The Orlando Magic travel to Los Angeles to take on the Clippers on Tuesday night. Orlando has won their last seven road games and look to set a franchise record by winning their eighth consecutive road game on Tuesday night.
The Clippers enter the game at 9-11 while the Magic are an Eastern Conference best 16-4. Chris Kaman has played well for the Clippers, putting up 18.9 points per game and 8.5 rebounds per game.
Tip off from the Staples Center in Los Angeles is scheduled for 10:30. You can watch the game on Sun Sports. 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 Line: Magic – 7
Starters:
Orlando
Dwight Howard
Rashard Lewis
Mickael Pietrus
Vince Carter
Jason Williams
Los Angeles
Chris Kaman
Marcus Camby
Al Thornton
Eric Gordon
Baron Davis
Last Meeting: Anthony Johnson scored a season-high 25 points to lead the Magic to a 125-96 win over the Clippers in Orlando on February 4, 2009. Orlando shot and incredible 56.6% from the field and had an eFG% of 66.3%. Dwight Howard chipped in 12 points and 15 rebounds. Former Florida State forward Al Thornton led the Clippers with 27 points and 9 rebounds.
Season Series: The Magic also defeated the Clippers on this very day one year ago, 95-88. The Magic trailed by nine entering the fourth quarter, but dominated the final period, 29-13. Dwight Howard had an excellent birthday, scoring 23 points and grabbing 22 rebounds. Baron Davis had 27 points and Marcus Camby had 17 rebounds to lead the Clippers.
About the Magic: The Magic are one of, if not the hottest team in the league. They have won seven straight road games and have won 10 of their last 11 games overall.
This marks the second game of Orlando’s four-game west coast trip. They had a fourth quarter come-from-behind victory over the Warriors on Saturday. They conclude the trip with back-to-back games Thursday and Friday in Utah against the Jazz and in Phoenix against the Suns. Both games will be nationally televised (Thursday on TNT and Friday on ESPN).
Dwight Howard has been playing much better as of late. You can read more about that here. It will be interesting to see if Howard can keep it up against a solid defensive team and a very good defender in Marcus Camby.
After Brandon Bass’ string of DNPs Marcin Gortat’s limited action against the Knicks on Wednesday, it was Ryan Anderson’s turn Saturday night. Brandon Bass and Marcin Gortat backed-up Orlando’s big men and Ryan Anderson received a DNP. It was be interesting to see what Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy does tonight considering the Clippers start two Centers, Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman.
About the Clippers: The Clippers have been an up-and-down team. They lost their first four games, won their next three, than lost three in a row and four out of five. They’ve since won four out of their last six games, including an excellent defensive performance in an 88-72 win over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.
To read more about the Clippers, check out Fully Clips.
The Clippers were expected to be an improved team and so far, that appears to be true, but they have been hindered by the injury to the #1 overall pick, Blake Griffin. Clippers Head Coach Mike Dunleavy said last week that Griffin’s knee injury will keep him out until January.
The Clippers have struggled offensively, ranking 24th in the league in offensive efficiency and score just 94.8 points per game. The scoring has been handled by Chris Kaman (18.9 ppg), Baron Davis (16 ppg) and Al Thornton (13.8). Eric Gordon has been a good scorer when he’s played (17.4 ppg), but he has missed nine games). The Clippers are a much better team with Gordon in the lineup.
The Clippers have one good rebounder (Kaman) and one excellent rebounder (Marcus Camby), but outside of that, the Clips struggle on the boards. As a team, they rank in their lower half of the NBA in rebounding rate. Orlando’s second unit should be able to get rebounds and build or extend the lead tonight.
The Clippers do play pretty good defense. They give up 97 points per game and rank 10th in defensive efficiency.
The Magic could have some trouble tonight. Eric Gordon has been excellent since his injury and runs the pick-and-roll, something the Magic struggle defending, well. Orlando did a good job defending the pick-and-roll Wednesday against the Knicks, so it will be interesting to see what kind of job they do tonight. The Clippers play solid defense, but the Magic should be to stretch out the Clippers and get some good looks.
(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.)