By Matthew Gardner | OrlandoMagic.com

Postgame Wrap
The Magic used a 21-0 run in the third quarter to get back into the game and deflate the Houston Rockets, finishing the preseason with a 6-2 record after Thursday night's 94-90 win. Dwight Howard scored 22 points with 15 rebounds and went 10-of-12 from the free throw line for the Magic, who open the season on November 1 at home against the Chicago Bulls. Carlos Arroyo scored 16 points off the bench and Hedo Turkoglu added 10 for Orlando.

Former Magic player and current Rockets all-star Tracy McGrady led Houston with 18 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Yao Ming scored 13 points before leaving the game with a sprained right ankle.

9:27PM: A free throw by Arroyo gives the Magic a four point lead and sees the deal in this one. Magic win...94-90.

9:23PM: Houston needs a qucik bucket, but instead get a foul on Redick as Novak goes to the line. The Marquette rookie hits both free throws and the Rockets now trail 92-88 with 27.3 on the clock. Diener is fouled by Luther Head and goes to the line where he hits one, Magic 93-88 with 19.8 left.

9:21PM: Turnover by Houston (21st of the game) gives Orlando the ball. Arroyo hits a floater to put the home team back up by four with 34 ticks left, 92-86.

9:18PM: Arroyo hits a jumper and is fouled in the process. The Puerto Rican sensation cans the free throw to give the Magic an 88-84 lead (2:02 left). A Chuck Hayes bucket makes it a two point game, but Diener cans an outside shot to put the lead back to four, 90-86. Spanoulis slips with the ball and is called four traveling, but the Magic miss the opportunity to increase the lead as Diener and Redick both miss from outside. The crowd is going nuts when J.J. touches the ball. Everyone can't wait for the rookie out of Duke to can his first bucket. Only 59.0 left in this one.

9:14PM: Biggest cheer of the night as J.J. Redick checks in for the first time. But John Lucas hits a three and cuts the lead to one, 85-84. Darko then air balls a shot from the free throw (2:42 left in the game).

9:12PM: Bo Outlaw with a vicious dunk. Bo's keeping the Heart-and-Hustle days alive! Magic 83-78. But that's not enough folks, alley-oop time for Mr. Outlaw with a fantastic feed from Arroyo.

9:07PM: Carlos Arroyo's jumper gives the Magic a three-point lead, 78-75. Another former Magic player hasn't found his way off the Houston bench in this one. Juwan Howard looking quite comfortable in the warmups tonight. Diener hits a three and Orlando goes back up by six, 81-75.

9:02PM: Houston has gotten back into the game as John Locus is fouled while hitting a runner, but misses the free throw. Still, the lead is cut to one - 74-73. Darko Milicic gets his first basket of the second half as the lead is increased to three, 76-73 (8:22 left).

8:53PM: Dikembe is visibly upset with a gentleman in the stands and the guy is escourted away by security. The gentleman was doing a little heckling after Dikembe's foul on Dwight, but I didn't think it was excessive. Mutombo may have won this won, but the guy in the stands wins some style points for wearing one of the wildest shirts in the building. Oh well, Magic lead at the end of three - 72-67.

8:51PM: Mutombo fouls Howard as he goes up for a shot and Dikembe is finger waving and head shaking all over the place. What is it, 1994 again? He was nowhere close to the ball. Don't you have to at least get a piece of the action to gloat like that or does that come with veteran status. Oh well, Dwight hits both free throws...Magic get the best of the moment.

8:50PM: Dooling nails the outside shot and the Magic now up 70-62. Houston finally ends the drought as Vassilis Spanoulis (get spell check ready) gets his first basket of the night. Magic lead now 70-64...45.5 left in the quarter. 8:48PM: Carlos Arroyo checks in and hits a shot to give Orlando the lead, 63-62. Word from the Houston locker room, Yao Ming has a sprained right ankle and will not return. Tony Battie puts back a Travis Diener missed three and the Magic are now up 65-62. Now a 16-0 run. And the fun doesn't stop there....Howard fouled by Mutombo, but still hits the shot. He hits the free throw and the Magic lead grows to 68-62...a 19-0 run.

8:42PM: Tony misses a shot, but there's Dwight - dunking back the miss. Magic trail by three, 62-59. Houston is falling apart fast as another Rocket turnover and a Jameer Nelson jumper cuts the lead to only one, 62-61. Magic on a 12-0 run as the Rockets have gone stone cold. Houston calls a timeout.

8:39PM: The first unit is finally starting to come together. After back-to-back turnovers, Houston has now committed back-to-back offensive fouls and the Magic has responded. Grant Hill hit a layup, followed by a jumper and the Magic now trail by only five, 62-57. Dikembe Mutombo checks in the for Rockets, getting some preseason action before starting his 62nd NBA season.

8:36PM: A Hedo tip back off his missed shot, followed by a layup by the Turkish player off back-to-back Houston turnovers has brought the Magic within nine, 62-53. Jeff Van Gundy doesn't like what he's seeing and calls a timeout.

8:33PM: Shane Battier only had four points at halftime, but has quickly brought that total up to 11 in the third quarter as Houston now leads by 12. Dwight hits a shot and is fouled, but misses the free throw attempt. Houston's threes are still falling as Kirk Snyder is the latest to find success from the outside, bringing the deficit to 13, 62-49.

8:26PM: The second half is now underway. Orlando and Houston both start the same five in the third quarter. Both teams miss a shot on their first possessions of the quarter, but Alston nails a trey on the Rockets second trip down to put them up by six, 52-46. Battie's attempt fails and Houston takes advantage as Battier cans a shot to put Houston ahead by eight, 54-46.

8:09PM: Clock stoppage on the floor. Literally, the clock has stopped. The Magic were bringing the ball down the court with 19.9 left (18 on the shot) and the clock stopped. Orlando looking for a last possession to even it up (currently down 49-46). Jameer takes a shot inside the three-point line and misses. The Magic head to the locker room down by three, 49-46.

8:06PM: Technical picked up by head coach Brian Hill. Novak hits the free throw to give Houston a 49-44 lead. Howard, Battie, Turkoglu, Nelson and Dooling out on the floor hoping for a solid run in the final two minutes to give the Magic a halftime lead.

8:03PM: A little under 3:00 left in the first half and the Magic trail, 48-44. A better shooting night so far for the home team (51.4 percent), but a lot of fouls as Houston has already been to the foul line 22 times (16-of-22). Hopefully they''ll send Chuck Hayes there a few times. Hayes just shot a free throw that not only barely clipped the rim, but was also off-center.

7:58PM: The Magic has slipped a little bit in the opening minutes of the second quarter and now trail 42-38. Here's something Magic fans didn't see a lot of last year - Grant Hill leading the team in minutes. He's logged 17 so far and has two points. Dwight leads the Magic with 12 points.

7:46PM: A little frustration early for Darko, who just got blown for a technical.

7:40PM: T-Mac must still feel at home (somewhat) in Orlando. He played the entire first quarter, hitting 4-of-7 shots from the field for 14 points. Yao sat out the final three minutes of the first but has checked back in. Dwight has 8 points and 6 rebounds (6-of-6 from the line - shhh!!), while Jameer has added 6 points. Keyon already has 4 points in his 4 minutes off the bench.

7:37PM: End of first quarter, Magic lead 26-24. It could have been a bigger lead, but Battier picked off a Darko pass to Jameer and passed it off to T-Mac who canned a three.

7:34PM: After sitting out the past few games due to a sore lower back, Darko Milicic has checked in. Darko had a hard fall in the Atlanta home game when Shelden Williams took out his legs as Darko went up for a shot and sat out the past three games.

7:31PM: Keyon Dooling has just checked in for Grant Hill. And here's some breaking news for my Baseline Blog faithful that you won't find anywhere else. Keyon has agreed to do a season-long Blog for OrlandoMagic.com. Check back next week for Keyon's debut blog! Magic lead 22-19.

7:27PM: I hate to write this, because I know the jinx will follow, but Dwight's 4-of-4 from the free throw line now! He has six points and five rebounds. Dwight and Tony are doing a great job inside. Houston is having to rely on its outside shooting to get anything done. Magic lead 18-14.

7:20PM: It doesn't appear this Orlando crowd has forgiven T-Mac for jumping ship three years ago. The former Magic star still hears a very loud chorus of boos everytime he touches the ball. He just got fouled shooting a three by Hedo, but hit only 1-of-3 free throws. Grant takes it the other way and cans a jumper...Magic lead 10-6.

7:19PM: Much like last game, everyone suited up tonight except Trevor Ariza. Trevor looked really good during training camp, so I'm especially excited to see him out on the court this season.

7:15PM: Dwight missed out on a matchup with Shaq on Tuesday night, but it appears he'll get tested by one of the game's premiere centers tonight in Yao Ming. Yao had a career-best 22 ppg last season - helping pick up some of the offensive load while T-Mac was sidelined with back problems. Back to the game...Magic lead 6-2.

7:12PM: D-12 and Yao at half-court and the tip goes to...Dwight. First possession for the Magic, Dwight takes it to the basket and is fouled by Shane Battier while attempting a shot. Dwight hits both free throws and the Magic are on the board, 2-0.

7:08PM: Starting lineup time....

For Houston - Tracy McGrady, Shane Battier, Yao Ming, Kirk Snyder and Rafer Alston.

For your Orlando Magic - Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, Tony Battie, Grant Hill and Jameer Nelson.

6:42PM: What's up everyone. Just got settled in, so tonight's "Baseline Blog" is open for business. As most of you already know, this is the final exhibition game for the Magic. Should be interesting to see what Coach Hill's strategy is for tonight's game. After playing a lot last night at Miami, I don't anticipate seeing much - if any - of T-Mac and Yao this evening.

Also, if you want to know what's happening at the arena tonight, just shoot me an email. I'll try my best to respond to your emails throughout the evening!

9:00AM - Pre-Game Preview
The Magic will take the court tonight for its final preseason contest, welcoming Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets into Orlando.

Orlando is 5-2 so far in exhibition play and surprising, both losses have come at home. Still, the Magic will look to finish with a strong performance before the November 1 home opener against the Chicago Bulls.

After some early injuries in training camp, the Magic have mostly returned to health and 14 of the 15 players on the roster should be available for tonight's contest. The lone exception will be Trevor Ariza, who is still resting a sore right foot. Kasib Powell and Jackie Manuel - both whom were signed by the team prior to training camp - were waived after yesterday's practice.

Houston enters this upcoming season asking for one thing - good health. T-Mac missed 34 games because of back issues and Yao was sidelined for 25 games due to an infection on his big toe and then for a broken bone in his left foot.

When healthy, Houston poses a threat to every team in the Western Conference. The team traded Memphis for Shane Battier and signed free agent Bonzi Wells from Sacramento - giving them more offense and better defense.

The Rockets played in Miami on Wednesday night and defeated the Heat at home, 96-71. After playing a combined 63 minutes against Miami, it is unclear how much court time McGrady (19 points last night) and Yao (14 points, 13 boards) will see tonight in Orlando.