Orlando Magic 97, Los Angeles Clippers 86: The Morning After

Dwight Howard does it all for Orlando Magic against L.A. Clippers
Brian Schmitz points out how the Orlando Magic were able to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers on Dwight Howard's birthday.

The last time the Magic were in this building, they were playing for a championship.That was in June and the opponent was the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Staples Center's other tenant and L.A.s other team, the Clippers, offer a far less imposing and intriguing challenge. Similar to Saturday night's victory in Oakland against Golden State, the Magic started strong but faded. They pulled it out in the fourth quarter. [...]

The Magic were following virtually the same script as they did against the Warriors, a veteran team making enough plays at closing time.

Denton: Magic-Clippers Postgame Analysis
John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com provides his analysis of yesterday's game between the Magic and the Clippers.

Howard was in Los Angeles to face the Clippers on his birthday for the second straight year, and again he delivered a breath-taking performance to help the Magic record a bit of history.

Riding Howard’s 25 points, 11 rebounds, seven blocked shots and five assists, Orlando thumped the Clippers 97-86 for its eighth consecutive road victory. That’s the most consecutive road games the Magic have ever won in one season, topping the previous mark set in 1997.

``I’m not satisfied, but I think we are getting better,’’ Howard said. ``That’s what we want as a team, and we’re doing that. We’re just trying to stay humble and not get complacent with how good we’re doing. Everything could change, so we want to continue to work on our game and get better.’’

The Magic Are Winning And Having Fun
J.A. Adande of ESPN.com recaps Orlando's victory against Los Angeles last night, in which the defending Eastern Conference Champions tied a franchise-record by winning its eighth consecutive road game.

The Orlando Magic won their eighth consecutive road game to raise their record to 17-4, tied with Boston for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Serious numbers.

Dwight Howard had 25 points, 11 rebounds, seven blocked shots and five assists. Serious stats.

The digits all say we should take the Magic seriously. And yet this is still a locker room in which you can see Howard doing his impression of Stan Van Gundy as a sumo wrestler, hear Howard and Marcin Gortat argue over which Autobots they would be if they were Transformers, see Rashard Lewis break out a Flip camera to record Vince Carter's postgame interviews and hear Jason Williams, for no apparent reason, toss out a random Nice & Smooth lyric ("Sometimes I rhyme slow, sometimes I rhyme quick.")

Williams was on the fun-lovin', freestylin' Sacramento Kings teams at the end of the 1990s and he said this team is better ... and even looser.

"It's everybody," Williams said. "Coaches get involved, too."

Behind the Box Score, where Josh Howard is back
UPDATE: Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don't Lie briefly sums up the contest.

The Magic kept doubling Baron Davis, which led to a close game for the first three quarters. Not sure if this was Stan Van Gundy's intention, or some bad floating defense from Dwight Howard. Either way, it was bad, floating defense. Howard made up for it in the fourth quarter, and he finished with seven blocks, while totaling 25 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists overall.

Game Notes: Magic at Clippers
UPDATE 2: Graham Flashner of SLAM ONLINE elaborates on the happenings that occurred before, during, and after the game. A good read.