Memphis Grizzlies trounce Orlando Magic 88-76; Clinch the home court advantage in the playoffs: NBA Recap
On Thursday night Orlando Magic could only score 9 points in the opening frame and that haunted them though out the rest of the game, resulting into an 88-76 defeat at the hands of Memphis Grizzlies here at the FedEx Forum.
With this win, Memphis earned the home-court advantage for the 1st time in franchise history. They will now play in the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of playoffs.
Marc Gasol marshalled all players with 22 points and Rudy g*y tallied 20 for Memphis. O.J. Mayo collected 15 points and dished out 6 assists coming off the bench while Zach Randolph (starting for the 1st time in last
21 games) had a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards.
Tony Allen had 8 points and was contended after Grizzlies earned the home-ground advantage.
"I have to say, 'Mission accomplished. First-term goals set.' Obviously there's plenty more work to be done, but this is what we set out to do. We've got to stay focused. Guys, all year, have been playing hard, playing together;
had a sense of urgency to move up in that win column. It just shows a lot of character from this group of guys."
Magic, after the loss of their superman Dwight Howard, couldn’t perform consistently and it was their 6th loss in the last 10 games. Although they have earned the 6th spot in the playoffs picture but the last
game of the season ended on a desperate note as they look to take on the Indiana Pacers in the playoffs.
Hedo Turkoglu played for the 1st time after missing 10 games due to facial injury and he led the team with 18 points while reserve Justin Harper poured 16 points and had 7 boards. Guard Von Wafer chipped in with 11 and
Earl Clark had 9 boards to go with 8 points for Orlando.
Magic’s shooting in the opening frame was hapless and it seemed that they were not even trying. Consequently Memphis took a 17-6 lead early and capped off the segment with a 10-1 burst claiming a 27-9 advantage.
Orlando Coach Van Gundy was greatly exasperated at the team’s start.
"It was just a terrible start," Van Gundy said. "In the first quarter, we were inept. So, it was a bad start. From there, I thought we got a little better."
Memphis took full advantage of the initial Magic worries and with 3:13 to expire in 2nd, they were enjoying a comfortable 44-26 lead. As the teams headed towards their respective locker rooms Grizzlies were leading
the scores, 54-30.
Randolph opened the 3rd frame with a jumper adding two more points to the hosts’ lead, 56-30. But Orlando came back furiously pulling off a 21-2 run to trim down the deficit to 58-51. Memphis responded swiftly though
with a 9-nothing burst and widened the gap to 67-51. Turkoglu hit one from the down town at the end of the stanza for Magic as the game entered into its last 12 minutes with the hosts up by 67-54.
Memphis cruised through the last period as Orlando froze from the floor once more. With 1:51 on clock, the hosts had mustered an 88-70 lead and as the time expired Orlando could only reduce the deficit to 88-76.
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