J.J. Redick`s 31 points help Orlando Magic hold on against the Charlotte Bobcats 102-95: NBA Recap
The Orlando Magic held off a late third quarter charge and gutted out a win over the Charlotte Bobcats 102-95, here at the Amway Center in Orlando on Wednesday.
Led by J.J. Redick`s impressing six triples in ten attempts, while shooting 47.3% from the field, Magic stepped up their defence late in the third quarter to force the Bobcats into missing easy baskets That ultimately helped them
maintain their lead in the game and hand the Bobcats their 22nd loss in a row.
Redick finished with a game high of 31 points while also shooting 100% from the free throw line. Ryan Anderson was not very far behind, finishing the game with double-double figures of 24 points and 13 rebounds.
Jason Richardson also had a good night, signing off with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Jameer Nelson flirted with triple double figures as he finished the game with 11 points, 9 assists and 9 rebounds.
The unfortunate part of this game for the Magic was that their centre Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis rolled his ankle late in the first quarter. The injury to Davis could not have come at a harsher time for Orlando as they have already
lost two starters (Hedo Turkoglu and Dwight Howard) in the past month due to injuries.
On the other hand, trauma continues on for the Bobcats as they look in contention for setting the worst winning percentage in NBA history. Despite their best efforts in the game to rally back, it was off no use as the Magic line
up was entirely too strong to handle.
D.J. Augustin led the Bobcats charge with a team high of 23 points. Gerald Henderson contributed 17 points, Derrick Brown 16 and Byron Mullens added 11 points in the game.
Throughout the night, Magic had players who were cleaning up the glass for them, Anderson being the top aspirant in that department as he got 7 of his 13 rebounds on the offensive end of the court. Magic finished the game with
15 offensive rebounds while holding a definitive edge of 47-37 in the overall rebounding.
In the first 3 and a half minutes of the opening period, there was not much to separate the two teams as the scores were all square at 10-each. However the Magic went on charging after that, courtesy of a 9-0 run.
This run helped the Magic to be in cruise control at the end of the first quarter with their advantage in double figures, the score was 37-24 in Orlando`s favour.
The second quarter was not very different to the first; the Magic advantage remained in double figures for the entire frame. However, late in the first half, the Bobcats scored 6 unanswered points to cut the advantage down to 10.
Till the 9:34 mark in the third quarter, Orlando were able to maintain their double figure lead. In the next several minutes the Bobcats started off on a rally, courtesy of a 15-6 run to chip the advantage down to only 1 point.
However the Magic locked down on defence after that to respond with a 16-7 run in the remaining part of the third period to get their advantage back into double-figures.
But the Bobcats were not going out, despite trailing by double figures for most part of the game, the Charlotte squad was playing for pride. They outscored their hosts 11-6 in the first five and a half minutes of the fourth quarter
to get the advantage down to 5.
However, Magic responded with three back-to-back threes, 1 from Richardson and 2 from Redick to nail the final blow to the slumping season of the Bobcats.
Even though Charlotte only allowed the Magic to score only 4 points in the remaining time of the game, they seemed unable to go on another late charge to take this one, at the end of the night, Magic were able to hold on to this
match with a lead of 7 points.
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