Magic-Nuggets Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON
Posted Apr 22 2012 2:58AM

The Denver Nuggets aided their chances of making the playoffs at the beginning of April by taking advantage of Dwight Howard's absence from the Orlando Magic lineup.

Even with a postseason berth wrapped up, don't expect the Nuggets to go easy on the Howard-less Magic during Sunday night's rematch at the Pepsi Center.

Denver (35-28) matched a franchise record by clinching a ninth consecutive playoff berth with Saturday's 118-107 win in Phoenix. The Nuggets made nine straight postseasons from 1981-82 to 1989-90.

Ty Lawson had 29 points and 10 assists during his team's eighth victory in 12 games, a stretch that includes a 104-101 win over Orlando on April 1.

Howard missed that game with back spasms and is now out for the year after having surgery to repair a herniated disc and remove fragments Friday.

"I think we've been operating with the expectation that we wouldn't have him back," coach Stan Van Gundy said. "I don't think this was unexpected."

The Magic (36-27) are 3-6 without their All-Star center and three-time NBA defensive player of the year, who was averaging 20.6 points and a league-best 14.5 rebounds.

Orlando scored a combined 13 points over the final 7:52 of regulation and overtime during a 117-107 defeat in Utah on Saturday. The Magic gave up at least 100 points for the fourth time in five games.

"We just cannot guard," Van Gundy said. "I don't think it is that our guys are not trying, I don't know what it is, but we cannot guard anyone. We can't guard anyone ... Our defense is disturbing to say the least."

Orlando is all but locked into the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference as it trails Atlanta by two games with three remaining for both teams, and leads New York and Philadelphia by three.

Denver, meanwhile, is tied for sixth in the West with Dallas, which has just one game remaining. The Mavericks hold the tiebreaker, but the Nuggets have three contests left.

"We are going to try to win all three of them. There won't be any rest going on here," coach George Karl said. "We are not in that mode. We are into getting better and coming together. It is a young team that will have to learn how to win in the playoffs. On the job training, but it has been done before."

Lawson will try to help the Nuggets with another high-scoring performance. The point guard averaged 24.5 points on 58.3 percent shooting over his last four games and is 9 for 14 from 3-point range, including a 5-for-5 performance in Saturday's win.

Lawson had a team-leading 25 points during the win in Orlando and Arron Afflalo chipped in 22. Jameer Nelson had a season-high 27 for the Magic during the loss and averaged 20.3 over his last four games after scoring a team-best 23 during Saturday's loss.

Denver has split its last four meetings with Orlando but has won seven of the last eight home matchups. A 111-94 victory on Dec. 14, 2010, was the Nuggets' second in a row at the Pepsi Center.

McGee, Gallinari lead Nuggets past Magic

Posted Apr 22 2012 11:53PM

DENVER (AP) JaVale McGee's rim-rattling, backboard-shaking dunks left the crowd roaring, his teammates applauding and the opposition fuming.

They weren't just for show, however.

McGee scored 17 points, throwing down a half-dozen dunks in the second half, and the Denver Nuggets pulled away to beat the Orlando Magic 101-74 on Sunday night.

It was the sixth win in eight games for the surging Nuggets, who clinched their ninth consecutive trip to the playoffs the night before with a win at Phoenix.

"I feel like we're getting better every game and we're becoming a solid team to where we can play people who don't play so we can give our people a rest for the next game," said McGee, who came off the bench to become the 10th different Nuggets player to lead or share the team lead in scoring.

Danilo Gallinari also scored 17, Arron Afflalo had 15 and Ty Lawson 13 for the Nuggets, who swept the two-game season series with Orlando, avoiding the Magic's injured Dwight Howard both times.

"We didn't do our defensive assignments," the Magic's Jason Richardson said after Orlando was beaten repeatedly on lob passes inside to McGee and Denver's other big men. "We didn't have energy. We didn't do anything how we've been playing the past five or six games."

Ryan Anderson scored 24 points for the Magic, who lost their third straight. Glen Davis added 14 points for playoff-bound Orlando, which also lost guard Jameer Nelson to a calf injury. He left the game in the first quarter and did not return.

Howard, who missed Orlando's April 1 loss to Denver because of back spasms, is out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery last week to repair a herniated disk in his lower back.

Breaking away from a halftime tie, the Nuggets had a 67-58 advantage when Andre Miller capped a 6-0 burst with a 17-foot jumper with 2:30 left in the third.

Denver took a 73-62 lead into the fourth quarter - its biggest lead to that point - after consecutive dunks in the last minute of the third by McGee off alley-oop passes from Miller.

Orlando fought back within 75-69 on Ish Smith's driving layup with 9:22 left, but the Nuggets got their inside game going again. Kenneth Faried and McGee took turns muscling in dunks to go up 79-69 with 8:17 remaining.

"Some of those dunks were pretty important," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "The game was not over when he made a couple of those dunks against the zone."

Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy was fuming over the lackluster defensive play inside by the Magic, dismissing the possibility of fatigue because of a back-to-back set.

"I don't think it had anything to do with running out of gas," Van Gundy said. "Four times a guy's going to start up to set a pick and back cut for a lob? It's absurd. We ran out of focus, we ran out of competitiveness. That's what we ran out of."

McGee jammed home a couple more dunks as the Nuggets moved to a 93-74 lead with 3:10 left to play. Orlando was held to 30 second-half points, 12 in the final quarter.

"It was a lot of fun," said McGee, who also had eight rebounds and three blocked shots. "We passed the ball and we were playing great defense. Things were just getting open for us."

Lawson's driving layup with 50 seconds left in the second quarter forged a 44-all tie at halftime. Denver was leading 24-19 after the first period, but Orlando put together a 12-2 run to go in front 35-31. Anderson hit two 3-pointers during the surge.

NOTES: Nuggets forward Al Harrington, one of the league's top sixth men who has been playing through a torn meniscus in his right knee, was given the night off. It's the first time he's missed a game this season. Karl said in a pregame news conference that Harrington probably will play in only one of the team's two remaining regular-season games to try to get him in the best possible shape for the playoffs. ... The Magic, who lost in overtime at Utah on Saturday, were 18-18 in back-to-back sets this season. ... Miller finished with 11 assists. ... The season series sweep of Orlando by the Nuggets was Denver's first since the 1991-92 season. ... The Magic's point total represented a season low by a Nuggets' opponent.

Notebook: Nuggets 101, Magic 74

Posted Sunday April 22, 2012 11:45PM

By Michael Kelly, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: JaVale McGee had 17 points, mostly on highlight-reel dunks, Ty Lawson had 13 points and 10 assists and the Denver Nuggets pulled away in the second half to rout the shorthanded Orlando Magic, 101-74, on Sunday night.

Danilo Gallinari had 17 and Arron Afflalo scored 15 for the Nuggets, who strengthened their hold on the sixth seed in the Western Conference playoff race with two games left.

Ryan Anderson scored 24 points and pulled down nine rebounds for the Magic, who have lost three straight and 10 of 14.

QUOTABLE: "We didn't do our defensive assignments, we didn't have energy, we didn't do anything how we've been playing the past five or six games."
-- Magic guard Jason Richardson.

THE STAT: Lawson and backup point guard Andre Miller combined for 21 assists, two more than the entire Orlando team.

TURNING POINT: McGee re-entered the game late in the third quarter and immediately got the crowd going by finishing off two alley-oops from Miller. It boosted the Nuggets lead to 11. They hooked up for another alley-oop early in the fourth quarter when the Nuggets started to put this one away.

QUOTABLE II: "Andre has no conscience when he throws the ball. I love it."
-- McGee.

HOT: Anderson took over for Orlando in the first half. He scored 17 points, including two 3-pointers, to help the Magic stay even at halftime. He cooled off in the second half, but part of that was he took only six shots.

NOT: The Magic bench was no help in this one. A night after producing just 10 points in a double-overtime loss at Utah, the Orlando reserves managed just 18 points against the Nuggets.

GOOD MOVE: With the grind of the playoffs ahead, and playing a tired Orlando team without Dwight Howard, Denver head coach George Karl gave Al Harrington the night off. Harrington has been playing with torn meniscus in his right knee and the rest will help.

BAD MOVE: Orlando was burned by six alley-oop dunks and another lob pass for a layup by the 6-foot Lawson. McGee had five of the dunks and Kenneth Faried the other. Some came on broken plays after missed shots but the majority were half-court sets, and Orlando never adjusted.

QUOTABLE II: "Four times a guy's going to start up to set a pick and back cut for a lob? It's absurd. Some of them, when you go to help, maybe, but the ones he got just walking up and then going back for the lob -- ridiculous. Maybe it happens once and then it forces you to focus in. Not four times."
-- Orlando head coach Stan Van Gundy, on Denver's alley-oop plays.

ROOKIE WATCH: The crowd at Pepsi Center had a scare when Faried went down after a collision with Glen Davis early in the third quarter. He stayed on the court for a while before walking to the bench on his own. He returned to the game in the third to cheers and finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season.

NOTABLE: Orlando's last five opponents have shot 50 percent or better and topped 100 points. ... The Nuggets finished the season 16-2 against the Eastern Conference. The .889 winning percentage against the East is the best in franchise history. ... Denver outscored the Magic 64-24 in the paint. The Nuggets are 25-12 when scoring more than 50 points in the paint.

UP NEXT: For the Magic, Wednesday vs. Charlotte, Thursday @ Memphis. For the Nuggets, Wednesday @ Oklahoma City, Thursday @ Minnesota.

• Magic: Howard, Turkoglu
• Nuggets: Chandler, Fernandez

• Magic: Davis
• Nuggets: --

• Lead Changes: 11
• Times Tied: 9

• Arena: Pepsi Center, Denver, CO
• Officials: #22 Bill Spooner, #34 Kevin Cutler, #40 Leon Wood
• Attendance: 19155
• Duration: 2:02