Magic Defeat the Bulls, Remain Unbeaten in the Preseason

The Orlando Magic defeated the Chicago Bulls 101-98 in the United Center Monday night.

I kept a live blog throughout the game and you can see that here.

Once again, turnovers plagued the Magic. They had 18 more in what was a pretty sloppy performance, but the Magic kept their composure and came from behind to defeat the Bulls.

The Magic played pretty bad defensively and allowed the Bulls to shoot 50% from the field (37-of-74), but they did make some key stops when they had to. Orlando shot 46.5% from the field (33-of-71) and was 8-of-19 from downtown. Orlando was just 27-of-39 from the free throw line.

Bad defense plus sloppy play is the perfect formula to make Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy very angry.

At least it wound up being a good night offensively.

Ryan Anderson was once again the stud for the Magic. Anderson scored 18 points and was 5-of-9 from the field (4-of-7 from behind the arc). He had a huge three-pointer with the Magic trailing by one that gave them a 94-92 with just 39.9 seconds left. He also stole the final inbound pass, securing the game for the Magic. You would like to see you starting Power Forward grab more than two rebounds, but he still had a very efficient game.

Dwight Howard played more than he has been lately and scored 18 points. Hwas 4-of-5 from the field but once again struggled from the free throw line. He went 10-of-17, but he did hit two big fre throws to extend Orlando’s lead to 96-92 with under 30 seconds to play. He also grabbed 10 rebounds in 29 minutes of play.

Matt Barnes started the game at Small Forward and was fairly effective. As usual, he was all over the court. He played good defense, scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds and had three assists, one of which was an alley-oop to Vince Carter. I expect to see Barnes in the starting lineup come next Wednesday.

Orlando’s starting backcourt also had a good night offensively. Vince Carter was 6-of-10 of the field and only took two 3-pointers, hitting one. He had 4 assists and 4 rebounds, finishing the game with 17 points. He still had some defensive lapses that he needs to work on, but overall, he looks like he’s ready for the season to start. Jameer Nelson was very effective, as usual. He finished with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and showed off the quick first step that made him an All-Star.

Orlando got some pretty good bench play (although the Bulls broadcast would lead you to believe that Orlando had one of the worst second units in the league). Brandon Bass fouled out after scoring 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting and grabbing 4 rebounds. I’d like to see his rebound numbers increase, but Bass played just 18 minutes and 39 seconds. I knew he had a good jumper, but he’s even better than I thought. He doesn’t seem to miss from in between 15 and 18 feet. He is going to be a very valuable player this season.

Mickael Pietrus had a poor shooting night (4-of-12), but still managed to score 11 points.

Anthony Johnson was bad. Again. He was 0-for-3 from the field and had just one assist. He did have some nice hustle plays, but I think it’s safe to say that Jason Williams has the back-up Point Guard spot locked up.
J.J. Redick shot very poorly. He was 0-for-7 from the field and missed his only 3-point attempt, but he still managed to play good defense. He is drawing charges like he did back at Duke and even blocked one of Luol Deng’s shots. He has become a hustle player and a good defender. He’s an asset to this team.

Marcin Gortat had a very quiet night. He took just two shots, making one and had four rebounds in just 19 minutes.

Rashard Lewis did not play. Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy wants the Magic to get used to playing without him.

John Salmons led the Bulls with 19 points. Kirk Hinrich scored 18 and Brad Miller had 15 off of the bench (but just 3 in the second half).

Chicago’s announcers were awful. They wouldn’t stop talking about Hedo Turkoglu and kept talking about how Vince Carter was replacing him at Shooting Guard. Turk was a Small Forward and at times played Power Forward. He wasn’t a shooting guard at all last season. Carter is replacing Courtney Lee.

The announcers also were putting down Orlando’s bench, which is arguably the best bench in the NBA.

Then, Stacey King called for the college rule of alternating possessions because Taj Gibson lost a tip to Ryan Anderson. It was brutal.

The Magic will host the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night at 7:00 PM EST. The game will not be televised, but I will be at Amway, blogging and tweeting away.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)