The Magic's Keith Bogans soars to the basket for 2 of his 6 points in Orlando's 95-70 win over New Jersey.
Photo by Ned Dishman, NBAE/Getty Images
In a hideous display of basketball, the Orlando Magic defeated the New Jersey Nets by a score of 95-70 to improve to 6-0 on the road and 8-2 overall. Here's the boxscore.
Tonight's game was much like Tuesday's contest against Seattle. It's not that we played well enough to win, but rather that the Nets played horridly enough to lose. They opened and closed the game on bad notes, managing just 10 points in the first quarter and 11 in the fourth. They shot under 30% from the field and under 70% at the foul line. All the Magic had to do was rebound and not turn the ball over, really.
The complexion of the game changed for good in the third quarter, when Sean Williams of the Nets missed a jam that would have cut our lead to 5. Jameer Nelson drilled a three-pointer on the other end to extend the lead to 8. After Richard Jefferson sank two free throws for the Nets, Rashard Lewis streaked down the court for another three, and the momentum shifted in our direction once more. We would not relinquish it.
Rashard Lewis (27 points) and Dwight Howard (21 points, 19 rebounds) played well for Orlando, but no one else distinguished himself. The Magic will need to play much sharper if they hope to beat the undefeated Celtics on Sunday.
Other notes:
- Dwight Howard became the youngest player to ever reach 3000 rebounds.
- Pat Garrity took Trevor Ariza's spot in the rotation and scored 4 points before leaving with an apparent ankle injury.
- Ariza scored on a breakaway dunk with 5 seconds to play, which New Jersey's Malik Allen took exception to. Allen took the inbounds pass, dribbled out the clock, then threw the ball in the direction of (not at) Ariza while shouting at him. Ariza responded by throwing the ball back in Allen's direction. The situation did not escalate further.
- Jason Kidd had a career-high 19 rebounds. He also had 11 points and 10 assists, giving him 89 career triple-doubles. Commentator Mark Jackson noted that the Nets would be much better off if they had a post player who could rebound and immediately outlet the ball to Kidd, rather than relying on Kidd to rebound and push the tempo all by himself. It's hard to disagree with him.
- James Augustine continues to make the most of his garbage-time minutes. In a shade under 3 minutes of time, Augustine hit a tough jumper from the right baseline and also recorded a steal and an assist.