FINAL: San Antonio Spurs 107 - Orlando Magic 97

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March 25, 2008 - Amway Arena

	1	2	3	4	F
SPURS	28	30	22	27	107
MAGIC	29	27	17	24	97

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By Nick Adams | OrlandoMagic.com

FOURTH QUARTER
The crowd begins the quarter on their feet and cheering loudly as Howard scores the first point of the final period from the free-throw line. This crowd has rejuvenated the Magic as they have come out this quarter with a lot of energy.

This game has gotten extremely physical as Howard throws down Gibobili hard to the floor right in front of the Spurs' bench drawing a big reaction from them and the Amway crowd. Dooling scores his 20th point off the Magic bench to force a Popovich timeout as the Magic have cut their deficit down to five points with 8:34 remaining.

I think both teams needed that timeout to calm down a little because it looked as though we were headed for a fight. Howard gets great position down low and throws in a lefty hook over Duncan. Lewis cans a huge three-pointer from downtown to rock the house bringing the Magic within two points.

Bruce Bowen strokes another three from his favorite left corner but Lewis answers right back with a jumper giving him a game-high 24 points. The Spurs score six straight points to take a 96-87 lead with 3:26 to go.

The Spurs go on a 13-4 run and take a 100-89 lead as we head under two minutes. The Magic have really missed Hedo Turkoglu's presence in the fourth quarter.

The Magic are forced to foul from here on out as they trail by double digits with less than a minute left. A great effort but the Magic can't beat the defending champs.

Final: San Antonio Spurs 107, Orlando Magic 97

THIRD QUARTER
With Nelson and Turk still out with injuries, Keyon Dooling and Keith Bogans take their place with the starting five to open up the second half. Lewis scores the first points of the third by bucketing a running floater to tie the ballgame at 58. Dooling takes it through the middle of the Spurs' defense to score a layup as the Magic take their first lead since the halfway mark in the second quarter.

Howard throws down a dunk and Evans throws in a triple from the corner as the Amway crowd erupts forcing a Spurs' timeout. The Magic have outscored the Spurs 9-1 to begin the third and lead 65-59 three minutes into the quarter.

In the absence of Nelson and Turk, Dooling has provided great leadership on the floor, igniting fast-breaks while scoring 15 points off the bench. Right on cue, Dooling hits another jumper and grabs two straight rebounds.

After taking their largest lead of the game at eight points, the Magic give up five straight Spurs' points to force a Van Gundy timeout halfway through the period.

Tony Parker caps off an 8-0 Spurs' run to tie up the ballgame with a three-point play. Bowen makes it 11 straight as he hits nothing but the bottom of the net on a trey from the corner.

Finley makes it 15 straight as a disgusted Van Gundy calls a timeout with 2:13 left in the third and the Magic trailing 76-69.

Lewis finally gets the Magic going by converting a three-point play but the Spurs answers right back again drilling a jumper.

The soldout Amway crowd is desperately awaiting a Magic run. The quarter concludes with the Magic trailing by seven.

End of Third: San Antonio Spurs 80, Orlando Magic 73

SECOND QUARTER
Both teams come out in the second quarter firing, converting on each of their first two possessions of the quarter. Lewis has a three-pointer rattle in to force a Spurs' timeout as the Magic cling to a 39-36 lead with three minutes gone by in the second.

Rashard Lewis and Keyon Dooling have carried the Magic this quarter as they lead the Magic with 12 and 11 points respectively. Van Gundy calls a timeout with the Magic leading 43-38 halfway through the quarter.

J.J. Redick checks into the game to a large ovation and the crowd goes nuts again as Howard alley-oop dunks over Tony Parker. Parker answers with a jumper but then Howard scores his game-high 15th point on a hook shot in the lane.

This just in, Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu have been sitting due to injuries. Nelson has a jam contusion and Turkoglu's sprained right wrist is bothering him. Both their returns are questionable for tonight.

Ginobili scores his 12th point off the Spurs' bench to give them a 50-49 lead with 2:45 left in the first half. Lewis is hit with a technical foul as he slams the ball down after being called for a foul against Bruce Bowen.

The Spurs have quietly taken over the game and lead by six points as we head under two minutes. Redick makes good on two from the charity stripe and Arroyo cans a big three-pointer but Bowen answer right back with one of his own to give the Spurs the lead heading into the half.

Halftime: San Antonio Spurs 58, Orlando Magic 56

FIRST QUARTER
Good evening Magic fans and welcome to tonight's superb match-up as the Magic face the defending NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs.

The Amway crowd is packed and loud as the two teams meet at mid-court with Dwight Howard and Tim Duncan competing for tonight's opening tip.

The Magic start Jameer Nelson, Mo Evans, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis, and Howard. Joing Duncan for the Spurs is Tony Parker, Michael Finley, Bruce Bowen, and Fabricio Oberto.

Both teams convert on their first two possessions as the game begins in a 4-4 tie. The Magic are very aggressive to start the game taking the ball right into the heart of the Spurs defense. Lewis slashes to the basket and draws a foul sending him to the free-throw line. Lewis splits the pair to give the Magic their first lead of the ballgame.

Both teams come out on fire as the Magic have converted on three of their first four field-goal attempts and the Spurs have bucketed six of their first seven to give San Antonio a 12-9 lead four minutes into the opening period.

Turk and Howard score back-to-back buckets bringing the Amway crowd to their feet forcing a Spurs timeout as the Magic regain the lead at 13-12.

The WWE is in the house tonight as a guy named Jimmy Hart aka "The Mouth of the South" is in the building. I have no clue who that is but he kind of looks like Stan Van Gundy with a mullet and sunglasses.

The pace of the game is very fast and you would think that benefits the Magic who play an up tempo style as opposed to the Spurs who like to slow it down and play a half-court style.

Good news for the Magic as Duncan heads to the bench early picking up his second foul and an angry Greg Popovich gets hit with a technical after arguing on behalf of Duncan. The technical has seemed to light a fire under the Spurs as they go on a little run to take a 19-15 lead forcing a timeout from Van Gundy with 4:39 left in the first.

The Magic go on a 7-0 run out of the timeout to give them a three-point lead but only for a couple of seconds as Finley answers with a triple of his own. It is raining threes tonight as Bogans comes off the bench and strokes a trey to give the Magic a 25-22 lead with just under two minutes remaining in the quarter.

Manu Ginobili, the Spurs leading scorer, finally gets his first points of the ballgame as he nets two from the charity stripe to bring the Spurs within one point.

The Magic close out the first period leading the Spurs by one.

End of First: Orlando Magic 29, San Antonio Spurs 28

SHOOTAROUND
Head coach Stan Van Gundy always has the Magic prepared regardless of their opponent, but Van Gundy didn't have to say anything to the team as they get ready to face the defending NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs.

"You don't even need to pitch anything on a game like tonight," stated Van Gundy at Tuesday morning's shootaround. "I think you need to do a lot more of that on some other teams, but we have the defending world champions coming in playing at a very high intensity level, so we didn't waste any time talking about that because our guys know the challenge ahead of us."

San Antonio enters the game on a three-game winning streak, and despite a superb 47-23 record, they have flown a bit under the radar in a highly competitive Western Conference.

All the hype in the Conference has been focused on the trades by the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and Dallas Mavericks, the Houston Rockets 22 game winning streak, and the emergence of the New Orleans Hornets. However, Van Gundy is well aware of who still holds the title of NBA Champions.

"They (San Antonio) are the defending champions and really haven't had a drop off. They are an outstanding team and any path to the championship still goes through them."

The main ingredient to the Spurs success in winning four out of the last nine championships has been their play at the defensive end.

"When they are at their best, they are the best defensive team in the NBA," Van Gundy commented. "They have been doing it for a number of years because they know how to guard against anything."

This season is no exception as the Spurs rank second in fewest opponent points per game (90.98), sixth in opponent field-goal percentage (.448), and second in opponent three-point percentage (.337).

San Antonio's outstanding perimeter defense against the Magic's ability to shoot the three-pointer will be a key match-up in the ballgame, and the Magic have studied up on what makes the Spurs so successful on defense.

"The key to their defense is that they have great individual defenders," Van Gundy stated, "and they have a lot of guys who can defend a lot of different positions, so they are able to switch a lot of pick-and-rolls. They contain the dribble and don't have to bring a second guy a lot, so shots on the perimeter don't open up as much."

Van Gundy continued, "Then you have to be able to guard one-on-one in the post and keep the ball out of the paint so you don't have to come off of people leaving them open on the perimeter."

The Magic's high-powered offense against the Spurs lockdown defense is just one of many excellent match-ups as two of the league's top teams get ready to go toe-to-toe at Amway Arena.

PREGAME
Two of the NBA's top teams square off at Amway Arena on Tuesday night as the 46-26 Orlando Magic face the 47-23 San Antonio Spurs.

The defending NBA Champion Spurs are currently clinging to the sixth seed in the Western Conference as they visit Amway for the first time this regular season.

The game features two teams' with completely different styles with the Magic playing an up-tempo, free flowing game, and the Spurs aiming for a slow, half-court game predicated at the defensive end.

San Antonio came to Orlando for a preseason game in late October (Magic won 99-90), but the two teams' met on December 12th in San Antonio with the Spurs outscoring the Magic 128-110.

In that game, Dwight Howard (34 points, 16 rebounds) and Hedo Turkoglu (26 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) helped the Magic shoot 56 percent from the floor including 50 percent from beyond the arc.

The Spurs were led in victory by their dynamic trio of point guard Tony Parker (32 points), shooting guard Manu Ginobili (27 points), and power forward Tim Duncan (20 points, 16 rebounds).

Parker (18.6 ppg, 5.8 apg), Ginobili (20.1 ppg), and Duncan (19.6 ppg, 11.5 rpg) have helped the Spurs get back on track having won their last three games after a season-high four-game losing streak.

The Magic, on the other hand, are in the midst of a 9-3 record during the month of March and have won 10 out of their last 11 contests at home.

Expect the Magic to come out strong as they head down the home stretch inching closer to their first Southeast Division title.

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. 25 vs. San Antonio (Orlando, FL): Orlando is 11-27 all-time vs. San Antonio (8-10 at home, 3-17 on the road) during the regular season, including 0-1 this season (see recap below)…The teams split 1-1 last season...The Magic have split the last six meetings, but lost 10 of the last 13 outings overall in the series...The Magic have lost five of the last seven matchups at home, and 14 of the last 16 on the road…Maurice Evans attend the University of Texas…Hedo Turkoglu spent the 2003-04 season with the Spurs…For last season’s stats and Magic career numbers vs. San Antonio, see p. 281 of the media guide…Nov. 21 @ San Antonio – Spurs 128, Magic 110: Tony Parker tallied 32 points and nine assists, while Manu Ginobili netted 27 points, as San Antonio defeated Orlando, 128-110, at AT&T Center. The loss snaps the Magic’s team-record seven-game road winning streak. Tim Duncan recorded 20 points, 16 rebounds and five assists. Dwight Howard paced the Magic with 34 points, 16 boards and three blocks, and Hedo Turkoglu poured in a season-high 26 points. Both teams shot the ball well from the floor – Orlando shot 56.0 percent and was 10-of-20 from three-point range, while San Antonio shot 51.6 percent and was 13-of-24 from beyond the three-point arc. The Magic led 34-30 after the first quarter and 64-59 at halftime. San Antonio stormed back during the second half and outscored Orlando during the fourth quarter, 35-20. Brent Barry scored 11 of his 19 points during the second half and was 5-of-6 from three-point land.
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. SPURS: 38 pts., Tracy McGrady (@ San Antonio, 1-20-01)
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. MAGIC: 47 pts., Tim Duncan (@ Orlando, 12-5-03)