The Orlando Magic defeated the New Orleans Hornets 121-86 in Wichita, Kansas on Tuesday night.
Orlando dominated from start to finish, taking a 30-14 lead after one quarter of play. Orlando held leads of over 30 several times throughout the game starting in the 2nd quarter and finished with a 35-point victory.
Orlando did a lot right, but turnovers were the issue once again. For the second straight game, Orlando committed 23 turnovers.
For the second straight game, Orlando’s defense played well. They held the Hornets to just 38.9% shooting from the field (28-of-72) and 33.3% from behind the arc (7-of-21), but the offense was the real story.
Orlando shot an unbelievable 39-of-64 from the field (60.9%) and 19-of-30 from downtown (63.3%) Ryan Anderson led the team with six 3-pointers. Mickael Pietrus had 5, while both Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter made 3.
With such an unreal shooting percentage, it would have been nearly impossible for any team to lose, never mind a team as good and as deep as the Magic.
Vince Carter stole the show early on, scoring 13 points in the 1st quarter. Carter finished with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting and was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Carter had been shooting just 4-of-23 from downtown through their first three games, so perhaps this is a sign that he is finding his shot.
Dwight Howard had a pretty ho-hum game, scoring just 6 points and grabbing 4 rebounds in only 19 minutes of play. Howard picked up 4 fouls and shot just 4-of-8 from the free throw line. Howard has struggled with foul trouble and has shot very poorly from the line. These were two areas that Howard vowed to improve upon, so hopefully he’s just working out the kinks.
Ryan Anderson was the star tonight. He started the game, but didn’t really catch fire until the 3rd quarter. He wound up going 8-of-12 from the field and 6-of-9 from beyond the arc. He scored 22 points in just 18 minutes. He has made his case to be a major player on this team.
On Friday, Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy expressed concern about Brandon Bass’ lack of rebounding in the preseason. Bass listened. He grabbed 9 rebounds in 29 minutes. He also has 12 points.
Marcin Gortat continued to play great basketball. He played just 21 minutes, but finished with 9 points and 11 rebounds.
Jameer Nelson continued to show how important he is to this team and how good he is. The rest of the league will remember soon. Nelson had 12 points and 9 assists in 27 minutes. Jason Williams was the only other Point Guard to see action. He still hasn’t found his shot (2-of-5), but he had a very good game, dishing out 8 assists and only turning the ball over once. It’s nice to see the Magic Point Guards combine for 17 assists. Both players also seemed to do a nice job defending perhaps the best Point Guard in the NBA, Chris Paul.
If Stan Van Gundy grants Mickael Pietrus his wish of coming off of the bench, he may join former Magic Point Guard Darrel Armstrong in being named the Sixth Man Of The Year. Pietrus had 19 points and made five of his six 3-point attempts.
Rashard Lewis had 15 points in what will probably be his last major action of the preseason.
New Orleans was led by All-Star Power Forward David West’s 14 points. Superstar Point Guard Chris Paul had an off-day, shooting just 2-of-8 from the field.
Former #2 pick Emeka Okafor did not play due to a sprained toe. That’s probably good news for the Hornets because Howard usually goes off against Okafor.
The Magic won’t play against until Monday when they face Chicago at the United Centre. That game will be televised on NBA TV. Two of Orlando’s last three preseason games will be televised – the October 23rd match-up with Atlanta will be televised by ESPN.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)