Recap: Orlando Magic 107, Indiana Pacers 94

AP Photo/John Raoux

BOX SCORE

With Jason Richardson injured (suffered a sprained left ankle against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday) and Hedo Turkoglu suspended (made contact with an official in the same game), other players for the Orlando Magic needed to pick up the slack in their absences if they wanted to beat the Indiana Pacers.

Dwight Howard and J.J. Redick decided to be the guys to do that.

Dwight was dominant throughout the game, particularly on offense where there was no one for the Pacers that could guard him. Roy Hibbert, the player that spent the most time defending Dwight, tried but was outclassed. Dwight didn’t have too much difficulty scoring above, around, and through Hibbert. On the flipside, Hibbert didn’t have too much success scoring on Dwight.

As such, the Pacers were forced to find scoring elsewhere. Unfortunately for Indiana, aside from Paul George and Danny Granger, they found no such luck when the game mattered. Darren Collison had a scoring spurt in the second quarter when he reeled off eight points, as Indiana was cutting into the Magic’s 20-plus point lead, but that was his point total for the entire game. David West, a notorious Magic killer in years past was quiet yet again versus Orlando, scored two points. That was it — Tyler Hansbrough and Dahntay Jones got most or all of their points in garbage time.

How did the Magic get that 20-plus point lead in the first place?

Besides Dwight being Dwight, Redick was absolutely brilliant running the Magic’s offense in the absence of Turkoglu, compiling a career-high nine assists.

In the first quarter, Orlando was able to blitz the Pacers by continuously executing pick-and-rolls with Redick and Dwight. On numerous occasions in the period, the Magic started off in their “horns” set with Ryan Anderson and Dwight at the elbows. Then Redick would get the basketball from Dwight at the left elbow on a hand-off pass and run a pick-and-roll. Multiple times, that play produced either a dunk for Dwight or a midrange jumpshot for Redick. That being said, it can’t be understated how poorly at times Indiana was defending Orlando’s pick-and-roll sets in the period.

Although the Magic didn’t rely too much on pick-and-rolls after the first quarter, instead opting mainly for brute force tactics with Dwight, Redick still had his imprint on the game in other ways. Like his shooting, passing, or movement off the ball.

When Redick was on the court, good things happened for Orlando (his eye-popping plus/minus of +35 is hard to ignore). The same could be said about Dwight. That’s why the Magic won.

MVP (Most Valuable Player)

Dwight and Redick deserve co-MVP’s after this game. They were the driving forces behind this victory. Their pick-and-roll tactics set the tone early and allowed Orlando to get off to a quick start.

Defining Moment

After trailing by as many as 23 points in the second quarter, Indiana cut the Magic’s lead to nine points in the opening stages of the third quarter. Eventually Orlando put the game away.

That Game Was … Impressive

Considering the circumstances, with Richardson injured and Turkoglu suspended, and the fact that the Pacers are a good team, this was an impressive win for the Magic. The final score isn’t indicative of how much of a blowout it was.

Recap: Orlando Magic 99, Chicago Bulls 94

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

It’s fitting that, after Nate Drexler wrote a piece explaining why the Orlando Magic are not a contender, in large part due to the team’s inconsistent nature, they went out and beat the Chicago Bulls on the road. This happening two days after the Magic lost to the Charlotte Bobcats. In case you’re keeping score at home, Orlando defeated a team with the NBA’s best record right after losing to a team with the worst record in the league. Go figure.

How did the Magic do it?

A whole lot of Dwight Howard, with some help from his supporting cast.

Dwight was a monster and he needed to be if Orlando wanted to defeat Chicago and snap their eight-game winning streak.

There was no one, absolutely no one, from the Bulls that could stop or slow down Dwight, as he did most of his damage in post-ups. No one.

Joakim Noah tried and failed. One particular possession, with the second quarter winding down, exemplified Noah’s fruitless endeavor in trying to contain Dwight. The big fella got the ball on the left block, faced up Noah, then backed him down. After a few dribbles, Dwight faked going to his left towards the baseline, which froze Noah for a split-second. Dwight, then, pivoted into the paint and put up a lefty hook as he got fouled by Noah for an and-one.

Noah is one of the best defenders in the NBA, let alone one of the best defensive bigs the league has to offer. But he can’t match Dwight’s strength, size, or athleticism. For Noah, that makes defending Dwight a tall task. The same can be said about Omer Asik, who struggled dealing with Howard when they were matched up against each other for a few minutes early in the second quarter.

Even Carlos Boozer got a crack at Dwight on defense. No such luck either.

Yes, guys like Jason Richardson stepped up. His back-to-back three-pointers in the right corner in transition late in the third quarter were huge, as it gave the Magic a much-needed cushion heading into the final period after Chicago briefly took the lead in the third quarter. Ryan Anderson was clutch in the fourth quarter, hitting a three-point shot with 1:27 left in the game that gave Orlando the lead, one they’d never relinquish, with the score at 94-91.

But it all comes back to Dwight. He set the tone on offense, dominated like he needed to, and even though he wasn’t up to snuff defensively at times, he helped limit Derrick Rose to 17 points on 6-for-22 shooting from the floor.

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone that thinks the Magic have a better team compared to the Bulls. That said, the NBA is all about matchups and against teams like Chicago, Orlando has the ultimate equalizer in Dwight.

The Magic may not be a contender, but they’re certainly a threat.

MVP (Most Valuable Player)

Dwight’s defense left a lot to be desired at times. Nevertheless, he was scary good offensively and that’s what Orlando needed to slay the Bulls at home. The Magic needed greatness from Dwight. They got it.

LVP (Least Valuable Player)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Kyle Korver. He’s one of the best three-point shooters in the league. Which is why it was totally perplexing to see him miss six good looks beyond the arc in crunch time.

Defining Moment

Anderson drilled a wide open three-point shot with 1:28 left in the game to give Orlando the lead for good after both teams exchanged leads in the fourth quarter. Jameer Nelson deserves kudos for setting Anderson up.

X-Factor

How about the fact that Dwight was the best player on the court? When Dwight plays at that level against the elite teams in the NBA, the Magic have won. First it was the Miami Heat, now Chicago.

Recap: Charlotte Bobcats 100, Orlando Magic 84

Photo by Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images

The Orlando Magic have had a number of bad losses this season.

A lazy 11-point loss to the Detroit Pistons on January 2 springs to mind. So do two epic fails against the Boston Celtics in the span of a week in late January; first putting up a franchise-worst 56 points on the road, then blowing a 27-point lead at home. Can’t forget about the Magic’s 26-point drubbing at the hands of the lowly New Orleans Hornets on January 27 either.

So it’s hard to say where Orlando’s loss to the Charlotte Bobcats, owners of the worst record in the NBA (was 4-31 but now is 5-31), ranks on the list but it’s certainly a bad loss. That much is certain.

What’s amazing is that for most of the first half, the Magic were in complete control of the game. Offensively, everything was coming easy for Orlando. Perhaps too easy in retrospect. The Magic were nailing their three-pointers and balancing that with easy baskets at the rim. On the flipside, the Bobcats were doing everything they could to get blown out of the game — silly turnovers, taking (and missing) bad shots, you name it.

At one point in the second quarter, Orlando was up by as many as 20 points. Then Charlotte slowly began to chip away.

However, after head coach Paul Silas got ejected with 3:53 left in the period after arguing a call in which Corey Maggette attacked the basket and got knocked down with no foul called (Hedo Turkoglu was credited with a block), Ryan Anderson made both technical free-throws to push the Magic’s lead back to 16 points. It seemed like order was being restored. Orlando let their guard down a bit but the Bobcats seemed content to continue committing mental gaffes.

Instead, Silas’ ejection seemed to spark Charlotte and that’s when the game changed. Immediately after Silas left the game, the Bobcats went on a 22-1 run that stretched into the third quarter and spanned nearly six minutes on the game clock. All of a sudden, Charlotte could do no wrong.

For nearly the remainder of the evening, the Magic exchanged leads with the Bobcats.

With the score at 84-82 in Charlotte’s favor with 5:28 left in the fourth quarter after Dwight went one of two from the free-throw line, that’s when Gerald Henderson stepped up to allow the Bobcats to put a stranglehold on the game. Matched up against J.J. Redick, Henderson drew a shooting foul on the fellow Dukie on back-to-back possessions as he went up for a shot along the right baseline. His first shot attempt was a fadeaway on the right block after he posted up Redick, which he made. The second jumper for Henderson was more academic, as he faced up Redick near the right wing, dribbled baseline, then pulled up for a jumper. Both times Henderson drew contact on Redick.

At that point, even though Henderson couldn’t convert at the free-throw line for a three-point play on either possession, Charlotte created enough distance to pull away from Orlando.

MVP (Most Valuable Player)

This was a vintage Corey Maggette performance. At his best, his midrange jumper is falling and he’s attacking the rim as well as drawing fouls. All those elements were on display against the Magic.

LVP (Least Valuable Player)

Orlando seemed to think that they could show up and win simply because the Bobcats are the worst team in the league. When you play with that mentality, you’re going to lose in the NBA.

X-Factor

Lost in the rubble of the Magic’s loss was Bismack Biyombo’s defense against Dwight. A night after torching Aaron Gray and Jamaal Magloire, Biyombo put up much stiffer resistance defensively against Dwight.