The Orlando Magic and the Charlotte Bobcats will meet for the second time in a week. Orlando won their meeting on November 10th 93-81.
The Magic have struggled since they defeated the Bobcats, but are still 7-3. The Bobcats, however haven’t won a game since losing to Orlando and have lost their last four games overall.
The game starts at 7:00 pm EST and will be shown on FSN Florida. As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can hear it locally on WDBO 580 AM and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030.
The story of the game will be the return of Orlando’s All-Star Power Forward Rashard Lewis. Lewis averaged 17.7 points per game, 5.7 rebounds per game and 2.6 assists per game for the Magic last season. He shot 44% from the field and nearly 40% from downtown.
Lewis was even better in the post-season. He scored 19 ppg and was Orlando’s go-to shooter when they needed a clutch shot. He shot 45% from the field and 39.4% from 3-point land. He also grabbed 6.4 rpg and dished out 2.9 apg.
Lewis is also an underrated defender, which is something Orlando desperately needs right now.
Jameer Nelson,wo missed Orlando’s Saturday and Sunday practices and J.J. Redick, who injured his ankle on Saturday, will both play today. Brandon Bass (flu) and Ryan Anderson (ankle) should also be available for the Magic. Marcin Gortat has flu-like symptoms and is not expected to play tonight. See more on the lineup here.
The Bobcats have already been very busy today. They shipped Guard Raja Bell and Forward Vladimir Radmonovic to the Golden State Warrior for Point Guard Acie Law and disgruntled Shooting Guard Stephen Jackson.
Stephen Jackson is in Orlando and may start tonight’s game.
The Line: Magic – 13
Starters
Orlando
Dwight Howard
Rashard Lewis
Mickael Pietrus
Vince Carter
Jameer Nelson
Charlotte
Tyson Chandler
Boris Diaw
Gerald Wallace
Stephen Jackson
Raymond Felton
Last Meeting: Just six days ago, the Bobcats gave the Magic all they could handle. Orlando raced out to a 16-point halftime lead but saw it nearly erased as they let the league’s least efficient offensive team scored 30 points the third quarter. The Magic turned up the defense and held the Bobcats to just 10 fourth quarter points and won the game 93-81. Dwight Howard scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Vince Carter scored 15 points off of the bench while Brandon Bass scored 14 points. Raymond Felton led the Bobcats with 18 points. See the full recap of the game here.
Season Series: The Magic lead the season series 1-0 after defeating the Bobcats 93-81 on November 10.
About the Magic: Orlando’s coaches, players, and fans rejoice: Rashard Lewis is back!
And it couldn’t come at a better time. The Magic, well-known for their excellent 3-point shooting, have really struggled since Ryan Anderson went down. Orlando shot 38.1% last season and is shooting 36.6% this season. In the four games the Magic have played without Ryan Anderson, they are shooting just 27.6% (21-of-76) from downtown.
The Magic have had a lot of trouble scoring without a Power Forward that can stretch the floor and knock down the three-pointer. That’s what makes Orlando’s offense so potent and difficult to defend. Without a “Stretch 4,” we’ve seen the offense have poor ball movement and struggle to shoot the basketball. It’s also crowded the paint and made Dwight Howard’s job that much tougher.
Lewis shot 39.7% from downtown last season and scored 17.7 points per game, second on the team.
The Magic finally stepped up their defense on Friday night, holding the New Jersey Nets to just 72 points. The defense should be even better with Rashard Lewis. Lewis has good size and length and is an underrated defender.
Lewis is an All-Star and is going to make this team better at both ends of the floor.
About the Bobcats: The Bobcats got off to a decent start, starting the year 3-2. They have lost four straight games and are now just 3-6.
The Bobcats are an excellent defense team but an absolutely terrible offensive team. They scored just 82.4 ppg on 39.4% shooting. They are allowing opponents to score just 88.6 ppg on 45.4% shooting.
The Bobcats rank seventh in the league in defensive efficiency but are dead last on the offensive end.
The Bobcats do have four players averaging in double figures but no player averages more than 13.7 ppg (Gerald Wallace). Wallace is also the team’s leading rebounder, grabbing 11.8 per game.
This should be a good test for the healthy (well, not quite) Magic. Well, at least on offense. As stated above, the Bobcats are a very good defensive team so we’ll see if the Magic can finally muster some offense with both of their Stretch 4’s back in the lineup. It would be very nice to see Orlando’s offense break out of their shooting slump and have a big offensive day against one of the league’s better defensive teams.
Defensively, it’d be nice to see the Magic dominate the Bobcats. Orlando is coming off of their best defensive game of the season and is facing the league’s worst offense.
It will be interesting to see how Lewis does in his return. He has been practicing and riding an exercise bike during his suspension but as he told the Orlando Sentinel, being in shape isn’t the same as being in basketball shape.
(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.)