NBA Round-up, March 21: Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers win (part 1)
Orlando Magic 97 – Cleveland Cavaliers 86
The Dwight Howard juggernaut is a phenomenon that is hard to stop for even the best defences in the league, let alone a spineless Cleveland Cavaliers back line. Coming into Monday night’s game against the Orlando Magic, the Cavs
knew that Howard will unleash his fury once he grasps the court of the Quicken Loans Arena. They still couldn’t do anything to stop him though. Leading the Magic to a 97-86 win, the mighty centre pounded the Cavaliers rim with 28 points and complemented
it with 18 boards, four dimes, steals four and blocked four shots.
Howard made three dips in the first quarter, while Brandon Bass added one dunk to put the Magic ahead of the Cavaliers at 11-9. When the second quarter ended, all key players had thumped four smashes respectively against the dwindling
Cavaliers. The Magic stretched the lead to 26 points late in the third quarter before Cavaliers made a spirited return.
The Cavs however made a comeback. They slashed the deficit to just nine on Christian Eyenga's whooshing three pointer. But Magic’s Turkoglu ended the comeback surge of the Cavs, when he launched a three from the bend.
Howard hit 9-for-11 from the field and the All-Star went 10-of-12 from the free throw line. Bass finished with 22 points for the Magic. Together, the duo of Howard and Bass went 18-of-21 from the field and brutally exposed the
Cavaliers post weakness.
J.J. Hickson accounted for 18 points while Daniel Gibson had 16 points for the Cavaliers, who have lost third game in a row and nine out of 11 overall.
Indiana Pacers 102 – New Jersey Nets 98
Roy Hibbert scored 24 points, five rebounds while Danny Granger added 20 points as the Indiana Pacers dominated the New Jersey Nets 102-98 on Monday evening at Prudential Centre, Newark.
Darren Collison set the tempo for the visitors in the second half, as they reeled off nine straight points. The dominant third quarter play enabled them to grab the lead and also gave them control of the game during the course.
The Nets almost made a vociferous comeback in the game with a belated 12-4 run, but Sasha Vujacic’s three pointer with the score 95-98 was averted and the Pacers never looked after that.
The Pacers scored 40 points from the paint, which was the key to their success. The win put the Pacers two games in front of the Charlotte Bobcats in the pursuit for the Eastern Conference's final playoff position.
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