offensive) CHA 36 (11 offensive)
AST/TO: CHA 18/21 ORL 17/14
BENCH: CHA 26 ORL 21
Other game notes and stats:
-Three Bobcats scored in double figures, led by Stephen Jackson with 27 points on 10 of 20 FGs, but also committed 7 turnovers; Gerald Wallace added 15 points along with 6 rebounds and 4 blocks, and Nazr Mohammed added 10 points off the bench
-Bobcats' starters Boris Diaw, Theo Ratliff, and Raymond Felton combined to score 9 points on 4 of 15 shooting
-Mickael Pietrus led the Magic reserves with 9 points on 3 of 4 three pointers
-Howard and Lewis each wound up with 5 fouls, with Howard playing 28:32
-Jason Williams, J.J. Redick, and Marcin Gortat combined for 6 points off the Magic bench on 1 of 5 shooting
-The Magic starting frontline outscored the Bobcats' starting frontline 39-21
-Wallace and Jackson combined for 17 of the Bobcats' 18 free throws
Here is the complete recap and box score from nba.com.
posted by Mike from Illinois @ 2:15 AM
5 Comments:
At 2:23 AM,
Mike from Illinois said…
A win is a win, despite the fact the Magic let the Bobcats get to within single digits in the fourth quarter despite having a 20 point lead after three.
Nice to see VC being aggressive with his drives to the basket, as his outside shots weren't falling.
D12's 5 of 12 FT shooting and 6 turnovers were just plain ugly, and he's got to improve considerably on those numbers in future playoff games. He's having a hard time staying in games because of being called for fouls.
Outside of Pietrus and Ryan Anderson, the bench did not produce too much; balanced scoring from the starters made up for that.
The Magic were the more aggressive team, and that showed in free throws attempted.
At 11:11 AM,
Big Figure said…
Yea winning in the play-offs alot of times isnt pretty. Thats to be expected,but at the same time dwight can play much better. Charlotte's problem is they have no low post presence to score any points. And they only have two guys who can get 20 points on any given night. The magic have like 7 different guys who can score 20. Hopefully this series goes no more than 5 games.
At 12:28 PM,
CleveBalla said…
Yo what up playas. yall be looking good so far against da bobcats. Us cavaliers struggled agaisnt da team, jus wanted to pop on in and give ya some props on how you is playing. lookin forward to da Eastern conf finals. Gon be a good matchup. two big doggs. battling. rebounding. shooting. Playoff Basketball. holla!
All together!
At 1:25 PM,
Matt said…
I cannot see how this series could be other than a sweep. Magic is at least as good as CHA in defense, but in offense there is no comparison between the two teams. As Big Figure has correctly mentioned, Magic has too much firepower to the extent that even when two of the top scorers have an off night offensively - case in point: Dwight and Vince at the first game of the series - they can still manage to win.
CHA can certainly make the games ugly, and disturb Magic's rhythm on offense, but at the end of the day they cannot hang with Magic on offense. I am typically not in the habit of talking about refereeing, but these two games have been whistled so inconsistently. I personally think many of the fouls called on Dwight were questionable. After all, this is play-offs and the refs are supposed to let players play and refrain from calling ticky-tacky fouls. Many times Dwight trying to release himself from being hooked by raising his arms, has been called for offensive fouls. Coach Van Gundy is correct in saying that it is uncommon to see a star player sitting on the bench for as long as Dwight has been forced to due to fouls. Is it the lack of respect for Dwight? Maybe the league needs to clean up and standardize its officiating of big men. It seems that they have been penalized and punished because they are big and strong.
At 4:27 PM,
CleveBalla said…
yo i heard that, da officiating be turrible in every playoff series. da refs got it out for certain playas, a damn shame. But da magic and da cavs gon be too good to fall to da refs. We'll see yall in da Eastern conf finals. Holla!
All together!
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