The Magic topped what they did in the first quarter during the second quarter. The Magic had very good energy and continued to play smart, getting the ball into Dwight Howard, who finished the half with 18 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. The Magic scored the last 11 points of the quarter to push their 56-41 lead to 67-41. The Magic were not as good from beyond the arc (3-of-8 as compared 4-of-7 in the first quarter), but got some good close looks and shut much better on two-pointers ( 10-of-16 as compared to 7-of-14) Dwight Howard had a few highlight reel plays and that doesn’t include his usual dunks. Howard had a beautiful running hook on a play that was well-defended. Howard also made a great pass to a cutting Mickael Pietrus for a dunk but the play of the day came in the last minute of the half. Brandon Bass, who had one of his best halves of the season (6 points, 5 rebounds), blocked a three-point attempt and Howard came up with the ball. Howard dribbled down the court, crossed over at the free throw line and found Bass for an open dunk. Howard, who also did an excellent job defending All-Star Chris Kaman, played the entire first half and told Paul Kennedy that it was a reward for not picking up a foul.

The two teams played a pretty ho-hum third quarter. Baron Davis heated up for the Clippers, scoring 10 points in the quarter. Jameer Nelson also had a good quarter. He scored 7 points and dished out 2 assists. Dwight Howards exited the game for the first time at the 3:43 mark with 22 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. The Magic were actually outscored 27-24 and ended the quarter with a 91-68 lead.

Orlando started the final quarter 7-2 run and pushed the lead to 28. It was mostly back and forth for the rest of the quarter as the teams both emptied their benches. Even Ryan Anderson and Anthony Johnson got into the action. Anderson got a dunk on his first offensive possession and wound up scoring 6 points and grabbing 3 rebounds. AJ failed to score but he did have an assist and a steal. The Magic outscored the Clippers 22-19 in the final quarter and came away with a 113-87 victory.

Baron Davis led the Clippers with 16 points. 11 players scored for the Magic and 6 of those 11 scored in double figures. Howard led the way with 22 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Jameer Nelson added 17 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).

“Yeah I heard about that this morning,” Barnes said of Odom’s comments. “I’m not going to sit up here and get into a name-calling battle with someone. the lakers are where we want to be. If that’s what you do when you’re at the top, that’s what you do. Talk [expletive]. Don’t matter, we’re just trying to get there. They got the ring. We’re going to be there at the end.”

None of this was about disrespecting Bryant’s game, of course. Barnes stressed that despite this Bryant scored 34 point and nearly won the game for the Lakers. Barnes said Kobe is the best player in the world, better than LeBron James.

“Best player in the world,” Barnes said. “Kobe’s a killer. He’s got that killer instinct. You see him last night, if his foot wasn’t on the line, it could’ve been a different game. I was on him both those threes. He’s got that killer instinct. He’s got four rings. He’s the best player. I wasn’t trying to get in his head at all. Just you’re not going to throw elbows at me.”

Tania Ganguli has that story here.

You can read more quotes from after the game Sunday afternoon here.

Will Matt Barnes return next season?

Barnes signed a two-year deal with the Orlando Magic last offseason, but he has an option to leave as a free agent after the season.

Asked by the Sentinel on Monday what he hoped the Magic would do, he said, “I hope give me a multiyear offer.

“I’m in my eighth year now, and I’ve had an amazing, up-and-down, roller-coaster career up to this point. Hopefully, the team, the organization and the city likes what I bring. Hopefully, we can make something happen.”

Brian Schmitz has that story here.

The Magic will play host to the Los Angeles Clippers Tuesday night and you can read about that game here.

Dwight Howard has one less technical foul than the Magic originally thought.

Howard picked up a tech in Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, but as we know now, it turned out to be his 13th, not his 14th. So, Howard can compile two more techs over the Magic’s 18 remaining regular-season games without receiving a suspension.

Josh Robbins has more on that here.

Howard has also updated his blog, talking about Sunday’s win.

Since I’m a dog lover, I’ll break it down for you this way: You had a team of pit bulls (us) and a team of cane corsos (da Lakers), and that’s what happens in a game like that. It gets nasty with claws flying and dudes biting and scratching and scrapping. We’re the pit bulls cause pit bulls are a little shorter and cane corsos are a little taller. But hey, we kept scrapping and we got the job done.

Plus, we had heard some yapping from the Lakers that we were considered “puppy dogs,’’ so that gave us a little more motivation. We had to show them that we had the fight and the bite of an alpha dog.

I’ve got to give it up to my man Matt Barnes, who fought Kobe Bryant tooth and nail all afternoon. We don’t win that game without him getting into Kobe and keeping the pressure on him all day. He was contesting shots, fighting for rebounds and he made that huuuuuuuuuuge 3 late in the game to put us up by six points.

You can read his blog here.

It is the birthday of both Adonal Foyle and Matt Barnes and HTD would like to wish them a very happy birthday.

Speaking of Foyle, he would like to continue playing past this season.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be around this game for as long as I have,” said Foyle, who is celebrating his 35th birthday today. “It’s been fun. I really enjoy it and I still do. I still do.

“I’m not giving it up,” he added later.

Foyle will be an unrestricted free agent this season.

Matt Barnes also is celebrating a birthday today — his 30th.

“I don’t feel any different,” Barnes said after the Magic completed their shootaround for tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers. “It’s just I’m 30. So, today would be a good day to get a win.”

Josh Robbins has that story here.

Kevin Arnovitz of TrueHoop wonders if Orlando’s Tuesday night opponent, the Clippers, are behind the curve.

The Clippers aren’t ignorant of advanced metrics. Mike Dunleavy made the wise decision to shift Rasual Butler into the starting lineup in part because basic plus-minus data were telling him that was the smart thing to do. Back in October, team executives said they targeted Craig Smith in the off-season because they loved his efficiency numbers. But these observations barely penetrate the surface of the shale. There is so much to be understood, a fact more and more teams are beginning to grasp.

You can find that story here.

Steve Perrin of Clips Nation preview Tuesday night’s game.

Stretch fours. Rashard Lewis is the prototypical stretch four that always gave Marcus Camby trouble, since he preferred blocking shots to defending the three point arc. We’ll see if Drew Gooden does any better against him.

You can find that here.

SI wonders if Larry Brown could have interest in the Clippers job.

Brown, according to sources, was concerned that George Postolos, Charlotte’s would-be owner if Jordan’s group hadn’t raised the necessary capital, was prepared to clean house, which meant that Brown would have been out. To preserve his position as an NBA coach, Brown reached out to Clippers owner Donald Sterling to let him know that he is open to returning to L.A.

You can find that story here.

Will R. shares his thoughts in the newest edition of “Diary of a Clippers fan.”

Look, we Clippers fans are used to losing, injuries and all that, it’s part of our DNA. But even with that said, we at least took some pride in knowing that our team would compete and stay close this year. Sure this season was a foregone conclusion after it became clear Blake Griffin wouldn’t suit up, the Memphis collapse, and later the Marcus Camby/Al Thornton trades, but the sum of our parts still made us expect something other than blowouts.

You can find that here.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).

Yardbarker.com

The Orlando Magic are coming off a big win over the Los Angeles Lakers and on Tuesday night, they will attempt to beat a team from the same town when they play host to the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers are reeling, having lost their last three games and five of their last six. The Magic have won their last five games and seven of their last eight.

The Clippers were very busy during the trade deadline. They acquired Drew Gooden from Washington in exchange for Al Thornton and sent Sebastian Telfair to Cleveland. In that same deal, Cleveland acquired Antawn Jamison and Washington acquired Zydrunas Ilgauskus. The Clippers also sent Center Marcus Camby to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake.  Back on February 4th, the Clippers also announced that Head Coach Mike Dunleavy was stepping down. Kim Hughes replaced him and the Clippers are 4-10 since the move was made.

The Magic defeated the Clippers on December 8th 97-86.

The Clippers are once again heading to the lottery with a record of 25-38. The Magic are now 44-20, just two games behind the Lakers and 5.5 games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the best record in the NBA. The Clippers are 18-14 at home but are just 7-25 on the road. The Magic have protected Amway Arena well, posting a record of 25-6 there, including wins over the Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland, Boston and Atlanta.

Tip-off from the Am is scheduled for 7:00 pm EST and the game will be shown on FSN Florida. 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.

The Line: Orlando – 11.5

Starters:

Orlando Magic

Dwight Howard
Rashard Lewis
Matt Barnes
Vince Carter
Jameer Nelson

Los Angeles Clippers

Chris Kaman
Drew Gooden
Travis Outlaw
Rasual Butler
Baron Davis Steve Blake

These two teams met back on December 8th during one of Orlando’s west coast road trips. Orlando took an early 10-point lead, but they couldn’t put the Clippers away, allowing them to chip away at the lead and even held a one-point lead with 2:23 to go in the third quarter. The Magic played lock down defense the rest of the way and outscored the Clippers 29-17 from that point on. Jameer Nelson missed the game with a torn meniscus but Jason Williams did a great job of filling in, scoring 16 points and dishing out 3 assists. Dwight Howard led the Magic with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 7 blocks and 5 assists. Eric Gordon scored 21 points while Baron Davis had 18 points and 11 assists.

The Clippers’ offense has not been good. They score 95.7 points per game and rank just 25th in efficiency. The Clippers are led offensively by All-Star Center Chris Kaman, who is scoring 19.4 points per game grabbing 9.4 rebounds per game.

Second-year Guard Eric Gordon gave the Magic trouble back in their first meeting, but he is listed as questionable and missed Saturday’s night game in Utah.

Baron Davis is a big, strong point guard that really did a good job of getting his teammates involved in their first meeting. Davis is averaging 15.0 points per game and is shooting 38.9% from the field, some of the lowest numbers of his career, but Davis is putting up 7.9 assists per game.

The Magic come in with the league’s third-most efficient defense and give up just 95.5 points per game. Center Dwight Howard has the task of covering the Clippers’ leading scorer, Kaman.

The Clippers’ defense has played much better in comparison with their offense. They give up 100.8 points per game but rank 13th in defensive efficiency.

The two teams play at almost identical pace (ORL – 94.9, LAC – 94.8).

Orlando would like to try to clean up their turnover issues. Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy has been harping on that all season. The Magic turned the ball over 20 times against the Lakers on Sunday.

Orlando needs to avoid a hangover from the big win on Sunday. If they come out, keep their energy high and their intensity up, they should dispatch of the Clippers.

Coincidently, Orlando won their sixth straight game when they beat the Clippers in December.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).

Click below to read what each team had to say.

Orlando Magic

Head Coach Stan Van Gundy

On the game…

“That was just a battle. That was much more of a battle than a basketball game. It was extremely physical, both teams fought extremely hard the entire way.”

On what went wrong …

“Nothing was ever easy and it was just a game, where, you know, I didn’t think we played very well, to be honest. 20 turnovers is not good .I keep saying it, but we’ve got to find a way to handle the basketball better. We missed key free throws down the stretch.  So, I don’t think we played very well, but I thought we played very very hard.”

On Jameer Nelson…

“Jameer gets nine rebounds, he’s like my size, I thought our guys fought extremely hard…he had some key turnovers, he missed a big free throw, and I’m trying to put him down, but I’m not going with the “he did everything right,” 5-of-14 from the floor, OK. But I thought what he did is he created shots for us. Against a team that it’s very tough for us to get good looks, but he was in the paint, drawing people, making plays, hitting some of his own shots. Don’t get me wrong, he was instrumental. There’s no way we win that game without the plays he was making, he was phenomenal.”

On what the win means…

“What it meant to me was how hard we played. Dwight came in and obviously commented on the fact that we didn’t play well down the stretch and he said, “we got the win, that’s all that matters.” And I said that’s not all that matters. What matters even more than a win and I mean this, is, how hard we played, because I know we can play better but if we play with that intensity level all the time, we will be very very tough to beat.”

On his third quarter interview…

”By the way, I gave a good third quarter interview today. A very good third quarter interview. Get a quote from Lisa Salters about that. That was a very good interview.”

Vince Carter

On the aggressive play…

“I was just trying to take what was there; they put so much emphasis on Dwight that they won’t let him get easy catches. I was trying to be aggressive and not force anything. In a game like this, with two defensive teams going at it, there won’t be a whole lot of open shots to take.”

On the late-game missed free throw…

“That bothered me. After I made 12 in a row in the game, then to go to the end of a game and miss one? It bothered me for sure.”

Matt Barnes

On how he keeps his cool…

“You have to remember that it is a team sport, there are no individuals out there. If I get in trouble or get a technical, than I am hurting the team. Our team helps each other out with the intensity. If one of us gets out of line we hear about it from one or two guys, which has gotten us out of some trouble this year.”

Jameer Nelson

On the team’s improved defense…

“Just focus. Our focus is unbelievable right now. We’re getting into people. Our game plan that coach puts out there – we focus on that and we just have to continue to get better.”

On if the Magic are at a championship level…

“Our team’s goal is to win a championship, so no, this game doesn’t win us the trophy. The next few weeks will determine which level we will be at. It matters how hard we work and how committed we need to be. We need to work as a team, play well together and win some games.”

On his rebounding…

“I’m a rebounding machine.”

Dwight Howard

On how physical the game was…

“Oh no, every game is physical. The Lakers are a big team, with a big lineup. They have big, strong guys that come off the bench so that type of game is what we expected. We just wanted to play our brand of basketball and get the job done.”

On how good it felt to get the win…

“It felt great. From the time we stepped onto the court, all we’ve been thinking about is “W.”

On Jameer Nelson’s play…

“He’s been playing better. I think he’s getting better. He’s not allowing anything to frustrate him. He’s the point guard so he has to get everyone involved but he has to get himself involved.”

On Nelson’s rebounding…

“He was the second best rebounder on the floor tonight which is great coming from a guy who’s under 5’5. Oh he’s 5’2? To be a dwarf, it’s unbelievable to see a guy like Jameer get up and rebound. He’s bar-none the best dwarf to ever play. He actually climbed up on Matt (Barnes) and got a couple of rebounds.”

On Matt Barnes…

“He just plays hard. We needed someone who was going to defend, be tough, be physical and play the wings. And he does an excellent job of that.”

This is courtesy of HoopsWorld.com’s Alex Kennedy.

Howard, on the other hand, coined the phrase “Matticality” because of the physicality that Barnes brings to the team.

And for maybe the quote of the night outside of Howard…

Mickael Pietrus

On the lack of reporters around him (instead flocking to Carter, Barnes, Nelson and Howard)…

“None of you are invited to my bar-be-que.”

Los Angeles Lakers (Lakers quotes are courtesy of the Orlando Magic, Hoopsworld.com’s Alex Kennedy, and Charlie Bernstein of ESPN Radio AM 1420 St. Augustine as I was in the Orlando locker room).

Head Coach Phil Jackson

On if being outrebounded contributed to the loss…

“I don’t think so. The offensive rebounds were the same. The points scored off rebounds were the same. We just didn’t shoot the ball well. We had 15 more shots than they did and didn’t complete. Obviously, when you foul that often, you’re going to get more foul shots. And turnovers were quite a disparity. We did a good job in that arena. But the little things. A toe. The length of a toe.”

On Matt Barnes…

“He was very feisty. He was a feisty player today, but his three was kind of the shot that hurt us the most.”

On Ron Artest…

“Well, the first time I kind of looked at him, I thought he was Dennis Rodman. He kind of reminded me of Dennis. His shoulders and his hairdo and whatnot, but he had a struggle today. He couldn’t make a shot and everything was a foul on Carter. He ended up at the foul line many, many times. He shot 14 foul shots. A lot of foul shots, so Ron really didn’t get a chance to play the defense that he’s touted to play.”

On if the Magic are better than they were last season….

“I can’t comment on that really. They beat us twice last year. We’re one and one this year in the series. We don’t see them that often. Jason Williams looked like he was a help out there today. Barnes did an admiral job of standing up Kobe during the course of the game. Carter had a scoring night. He was effective out there as far as what he did. I think they’re as good, maybe better, a little better than they were last year.”

Ron Artest

On Matt Barnes…

“He played decent. He hit some shots. They played good team ball. For me it was regular game with a lot of effort that didn’t translate into a win.”

On the three game losing streak…

“It is not that (a three game losing streak) that is something to worry about. It is just that when we came into the season we all had one goal. Everybody knows what that is. There are some things to fix probably but we are hungry. It’s a good thing for us.”

Lamar Odom

On the loss…

“When you actually win a Championship, everybody is going to come at you like you are the World Champion of the world and try and beat you. This year we have made a lot of opposing teams happy especially on their home court. They will be partying tonight in Orlando and I am sure they are excited. We beat them here last year.”

On Matt Barnes…

“Matt Barnes…he was an action figure today. He was really involved and really into the game. It is too bad are not going to see them again (during the regular season). It is too bad we are not on the East Coast. He was really riled up today.”

Kobe Bryant

On the game…

“It was a great game. These are the types of things (physicality) that we like to see when you start getting into potential Finals contenders. We had a game before the trip vs. Denver which was kind of the same way. It is that time of year. It is good to get a little chippy.”

On his three-pointer that was later ruled a two-pointer…

“I knew I was going to have that look before the game. I was sitting on that play the whole game. I got exactly what I wanted but my damn toes. I knew I should have cut my toes this morning. That was exactly what I wanted.”

On the final shot…

“It felt a little off when it left my hand. I didn’t release it the way I really to so I tried to compensate for it because I felt the ball slipping. That is my shot. You give that to me 10 times and I make it 9 times.”

On if the Magic have improved from last year…

“They are very similar. They have more length with Barnes and Vince.”

On what effect Barnes has on him…

“It’s entertaining. It’s entertaining.”

Matt Barnes cleared some things up on his twitter account and Tania Ganguli, who was at practice on Monday, cleared up some other things.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).

AP Photo/John Raoux

In front of a wild crowd at Amway Arena, the Orlando Magic defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 96-94.

Vince Carter was excellent for the Magic on Sunday.

Vince Carter resembled the dynamic playmaker the Magic traded for last June on Sunday, getting to the free throw line early and knocking down big shots late in the game. He had 25 points on five of 10 shooting and 13 from 14 from the free throw line. Carter was irked at himself for missing a free throw down the stretch that could have made it a three-point spread, but he was happy that the Magic thrived in a nasty type of game that had all the feeling of a NBA Finals showdown.

“It was a battle, but these games are fun to play,’’ Carter said. “It was very much a playoff atmosphere out there. It was two great teams going at it. But the funny thing about it was it wasn’t even a playoff game. You could just see it on everyone’s face and everyone’s demeanor that they wanted to win this game.’’

Orlando survived despite 34 points and seven assists from Bryant. He woke up sick Sunday morning, struggled with his shot most of the day, but came alive in the fourth and almost rescued the Lakers. L.A. lost a third consecutive game for the first time since January of 2008, a span of more than two years.

John Denton shares his postgame analysis here.

Matt Barnes defense and toughness helped the Magic get a key win.

“You hate me if I’m against you, but you love me if I am with you because I got my teammates’ back,” Barnes said, “I respect everyone but I fear nobody.”

That includes Bryant. They mixed it up with a little bit of playground spice. They drew double technicals after one spirited exchange in the third quarter. There were other forget-me-not bouquets in the afternoon: Barnes almost whacking Bryant in the face on an out-of-bounds play. A couple of elbow shots by Bryant. An inches-from-a-head-butt retort by Barnes.

George Diaz has that story here.

With wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers in the last three weeks, Brian Schmitz wonders if the Magic are a better team than they were last year.

Sure, you can get a temperature reading on the Magic by listing their latest, greatest victims: They’ve beaten the Boston Celtics (twice), Cleveland Cavaliers and the Lakers while going 18-5 in the second half of the season.

But attaching a face to the Magic evaluation makes it even more meaningful, if not credible, especially when it’s Lakers coach Phil Jackson’s.

“I think they’re as good, maybe better, a little better than they were last year,” Jackson said.

You can find that story here.

The Lakers lost their third straight game but Kobe Bryant was happy with their effort.

That’s all Kobe Bryant wanted of his team when he cursed them out on Saturday afternoon, demanding more effort than he saw in consecutive losses to Miami and Charlotte.

That’s why even though the Los Angeles Lakers (46-18) dropped their third consecutive game on Sunday to the Magic (43-21), even though Bryant missed a game-tying jumper in the final seconds, he was happy with his team’s effort.

“In Miami, we didn’t play hard enough; Charlotte, same thing,” Bryant said. “[Today] we competed. I think we have to take this mind set, take this attitude and push it forth for the remainder of the season and [understand] that if we play with this effort it’s really, really hard to beat us four times.”

Tania Ganguli has that story here.

Dan Savage and Josh Cohen take a look at several of the storylines from Sunday afternoon’s game as they go “Around the Amway.” You can find that here.

Alex Kennedy was in attendance and offered up some interesting and funny news about Matt Barnes.

Matt Barnes and Kobe Bryant got into it a few times during the game and the Lakers didn’t have many kind words to say after the game. Lamar Odom likened Barnes to a wrestler who acts tough and puts on a show to get the crowd involved. He said that someone should have brought him a cape and tights and also compared him to Ric Flair. When asked if Barnes was getting in his head, Kobe Bryant laughed and said that Matt was “entertaining.” Howard, on the other hand, coined the phrase “Matticality” because of the physicality that Barnes brings to the team.

Read his courtside blog here.

Philip Rossman-Reich also offered praise for Barnes.

It was Barnes who followed a Bryant miss with a wide open 3-point hit with 1:10 remaining to give the Magic a six-point lead. It was Barnes who got into a shoving fight with Bryant earning the two technical fouls for the effort. It was Barnes who was constantly shoving and playing mind games with the Black Mamba throughout the day to throw him off his game.

It was Barnes who ultimately was defending Bryant as his fade-away two-pointer clanged off the rim no good, allowing the Magic to survive with a 96-94 win at Amway Arena on Sunday afternoon, avenging in part last year’s loss to the Lakers in the Finals.

Barnes never does too much that stands out in the box score. But it was hard not to notice him in this one. He was jawing with Bryant all game and doing everything he could to throw the superstar off his game.

You can read his recap here.

Mike Medina of the LA Times breaks down the Barnes-Bryant altercation here.
.
Just a few days ago, I took a look at what Matt Barnes brings to the Magic. You can read that story here.

Ben Q. Rock is rarely critical of officiating, but he feels Sunday’s game deserved it (and he’s right).

I do think, though, that some were truly unique and rare, and not the result of mental error on the Magic’s part. Carter got whistled for traveling while trying to throw an inbounds pass from the right sideline. Fisher drew an iffy offensive foul on Rashard Lewis simply by running into his back and falling down. Most puzzlingly, Bennett Salvatore negated Barnes’ alley-oop dunk connection with Pietrus on a side out-of-bounds play, ruling offensive basket interference although the ball had clearly traveled to the other side of the rim–as in, it was not above the cylinder–before Pietrus stuffed it home. Now, the Magic caught some breaks as well. My point is not to criticize the officials, but rather to point out how singular some of those turnovers were. I’m fairly confident that a Magic inbounds passer won’t get called for traveling again for several seasons.

You can read his recap here.

Forum Blue And Gold looks at the game from a Laker point-of-view.

On defense, the Lakers couldn’t contain dribble penetration by Orlando’s guards/wings and didn’t rebound as well as they needed to on the defensive glass. Again, familiar themes. On Orlando’s P&R, Jameer Nelson and Vince Carter were able to get into the paint and either draw fouls or finish at the rim. And when they didn’t get the whistle or the bucket, they compromised our interior defense and created easy offensive rebounding opportunities. Orlando had 15 offensive boards and those rebounds often led to finishes in the paint or more fouls that resulted in FT’s for the Magic. But it didn’t even take the P&R for the Lakers to give up angles to the rim off the dribble as Nelson and Carter were getting into the lane even without the aid of a Lewis or Howard screen. And even though Bynum and Gasol finished with a combined six blocked shots, Orlando still got into the paint far too frequently which compromised our team defense, got Bynum in foul trouble that plagued him the entire game, and got our help defenders into scramble mode. Overall, this wasn’t a poor defensive game for the Lakers as they held the Magic to an offensive efficiency a full 4 points below their season average, but it was a performance that was eerily familiar to us that watch the Lakers play on a nightly basis.

You can find that here.

Chris Shellcroft of Lake Show Life notes that the “Pau Gasol streak” has come to end.

The King of Clutch nearly delivered another miraculous moment as KB24 dropped 18 of his game high 34 in the final frame. As we’ve come to expect, Kobe shouldered the burden when the game was in the balance hitting big shots but never delivering the dagger. One foot on the three point line here and a missed jumper at the end of regulation there. The only Magic in Amway Arena was being coached by Porn Stash Van Gundy.

You can find that story here.

Good hustle from Lamar Odom earned the Lakers another try. He moved the ball back to Artest, now completely alone along the right wing above the arc. Again, Artest gathered, rose, and fired, holding his follow through as the ball made it’s way towards the rim.

Clang. Front iron. At the other end, Jameer Nelson moved niftily through a trap high up the floor and found Matt Barnes slicing through the paint for a layup.

Call it a five point swing.

I note this sequence not to blame Artest for L.A.’s 96-94 loss to the Magic Sunday afternoon in Orlando- sure, Ron’s hair had a lot more flair than his game (two of 10 shooting with some problems defensively, too)- but because it was perhaps the most day-glo obvious example of the way in which the Lakers squandered too many open opportunities along the perimeter. Orlando, like a lot of teams the Lakers see, were intent on gumming up the paint, sending bodies, hands, and arms after whomever and whatever L.A. put in the post.

The “Pau Gasol streak” Shellcroft spoke of got it’s name because the Lakers had previously not lost three straight games since they acquired Gasol back in 2008.

Brian Kamenetzky of ESPN Los Angeles has that story here.

Broderick Turner of the LA Times thinks the Magic made a stand.

Orlando Coach Stan Van Gundy summed up his team’s 96-94 victory over the Lakers Sunday at Amway Arena the best.

“I thought we battled them toe to toe,” he said.

From the Magic perspective, the Lakers would push and shove, but Orlando refused to back down.

If it meant that Barnes got a technical along with Bryant when the two became entangled early in the third period and began to talk trash, so be it, the Magic said.

If it meant Howard’s throwing an elbow at Pau Gasol that was an unwise foul just to make sure the Magic center held his turf, so be it, the Magic said.

“We won’t back down from anybody, no matter how physical it gets out there,” Howard said after scoring 15 points and collecting 16 rebounds. “It could be the best team in the league, the best player, whoever it may be. We’re going to keep going at you. Sometimes you can’t worry about fouls or technicals. You just got to play and know that it’s going to be a physical game.”

You can find that story here.

The Lakers did give a better effort during Sunday’s game.

The effort was substantially better than a pathetic offering two days earlier in Charlotte, but it didn’t stop the Lakers from getting swept on a three-game trip for the first time since 2004-05, the last time they failed to make the playoffs. Nor did it prevent them from incurring their 18th loss, one more than they had all last season.

Getting to the postseason is an obvious non-issue this season, but holding on to the top spot in the Western Conference suddenly isn’t such a given. The Lakers (46-18) are only three games ahead of hard-charging Dallas, which has won 11 consecutive games.

And yet, there wasn’t a hint of alarm after Sunday’s loss.

“We didn’t win the game, but I saw what I wanted to see,” said Kobe Bryant, who acknowledged he “cursed [teammates] out” in a Saturday practice session. “If we play with this kind of effort, it’s going to be hard for a team to beat us four times in a series.”

Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times has that story here.

In fact, Elliott Teaford of the LA Daily News says the Lakers get an “A for effort.”

“It’s not like (the losing streak) is something to worry about,” Ron Artest said. “It’s just that when we came into the season, we all had one goal (winning a second consecutive title).

“There are some things to fix, probably, but we’re hungry.”
Kobe Bryant said the result wasn’t what the Lakers wanted but their effort and intensity were vastly improved after their losses to the Heat and the Bobcats.

“If we play with this type of effort, it will be hard for a team to beat us four times in a (playoff) series,” he said. “Here, we competed. We have to take this mind-set and this attitude and push it forward to the rest of the season.”

You can read that story here.

Otis Smith expects interest in J.J. Redick this offseason.

Smith said before Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers that he’s been impressed with Redick’s improvement since the club drafted him in 2006, but added, “I’m not going to bid against myself” to retain Redick.

Smith said he would — “for the most part” — handle Redick the way he has previous free agents, basically matching or not matching any offer the player receives.

“We know how he’s done over the last couple of years,” Smith said. “I think that J.J.’s on the incline. We like him on our team, but you have to evaluate everything.”

You can read that and other Magic notes here.

Dwight Howard shares his Charles Barkley imitation here.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).

Before Howard began to talk with reporters, he was dancing in front of Point Guard Jameer Nelson. Howard then looked towards George Diaz, who recently wrote an article saying that Howard was not an “alpha dog” and said “Let me stop, alpha dogs don’t play in the locker room.”

It’s good to see that Howard doesn’t let articles like that get to him and takes it all in stride. It’s important to mention that Diaz has been a good sport since the article was written.

Later on when discussing Jameer Nelson’s rebounding, Howard questioned Nelson’s claim that he’s had a 12-rebound game (Howard was right, Nelson’s career-high is 10). Howard began to poke fun at Nelson’s height, eventually telling reporters that Nelson is “bar none, the best dwarf to ever play.”

Those who went to the Lakers locker room after the game got back late so Howard decided to answer their questions even though he was already done taking questions. He conducted his entire interview with some sort of Caribbean accent and told reporters that Matt Barnes brought “Mattacality” to the team.

Howard showed that he can be serious when he needs to be. In this video he completes a dunk while being the victim of a Pau Gasol flagrant foul (thanks to PeteProse.com for finding the video):

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).

Statistically, the Magic and the Lakers are the second and third best defensive teams in the NBA but it was late game sharp-shooting that dominated down the stretch. Both defenses did play well, but Kobe Bryant shot the Lakers back into the game, scoring 18 fourth quarter points and a three-pointer by Matt Barnes that extended Orlando’s lead to six with 1:09 to play might have been the biggest shot of the game.

However, for a majority of the game, these teams lived up to their reputations as defensive stoppers. Bryant, who finished the game with 34 points on 12-of-30 shooting had just 16 points on 5-of-14 shooting through three quarters and did not make a shot during the third quarter, which allowed the Magic to build a double-digit lead entering the final quarter.

Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes mostly shared the task of guarding Bryant and they couldn’t have done a much better job. Barnes frustrated Kobe throughout the night, landing on him after a dunk and drawing a technical foul (actually a double technical, since Barnes was deservedly called for one as well). Later in the game, Barnes walked right into Bryant after Bryant was called for a foul. At first, it appeared that Barnes was getting into the head of Bryant, but Bryant laughed off that question and rightfully so after Bryant’s huge fourth quarter that included what appeared to be the game-tying three-pointer with Barnes covering him (it was late reviewed and called a two-pointer).

Van Gundy described Bryant’s performance as “good.”

“He (Bryant) only shot 40 percent, he had 34 points, he’s a great, great player,” said Van Gundy. “The whole thing is we didn’t want to give him anything easy.

He did think Barnes did a solid job despite some mistakes.

“The thing with Matt is you know he’s going to battle, he’s going to get up and try,” Van Gundy told the media when asked about Barnes’ play.

Lakers Head Coach Phil Jackson described Barnes’ performance as feisty, but said his three-pointer is what hurt them most.

Dwight Howard had another word to describe it – “Mattacality,” claiming that they missed that during last year’s final.

The Magic did however the Lakers to an effective field goal percentage of 40.3% and Pau Gasol was the only Lakers starter to shoot better than 50% from the field.

Bryant and Barnes weren’t the only physical players on the court but Howard said he knew that coming in.

“They Lakers are a big team, with a big lineup,” said Howard. “They have big, strong guys that come off the bench so that type of game is what we expected. We just wanted to play our brand of basketball and get the job done.”

Offensively, Vince Carter was the star for the Magic. Carter, who couldn’t get many good looks early on hit a couple of shots but did an excellent job of driving and getting to the free throw line. He shot 14 free throws in the game, making 13. Carter was just 5-of-10 from the field but because of his ability to get to the charity stripe, he wound up with 25 points. Carter finished with a eFG% of 60% and a true shooting percentage of 75%. Carter did turn the ball over three times but overall, his recent string of outstanding decision making continued.

Jameer Nelson also had some turnover issues but played a very good game. He had some trouble shooting the ball (he was 5-of-14 from the field), but he got his teammates involved (7 assists) and he really crashed the glass, grabbing 9 rebounds. Many of his teammates were shocked at that total and Matt Barnes claimed that Nelson was “stealing rebounds” while Dwight Howard gave Nelson credit, calling him “hands down, the best dwarf in the history of the NBA.”

Much like last year during the regular season, the Lakers could not guard Nelson. Nelson consistently beat his man off of the dribble all game long. After the game, I asked Nelson about that.

“I just continued to attack,” Nelson said. One thing is, if I feel like I can beat my man, I can get into the lane.”

And Nelson has proven that he can make plays from there.

Dwight Howard has a rough night offensively. He was 6-of-14 from the field and 3-of-8 from the line. Often, Howard doesn’t get the ball enough, but Van Gundy said that that was not his problem Sunday. Howard did protect the paint well even though Pau Gasol made a few nice plays inside and was even credited for a putback that Howard himself tipped in. Howard showed off his other skills. He made two brilliant passes to cutters in the fourth quarter. Rashard Lewis couldn’t finish but Jameer Nelson did, getting an easy layup. Howard was once again a monster on the glass, grabbing 16 rebounds. He also had 15 points, 2 assists and 2 blocks.

After the game, Howard said all that mattered was getting the victory. Van Gundy was quick to correct him, saying that the Magic gave a great effort and one that he was proud of.

Game Notes:

• The Lakers lost their third straight game for the first time since they acquired Pau Gasol.
• Howard has his league-leading 50th double-double.
• Carter led the Magic in scoring for the 18th time this season.
• Orlando outrebounded the Lakers, one of the biggest teams in the league, 50-to-39.
• All five Magic starters scored in double figures.
• Nelson is averaging 15.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game.
• Howard put on a comedy show in the locker room and I’ll discuss that in a later poster.

Next Up: The Magic will play host to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night.

Final Thought: The Magic gave a great effort, which is something they must keep doing

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).

The Magic came out quick getting a Rashard Lewis three-pointer on their first possession. After that, Orlando just wasn’t making shots and the Lakers grabbed a 12-9 lead. Orlando answered by scoring the next seven points. They stayed aggressive and earned trips to the free throw line. That’s how the Magic were able to score 31 points despite making just six shots and shooting an effective field goal percentage of 41.2%. The Magic went 17-of-18 from the charity stripe. Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard each picked up two first quarter fouls, but Howard was still able to grab seven redounds and helped the Magic to a 13-9 edge on the glass. Vince Carter was 2-of-2 from the field but made all 10 of his free throws and scored 15 first quarter points – the most points any Magic player has scored in the first quarter this season. Kobe Bryant scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting but the rest of the Lakers combined to shoot 2-of-14 and the Magic took a 31-24 lead into the second quarter.

Dwight Howard returned to the game at the 7:05 mark but picked up his third foul at the 6:37 mark and went right back out of the game. Marcin Gortat gave the Magic good minutes. He scored 6 points on 3-of-3 shooting, grabbed 5 rebounds and blocked a shot. He also provided the highlight play of the first half when he dunked on Lamar Odom. Orlando shot just 2 second half free throws after taking 18 in the first quarter but shot the ball better, going 9-of-21 from the field with an eFG % of 47.6%. Vince Carter played just under 6 minutes in the second quarter and scored 2 points. The Magic continuously stretched their lead back to 7 or 8 points but the Lakers kept answering back and cut the deficit to 4. Orlando led 52-48 at the half.

The third quarter had a lot of fireworks. Matt Barnes and Kobe Bryant were doing a lot of talking and Barnes landed on Bryant after throwing down a dunk. Kobe tried to back Barnes off and Barnes got in his face, much like he did with Paul Pierce a few weeks back. Both players were issued technical fouls. The Magic led 61-57 with 6:03 left in the quarter but went on a 10-2 run, pushing their lead to 12. The Magic led 74-64 as the quarter came to a close. At one point during the quarter, Rashard Lewis made back-to-back three pointers but the second one was reviewed and disallowed due to a shot clock violation. Both teams continued to shoot poorly. The Magic were 8-of-20 from the field in the quarter and the Lakers wee just 4-of-16. Kobe Bryant scored just 3 points and was 0-of-6 from the field in the quarter.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).

The Orlando Magic will take on the Los Angeles Lakers in a rematch of last season’s NBA Finals. You can read a preview of the game here.

Brian Schmitz reports that the Magic have moved on.

“It was a disappointment, but you move on. So I don’t have to reminisce,” coach Stan Van Gundy said.

“You take what you think you might have learned about them [the Lakers] and their players and try to put that to use. But as far as them coming back for the first time since the Finals, that’s a nice article, I guess, but it’s meaningless to me.”

You can read that story here.

The Lakers will look to avoid their first three game losing streak since they acquired Pau Gasol. Kobe Bryant spoke up and shared his displeasure with LA’s last two games at practice yesterday.

Bryant spoke up during the Lakers’ practice Saturday at Rollins College. He wouldn’t tell reporters what his message was — “It’s to my teammates,” he said — but ostensibly he wants to see more determination, especially on defense.

“There’s a willfulness that you have to have in this game, and there’s also a flexibility,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said after practice ended. “The willfulness carries the day most of the time, about 80 percent of the time. So, we can talk about strategy, and then there’s getting the job done.”

Josh Robbins has that story here.

John Denton previews the game.

“I’m always thinking back to the Finals and playing the Lakers because we got there, but didn’t win it,’’ Magic forward Rashard Lewis said wistfully. “Getting to the Finals is something that I’ll remember the rest of my life. But the job isn’t done until we win that championship.’’

Like Howard, Nelson and Lewis, Magic reserve forward Mickael Pietrus admitted that beating the Lakers consume many of his basketball thoughts. Howard has a picture of the Larry O’Brien trophy taped to a mirror in the bathroom at his house so that he’s thinking about a championship every day. The Magic chant “championship’’ when they break huddles and have pictures of the trophy taped to their lockers at RDV Sportsplex and Amway Arena. And Pietrus said thoughts of the trophy often dance in his head at night.

“Of course I think about (last year’s Finals) and trying to win a championship. I think about it every day,’’ said Pietrus, one of the Magic’s playoff heroes last spring. “When I sleep, I dream about winning a championship. When I play, I think about winning a championship. It would be the most amazing thing for my career, and it was incredible for all of the Orlando Magic fans.’’

You can read his preview here.

Mike Bresnahan of the LA Times has more.

Did he talk to his teammates, as he pledged to do in the wake of an embarrassing 98-83 loss Friday in Charlotte?

“A little bit,” Bryant said.

How was it perceived?

“I don’t give a …”

Was he kind?

“Always.” (Said with sarcasm.)

What was your message?

“That’s for my teammates.”

He did allow that his frustration was with the defense.

“We’ve got to do a much better job of protecting the paint, protecting the basket and not giving up so many free throws,” he said. “Too many easy opportunities.”

You can read that story here.

Tania Ganguli says that the game will feel like a playoff atmosphere.

“It will be a playoff atmosphere just like the Cleveland game was a playoff atmosphere,” Magic F Rashard Lewis said. “Lot of people are going to come to see the Lakers. Lot of people are going to come to see us. So it’s most definitely going to be a playoff atmosphere.”

In June the Lakers beat the Magic for the NBA title in five games. The Magic won Game 3, then watched the Lakers celebrate on their home court.

The Lakers enter Sunday’s game having lost consecutive games to the Miami Heat and Charlotte Bobcats.

“I’m pretty sure coming off two losses, the Lakers are going to come out looking forward to playing a good game,” Dwight Howard said. “We just have to be up for it and ready for the challenge and go out there and get a win.”

So far, it looks like she’s right. It’s pretty wild outside of the Am. You can read her story here.

Silver Screen and Roll previews the game.

Expect a fight tomorrow. The Lakers looked very tired against Charlotte. Given that it was a back to back following a a night in Miami, no less, it’s understandable (not forgivable). The Magic will probably look exploit that lethargy by running every chance they can on defensive rebounds. Rebounds Dwight Howard will probably gobble up. Dwight’s offense is just getting better, meanwhile Andrew’s and Pau’s defense seem to have regressed. Howard’s strength is going to wear on the Lakers’ bigs, and most likely, put them in foul trouble is they play anything like they did in Friday. Expect Dwight to have a great game. That’s fine. The Lakers can handle that as long as Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, and Jameer Nelson are held in check. This game will have to be won on the perimeter by Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, and Derek Fisher.

You can read that here.

Chris Shellcroft of Lake Show Life takes a look at Ron Artest’s new haircut. You can find that here.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).