Four Magic starters scored in double figures in their 108-94 win over the Thunder, but the bench may have played just as well. They combined to score 44 points on 48% shooting (16-of-33). They grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out 9 assists.
J.J. Redick had one of his most accurate shooting nights of the season. He shot 3-of-4 from the field and scored 9 points. All four of his attempts were 3-pointers. He was very smart with the ball, turning it over only once. He also had 3 rebounds, 3 assists and played some of his best defense of the season.
Ryan Anderson was good. Again. He did more than just shoot 3-pointers. Again. He was 4-of-11 from the field and 2-of-6 from downtown. He scored 12 points. He hit the boards a little harder, grabbing 4 and even had 2 assists. Anderson continues to prove that he is a very good all-around basketball player. He can put the ball on the floor and drive to the lane. He can also bang a little better than I originally thought. At one point, he rebounded his own miss and put it back in.
Brandon Bass and Matt Barnes did not see the floor until the fourth quarter. Each player scored just 2 points.
Anthony Johnson has played sparingly during the season so far but he played just under 20 minutes tonight. He was very effective as the backup Point Guard. He did not turn the ball over in the first half and finished with just 2 turnovers for the game. He was aggressive, scoring 9 points on 4-of-7 shooting and managed to dish out 4 assists. It was as if nothing changed for Johnson between this season and last.
I got a chance to speak with AJ after the game and I asked him how he got back in the flow of things.
"“Well, you know as a Point Guard, you just watch the flow. Even in the games I don’t play, I just watch the flow, see what works. And tonight, guys were playing well, making shots. And whenever we’re shooting the ball well – we have a talented group – it’s kind of easy to run the ship. Everybody plays well and it’s an easy night.”"
I also asked AJ what he was thinking coming in to tonight’s game.
"“Just be aggressive. This is an opportunity and you never know what could happen down the road. I just wanted to be aggressive, make some plays. We were sharing the ball out there – we had something like 25 assists, which really says a lot about our team tonight. The ball was moving and you just make a play whenever you have the opportunity."
Dwight Howard got into foul trouble again and played just under 18 minutes.
Marcin Gortat had to fill in for Dwight because of these foul problems. He was solid, scoring 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting, grabbing 4 boards and blocking 2 shots. Gortat played a season-high 24 minutes.
I asked Van Gundy to evaluate Gortat’s performance Wednesday night.
"“I thought he struggled a little bit offensively. He just seemed a little bit off on his timing, but defensively and on the boards, he was fine. He got really really tired in the first half. Really really tired. I mean, he was dying coming out. He’d been sick, he hadn’t practiced. It’s more minutes then I’d probably have liked to have played him but with Dwight’s foul trouble, that’s sort of the situation we got in.”"
I got a chance to talk Gortat myself after the Van Gundy’s press conference. I asked him how he felt after the game.
"“I’m feeling pretty good, actually. I thought I was going to feel like crap, but I feel pretty good. I hope that I’m going to play next game and I’m going to play better.”"
Gortat informed me that he is no longer sick.
"“No, I’m good. I’m better. I’m definitely better. In the first quarter, I had a little problem with oxygen. It was hard to breathe in the first quarter but later on, everything came back to the way it’s supposed to be.”"
I asked Gortat to talk about how different it is playing with the first unit and the second unit.
"“It’s the same – almost the same. The second unit, I would say you got more guys who can shoot the ball. And it’s pretty good. It’s still pretty good to play with them. My role is the same. Set a pick, roll back to the basket and just play defense so it doesn’t matter if it’s the first unit or second unit, I’m always doing the same thing and if I’m open, I’m going to get the ball.”"
Gortat told me how much easier it is for him when the shooters are making shots like they were on Wednesday night.
"“Everything is way easier. You got one guy rolling down and four shooters standing behind the arc so if somebody’s going to pick the roll up, pick me up, then somebody’s going to be open. I’m going to keep using my strength and my quickness, keep rolling to the basket hard; it’s going to open up a lot of things for us.”"
Finally, I asked Gortat about his big dunk and his plans for future dunks.
"“I’m planning on doing something crazy if one day I have a chance to run the fastbreak. If someone throws the ball to me on the fastbreak and I’m going to be one-on-zero against the basket, I’m going to do something nice. I’m looking forward to that.”"
Who isn’t looking forward to that?
When Orlando continues to get a complete effort on both ends of the floor full of energy from both the starters and the bench like they did on Wednesday night, they may find themselves right back in the NBA Finals.
(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.)