Orlando Magic Blog – Page 37 – NBA Blog

Bobcats beat Magic to end 5-game losing streak

A little rest turned out to be the perfect slump-buster for the Charlotte Bobcats.

A jolt from their speedy backcourt didn’t hurt, either.

Three days after getting flicked aside in a 27-point loss against Indiana, the Bobcats got 25 points from Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson added 17 as they broke out of a five-game losing streak with a 106-100 win over the Orlando Magic on Friday night.

”It was very important to us,” Henderson said. ”A lot of games recently we put ourselves in the hole to start the game and kind of have to climb uphill to try to get a win. It’s a tough thing.” …

Charlotte started fast and shot the ball well throughout, with its field goal percentage hovering above 50 percent for most of the night. The Bobcats also shot 17 more free throws than Orlando, including some crucial ones in the final minute to secure the victory.

Their guard play off the bench was also big, with Ramon Sessions leading all reserves with 15 points and seven assists. The Bobcats also finished with just 11 turnovers…

Arron Afflalo led Orlando with 23 points, followed by Jameer Nelson with 22…

Charlotte earned its first road win since Jan. 6, improving to 5-14 on the season. … Vucevic finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, ending his string of eight straight double-doubles.

— Reported by Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press

Wizards win 3rd straight, crush Magic 120-91

For most of the first half of the season, the Washington Wizards consistently lost. They’re suddenly unbeatable, having won three straight.

Emeka Okafor had 19 points and 11 rebounds, leading six players in double figures as Washington cruised to its easiest win of the season, 120-91 victory over the Orlando Magic on Monday night.

”That was a beautiful thing tonight,” Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. ”This has been building.”

The Wizards were just 4-28 before their streak, but beat Oklahoma City, Atlanta and now Orlando – all at home – to nearly double their wins total. Washington leaves Tuesday on a five-game, eight-day road trip while the nation’s capital will be consumed by Inauguration ceremonies.

John Wall had 12 points and six assists in 20 minutes in his second game of the season after missing the Wizards’ first 33 with a left knee injury…

Washington shot a season-best 56.1 percent, scored its most points and had its most assists. Emeka Okafor had 19 points and 11 rebounds, A.J. Price and Kevin Seraphin had 18, Beal scored 17, and Jan Vesely matched his season high with 10…

Jameer Nelson had 19 points and 12 assists to lead Orlando, and Nikola Vucevic added 13 points and 13 rebounds. Arron Afflalo, who had 30 points against the Clippers, missed 10 of 11 from the field and finished with two points…

Magic F Hedo Turkoglu did not play for the third straight game. He scored just one point in 37 minutes in his three previous games.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Magic break 10-game losing streak with road win over Clippers

Two streaking teams going in opposite directions. The Clippers, co-owners of the NBA’s best record and on a roll at home. The Magic, playing opponents close only to fall short while piling up the franchise’s longest skid since the 2003-04 season…

J.J. Redick gave Orlando its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left, Arron Afflalo tied his season high with 30 points, and the Magic won 104-101 on Saturday to snap a 10-game skid.

“It wasn’t a letdown by us. Don’t try to take anything away from them,” Clippers guard Chris Paul said. “They made tough shot after tough shot. J.J. Reddick had a hand in his face half the time.” …

Redick added 21 points, and Vucevic had 18 points and 15 rebounds for the injury-riddled Magic, who also stopped a four-game road losing streak. They completed a sweep of the LA teams, having beaten the Lakers 113-103 at Staples Center on Dec. 2, when Afflalo also scored 30 points.

“Too bad we can’t play here all year,” said Afflalo, who starred at UCLA before Vucevic played across town at Southern California. “I was the sour grape at the end letting guys know this only counts as one game.”

Griffin tied his season-high with 30 points, Crawford added 13 points, and Paul had 10 points and 16 assists for the Clippers…

Grant Hill made his season debut for the Clippers, entering the game to a standing ovation in the fourth. The seven-time All-Star had missed 36 games with a bone bruise in his right knee. He made two free throws and had two rebounds in six minutes.

— Reported by Beth Harris of the Associated Press

Trail Blazers beat Magic 125-119 in overti

Wesley Matthews thinks the Trail Blazers are better suited for overtime.

That made it tough on the Orlando Magic, who were handed their ninth straight loss in Portland’s 125-119 overtime victory on Monday night. The Blazers have won all five of their games that have gone into extra periods this season.

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Blazers with 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Matthews finished with 24 points – including a dunk that all but sealed it with less than a minute left.

Both teams were clearly exhausted by the end.

”It’s alright. We’ll take it,” Matthews said. ”For whatever reason, this team is built for overtime. I’d rather not go into it, I’d rather win it in regulation. But we dug deep.”

J.J. Hickson added 20 points and 15 rebounds for his 20th double-double this season for the Blazers, who have won three straight overall and 11 of their last 14 games.

It was Portland’s eighth straight win at the Rose Garden.

Nicolas Batum, who finished with 16 points and 10 assists, said Portland’s OT successes are a credit to how well the players have come to know each other.

— Reported by Anne M. Peterson of the Associated Press

Carlos Boozer scores 31, Bulls beat Magic

The Chicago Bulls haven’t felt like themselves for much of the past few weeks.

They’re hoping a much-needed win is the first step in finding their way back.

Carlos Boozer had a season-high 31 points and 11 rebounds, Luol Deng scored 23 points and the Bulls hung on to beat the Orlando Magic 96-94 on Wednesday night.

Taj Gibson added 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who played without center Joakim Noah. Chicago was outrebounded 37-34 in Noah’s absence but exploited an injury-plagued Magic front court, outscoring them 42-32 in the paint.

Jameer Nelson missed a leaning jumper in the closing seconds that would have tied it, sending Orlando to its seventh straight loss overall and fifth in a row at home…

Nelson returned to the lineup after missing two games with a sore hip and scored a season-high 32 points. Nik Vucevic finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Arron Afflalo added 19 points for the Magic.

— Reported by Kyle Hightower of the Associated Press

LeBron leads Heat over Magic in OT

LeBron James had 36 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, and Chris Bosh scored 22 points to help the Miami Heat slip past the Orlando Magic 112-110 in overtime Monday.

James scored eight points in overtime, including two free throws that clinched it with 1.5 seconds left. Dwayne Wade, who had 21 points, had a steal and dunk with 6.2 seconds to go to give Miami a four-point lead.

Arron Afflalo scored 28 points for the Magic and J.J. Redick added 23, but he committed the turnover that led to Wade’s decisive dunk. Nikola Vucevic had 20 points and 29 rebounds as Orlando lost its sixth straight.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Raptors destroy Magic by 35 points

DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points and Jose Calderon added 15 points and 10 assists, helping the Toronto Raptors to an easy 123-88 victory over the injury-depleted Orlando Magic on Saturday night.

Rookie Ed Davis had 18 points and seven rebounds as Toronto won for the seventh time in eight games. The Raptors, who hit a season-high 15 3-pointers, got 16 points apiece from Kyle Lowry and Terrence Ross.

Rookie Andrew Nicholson led Orlando with a career-high 22 points. Arron Afflalo added 14 points and Ish Smith had 13 points and six assists.

The Raptors hit nine of their first 10 attempts from behind the 3- point line and built a 67-47 halftime lead. Orlando cut the deficit to 76-65 after two free throws by Nicholson with 5:16 left in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Magic would get the rest of the game.

The Magic played without starting point guard Jameer Nelson (hip) and his backup E’Twaun Moore (elbow). But their real problem was at the defensive end.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Glen Davis scores 28 points vs Timberwolves

The Orlando Magic had to figure out how to defend down low before they could make their move.

Using a second-half rally, Glen Davis and the Magic won their third straight with a 102-93 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

”It boiled down to who was going to be the aggressor, that team was going to win,” Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. ”That was my message at halftime. It was good to see our bigs respond to that kind of physicality.”

Orlando got manhandled inside by Minnesota’s front line in the first half, but Magic big men Davis and Nikola Vucevic pushed back in the second half to help their team to its third straight victory.

Davis scored a game-high 28 points and Vucevic had his third straight double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. J.J. Redick contributed 18 points and seven assists as Orlando rallied from 15 points down in the third quarter to snap Minnesota’s four-game win streak.

Kevin Love led Minnesota with 23 points and 15 rebounds and Nikola Pekovic added 19 points and 12 rebounds, but they did most of their damage in the first half when Minnesota shot 49 percent from the field while building a 61-49 lead at the break.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Magic hand Suns 7th straight loss

A smooth rookie led the Orlando Magic to a successful end of a long road trip.

Andrew Nicholson scored nine of his career-high 19 points in the fourth quarter and the Magic pulled away to hand the Phoenix Suns their seventh loss in a row, 98-90 on Sunday night.

”I am going out there playing hard,” he said. ”They are just trusting me.”

The 6-foot-9 first-round draft pick from St. Bonaventure made 9 of 11 shots and grabbed nine rebounds, also the best of his young career…

J.J. Redick scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half for the Magic at the end of a 3-2 trip.

Shannon Brown scored 17 and Jared Dudley 15 for the Suns, who were without starting point guard Goran Dragic due to illness…

The Magic extended it to 57-48 with the first two baskets of the second half. The Suns scored the next 11 to go up 59-57 on Gortat’s turnaround 13-footer. The run eventually reached 19-4 with Brown leading the way. He scored 10 in the outburst, including a pair of 3s. The last one came over the outstretched arms of 7-foot Nikola Vucevic to put Phoenix up 67-61 with 4:16 left in the third.

— Reported by Bob Baum of the Associated Press

Magic get better of Dwight, beat Lakers in LA

The Orlando Magic caught fire in the fourth quarter to stun the Los Angeles Lakers 113-103 and get the better of former player Dwight Howard on Sunday.

In their first meeting since trading Howard to Los Angeles in the off-season, the struggling Magic surprised the Lakers by scoring 40 fourth-quarter points to snatch the road victory.

Arron Afflalo led the way with 30 points while Glen Davis added 23 and 12 rebounds to help Orlando (6-10) snap a three-game losing streak and win the battle against Howard.

“It means a lot to me,” Magic guard Jameer Nelson told reporters of the win. “We can all say it was just a basketball game, but we know (it wasn’t).”

Kobe Bryant tallied a game-high 34 points and Howard finished with 21 and 15 rebounds against his old team, but it was not enough to help the Lakers (8-9) under new coach Mike D’Antoni.

— Reported by Reuters

Howard had 21 points and 15 rebounds against his former team, but the rebuilding Magic rallied impressively with a 40-point fourth quarter for just their fourth win in 14 games, snapping a three-game skid. Orlando pulled the upset partly by intentionally fouling Howard, who went 9 for 21 at the line – including 7 for 14 in the fourth quarter.

The Magic made their decisive 12-2 run while Howard wasn’t helping the Lakers at the line in the final minutes, with Nelson and J.J. Redick hitting 3-pointers along the way…

Howard left the court after the game without shaking hands with the Magic – not that he has many close friends left in blue pinstripes anyway. Orlando has new coach Jacque Vaughn, a new front-office staff and just five players who played with Howard.

”Let Dwight be Dwight. If he wants to walk off the court, it’s cool,” said Davis, who overlapped with Howard only last season in Orlando. ”No hard feelings. He lost. I’d feel bad, too. I wouldn’t want to shake nobody’s hand. We weren’t even really thinking about him. We just wanted to get this win. I didn’t talk to him. I’m here to play basketball. I’m not here to be buddies.”

Kobe Bryant scored 34 points for the Lakers, who dropped to 3-4 under new coach Mike D’Antoni with another inconsistent performance featuring deficient defense. Metta World Peace scored 15 points and Pau Gasol added 11 for the Lakers, who went back to poor form just two nights after a 122-point effort in a blowout win over Denver.

— Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press