Click here to read my preview of tonight’s game between the Orlando Magic and the Detroit Pistons.
It’s official, Vince Carter will not play today. Tania Ganguli has the story here.
According to Joshua Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, the Magic will observe a moment of silence just before the national anthem for the victims of the shootings in downtown Orlando this afternoon.
Anthony Johnson has lost his father in law and will be leaving the team until Sunday.
I’d like to offer my condolences not only to AJ, but to everyone who was affected by the tragedy in downtown Orlando this afternoon.
Starters
Orlando
Dwight Howard
Ryan Anderson
Matt Barnes
J.J. Redick
Jameer Nelson
Detroit
Ben Wallace
Charlie Villanueva
Jonas Jerebko
Ben Gordon
Rodney Stuckey
End of 1st Quarter: Magic lead 40-23.
- Jason Williams raced down the court and beat the buzzer to give the Magic a 40-23 lead. The Magic already have half as many points as they did in the entire game on Tuesday at the Palace.
- Orlando started the game on a 15-2 run.
- Ryan Anderson has 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
- Dwight Howard has 10 points and is 4-of-4 from the line.
- The Magic have had very good ball movement – it’s help them get several good looks inside and given them good looks from the outside (5-of-7 from downtown).
- Matt Barnes is doing it again – he has 5 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
- Dwight Howard recorded the 825th block of his career, passing Shaq to become the franchise’s all-time leader.
Halftime: Magic lead 58-43.
- The Magic cooled off in the quarter. In fact, the scored just 5 points in the first 5 minutes of the period and only scored 18 total points in the quarter after a 40-point first quarter.
- Orlando was just 6-of-18 from the field in the quarter and 0-of-6 from downtown.
- They didn’t get as many open looks, but they did play better defense.
- The Magic did a very good job of getting the ball in to Howard, but I’d like to see him get it a little closer to the basket.
- Marcin Gortat is having a good game, especially at the defensive end. He has 2 blocked shots.
- Dwight Howard leads all scorers with 16 points and 6 rebounds. He’s 6-of-7 from the free throw line.
- Matt Barnes has made some very good passes in the quarter. Unfortunately, his teammates have failed to capitalize on many of them.
End of 3rd Quarter: Magic lead 82-68
- Orlando has not played well since the opening minutes of the game. They got out to an 18-3 lead and have been coasting ever since.
- The Magic were very sloppy in the quarter.
- Orlando was just 8-of-23 from the field in the quarter and 3-of-12 from downtown.
- After shooting 73.7% in the first quarter, the Magic are shooting just 46.7% for the game.
- Van Gundy called a timeout less than 2 minutes into the quarter after both Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva got to the basket for easy buckets.
- Ryan Anderson stepped on Villanueva’s foot and sprained his ankle. His return is doubtful.
- Dwight Howard has 20 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks. He’s 8-of-9 from the line.
- Jason Williams and Jameer Nelson were on the court at the same time – Nelson was at the 2.
- Nelson, Anderson and Redick are also in double figures.
Final: Magic win 110-103.
- A recap and analysis are still to come.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)