Archive for December, 2009

Hedo Turkoglu returns to Amway Arena with the Toronto Raptors to take on the Orlando Magic. Starters: Toronto Andrea Bargnani Chris Bosh Hedo Turkoglu DeMar Derozan Jarrett Jack Orlando Dwight Howard Rashard Lewis Mickael Pietrus Vince Carter Jameer Nelson Final: Magic win 118-99. I’ll have a full recap and analysis later tonight.

The Magic will take on the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. You can read a preview of the game here. This game will mark Hedo Turkoglu’s return to Orlando. Said Stan Van Gundy of Turkoglu’s return, “He’ll get a great reaction and deservedly so. This guy did a great job for this franchise. I certainly would give him a great reaction if I were sitting up there.” GM Otis Smith originally signed Turkoglu in Orlando, but believed Vince Carter was a better value with a shorter deal. “I’m a Turk fan, but our mission and goal is to win a [...]

The Orlando Magic put an end into their two game losing streak by defeating the Indiana Pacers on Monday night and will look to start a winning streak when they take on the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. The Magic enter the game at 18-6 while the Raptors fell to 11-16 after losing to the Miami Heat on Tuesday night. It was Toronto’s third loss in their last four games. Toronto is 4-11 on the road and the Magic are 8-2 at home. The big story will be the return of Hedo Turkoglu to Amway Arena for the first time [...]

Here’s the official release from the Orlando Magic. ORLANDO MAGIC AND AIRTRAN AIRWAYS DEBUT ‘MAGIC 1’ AIRPLANE Jet is first NBA-themed AirTran Airways plane to hit the skies ORLANDO, FL – The Orlando Magic and AirTran Airways, with the help of the Magic’s Dwight Howard, unveiled the newest member of AirTran Airways’ fleet, ‘Magic 1,’ today at the Magic Carpet Aviation Hangar. The one-of-a-kind, custom-painted Boeing 717 will operate across the company’s network of more than 60 destinations, exposing millions of passengers to the combined brands. In addition to announcing the debut of the first NBA-themed airplane in AirTran Airways’ [...]

John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com is reporting that the NBA has reviewed the technical foul called on Dwight Howard last night and has decided to rescind it. The league office reviewed the incident from Monday’s third quarter when Howard was pulled down by his shoulders and neck by Indiana power forward Troy Murphy. At the time, Howard pushed Murphy off of him following the hard foul and both players were assessed technical fouls. On Tuesday, the league rescinded Howard’s technical foul and upgraded Murphy’s foul to a Flagrant 1 penalty. The league agreed that Howard didn’t throw a punch and was [...]

The Orlando Magic defeated the Indiana Pacers 106-98 on Monday night. See my recap and analysis here. Alex Kennedy was also in attendance Monday night and he shares his postgame thoughts here. Kelly Dwyer goes behind the box score. The Magic developed a counter before too long, though, developing better spacing as the night went on by continually going to Howard in the middle, and even if the results weren’t pretty (Howard missed nine of 22 free throws and six of ten shots), Orlando prevailed. 21 points and 23 boards for Dwight, with four blocks, while Vince Carter(notes) worked well [...]

The Orlando Magic bounced back from a miserable first quarter with a dominating fourth quarter to earn a 106-98 win and end their losing streak at two games. The Magic came out flat, much like they did against the Phoenix Suns on Friday and dug themselves a 17-point hole before staging a second quarter rally. Vince Carter, who was almost didn’t play, finished with a game-high 28 points. Dwight Howard had 21 points and 23 rebounds but his night will probably be best remembered for a near brawl after he was the victim of a hard foul by Pacers Forward [...]

Anthony Johnson had done an excellent job filling in as the #2 Point Guard during Jameer Nelson’s absence. In fact, Johnson has been so good that he has received the crunch time minutes in each of the last two games. Johnson followed up his 11-point fourth quarter performance in Phoenix against the Suns Friday night with another excellent all-around game in Monday’s win over the Indiana Pacers. He finished with 13 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds and just 1 turnover. I caught up with Johnson after the game. AJ discussed the way the bench played. “We were a little low [...]

During the third quarter of Monday night’s game, Pacers Forward Troy Murphy grabbed Howard around the neck. Howard looked like he was going to retaliate, but he did not make contact with Murphy. The Pacers argued that it was a punch and that Howard should have been tossed from the game while Howard and the Magic argued the opposite. Pacers Head Coach Jim O’Brien was very angry in his post game press conference. “I thought he threw a punch. They have to just review it. They’ve got to call it. It certainly should have been a technical foul.” Magic Head [...]

The Orlando Magic take on the Indiana Pacers at 7:00 pm EST Monday night. Starters: Orlando Dwight Howard Rashard Lewis Mickael Pietrus Vince Carter Jason Williams Indiana Roy Hibbert Troy Murphy Mike Dunleavy Brandon Rush T.J. Ford Final: Magic win 106-98 Orlando was clutch down the stretch on both sides of the ball, scoring 10 straight points after trailing 96-94. I’ll have a full recap and analysis later tonight.