Orlando Magic News & Notes: Rose Injured in Collision With Howard (Again)

The Orlando Magic got another blowout victory and this time the Chicago Bulls were the victim, suffering a 111-82 loss at the hands of the Magic.

The Magic handled their business on Thursday night.

"Carter continued his charge on Thursday night, scoring 21 points in the first half in the Magic’s 111-82 rout of the Chicago Bulls at Amway Arena.Orlando rode his production to its season-high seventh consecutive win and a commanding 65-33 halftime lead.“Been a while but I’ve been there [to the playoffs] and I know what it takes,” Carter said. “You have to take the necessary steps to get there. Right now we’re playing out best possible basketball and it doesn’t matter the opponent.”"

Brian Schmitz has that story here.

The Bulls are a potential first round opponent for the Magic and they are going to start scouting for their potential first round matchups.

"“You just don’t know the way teams are bunched down there,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We’ll start watching them more and more intensively.”The Magic face the Bobcats on Sunday and the Heat next week. After playing Miami next Thursday, they will not meet any of the first-round possibilities the rest of the season. Orlando last met Toronto on Jan. 6 and Milwaukee Feb. 2.The Bucks also have made some personnel changes since then.Van Gundy said the Magic’s scouting staff will “split up” games involving those aforementioned teams “so we’re on top them. We’ll start doing that now. Like Milwaukee and Toronto, we go a long time without playing them.”"

You can read that story here.

Derrick Rose was injured during a collision with Dwight Howard (for the second time this season).

"Asked if Rose would play Friday night in Miami if the MRI shows no fracture, Del Negro replied: “Let’s just see what happens. He wants to play, I know he does. But I am going to let the doctor and (trainer Fred Tedeschi) tell me what the exam says. We will sit down and talk to Derrick and see where he’s at. But let’s get the MRI and all of the information gathered.”Rose told the Tribune he had no fear facing the 6-foot-11 Howard Thursday night after Howard had knocked him to the floor Feb. 10 at the United Center as the second-year guard drove to the basket. Rose suffered a him injury on the play and had to leave the game.“After that (incident), I saw him at the All-Star game. There was nothing serious (between us). It was just a basketball thing,” Rose said. “Dwight … he’s a cool guy. He is just a veteran you look up to. He does all of the right things.”"

Fred Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune has that story here.

Josh Robbins calls Howard Rose’s kryptonite.

"“As a big man, you never try to hurt anybody when they come down the lane,” Howard said. “Me and Derrick are cool. He’s a great player, a great person. You never want to see him get hurt. But I always tell him, ‘When you come down the lane, always come off two feet. That way, you’ll be on balance. [If] you come off one, all it takes is somebody’s body to hit you the wrong way, and you’re going to fall.’“I hope that he gets better. I hope there’s nothing seriously wrong with him, but I never intended on hurting him. But it’s just the way it happened.”"

You can read Robbins’ story here.

The Magic think Rose needs to be a little more careful when attacking the basket.

"Vince Carter shook his head when remembering the time he barreled into Shaquille O’Neal, much like Derrick Rose crashed into Dwight Howard in the first quarter of Thursday night’s game.Carter learned his lesson on how to do that. Did he get hurt?“Yeah. Yeah,” Carter said. “And he didn’t move.”That’s what happens when a little(ish) guard hits a big man at full speed. Thursday’s collision was the second of its kind between Howard and Rose this season. Howard knocked Rose down in February, committing a hard foul on the point guard and injuring his hip. Thursday night, Howard did less, but Rose landed hard and sprained his wrist. Without their most potent player for the second, third and fourth quarters, the Bulls lost 111-82.“You just have to know how to attack when you go in there,” Carter said. “You have to expect some contact. He initiated contact and Dwight’s not a little fella.”"

You can read about that here.

George Diaz has written off the Boston Celtics and is ready for the Cleveland-Orlando matchup.

"“We get booed, it’s been a couple times this year, and it’s been about five or six years since I’ve seen that,” forward Paul Pierce said. “And, 17 games over .500. All the fans want is constant effort night in and night out and I think we’ve got to be more consistent with that, regardless of win or lose.’’The Celtics are too old, too beat up, and have too much mileage on their legs to make a serious run at the NBA Finals. The Celtics went old-school a few years back by bringing in Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. They got older by signing Rasheed Wallace this off-season. They got one title out of this plan. They won’t get another."

You can read his blog, “En Fuego,” here.

The Magic teamed with KaBoom! to help build a new playground. You can see photos of the project here.

(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).