Magic-Bobcats Preview

By JEFF MEZYDLO
Posted Mar 06 2012 12:04AM

The Orlando Magic are taking advantage of a favorable three-game stretch in their schedule.

Before facing the team with the NBA's best record, the visiting Magic try for a third consecutive victory Tuesday night when they look to continue their dominance of the league-worst Charlotte Bobcats.

After losing two of three, Orlando (25-14) has regrouped with a pair of victories against two teams with losing records - 114-98 over Milwaukee on Saturday and 92-88 at Toronto on Monday. Dwight Howard had 36 points and 13 rebounds while Ryan Anderson added 19 points with 13 boards against the Raptors as the Magic won for the ninth time in 12 games.

"My teammates gave me the ball in the right position to score," said Howard, who has averaged 32.3 points in his last three games.

The Magic went 9 of 28 as a team from 3-point range Monday, but J.J. Redick went 3 of 4 from beyond the arc including a key shot in the final 10 seconds to extend Orlando's lead to five points.

"J.J. is a guy we really rely on for those big moment shots," Anderson said of Redick, who finished with 13 points. "We really trust him and he knocked it down once again."

Orlando will now go for its seventh straight win over the Bobcats (4-31), who have lost five in a row and 21 of 22. A third straight victory overall could help the Magic build some momentum heading into Thursday's game at Chicago.

"We all have to play good for us to do well," forward Hedo Turkoglu told the Magic's official website after he recorded nine assists and no points Monday.

Still playing hard despite his uncertain future in Orlando, Howard has totaled 45 points and 41 rebounds in two games against the Bobcats this season. That includes a 24-rebound performance in a 100-79 win at Charlotte on Dec. 30.

Anderson added 23 points in that contest to help Orlando earn its seventh straight victory at Charlotte since a 99-93 loss Jan. 16, 2008.

The Bobcats blew a 16-point first-half lead Sunday and allowed New Jersey's Deron Williams to score a franchise-record 57 points while losing their eighth in row at home, 104-101. Corey Maggette scored 24 points for Charlotte, which still had a chance to tie the game in the end despite a 19-point third quarter.

"We didn't give up," coach Paul Silas said. "That was a great thing. We did have a chance. That shows me that we are getting there. It's certainly not there yet. But we are striving to get there. At least we're not just giving up and letting teams just run over us. If we continue to do this, we'll be OK."

Averaging an NBA-low 86.7 points, the Bobcats reached 100 for only the fourth time this season and the first time in 22 games since a 112-100 home win over Golden State on Jan. 14.

Maggette, who scored 20 at home against the Magic earlier this season, is averaging 18.8 points in his last four games overall.

Maggette scores 29 as Bobcats dump Magic 100-84

By STEVE REED
Posted Mar 06 2012 11:07PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy seems to be growing tired of his team's dispassionate attitude.

Van Gundy took a few shots at his players' lackluster approach following a 100-84 loss Tuesday night to the Charlotte Bobcats, the worst team in the NBA.

"Our guys are satisfied that we came in with the third-best record in the East and the fifth-best record in the league," Van Gundy said. "They're satisfied with that. I don't think there's any push to be better or any push to be great. If there is, it doesn't show up in games."

Added Van Gundy: "This is who are. Whether we change that or not, I don't know."

The Magic led by 20 points in the first half but let the Bobcats back in it. After Charlotte coach Paul Silas was ejected in the second quarter for arguing a call, the Bobcats went on a 22-1 run to take the lead in the third quarter.

Corey Maggette scored a season-high 29 points for the Bobcats, Gerald Henderson hit some big shots in the fourth quarter, and Charlotte won for just the fifth time in 36 games against the Magic.

The Bobcats came in having lost 21 of their last 22 games, but got a big game from rookie center Bismack Biyombo.

Biyombo, the seventh overall pick in the draft, played with emotion and battled toe-to-toe with Dwight Howard and had 10 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. He also blocked seven shots.

Howard had 15 points and 17 rebounds, and Ryan Anderson added 14 points and 11 boards for the Magic.

It's the second straight game Biyombo has played well in a starting role against Howard. In January, Biyombo had 11 points and 10 rebounds in a six-point Charlotte loss.

"It's a big challenge and you can take it or you can walk away," Biyombo said of facing Howard.

Said Maggette: "I think he was the difference in this game."

Maggette was pretty big, too.

Coming off a 24-point performance Sunday night against New Jersey, Maggette was aggressive in taking the ball to the hole. He hit 9 of 17 shots from the field and 10 of 11 free throws.

"It just feels good to get a win," Maggette said. "We've been up and down and we're not having a good season - everyone knows that. For our team to play and fight tonight was a positive for our team."

The Bobcats won despite the fact veteran forward Boris Diaw, a regular starter, did not play amid uncertainty surrounding his future with the team.

Charlotte president of basketball operations Rod Higgins confirmed Tuesday night that he met with Diaw recently about the veteran's expiring contract. Higgins said Diaw's agent, Doug Neustadt, approached him about the possibility of a trade or buyout that would allow his client a chance to move to another team this season.

Diaw is under contract for $9 million this season, which could make it difficult to trade him.

He's been at odds with Silas most of the season.

"It's just one of those things," Silas said. "I wanted to see what the rest of the guys could do. We just weren't going to play him and see what the other guys could do and they did a good job."

While Silas was pleased with how his team played under his son, Stephen, for the better part of three quarters, Van Gundy seems a bit disgusted.

Van Gundy coached despite experiencing chest pains Monday night in Toronto and staying behind to be examined by doctors. He said after the game he feels "fine."

"When we went up 18 or 20 points we got real selfish and everybody just tried to get theirs and everybody quit playing the way we had played to get the lead," Van Gundy said. "We will not play 48 minutes. We just will not."

Van Gundy said the team has a bad mentality right now.

"It's our mentality to start the game and then feel like `OK, it doesn't matter, I can be careless on this pass because we're up 20,"' he said. "So that leads to points. And then it's, `OK, I don't have to help on this drive and now we're up 16.' And it just keeps going. It's not a mentality of playing every possession as hard as you can."

With Charlotte leading 84-82, Henderson, who finished with 16 points, began to take over.

He scored twice against another former Duke player, J.J. Redick, drawing a pair of fouls both times. Although he missed both free throw attempts, Henderson came right back and knocked down another jumper over Hedo Turkoglu to push the Bobcats' lead to eight.

The Magic never really threatened again.

NOTES: Diaw sitting out broke a personal streak of 384 straight games played. ... Silas now leads the league in technical fouls with six. ... The Magic attempted 35 3-pointers (they made 13) against one of the league's poorest interior defensive teams. ... At one point during the game, there were four former Duke players on the court: Maggette and Henderson for the Bobcats and Redick and Chris Duhon for the Magic.

Notebook: Bobcats 100, Magic 84

Posted Tuesday March 6, 2012 10:41PM

By Derek S. Smith, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Corey Maggette scored 29 points as the Charlotte Bobcats came back from a 20-point deficit to defeat the Orlando Magic Tuesday night 100-84 at Time Warner Cable Arena. The win snapped a five-game losing streak for Charlotte which had also lost 21 of its last 22 games. Dwight Howard led the Magic with 15 points and 17 rebounds.

QUOTABLE: "We came out and were aggressive tonight. I just kept fighting out there all night and got to the free throw line late. It was a great team effort out there."
-- Charlotte Bobcats forward Maggette

THE STAT: Hot shooting. The Bobcats shot 57.1 percent in the final three periods of the win over Orlando. The Bobcats were 6-for-24 in the first quarter and trailed Orlando by 10 points. Charlotte made 32 of its final 56 shots to down the Magic.

TURNING POINT: Ejection. Charlotte coach Paul Silas was ejected after two quick technical fouls were called on him at the 3:53 mark of the second quarter. That proved to be a rallying cry for the Bobcats. Charlotte closed the half on a 14-1 run and cut the Magic to lead to just five at the break, 48-43. Charlotte continued the run as the second half began with eight straight to take a 51-48 lead.

QUOTABLE II: "We deserved to lose and they deserved to win. This is how we've played a lot lately. We try to pick spurts in the game to play, but we've been able to turn it around at times and then bounce back. We've gotten away with it and we're happy getting away with it. We're not trying to become a great team. We're not putting the effort in mentally or physically to do that. Quite honestly, we got what we deserved."
-- Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy

HOT: Maggette. The Charlotte forward led all scorers with 29 points. He was 9-for-17 from the floor and 10-for-11 from the charity stripe while sinking his only three pointer. Maggette also added seven rebounds and one steal. Maggette is averaging 26.5 in his last two contests and has scored 20 or more in three of the last five games.

NOT: Hedo Turkoglu had six points on 2-for-10 shooting and grabbed just one rebound while committing four fouls and four turnovers for Orlando. Turkoglu failed to score in Monday's win over Toronto and had just one rebound in that game as well.

BAD MOVE: Hack-A-Mack. The Orlando Magic tried to pull closer to the Bobcats late in the fourth quarter by continually fouling Bismack Biyombo. The Charlotte rookie was 3-for-6 from the free throw line and was successful enough at the free throw line that the Magic abandoned that method for getting back in the game.

ROOKIE WATCH: Biyombo had a monster night. The rookie had 10 points and a career-best 15 rebounds. It was his third career double-double. It was his fifth game of 10 or more rebounds in the last 11 games. He also tied a career-high with seven blocked shots. It marked the fourth time he's registered four or more blocks in a game.

NOTABLE: This was the first home win for Charlotte since a 112-100 win over Golden State on January 14. ... Boris Diaw was a DNP-Coaches Decision. It broke a streak of 384 consecutive games played which was second only to Derek Fisher. ... The Bobcats trailed 37-17 with 9:58 to play in the second quarter. The 20-point deficit was the second largest deficit overcome in a win in franchise history. ... Bobcats center Byron Mullens grabbed a career-best 13 rebounds. ... Dwight Howard recorded his 32nd double-double of the season with 15 points and 17 rebounds ... Magic forward Ryan Anderson recorded his ninth double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. ... Magic guard J.J. Redick scored in double figures for the 26th time this season. ... Orlando is 1-13 when scoring less than 90 points this season.

UP NEXT: For the Magic, Thursday @ Chicago, Sunday vs. Indiana, and Tuesday vs. Miami. For the Bobcats, Wednesday vs. Utah, Friday vs. New Jersey and Saturday @ Oklahoma City.

• Magic: Liggins, Wafer
• Bobcats: Higgins, Williams

• Magic: --
• Bobcats: Silas, Silas

• Lead Changes: 9
• Times Tied: 6

• Arena: Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC
• Officials: #32 Eddie F. Rush, #6 Tony Brown, #58 Josh Tiven
• Attendance: 13110
• Duration: 2:15