Memphis Grizzlies fight off a late Orlando surge to squeak out a 100-97 win – NBA Recap - Part 2
Dwight Howard was at the fore front for the Orlando Magic again. The dominating centre led his team with 25 points, 14 rebounds, two steals and two blocks. However, the league’s best rebounder, gave away one too many turnovers
(7) and committed a needless technical foul down the stretch, that took the gloss of his exploits.
Jason Richardson scored 18 points was in his flow early in the piece. He however lost his way in the second half scoring only 4 points and that too from the free throw line. Brandon Bass and Hedo Turkoglu had 13 apiece while Ryan
Anderson came off the bench to finish with 10 points.
Arenas, who came into the match after a one game layoff with a left knee contusion, played mostly in the second half. The rust from his injury layoff was evident though as he could only compile 10 points in the 23 minutes he played.
The 6 ft 8 in power forward went 4-of-9 from the field, 1-of-4 from the three point mark and 1-of-3 from the free throw line.
Magic got off to belligerent start, grasping seven straight points within the first one and a half minutes of play to set the tone early. They continued in the same vein throughout the first quarter and found the net on 9 of their
first ten possessions. Their initial burst was capped by Jason Richardson’s he swung down the perimeter to net in a pull up jumper that sparked them to a 21-10 advantage, with 6:17 to play in the first quarter.
The fun was just starting though. Magic again outscored the Grizzlies 6-2 in the middle period of the frame to further extend their cushion. Their advance was however cut short as the Grizzlies responded with an 11-1 run of their
own.
The spurt that bridged the last two minutes of the first quarter and the first two of the second pulled the home team back within one. Grizzlies’ upward surge continued and Darrell Arthur’s layup shot in the fifth minute, which
formed the part of a 5-point unanswered run, finally sparked them to a lead (38-37) for the first time in the match.
Orlando though fought fire with fire as Jason Richardson banged down one from beyond the arc to start a 12-4 run that pulled the Magic back infront by seven with 3:54 to go till the break.
Memphis though, had started to feel their game by that point and they started to turn the screws on the Magic offense.
The first stanza culminated with a tagline of 58-54 in favour of the Magic. They however lost the plot to start the second half. The Magic proved to be their own enemy in that period as they complemented a pin-point burst of offensive
artistry by the Grizzlies with some clumsy defence of their own. Leading ahead by four till the break, the Magic saw the reverse side of a four point advantage after going just 3:09 into the third quarter.
The Magics struggles continued throughout the frame as they were at a loss in finding the net from both within and beyond the arc. While they were reduced to charity throws to do most of their scoring, the home team on the contrary,
blew away with a barrage of accurate shooting.
One spurt by the Grizzlies gave way to another as they sprinted to an 86-74 advantage by the end of the third frame.
The Magic situation was further complicated when their dynamic forward Brandon Bass injured his left leg with 3:59 left in the third quarter. The incident happened when Bass rolled his ankle after landing awkwardly on Zach Randolph
foot in an attempt to net a jumper.
He lay on the court, wincing in pain and clutching his leg before being helped off the court by the medical staff.
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