Mavericks complete Florida sweep as they pin down the new-look Magics 101-95
The Dallas Mavericks have stopped six opponent winning streaks of at least five games this season, the latest being the star studded Miami.
On Tuesday night the streak busters of the NBA, grasped the courts of the Amway Centre as they took on a revamped Orlando Magics. The Eastern Conference giants who have brought in Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu to add a cutting edge to
their offense, clearly looked like a team that has to sort out how their regenerated roster is supposed to work.
The Mavericks led by Caron Butler became the latest team to turn the tables on a new look Magics as they kept their nerves down the stretch to down Orlando by 105-99.
Dwight Howard had another huge night as he pounded a match-high 26 points and 23 rebounds. The burly Magic centre who posted 20 plus rebounds in the last three games failed to inspire his team again as Orlando dropped their eighth game in the last nine attempts.
The Mavericks, on the other hand, looked every bit the team that had won 16 of the last seventeen encounters, as they set the court ablaze with a vicious 10-2 assault to start the game. While the Magic defence was still in its strides, Dirk Nowitzki was
letting it rip for the Mavericks. The 7 ft sharpshooter displayed some strong play as he breezed past his undersized opponents.
The Magics were still reeling from the after-shocks of the initial burst when the Mavericks decided to turn the heat on again. The relentless Dallas offensive prowess carved out another 12-6 run, romping to a 24-12 advantage.
The Magics, however, showed some offensive wrath of their own as Dwight Howard nailed in hook shot to spark a 21-5 blowout rot, bridging the first and the second quarter. The spurt that subsided as Hedo Turkoglu found the net from long range ensured that
Orlando nudged ahead at 33-29 with 9:21 to go up till half-time.
The Mavericks though answered fire with fire as Wilson Chandler delivered four thundering dunk shot in the rest of the frame to take Dallas into the locker-room with a 49-45 advantage.
Orlando stepped up their offense in the second half as they slowly started to chip away at the Mavericks lead. But, every time the Magics came close, Dallas managed to slip away.
Jameer Nelson ripped in a triple pointer midway through the third quarter as the Magics finally managed to restore parity. The game was then tied three times in the next three minutes before the Mavericks once again pulled a with a 6-2 surge to maintain
a four point advantage, going into the final period of play.
The Mavericks continued to carve the defence of the Magics in the final quarter. It was not until the Mavericks went ahead by 12 points, with 4:24 left on the clock that the Magic, other than Howard, started to show some fight.
Orlando slowly rallied back and a Richardson's 3-pointer with 56 seconds remaining trimmed the deficit to three.
Seconds later Richardson struck again.
He managed to evade the outstretched hand of the Dallas back line as he nailed another one from downtown to make it a two point game.
But, the new Magic recruit couldn’t find any more magic on the night. Richardson was off target in his third 3-point attempt and J.J. Reddick couldn’t convert one either as Dallas just managed to hold on to 105-99 win.
Caron Butler spearheaded the Dallas offense with 20 points as all Mavericks starters notched up double figures. Jason Terry came off the bench to complement with 13 points as Dallas continued with their winning ways.
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