Orlando Magic 107, Oklahoma City Thunder 92

by Evan Dunlap on Nov 13, 2008 6:37 PM EST in 2008/2009 Recaps

After the Orlando Magic defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 109-92, last night, I thought about recapping the game simply by posting Dwight Howard's stats. I didn't get around to it, which left the door wide open for Kelly Dwyer to do something similar in his Behind the Box Score feature this morning:

Orlando 109, Oklahoma City 92

Dwight Howard had 30 points, 19 rebounds, and 10 blocks in this game. Mentioning anything else would be doing you a disservice.

Of course, he's right, so now I'm left scrambling to find something else to say about the game. Curse you, Dwyer!

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Magic	101	107.9	48.9%	22.0	18.4	7.9
Thunder	101	91.1	39.0%	23.1	19.6	12.9

If nothing else, we should note that Jameer Nelson and Mickael Pietrus' contributions mitigated the lack of production from Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis. Turk finished with 15 points and a team-high 7 assists, but shot just 3-of-13 from the field. Meanwhile, Lewis continued to struggle with 13 points on 6-of-15 shooting, and once again failed to attempt a free throw. The fact that it took a positively Olajuwonian effort from Howard, as well as strong performances from Nelson and Pietrus, to defeat a cellar-dwelling team without its best player speaks volumes to Lewis' value to Orlando. The margin of victory in this one could have been 40+ points if Rashard was hitting from the outside.

Although Oklahoma City's bench outscored Orlando's, it overall performed worse. Russell Westbrook, the 4th overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft, attempted 19 shots in 30 minutes... and made just 3 of them. At least Orlando's Anthony Johnson (3 assists, 2 steals), Tony Battie (4 points, 7 rebounds), and Courtney Lee (4 points, 3 steals) were more efficient.

An intriguing subplot: J.J. Redick's prolonged shooting slump. Redick played 4 minutes of garbage time--as the team's sixth guard--and missed both his shot attempts, brining him to 0-for-10 on the young season. Earlier in the day, he groused to the media about his slipping in the rotation, believing he should have a longer leash after working so hard to improve his strength and quickness over the summer. My feeling is that his Magic career will end sooner rather than later, as Lee's defense appears to have cemented him as the Magic's sixth-man of the future, and his shot will come around soon enough. Disappointing.

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Comments

30/19/10

My God. Thats such a ridiculous stat line. 10 boards for Jameer is a great stat also. Your right; they should have beat them by 40 but a W is a W they seem to at least be playing with some confidence.

JJ needs to shut up. I could understand last year’s request, but when things are not going his way he has to keep working hard and have a good attitude about it. He’s actually lucky they picked up his option for next year. He’ll be out of the league in 2 years if he keeps this attitude. I’m just mad because he has totally killed any trade value he may have had for us.

by L Magico on Nov 13, 2008 8:19 PM EST reply actions

Lee

… has earned the minutes. He’s been hustling out there and really putting a concerted effort on the defensive side of the court. I think SVG has seen that and thus, has rewarded the rookie with more playing time. His offense will come around … his defense so far has been a welcome sight to see.

Senior Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website
Class of 2009 - DePaul University

by erivera7 on Nov 13, 2008 10:18 PM EST reply actions

may prove to be an unpopular comment, but i would love to see JJ traded if we got something decent in return.
I’m not too sure where all the JJ love comes from within the Magic community, and i have nothing against him on a personal level, but he is really yet to prove his worth in any rotation.
many will say that is not his fault, that if SVG gave him a chance in games he would show his worth, but these same people seem to believe he is only seen performing during games.
He also practices against NBA caliber players during team prac, right under SVG’s nose. I’ve got massive faith in SVG, and if he says the best place for JJ is way down on the rotation, doesn’t that say something?

And can someone please locate the real Rashard Lewis? if this ‘Shard look-a-like’ keeps playing in his place, we are all in Big, big trouble…

by FLYNN47 on Nov 13, 2008 10:20 PM EST reply actions

'Shard

He’s a shooter … they’ll have their slumps. Remember when everyone was quick to call Ray Allen’s demise in the playoffs last season? Just be patient, ‘Shard will snap out of it. It’s a long season, I rather him peaking late than early.

Senior Writer for DePaul's Scout.com website
Class of 2009 - DePaul University

by erivera7 on Nov 13, 2008 11:24 PM EST up reply actions

Very true. Don’t get me wrong, i’m a big Lewis fan, even in Seattle and was stoked when we signed him. I thought of ray ray’s slump too and these things don’t tend to last longer that a half-dozen games at most. He’s a pure shooter and you’ve just gotta keep taking the shots till they start to fall.
Hopefully it’s not knocking his confidence around too much.

by FLYNN47 on Nov 13, 2008 11:49 PM EST up reply actions

Completly agree, Shard will come around. With these type of players you have to take the good with the bad. The same thing goes for Reddick. He’ll snap out of his shooting slump, unfortunatly there is more at stake when he goes cold.

by magic fanatic on Nov 14, 2008 12:57 AM EST up reply actions