Orlando Magic edge past Charlotte Bobcats 96-89 with Dwight Howard on song - NBA Recap
After downing New York Knicks last night at the Madison Square Garden, Orlando Magic continued the winning streak by edging past Charlotte Bobcats 96-89 on their home turf. The win improved their record this season to 10 – 3.
It was not a very convincing win and the Magic were made to work very hard to earn it. The game was hung in balance until the last few minutes, but in the end Magic sealed the win with a flurry of free throws in the clutch.
Dwight Howard led the Magic with a game high 25 points on 11 for 18 from the floor and 17 boards.
"Playing some great basketball - just got to keep it up," Howard said. "We picked it up a little bit. We just have to be consistent and understand that this is going to be a tough season."
Jameer Nelson pounded 17 on 5 for 8 from inside the arc while Hidayet Turkoglu accumulated 15 points. Ryan Anderson and reserve Von Wafer both netted 13 each.
"We gotta keep rolling, we gotta keep playing and not think too much into it," forward Ryan Anderson said of the Magic's current run. "I think that we've beat some really good teams, and just as important we need to keep our heads and really stay focused
down the stretch like we did tonight."
Gerald Henderson paced the Bobcats (3-12) with 22 points on a near perfect shooting, knocking down 8 for 10 from the charity stripe. Rookie Kemba Walker had 15 on 3-for-7 from downtown while D.J Augustin finished with 13 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.
Although there was nothing much to differentiate the teams in terms of shooting stats, Magic did hold the upper hand in boards, out-rebounding the Bobcats 42-36.
Bobcats dominated the first half and ended it with a 3 point lead 50-47. Third frame was pretty much seesawed as neither team managed to dominate completely and pendulum kept on shifting from one side to the other. Fittingly, it came to a halt with both
teams neck to neck at 67 all.
Scores were 72-71 in the favour of Magic in the first three minutes of the deciding frame but then a timely 8-3 run, capped by Turkoglu’s 3 levitated the Magic in a commanding position at 80-74.
Bobcats however were up to the task and by scoring quickly, got themselves within a striking distance at 83-86 with less than a minute remaining. Unfortunately, they failed to go any further, while on the other hand Magic netted 8 free throws in the last
minute to get over the line.
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