Quick Recap: Hornets – 100 Magic – 93

HTD’s good friend, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld.com, is at the game and you can read his courtside blog here.

Here was the best quote I found in Kennedy’s blog:

"The team was also heading out for the team bus but waited for Brandon Bass, who was finishing up some last minute interviews with the local media. “We’re not going anywhere without Brandon,” Matt Barnes told a few of his teammates who had gotten up and started to walk towards the tunnel. The team is much closer than they were several months ago and it’s no surprise that they’re looking more comfortable on the court as a unit."

Click below to read the quick recap.

The Hornets had a good first quarter offensively. The game was back and forth early on but the Hornets built an 18-10 lead at the 4:16 mark. Then, Matt Barnes found a cutting Jameer Nelson for a layup. This sparked the Magic on an 11-4 run to cut the lead to one on a Rashard Lewis three-pointer before the Hornets ended the quarter by scoring the final four points to end with a 26-21 lead. David West had 10 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting. He also had two nice blocks in the quarter, swatting attempts by both Vince Carter and Matt Barnes. Dwight Howard led the Magic with 8 points and 3 rebounds.

The Magic dominated the second quarter. After falling behind 30-23, the Magic went on an 18-4 run. The Magic did a great job of getting the ball to the rim during the period, getting several layups which in turn gave Orlando’s shooters some open looks at the basket. After letting the Hornets get back within three at 47-44, the Magic finished on a 9-2 run to take a 56-46 lead into the half. The Magic shot 54.5% in the first half and held the Hornets to 41.9% shooting. The Hornets played a fairly impressive first quarter on offense, but in the second quarter, outside of David West, they could not get anything going. West had 12 more points in the quarter, giving him 22 in the first half. The rest of the Hornets managed just 8 second quarter points. Dwight Howard ended the half with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. Jameer Nelson continued his efficient play, scoring 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Nelson also did a great job of getting into the paint and finding his teammates he had 6 assists and just a single turnover in the first half.

Jameer Nelson brought his high level of play into the third quarter, assisting on Orlando’s first three field goals before hitting a jumper of his own to extend Orlando’s lead to 65-51. Nelson’s driving layup gave Orlando an 18-point lead, the largest advantage of the game. Orlando was getting to the basket with ease and having their way with New Orleans’ defense. Then, as the Magic often do, they let the Hornets back into the game. New Orleans went on a 10-0 run, cutting the lead to 8. The Hornets got the lead down to six before Matt Barnes hit a three-pointer and Jason Williams found a cutting J.J. Redick for a layup. Darren Collison made a three-pointer to cut the lead to 80-72 at the end of three. Like the Magic did early in the quarter, the Hornets got into the paint and got some easy looks at the basket, opening up the offense for their shooters.  Both teams shot lights outs in the quarter – the Magic were 10-of-15 from the field in the period while the Hornets were 11-of-19. The Magic still had no answer for David West, who scored 9 more points in the quarter, giving him 31 for the game. The Magic turned the ball over 8 times in the period – Nelson committed 3 of them.

The Hornets scored the first 5 points of the quarter to take a one-point lead. After a J.J. Redick three-pointer and a Rashard Lewis free throw, Orlando regained the lead 84-81. Orlando led 86-85 on a beautiful pick-and-roll that ended in a Dwight Howard jam off a Jameer Nelson pass but the Hornets scored the next 11 points to put the game away. The Magic turned the ball over four times in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter and followed that up by throwing up long jumpers for most of the period. The Hornets outhustled the Magic and got 6 points and 6 rebounds in the quarter from an unexpected hero – Aaron Gray. Jameer Nelson, who played so well in the first three quarters, scored just 2 points and had just 2 assists in the final quarter. The Magic shot 4-of-18 from the field in the period and shot 2-of-13(!) from beyond the arc.

David West finished with 40 points and 10 rebounds and Marcus Thornton added 18 points and 7 boards off of the bench. Dwight Howard led the Magic with 26 points and 10 rebounds but was just 1-of-3 in the fourth quarter and grabbed only one rebound. Jameer Nelson had 19 points and 11 assists.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).