The Orlando Magic are coming off a huge win, a 96-89 victory over the Boston Celtics that allowed the Magic to virtually erase their loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday (or at least allowed their fans to forget about it). The Hornets, who had lost three straight games got a win over the Bobcats on Saturday night to put an end to their losing streak. The Hornets are currently two games out of the eighth spot (behind the Portland Trail Blazers) so every game is important.
The city of New Orleans is abuzz because of the Saints’ Super Bowl victory over the Indianapolis Colts and the Hornets would love to ride that momentum to a victory Monday night.
The 27-24 Hornets have been without the league’s best point guard and their best player, Chris Paul and will be for at least another month. The Magic enter the game looking for their sixth win in seven games and their ninth win in their last 11 games. The Hornets are 11-16 away from home and the Magic are 19-5 at Amway Arena.
Tip-off from the Am is scheduled for 8:00 pm EST and you can watch the game nationally on TNT. As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can listen to it locally on WDBO AM 580 and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030.
Sebastian Pruiti, who is a writer for Nets Are Scorching and has helped HTD preview this season’s Nets-Magic games by exchanging questions with me, has a second gig writing for NBA Playbook. He has a great video breakdown of Orlando’s third quarter explosion against the Boston Celtics Sunday afternoon.
At halftime of the Celtics-Magic game, it looked like Boston was pulling away turning this game into a blowout. The Celtics had just outscored the Magic by 10 points in the second quarter, and they went into halftime with an 11 point lead. The Magic came out in the third quarter, and the game did turn into a blowout, just the other way around. The Magic outscored the Celtics in the third 36 to 11. Lets look at how they did it:
Alex Kennedy, HTD’s friend from Hoops World, was told by Brandon Bass’ agent that Bass won’t be traded before the deadline.
I spoke with Brandon’s agent over the weekend and he assured me that Bass is not getting traded. Both sides still want to make the situation in Orlando work and believe that a split at this point would be premature. Bass isn’t moving before the deadline.
Kennedy answered some other Magic questions in his weekly chat.
You can read the full news and notes post from this morning here.
The Orlando Magic overcame a double digit second half deficit against the Boston Celtics for the second time in 10 days, this time winning 96-89.
Josh Robbins called Vince Carter and Dwight Howard’s performances clutch.
It also mattered that Dwight Howard played the entire second half after he sat out most of the first half because of foul trouble. As the team walked into its locker room at halftime, Vince Carter took Howard aside and said, “Take over and dominate.”
Howard responded to the challenge. In the second half, he scored 14 of his 16 points and collected 10 of his 13 rebounds to fuel the Orlando comeback.
Carter played a big role, too. Coming off of perhaps the worst month of his pro career, the embattled shooting guard finished with a game-high 20 points.
Just like they did 10 days ago, the Boston Celtics came out of the gate playing well and had an 11-point third quarter lead, but the Magic, like they did 10 days ago, fought back. Orlando dominated the third period, outscoring the Celtics 36-11 to take a 14-point lead into the final period. Orlando held on late for a 96-89 win. Vince Carter led all scorers with 20 points and Dwight Howard added 16 points and 13 rebounds. Rajon Rondo was excellent for the Celtics – he had 17 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.
The Orlando Magic blew a 21-point first quarter lead and lost the Washington Wizards, a team that is 15 games under .500. The Magic will be looking to get a win over the Boston Celtics to make up for the loss while the Celtics will be looking for revenge after losing to the Magic in the closing seconds just over a week ago. The Celtics also played poorly on Friday night but they were able to rally for a 96-87 victory over the 4-45 New Jersey Nets.
The 33-17 Magic have posted a 2-1 record against the 32-16 Celtics so far this season and won the only game played at the Garden so far this season. The Magic are 14-12 on the road for the season while Boston is actually not as good as they are at home – they’re 15-8 in the garden.
Tip-off from the T.D. Banknorth Garden in Boston is scheduled for 2:30 pm EST and you can watch the game nationally on ABC. ABC’s preview show, “NBA Countdown,” starts at 2:00 pm EST. As always, if you can’t watch the game, you can listen to it locally on WDBO AM 580 and in Spanish on WONQ AM 1030.
