Carter shows signs of old form as Magic put down Bucks

By Dick Scanlon, NBA.com
Posted Tuesday February 2, 2010 11:51PM

ORLANDO (NBA.com exclusive) -- After a long absence from the Orlando Magic's offense, Vince Carter returned with perhaps his best all-around game of the season Tuesday night in a 99-82 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Shaking a month-long slump in which it appeared his best days were behind him, the 33-year-old Carter had 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. The Magic (33-16) shut down the Bucks after a slow start and rolled to their seventh victory in eight games.

Dwight Howard led six Magic players in double figures with 22 points and finished with 11 rebounds after getting none in the first 20 minutes.

Charlie Bell and Luke Ridnour scored 13 points each for the Bucks (21-26), but they shot just 36 percent and rookie Brandon Jennings was held to two points.

Carter's fine game was the most encouraging element for Orlando. In 14 games of this calendar year, he had averaged 8.7 points on 28 percent shooting. He was starting to hear boos at home, but he claims he wasn't losing any confidence.

"I get tired of hearing about it more than anything just because I believe in my game, I trust my game," he said. "I'm not going to worry about the stats. Sometimes you'll have a bad shooting game, but you have to shoot yourself out of that and that's what I'm going to do."

Carter led the Magic in points, rebounds and assists until the NBA's leading rebounder asserted himself in the second half.

"I told Dwight I was going to outrebound him so he better look over his shoulder," Carter said. "Just kidding. Most importantly, [the Bucks] attack the glass so it's important for us to help out and try to be as active as possible . . . I just wanted to help out."

Matt Barnes, normally Howard's biggest help on the boards, figured it was a matter of time before he saw the old Carter.

"Vince is in a little slump right now, but he's been a great player throughout his career and I think games like this are going to help him," Barnes said. "He was aggressive. I think he took a couple of energy drinks before the game and when he attacks the basket like that, no one's going to stop him."

The Bucks, who were going for a fourth straight victory, were easier to stop.

Hot starts by Bell and Andrew Bogut helped Milwaukee to a 12-point lead early in the game, but the Bucks shot 5-for-27 over the final 15 minutes of the first half and even missed their last five free throws, falling 14 points behind by halftime.

"We got off to a decent start and we had some pretty good ball movement, but we could see our guys even winding down a little bit during that period of time," said Bucks coach Scott Skiles. "They basically outplayed us on every spot on the floor except for the first few minutes of the game."

The 20-year-old Jennings, whose 17.2 scoring average ranks second among NBA rookies, shot 1-for-7 in perhaps his worst game of the season.

"It was one of them," Skiles said. "He's had some difficulty in the second games of back-to-backs and it's understandable, too; it's something he hasn't done before."

Jennings saw some hope when Howard was whistled for two fouls in a span of nine seconds. He had to take a seat on the bench while the Bucks had a 10-point lead.

"Once he got those two quick fouls in the first quarter, I thought we were going to be able to really push the lead and get after them," Jennings said. "However, they have other weapons."

For the first time in a while, Carter was among them.

"He just has to remember who he is," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy.

"He had one bad month, but this guy has had an unbelievable career -- almost 19,000 points, he's averaged 23 points a game for his career. This is a guy who's had unbelievable success. That's what defines him, not one month."

The Magic played without Jameer Nelson, who has a hyperextended left knee, and Mickael Pietrus, who was placed on the inactive list with a sprained right ankle.

• Bucks: Alexander, Elson, Redd
• Magic: Pietrus

• Bucks: --
• Magic: Redick

• Lead Changes: 1
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: Amway Arena, Orlando, FL
• Officials: #41 Ken Mauer, #30 Tony Brown, #73 Ed Malloy
• Attendance: 17461
• Duration: 2:13