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| 4-1 | 4-1 | |
| Amway Arena | ||
| 7:00 PM | ||
| Probable starters: | ||
| Tony Parker | PG | Jameer Nelson |
| Michael Finley | SG | Keith Bogans |
| Bruce Bowen | SF | Hedo Turkoglu |
| Fabricio Oberto | PF | Pat Garrity |
| Tim Duncan | C | Dwight Howard |
25 words or fewer: The Magic make their final tune-up before the regular season starts by facing the Spurs, the defending champions.
Know your enemy: The Spurs are holding their preseason opponents to 91.4 points per game, seventh-best in the league.
Useless information: By defeating Miami on Wednesday night, the Spurs guaranteed the Heat their first winless preseason in the team's 20-year history.
Bullet points:
- Tonight is the final preseason game for the Magic, which means the starters are not likely to see much playing time. As a result, we'll be treated to matchups like Marcin Gortat vs. Ian Mahinmi, James Augustine vs. Matt Bonner, and Kevin Kruger vs. (gulp) Manu Ginobili. Fun times.
- Favorite Spurs-related quote: I can't imagine how anyone could root for the Spurs. It would be like cheering for cancer.
- Rashard Lewis and J.J. Redick will sit out tonight for Orlando...
- ... but Keyon Dooling and Trevor Ariza will play. Dooling has not played yet this preseason, so it will be interesting to see how he fits into Stan Van Gundy's rotation. Can he win the backup point guard job from Carlos Arroyo? I think he will, mostly because he plays better defense.
- The game will not be televised, but you can listen to it for free online on NBA Audio League Pass. That's a site you'll want to bookmark, especially if you don't get Fox Sports Net, which is televising 35 Magic games this year despite the fact that most Orlando residents can't get it.
- Both teams take -- and make, for that matter -- a ton of three-pointers. If the Magic are able to win more, they should win the game... unless Manu Ginobili gets to the foul line 15 times, in which case it won't matter.
- I'm not advocating thuggery, but if Bruce Bowen took an elbow to the face, I wouldn't be sad.
I'm going to be away from the computer for most of the day, so I encourage you to check out John Denton at Florida Today and Brian Schmitz at the Orlando Sentinel for your Magic news. Discussions abound at Magic Madness. And if you're looking to kill a few hours, try this criminally addictive online tennis game. I promise you that you will not get any work done at all.