FINAL: Orlando Magic 104 - Cleveland Cavaliers 90

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March 17, 2008 - Amway Arena

	1	2	3	4	F
CAVS	23	22	27	18	90
MAGIC	20	20	33	31	104

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By Nick Adams | OrlandoMagic.com

FOURTH QUARTER
Howard scores the first points of the quarter from the free-throw line, Dooling throws down a monster one-handed flush, and Howard follows with a slam of his own forcing a Cavalier timeout with the Magic leading 79-74.

Bogans swishes another trey for the Magic and Howard buckets two more from the line as Orlando has jumped out to an eight point lead. James ends the Magic run by throwing down back-to-back dunks. Smart timeout by Van Gundy as you get the feeling that James is about to take over this game.

Both teams have gone a bit cold but as soon as I type that "Mr. Fourth Quarter" Hedo Turkoglu calmly burries a three to put the Magic ahead by eight halfway through the final period.

Lewis scores two more for the Magic from the free-throw line to give the Magic a ten point lead but Pavlovic throws up a prayer as the shot clock expires.

Howard has shot better from the free-throw line tonight making 11-of-15 and hits two out of four as the Magic hold onto a nine point advantage as we head under three minutes.

Nelson hits a three, Howard gets a layin, and Lewis scores to bring the Amway crowd to their feet as the Magic have jumped out to a 100-86 lead with 1:16 left.

Lewis puts the cap on his 21 point second half by throwing in a dunk as the Magic will walk away with their fifth straight victory.

Final: Orlando Magic 104, Cleveland Cavaliers 90

THIRD QUARTER
After a sitting for most of the game with foul trouble, Lewis hits his first basket of the game and the Magic's first points of the second half. LeBron answers with a trey scoring the first Cavalier points of the second half.

Lewis has come out in the third quarter very aggressive taking the ball to the basket in each of the Magic's first three possessions scoring four points.

LeBron feeds Ben Wallace for an easy slam to give the Cavs a six point lead. James has 19 points, seven rebounds, and six assists halfway through the third.

Howard gets called for two straight goal-tends and Van Gundy calls a timeout trailing the Cavs 58-52. Delonte West converts a three-point play to give the Cavs their largest lead of the game at ten points.

Good news for the Magic though as Lewis drills his 10th point of the quarter by stroking a triple right in the grill of LeBron James at the top of the key. Turk gets the crowd back into by hitting nothing but the bottom of the net on a three and canning two from the charity stripe to bring the Magic back within two as we head to three minute mark.

After a poor shooting first half from both teams, the Cavs and Magic have came out firing in the third. Evans and Turk drill back-to-back triples for the Magic and LBJ answers with jumper of his own as the Cavs cling to a 72-67 lead.

Lewis hits the Magic's third straight trey and Nelson converts a three-point play to give the Magic a one point lead heading into the final period.

End of Third: Orlando Magic 73, Cleveland Cavaliers 72

SECOND QUARTER
Foyle scores the first points of the second period by converting a layin off of a pretty spin move. With most of their starters on the bench, the Magic have gone on a 6-0 run to force a Cleveland timeout.

Garrity brings the house down as he nets a triple from the top of the key. Garrity and Foyle have provided a much needed spark for the Magic and have combined for five points and five rebounds.

Lewis picks up his third foul and has to head to the bench once again scoreless thus far. Damon Jones hits a triple and Van Gundy wants to talk things over with the Magic clinging to a 32-30 lead halfway through the period.

Dooling scores on the first possession out of the timeout but Jones answers back with his second straight trey. This must be a St. Patrick's Day miracle...not because Garrity grabbed his third rebound and stroked his second jumper...but because Garrity has played a good 10 minutes without passing out. The Magic bench has scored 21 of their 38 points thus far.

Sasha Pavlovic and LBJ score back-to-back hoops to give the Cavs a 43-38 lead as we head under a minute. Howard throws down a one-handed tomahawk to bring the Magic within three but LBJ ends the half with a dunk and a block.

Halftime: Cleveland Cavaliers 45, Orlando Magic 40

FIRST QUARTER
Happy St. Patrick's Day Magic fans and welcome to Amway Arena for tonight's ballgame as the Magic get ready to face the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There is an electric atmosphere in the arena tonight with shades of green scattered throughout the Amway crowd as the two teams meet at center court for tonight's opening tip.

The Magic start Jameer Nelson, Maurice Evans, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, and Dwight Howard. The Cavs counter with Delonte West, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Ben Wallace, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

West scores the first points of the game by stroking a three-pointer on a nice feed from LeBron. Both teams start out extremely cold and Turk finally gets the Magic on the board with a jumper but the Cavs lead 5-2 four minutes into the ballgame.

The Magic's start gets worse when Lewis picks up his second foul and has to take a seat on the bench. Howard finally gets the crowd going by throwing in a lefty hook plus a foul. Howard nets the free-throw and completes the three-point play to cut the Cavs lead to three.

The Magic should start taking the ball to the basket to try and get to the free-throw line because they are just 2-of-11 from the field to start. Howard buckets another hook and Cavaliers coach Mike Brown calls a timeout as the Magic trail 8-7 halfway through the opening period.

LeBron gets his first points of the game from the charity stripe and Mo Evans answers with a triple to tie the ballgame at 10. Howard scores his game-high sixth and seventh points by netting two free-throws to give the Magic their first lead of the game.

After a really slow start, both teams begin to heat up as James and Cook trade baskets. Cook tips in an offensive rebound forcing a Cavaliers timeout with the Magic leading 17-14 with 2:38 remaining in the first quarter.

The Cavs go on a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 20-17 but Mo answers quickly back with a dunk.

Pat Garrity checks into the game for the final minute of the first quarter. Only explaination I have for this is that Van Gundy is looking for some "Luck of the Irish" from the former Notre Dame standout. I know...that was bad.

Devin Brown takes it coast-to-coast for the Cavs and Howard cans a free-throw as the quarter concludes with the Magic trailing by three.

End of First: Cleveland Cavaliers 23, Orlando Magic 20

SHOOTAROUND
Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy usually has a very detailed game plan for their opponents and offers up some kind of answer as to how to slow down the other teams' best players.

Instead of sharing his game plan to stop MVP candidate LeBron James, Van Gundy jokingly offered up his retirement plan at Monday morning's shootaround.

"If I had the answer or a game plan to stop LeBron James I could probably quit coaching because I could sell it to everyone in the league and then just sit at home."

Van Gundy elaborated, "Obviously, if people had the answer to him he wouldn't be averaging 30 points and lead all non point guards in assists. He is just very tough to handle because his combination of size, speed, and strength is almost unprecedented in this league."

James is putting up ridiculous stats posting 30.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.5 assists per game; and has lit up the Magic this season averaging 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists in two contests.

James and Cleveland last visited Orlando on February 11th and handed the Magic a 118-111 loss, but the Magic will face a completely different Cavs roster Monday night.

As stated below, the Cavs added center Ben Wallace, power forward Joe Smith, guard Wally Szczerbiak, and guard Delonte West in a three-team blockbuster trade.

Van Gundy and the Magic won't be able to use their last two match-ups as learning tools against the revamped Cavaliers roster.

"They are a completely different team," commented Van Gundy. "They now have one of the deepest front courts in the league with Zydrunas (Ilgauskas), Wallace, (Anderson) Varejao, and Smith. Then they added a great deal of depth and shooting by getting Szczerbiak and West."

"They got new guys who are looking to prove themselves," added starting shooting guard Maurice Evans. "Guys like Szczerbiak, Smith, and Wallace are veteran guys who are hungry and have a new chance in coming to a legitimate contender."

With James playing at a MVP level, the 38-29 Cavs seem to have all the pieces in place to make a serious push towards a return to the NBA Finals.

"They have definitely put the pieces together and now all they need to do is get everyone playing together," Van Gundy stated. "They are a very difficult team because they have great bigs inside and solid shooters on the perimeter to go around James."

Matching up with James for most of the game will be Mo Evans who has studied James and thinks that stopping the rest of the Cavaliers may be more of an issue.

"He might start out not being as aggressive and trying to get other guys involved," said Evans, "that is when we have to capitalize and not let those other guys get going."

Van Gundy echoed Evans' comments, "He (James) is a hard match-up for anyone because you can't guard him with one guy, and he is such an unselfish player that he always finds the open guy."

Needless to say, the Magic have a good challenge ahead of them Monday night as they hope to maintain the third seed in the Eastern Conference.

PREGAME
Orlando clinched a playoff berth with their win Saturday night against the Indiana Pacers, and will have a good test in preparation for the post-season when the defending Eastern Conference Champion Cleveland Cavaliers visit Amway Arena on Monday night.

The Magic currently hold in the three seed in the Conference, and lead the fourth seeded Cavaliers by 5.5 games.

The two teams have split the season series playing two high scoring games with the road team coming up victorious each time.

In their most recent meeting, the Cavs came into Amway Arena last month and handed the Magic a 118-111 loss thanks to a season-high 40 points from guard Larry Hughes.

Hughes big performance didn't stop Cleveland from trading him days later in a blockbuster three-team trade with the Chicago Bulls and Seattle Supersonics.

Hughes, and starting power forward Drew Gooden were the two big names that departed Cleveland, but the Cavs received center Ben Wallace, power forward Joe Smith, guard Wally Szczerbiak, and point guard Delonte West in return.

Since their arrival to Cleveland, the Cavs have gone 7-5 and have shown signs of improvement as they look to regain that spark which led them to the Finals a season ago.

Cleveland (38-29) is led by MVP candidate and superstar LeBron James who has torched the Magic this season averaging 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists.

James currently leads the league in scoring at nearly 31 points per game to go along with 8.1 rebounds and a team-high 7.4 assists.

Besides James, Cleveland's biggest strength is their ability to rebound the basketball, ranking fourth in the league in team rebounding (44.2 rpg) and second in rebound differential (+ 3.4).

Look for the Magic to take advantage of a Cavaliers team who has struggled on the road this season posting a 16-19 record away from Cleveland.

Orlando (44-24) seeks to improve their chances of having home court for the first round of the playoffs by beating Cleveland on Monday night.

MAGIC INJURY REPORT
Tony Battie – Out, torn rotator cuff, left shoulder – underwent successful surgery on Oct. 24; will likely miss the entire season.


TONIGHT’S OPPONENT:
Mar. 17 vs. Cleveland (Orlando, FL): Orlando is 34-34 all-time vs. Cleveland (21-13 at home, 13-21 on the road) during the regular season, including 1-1 this season (see recaps below)…The Magic went 2-1 last season against the Cavaliers...The Magic have won four of the last six matchups, but lost eight of the last 12 meetings in the series…Orlando has won 10 of the last 14 games played at home, but lost six of the last eight at Cleveland...Tony Battie spent the last 50 games of the 2003-04 season with Cleveland…Assistant Coach Brendan Malone served as head coach of the Cavaliers for the final 18 games of the 2004-05 season, after serving as an assistant coach…His son, Michael, is currently an assistant coach for the Cavs…For last season’s stats and Magic career numbers vs. Cleveland, see p. 241 of the media guide…Nov. 14 @ Cleveland – Magic 117, Cavaliers 116 (OT): Dwight Howard tallied a career-high-tying 35 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots, as Orlando edged Cleveland, 117-116 in overtime at Quicken Loans Arena. Howard converted a pair of free throws with 5.8 seconds left to help seal the victory and was 13-of-16 from the charity stripe. Six Magic players scored in double figures, including Jameer Nelson, who had 21 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. Rashard Lewis added 20 points. LeBron James led the Cavaliers with 39 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds. James hit three free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining in regulation to force the extra session. Leading 117-116, the Magic had to make a defensive stand on the final possession. Hedo Turkoglu tied up James as he drove to the basket, forcing a jump ball call and sealing the win for Orlando…Feb. 11 vs. Cleveland – Cavaliers 118, Magic 111: Larry Hughes poured in a season-high 40 points, as Cleveland defeated Orlando, 118-111, at a sold-out Amway Arena. LeBron James tallied 29 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and three steals for the Cavaliers, who shot 53.5 percent from the floor. Five Magic players scored in double figures, led by Hedo Turkoglu’s 25 points. Jameer Nelson added 22 points during the losing effort. Cleveland went to the free throw line 43 times, connecting on 33 free throws. They also got a huge third quarter from Hughes, who scored 23 points during the stanza, one point shy of tying the Magic record for most points scored in a quarter by an opponent. BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. CAVS: 41 pts., Tracy McGrady (@ Orlando, 12-25-03) BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. MAGIC: 39 pts., LeBron James (@ Cleveland, 11-14-07