NBA recap: Orlando Magic hold off a late surge to edge out Charlotte Bobcats 91-88
Orlando Magic overcame injuries, a poor shooting rate and a late fourth-quarter surge by the Charlotte Bobcats as they held their nerves to squeeze out a 3-point victory at 91-88. With this victory, Orlando has now won 12 of the
last 13 contests against Charlotte, but more importantly, they have got their first win on the road this season.
Orlando’s victory was, however, overshadowed by the injury to Vince Carter in the final minutes of the game, as the Bobcats upped the ante. Vince Carter fell awkwardly on a slippery spot, suffering a strained right hip flexor as
a result. He kept on lying on the floor for minutes before struggling his way to the bench. With Jameer Nelson already injured, the injury came as a huge blow to the Magics. Steve Van Gundy, the Orlando coach, furious at the state of the court vented his feelings
and was hit with a technical foul as drama unfolded on the court.
The match started with both the teams maintaining parity in the initial phase of the game as the score was tied at 13 each, 8 minutes into the first quarter. Rashard Lewis slipped in a 3-pointer to start a run which saw Orlando
scoring 10 points as compared to 2 points from Charlotte to lead at the end of the first quarter at 23-15. Dwight Howard hit the ground running in the match as he scored 13 points in the first 12 minutes of play.
The second quarter witnessed the Charlotte defence keeping a check on Orlando, preventing them from continuing their first quarter momentum. Poor shooting and free throw conversion rate also caught up with the Magics in this period
as they failed to score freely. The Bobcats outscored Orlando by one point at 21-20 in the second quarter to head into the second half with the score poised at 43-36 in favour of the Magics.
Orlando started the second half with an increased intensity and sprinted to an 11-4 run four minutes into the third quarter, increasing their advantage to 14 points at 54-40. Rashard Lewis further dented Charlotte’s hopes as he
slipped in three 3-pointers in a space of 98 seconds to send them reeling at a deficit of 18 points at 63-45 with 6:07 to go in the third. The Bobcats tried to cut the deficit in the final six minutes of the period as they outscored the Magics 17-10.
The teams entered the final period with Orlando Magic holding on to a comfortable 11-point lead at 73-62. The Magics extended their lead to 82-70 with 6:25 left in the contest and were cruising to an easy victory. It was at that
point that the match took a twist. The spirited Bobcats, determined not to quit that easily, went on an 18-7 run as the 18,316 strong home fans went wild.
Stephen Jackson’s layup with 32.5 seconds left trimmed the deficit to 89-88. Richardson would answer on Magic’s next possession, hitting a layup of his own with 9.8 seconds remaining. Three-point attempts by Boris Diaw and D.J.
Augustin were desperately off the mark as time expired, and Orlando escaped with the victory.
Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis led Orlando Magic with 22 points apiece, while Quentin Richardson added 14 points for Orlando as they shot 34-for-82 at a paltry 41.5 percent. Chris Duhon started in place of injured
Jameer Nelson. He did not disappoint, dishing out nine assists and also added four points for the Magics.
A relieved Magic coach expressed his satisfaction over the performance of Chris Duhon after the match. "Chris (Duhon) did a great job out there for us. He kept us very organized on both ends and got the ball to the right people.
It was a good road win against a playoff team with one of our starters (Jameer Nelson) out."
For the Charlotte Bobcats, Gerald Wallace scored 25 points on 9-15 shooting, including 4-4 from beyond the three-point line, and grabbed 14 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. He also added two assists in 43 minutes.
Stephen Jackson scored 16 points, handed out six assists, had three steals and grabbed two rebounds while Nazr Mohammed scored a season high, tying 12 points on 5-9 shooting with 5 boards.
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