Magic Rally To Beat Heat, Look Forward To Regular Season

After an awful start that saw the Magic miss their first 12 attempts from the field and trail by as many as 23 points in the second quarter, the Magic used a near perfect third quarter to get back into the game. The Magic took the lead for good in the fourth quarter, winning 104-100.

Glen Davis led the Magic with 18 points while LeBron James led all scorers with 27 points.

The Magic proved they still have a lot of pride. A lot of teams would have laid down and died after falling behind by that many points but after being blown out Wednesday, the Magic didn’t want to be embarrassed again.
After an off day that had everyone talking Sunday evening, Dwight Howard looked like, well, Dwight Howard. The big man was full of energy and finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds in 28 minutes. Van Gundy said he wish he’d played Howard even less.
It’s not going to take long for Magic fans to warm up to Glen Davis. Big Baby certainly needs to work on his conditioning and playing for a coach like Stan Van Gundy but he did a great job of helping the Magic move the ball and knocked down open jumpers. That’s exactly what the Magic need him to do.
Orlando’s third quarter rally was kick-started by Jameer Nelson. He did a fantastic job of getting into the paint and getting his teammates open looks from the perimeter. When Nelson plays like that, the Magic can still compete with just about everyone. Nelson finished with 14 points and 10 assists.
Nelson, Howard and Davis ran a pick-and-roll throughout the third quarter that worked very well. Davis continuously got open on screens and either got an open jumper or an open layup a majority of the time. When I asked Davis about consistently running the play, he said “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Jason Richardson was more aggressive and made some big plays during Orlando’s run, including a couple of three-pointers and a massive dunk.
Van Gundy told reporters the difference between the halves offensively was that the Magic simply made shots. They scored 34 points on 13-of-15 shooting.
Rookies DeAndre Liggins and Justin Harper saw action for the first time. At one point, Liggins made a nice move to the hoop that got Harper an open three, which he made.
Daniel Orton stepped on the court for the first time in his career late in the fourth quarter and proceeded to hit his first two jumpers. Van Gundy said he thought Orton broke a record by scoring so quickly, estimating it took him about 4 seconds.
The Magic did a much better job defensively in the second half. They got their hands out and forced turnovers. They were much more aggressive on both sides of the ball in the second half.
Von Wafer didn’t see a lot of time but he threw down a monster dunk in the second quarter.
Glen Davis said his third quarter celebration was inspired by a trip passed Sea World earlier in the day.
After the game, the Magic announced they had waived Gabe Pruitt, bringing their roster down to 15, the maximum amount of players a team can have.
Quentin Richardson was jawing with LeBron James throughout the game and got a technical foul after returning a James shove. Earlier in the game, Richardson appeared to shove James into the crowd.

Next Up: The Magic will be in Oklahoma City to play the Thunder on Christmas Day at 8:00 pm EST.

Final Thought: The Magic showed some pride tonight and gained some confidence to carry over into the start of the season.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, ESPN Florida’s Magic Insider (http://ESPNFlorida.com) and is the co-host of the ESPNFlorida.com Insiders Show Sunday mornings at 10:00 am EST. Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him onTwitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here)