Magic-Bobcats Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Dec 30 2011 12:22AM

Dwight Howard insists his trade request still stands, but it isn't deterring him from helping out his current team.

His Orlando Magic seek their ninth consecutive victory over the Charlotte Bobcats when the teams meet Friday night at Time Warner Cable Arena.

The offseason drama surrounding Howard and his on-again, off-again trade demand has carried into the regular season, but it hasn't seemed to affect his play.

Howard scored 21 points in Monday's 104-95 win over Houston, then came through with 16 points and 24 rebounds in Thursday's 94-78 victory over New Jersey.

He scored only 11 in a season-opening loss to Oklahoma City on Christmas Day, though Howard has stepped up the past two games.

"My focus is on what the Magic have to do to get better," Howard said.

His supporting cast has player better as well. Ryan Anderson scored 22 points Thursday and is averaging a team-high 18.3 points, while Jason Richardson contributed 16.

J.J. Redick scored 15 points off the bench, and Orlando (2-1) held New Jersey to 37.7 percent shooting.

"I like the way we're heading right now," Howard said. "We're doing all the right things on defense. We're making mistakes here and there, but we'll get it right, and our effort has been great."

Orlando improved to 41-15 - playoffs included - when Howard has 20-plus rebounds. Six such games have come against Charlotte, with the Magic going 5-1 in those contests.

The Magic have dominated the Bobcats in recent seasons, winning the last eight and 15 of the last 16 matchups, including a four-game sweep in the first round of the 2010 playoffs.

They have also won eight straight in Charlotte, though the Bobcats (1-1) could end that run if they play like they did Wednesday.

Charlotte gave Miami all it could handle before falling 96-95 on a Dwyane Wade basket with 2.8 seconds remaining, which came after Gerald Henderson hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 12 seconds left.

The Bobcats jumped out to an 11-0 advantage and led 60-45 at halftime before giving it back.

"In the third quarter, we turned it over too many times," coach Paul Silas said. "It got them back in the game. Once they got back in the game, we played tough. They're just too good."

Boris Diaw had 16 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists, and despite the loss was pleased with Charlotte's effort against one of the league's best teams.

"I think we surprised them by playing so aggressive," Diaw said. "And shots were falling and we were really committed defensively."

Henderson scored a career-high 32 points and D.J. Augustin hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 17 seconds left in regulation in the most recent meeting with Orlando on April 6, but the Magic pulled away for a 111-102 overtime win.

Howard's 20-20 game powers Magic past Bobcats

Posted Dec 31 2011 12:51AM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Stan Van Gundy is looking for consistent improvement from the Orlando Magic in the early stages of the NBA season, and that's what he continues to get.

The Magic turned a dominant performance by Dwight Howard into their third straight victory, a 100-79 rout of the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night.

Howard had 20 points, 24 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots. Four other players scored in double figures, led by Ryan Anderson's 23 points.

Van Gundy gave the performance a thumbs-up afterward, saying he thought the Magic built on a 94-78 victory over New Jersey on Thursday night in Orlando.

The Magic (3-1) raced to an 11-0 lead, led 56-43 at halftime, and never let the Bobcats closer than nine points in the second half.

"It was great, the best one yet," Van Gundy said. "I think we've improved a little bit every night, and by far this was the best one yet. I thought we opened with tremendous energy. I thought we defended well throughout. We hit a stretch in the third quarter where we got a little sloppy and they hurt us, but then the rest of the way we finished it out well.

"I thought we made good decisions. There's really not much on there to be upset about tonight."

Van Gundy said he was particularly pleased that the Magic were sharp in their second back-to-back of the season, after beating the Nets on Thursday.

"I was pleasantly surprised with our energy on the second night, because it's been an issue in terms of a short camp and the whole thing," Van Gundy said. "I thought our guys handled big minutes and did a pretty good job."

Anderson was 8 of 18 from the field, with five 3-pointers. Jason Richardson scored 16, Hedo Turkoglu scored 15 and J.J. Redick scored 11.

It all started with Howard, though. It was his second straight 20-rebound night, after he went for 16 points and 24 rebounds against the Nets.

"It makes it a lot easier for everyone when you have Dwight Howard on your team," Anderson said. "It all starts with Dwight. I'm just shooting the ball when I'm open."

Howard, 6-foot-11, used his size advantage over 6-8 Charlotte center Boris Diaw and backups DeSagana Diop and Byron Mullens. The only smudge on Howard's stat line was 6 of 14 from the free throw line.

"Dwight played very well out of the post," Van Gundy said. "He tried to score when he was one on one, he threw the ball out when he was double-covered, he just made solid basketball plays."

Meanwhile, the Magic were 12 of 28 from 3-point range.

"You can do one of two things against them," Bobcats coach Paul Silas said. "You either double him or let him kill you. We started off that way and he was killing us. Then we came at him and they started hitting threes. There's not much we could have done tonight."

The Bobcats (1-2) resorted to shooting jump shots most of the game, not even trying to challenge Howard. They ended up shooting just 36.1 percent from the field, with Corey Maggette going 6 of 15, Gerald Henderson 4 of 13, D.J. Augustin 3 of 11, and rookie Kemba Walker 1 of 9.

Maggette finished with 20 points, Augustin scored 14, Mullens added 12 and Diaw finished with 10.

"We knew this team, they come out early and they just run and get easy shots," Howard said. "But we were able to share the ball and play inside-out. I think that's what you've got to do against a running team, because if you run with them, nine times out of 10 a team like Charlotte is going to win."

The Bobcats were coming off a 96-95 loss to Miami on Wednesday night, and even though they had a day's rest, they looked like the team with the tired legs.

"It didn't seem like we had energy tonight," Silas said. "The energy level was way down, it seemed. We got no fast-break buckets. We weren't shooting the ball well. It's just one of those games where nothing was happening in our favor tonight. At all."

Notes: Orlando played without point guard Jameer Nelson, who sat out with neck spasms. ... Tyrus Thomas missed his third straight game for Charlotte because of a sprained left ankle.

Notebook: Magic 100, Bobcats 79

By Derek S. Smith, for NBA.com
Posted Friday December 30, 2011 11:01PM

THE FACTS: Dwight Howard scored 20 points and grabbed 23 rebounds as the Orlando Magic led wire-to-wire Friday night at Time Warner Cable Arena to earn a 100-79 win over the Charlotte Bobcats in NBA action. Ryan Andersen led all scorers with 23 for the Magic (3-1) while Corey Maggette led the Bobcats (1-2) with 20 points

QUOTABLE: "Obviously with Dwight (Howard) out there being double teamed he really makes it a whole lot easier for us on the perimeter. He did a great job feeding us around the three-point line tonight and finds me open shots. He's makes it easy for us. We just have to shoot the ball."
-- Orlando forward Ryan Anderson.

THE STAT: Seven Blocks. The Orlando Magic had seven blocked shots Friday night against Charlotte. The interior presence of the Magic altered Charlotte's offensive plan forcing them to settle for lower percentage jump shots from the perimeter. Charlotte scored just 20 of its 79 points in the paint and shot a season-low 36.1 percent for the game. Coming into tonight the Bobcats had connected on 45.8 percent of its shots.

TURNING POINT: Slow start. The Bobcats needed to come out with energy like in the first two games of the season to set the tone against Orlando. However Friday night they were plagued by an extremely slow starts. Charlotte missed its first five shots of the game, committed two turnovers and fell behind Orlando 11-0 and didn't score its first points until the 7:54 mark of the first quarter. The Bobcats never led in the game and weren't able to get closer than nine points in the second half.

QUOTABLE II: "This was by far our best one yet. We opened the game with tremendous energy and defended hard throughout. We finished it out well and made good decisions all night. There really is not too much on (the box score) to be upset about tonight."
-- Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy.

HOT: Howard. 20 points, 23 rebounds.

NOT: Gerald Henderson. The Bobcats guard was held to only eight points on 4-for-13 shooting. Henderson came into the game averaging 19.5 points per game and shooting well over 50 percent from the floor. He scored just two points in the second half.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Dwight Howard. The Magic center was a force to be reckoned with Friday in Charlotte. Howard scored 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting and added 24 rebounds, four assists, one steal and was credited with four blocked shots. He's averaging 17.0 points and 17.5 rebounds on the season for Orlando.

INSIDE THE ARENA: The NFL's Carolina Panthers are making their presence known at Time Warner Cable Arena. This time it was Panthers' head coach Ron Rivera. He was announced to the crowd and received a large round of applause and made an even bigger splash when he gave his wife a kiss during the "Kiss Cam" during a timeout in the first half.

ROOKIE WATCH: Kemba Walker scored just two points against Orlando which was a season low. Walker has scored in double figures in his first two games. Charlotte's other first round pick Bismack Biyombo also scored two in the game. Charlotte's other rookie Cory Higgins was a DNP-CD. None of the three rookies on the Magic roster saw any action tonight.

NOTABLE: Orlando has now won nine straight against the Bobcats and 16 of the last 17. The last win for Charlotte was on March 14, 2010 ... This was Dwight Howard's 33rd 20-20 game and the first of the 2011-12 campaign. He recorded six such games in the 2010-11 season ... Orlando is now 2-0 in the second game of a back-to-back in 2011-12 ... The Magic had a season-best 12 three pointers in the win against Charlotte and are now 131-47 under coach Stan Van Gundy when making 10 or more treys ... Charlotte had just 41 rebounds after averaging 52.5 in their first part of the season ... Boris Diaw had six rebounds and six assists against Orlando and leads the team in both of those categories with 11.0 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game.

UP NEXT: For the Magic, Sunday vs. Toronto, Monday @ Detroit, Wednesday vs. Washington. For the Bobcats, Sunday @ Miami, Tuesday @ Cleveland, Wednesday @ New York.

• Magic: Liggins, Nelson
• Bobcats: Najera, Williams

• Magic: Davis
• Bobcats: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC
• Officials: #12 Violet Palmer, #9 Derrick Stafford, #75 Eric Dalen
• Attendance: 18064
• Duration: 2:11