Orlando Magic sail past Cleveland Cavaliers; Clinch the playoffs spot in style – NBA Recap
The Orlando Magic cruised past the Cleveland Cavaliers to hand them a 100-84 loss here in Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland.
Orlando’s All Star centre Dwight Howard did not play the game and is expected to be out for at least the regular season after he was diagnosed with a herniated disc. However, Jameer Nelson stepped up to the challenge by scoring
21 points, grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing out 9 assists. Antawn Jamison led the Cleveland scoring with 21 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds.
The Magic came into this game having lost 5 of their last 7 games, including the last two. With the win, they have officially clinched a playoff berth.
Orlando led throughout the match, despite losing centre Glen Davis in the first quarter, who suffered a sprain in his right knee and left for the match. Orlando took the lead early with the first four points of the night. They
went on a 7-0 run thereafter to extend it to 15-7 with 5:33 remaining in the 1st.
Orlando finished the quarter leading 23-15. The Magic extended their lead in the second quarter when they went on a 12-0 run, capping it off with a layup by Earl Clark. This helped them open up a 20 point lead over the Cavs.
Cleveland tried to cut the lead down, going on a 7-0 run to close the 2nd half and trailed 30-43 at halftime.
A 6-1 run to open the 3rd quarter helped the Cavs cut the Magic lead down to 8, trailing 36-44. The Magic bounced back, scoring the next 8 points while containing the Cavs to only 3 to open up a 15 point lead yet again.
A three pointer by Jameer Nelson then gave Orlando a 68-51 advantage. The 3rd quarter finished with Orlando leading at 74-60.
The Magic had a comfortable lead at the beginning of the final quarter and played with a great deal of composure so as to not allow the Cavs to build any momentum and go on a run. They maintained 10 + point lead throughout the
final quarter and won the game comfortably by 100-84.
J.J Redick scored 13 points for Orlando while Jason Richardson had 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Rookie Daniel Orton had an amazing night, scoring career best 11 points and 5 steals. He also had 4 rebounds. Earl Clark came
off the bench to add 13 points on the board for Orlando, scoring a perfect 5 of 5 from the field. Antawn Jamison was the pick of the Cleveland players, but he was assisted by Donald Sloan with 15 points and 5 assists, and Alonzo Gee with 10 points and 8 rebounds.
Orlando shot 45.6% from the field and 81% from the foul line. Cleveland only managed 37.3% from the field and 75.9% from the foul line. Orlando also beat Cleveland in assists 25-18, and only committed 6 turnovers compared with
17 for Cleveland. Cleveland had the advantage in rebounds, picking up 47 compared to 39 by Orlando.
With Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu both out of the Orlando squad due to injuries, coach Stan Van Gundy needs to prepare for the playoffs without his star players.
"If they do come back, we'll look at having Dwight or Hedo as a bonus," said the coach.
Tags: