Orlando Magic Blog – Page 34 – NBA Blog

Bobcats finish above Magic in final standings

Combine the Charlotte Bobcats’ 105-98 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers with the Orlando Magic’s loss to the Miami Heat, and the Bobcats top the Magic by a game in the standings.

Small potatoes, maybe. But after going 7-59 last season – worst record in NBA history – 21-61 felt OK Wednesday night.

“Absolutely we wanted to avoid that worst record. It was definitely one of our small goals down the stretch,” said Bobcats co-captain Gerald Henderson (15 points and six assists). “Obviously things didn’t go as well as we hoped, but we played hard.”

“Coming down the stretch, we played as pros.”

True enough. They won six of their last 15, and in doing so might have saved their rookie coach’s job. Nothing has been decided one way or the other, but the relatively strong finish spruces up Dunlap’s short-term resume a bit.

— Reported by Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer

Glen Davis appreciated his time on the Celtics

In Davis’ four seasons in Boston, his role expanded but never enough for him. The Celtics traded him to the Magic and he agreed to a four-year contract extension and immediately became one of Orlando’s more experienced players, carrying a championship ring.

“I look at it and I was just so thankful,” he said. “I got a chance to talk to the guys and I told Paul, I told KG, ‘Thank you. Really, thank you, Doc, for putting that discipline and that tough love. When I see these young guys [in Orlando] and I walk around, I see the same exact things [as I did in Boston] and me listening and humbling myself got me to this point now.”

Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said he wanted to challenge Davis with more responsibility with the cocaptain assignment, joining point guard Jameer Nelson.

“You’re put in a role that you can’t say no to and if you’re a competitor, you want that role,” Davis said. “And you have to do what they say, no procrastination. I do have a desire to get in there and go through the journey with these guys. I got a chance to experience a championship, but here I’m a main part of the team, working to be successful.”

— Reported by Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe

Omer Asik gets 22 points and 18 rebounds, Rockets beat Magic

Omer Asik matched his career high with 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds and the Houston Rockets beat the Orlando Magic 111-103 on Monday night without James Harden and Chandler Parsons

Jeremy Lin had 19 points and 11 assists and Francisco Garcia had 14 points, five assists and three blocks for the Rockets, who hardly missed their top two scorers until Orlando made a late run. Harden sat out for the second straight game with a sore right foot and Parsons missed the game with an illness.

Rookie Maurice Harkless scored a career-high 28 points and Beno Udrih had 17 points and 10 assists for the Magic.

The Rockets won for the eighth time in 10 home games and inched closer to their first playoff berth since the 2008-09 season. Houston holds the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference.

Greg Smith started the game with a one-handed dunk and the Rockets were off and running. Smith and Asik got any shot they wanted early on and the Rockets opened with a 21-6 spurt…

[Tobias] Harris had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Orlando.

— Reported by Chris Duncan of the Associated Press

Tobias Harris helps Orlando Magic end losing streak

It’s clear the Orlando Magic are playing for next year, and Friday night was the first of what they hope will be some good signs during the season’s final weeks.

Orlando was up and down against the Washington Wizards, but when it came time to decide things, defense and some clutch offense from second-year forward Tobias Harris produced a 97-92 win for the Magic.

Harris scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help the Magic break an eight-game losing streak. Harris stopped Washington runs on at least four occasions during the game with timely shots. That included a 15-foot floater with 1:22 left in the game to put Orlando ahead 93-88 and three of four from the free throw line in the final 14 seconds that sealed the victory.

”Tonight was a good step for me,” said Harris, who came to Orlando from Milwaukee at the trade deadline. ”There have been times since being in a Magic uniform that I’ve struggled to close out games, but you’ve got to be ready when the opportunity comes and I took advantage of it.”

The Magic started Harris, three rookies – Maurice Harkless, Kyle O’Quinn and DeQuan Jones – and eight-year veteran Jameer Nelson, who left the game in the first quarter with a sprained ankle and did not return.

Harkless scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while second-year man E’Twaun Moore had 15 and rookie Andrew Nicholson scored 14…

The Wizards, by contrast, didn’t get much of anything from anyone other than John Wall and Martell Webster. Wall led Washington with 35 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Webster was the only other Wizard in double figures, scoring 19.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Magic center Nikola Vucevic misses game due to concussion

Nik Vucevic sat out as the Orlando Magic attempted to end the Miami Heat’s winning streak at 26 games on Monday night.

“I sure am going to miss him tonight,” Magic coach Jacque Vaughn predicted about 90 minutes before tipoff.

Vucevic suffered a mild concussion on March 19, and he can’t play again until he passes the NBA’s concussion protocol. Even after he’s cleared medically, Vaughn will face a decision whether or not to put Vucevic back on the floor.

Vucevic’s absence meant the Magic were missing four players who started in the season-opener: shooting guard Arron Afflalo, small forward Hedo Turkoglu, power forward Glen Davis and Vucevic.

— Reported by Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel

Magic guard Arron Afflalo injures hamstring

Orlando Magic officials wanted to use the final weeks of the regular season to accelerate the development of youngsters such as Maurice Harkless, Tobias Harris and DeQuan Jones.

But this isn’t how the team wanted it to happen.

Arron Afflalo, the team’s starting shooting guard and its leading scorer, will miss the final 12 games of the season after he strained his right hamstring during Friday night’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Although team officials wouldn’t specify how severe the strain is, they said Afflalo’s injury will be treated with rest and physical therapy.

“He’s a leader out there on the floor,” Harkless said. “He brings a lot of energy, a lot of intensity. But we’ve played without him before. We’ve just got to do it again and stick together. We’re all we got.”

Afflalo’s absence will force the team’s least experienced players into more prominent roles, most notably Harkless.

— Reported by Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel

Dwight Howard leaves business manager after 9 years

Dwight Howard is growing all on his own, single-mindedly focused on who he wants to be, and he has taken another major step forward in his career by leaving the business manager who has been Howard’s primary advisor his entire career, Kevin Samples.

“We had nine great years together,” Howard told me late Monday night. “Just time to go separate ways.”

For all the intangible growth Howard has discovered recently, breaking away from Samples is a concrete gesture that the past is the past – and Howard is confident in calling his own shots in the future.

“I know what I want to accomplish,” Howard said. “I’ve always written down my goals and everything I want, and I want to make sure I get ’em. Everything I’ve lost, everything that’s gone away, I’m going to get it back.”

Samples came to Los Angeles with Howard after the trade to the Lakers, and it was hard to envision him not being around considering they’re actually first cousins – and Howard’s parents dispatched Samples to live with Howard in Orlando right after the 2004 NBA draft as a big brother/guidance counselor/business manager.

— Reported by Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register

Lakers center Dwight Howard scores 39 in Orlando

Dwight Howard scored a season-high 39 points, had 16 rebounds and was sent to the free throw line 39 times by his former team as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic, 106-97 on Tuesday night.

The victory came in Howard’s first return to Orlando since his drama-filled offseason trade to the Lakers. He endured a chorus of boos throughout, and tied his own NBA record for free throw attempts.

The majority of them came as the Magic tried to employ an intentional foul strategy. It backfired, though, as the All-Star center hit on 16 of 20 attempts in the second half.

The victory was the Lakers’ fourth straight.

Jameer Nelson led Orlando with 21 points. The Magic have lost three of their last four and haven’t won back-to-back games since December.

After a week of back-and-forth in the media following some perceived negative comments made about his former team during a television interview, Howard and Nelson spoke briefly just after the final buzzer and shook hands.

It was a light moment in what was mostly a hostile atmosphere.

Homemade signs jeering Howard with sentiments that said everything from ”Coward” to ”Kobe’s Kid” were sprinkled throughout the Amway Center stands.

Boos rained down on the All-Star center almost every time he touched the basketball. They were followed by louder cheers when he missed a free throw.

— Reported by Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press

Dwight Howard faces the Magic in Orlando tonight

The number 12 is no longer sacred in Orlando.

The man who used to wear it, Los Angeles Lakers’ center Dwight Howard, also once shouldered the Magic’s hopes of attaining an elusive first NBA championship.

But after eight years of chasing it, and taking Orlando through one of the most turbulent seasons in its history last year, the man who called himself Superman is now the city’s biggest villain.

He returns for the first time Tuesday since his offseason trade to the Lakers to face the jilted fans, front office members and handful of teammates that he left behind.

”I’m not sure,” Magic point guard Jameer Nelson said when asked about his expectations for Tuesday. ”Obviously the atmosphere is gonna be probably a little turned up, a littler crazier than we’ve had so far this year.”

Nelson, Hedo Turkoglu and Glen Davis are the only players on the Magic’s roster that have previously played with Howard. With Davis out with a broken foot and Turkoglu serving a suspension for violating the NBA’s drug policy, only Nelson will play in the rematch.

— Reported by Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press

Jameer Nelson scores 24, Magic beat Sixers 99-91

Injuries left Orlando Magic point guard Jameer Nelson as a spectator in each of his team’s first two matchups this season with the Philadelphia 76ers.

In Round 3 the Pennsylvania native reminded the Sixers what his presence can bring to a game.

Nelson had 24 points and 10 assists, and Nik Vucevic added 14 points and 17 rebounds as the Magic held off the Sixers in the fourth quarter to secure a 99-91 victory on Sunday night.

The win ended the Magic’s seven-game home losing streak, their longest skid in Orlando since 2003-04. It also gives the Magic some momentum in advance of the Los Angeles Lakers’ visit Tuesday, which will be Dwight Howard’s first return to Orlando since he was traded this past summer…

Arron Afflalo and Tobias Harris added 17 and 15 points, respectively. The double-double was the 35th of the season for Vucevic, who was dealt to the Magic by Philadelphia as part of the multi-team Howard deal.

Thaddeus Young had 26 points and 12 rebounds for the Sixers, followed by Damien Wilkins with 16 points in his first start of the season…

The Magic improved to 13-10 when leading after three quarters. … Young recorded his 16th double-double of the season. … The unit that opened the game for Philadelphia was its 13th starting lineup of the season. … Collins said the biggest change that he’s seen in Vucevic’s game since the Sixers dealt him to the Magic is as simple as him getting more playing time.

— Reported by Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press