Denver Nuggets make history; Defeat Orlando Magic 104-101 in Orlando – NBA Recap
The Denver Nuggets made history on Sunday night when they defeated Orlando Magic 104-101 in Orlando, doing so for only the second time in 20 years. Orlando were playing without star centre Dwight Howard, who missed his first game
of the season due to a back injury.
Ty Lawson led the scoring for the Nuggets with 25 points on 10 of 16 shooting and also dished out 9 assists. He was ably supported by Arron Afflalo, who had 22 points for the night. Jameer Nelson scored a game high 27 points for
the Magic and Glen Davis, playing at centre in place of Howard, scored 18 points and picked up a season high 16 rebounds.
Denver took the lead early in the first quarter and maintained it throughout to finish the 1st at 27-19. That lead extended it to 37-25 in the 2nd. However a 14-2 run by the Magic ensured that the at the end
of the first half, 6 points were all that separated the two team, 48-42 to Denver.
The third quarter was a close contest between both teams, with the score being tied on seven occasions and the lead being changed on 9 occasions. The largest lead of the quarter was 5 points held by Denver early in the quarter.
The 4th quarter was much the same, with Denver first stretching the lead from 93-90 to 99-90 and Orlando then bouncing back with a 7-0 run to bring the score to 97-99. Magic stayed within a striking range till the last
seconds, but with the clock winding down Jason Richardson missed a three point shot to give Denver the win. The final score was 104-101.
The absence of Dwight Howard was not the main area of concern for Orlando. Glen Davis stepped up to the challenge and handled the position well to manage career high 16 rebounds. Orlando shot poorly, particularly from the 3 point
range. They were 37-88 from the floor, but just 8-32 on three pointers, a trait which is supposed to be their strength.
Denver turned the ball over 17 times as compared to 10 times by Orlando but they also scored 14 fast break points in comparison to 2 by the Magic. That reflected the game plan of the Nuggets going into the game. They came to play
aggressive ball.
"The strategy of the game is quite different when they don't have the best centre in the NBA playing on the court" said Nuggets coach George Karl referring to Dwight Howard.
The highlight of the night was Denver shooting. They shot 40-of-72 from the floor, a percentage of 55.6% which is quite impressive. They also shot 8 of 19 from the 3 point line and 16 of 21 from the free throw line. Overall, it
was a great effort from the Denver guards to keep control of the pace of the game and hunt open scoring opportunities.
With this loss, Orlando’s win-loss record now stands at 32-21; just two wins clear of Boston Celtics. They have now lost their last three games. Denver, on the other hand, has a win-loss record of 29-24 and after this game they
are placed 7th in the Western Conference. They have won their last two games and are only 1 win below the 6th ranked team of the Dallas Mavericks.
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