Dwight Howard has up a double-double night as the Orlando Magic defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 88-82 ….
Looking to end a 5 game losing streak, Orlando Magic visited the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA on Saturday night.
Dwight Howard powered up a double-double performance with 20 points and a game high of 22 rebounds as the Magic came from behind to defeat the Sixers 88-82.
Howard was also accompanied in a double-double performance by his team mate, Glen Davis, who had a game high of 23 points while also grabbing 12 rebounds. J.J. Redick scored 19 points with 11 of those coming in the fourth quarter.
On the night, Orlando had 4 of their starters scoring in double digits.
On the other hand, Philadelphia`s reserve forward Thaddeus Young was their leading scorer with 20 points. The 76ers had only two other players scoring in double figures, Jodie Meeks and Louis Williams, both coming off the bench,
who scored 16 and 15 points respectively. It was a poor night for the Philadelphia starters as none of them managed to score more than 7 points.
Philadelphia have now fallen to 29-26 and are in for a tough end to the regular season as they are now only 1 and half games ahead of Milwaukee for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Orlando made the most of their size as they grabbed more rebounds than their opponents 53-41, with 17 of them coming on the offensive glass. Magic also made the most of those second chance opportunities as they managed to hold
on in the end. The game had a total of 6 lead changes with both teams relying on their defence to come back into the game. Both sides led by as much as 10 at one point during the match.
Orlando who led after the opening period by 5 points, found themselves chasing their hosts at the halfway stage at 45-37. Magic rallied back in the third period to get back into contention and were leading by 1 point going into
the fourth.
In the final quarter of the game, both teams traded baskets and it looked as though this one would go down to the final seconds. The Sixers led 73-72 with 6:26 minutes remaining in the game when Magic responded back with 5-0 run
to open up a 77-73 advantage, one which proved to be enough till the end of the game.
Howard who had 9 points in the first three periods came up big by ending the night with 20 points. 12 of those came from the free throw line out of which 7 were made in the last quarter.
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