MAGIC: Quotes: 03/12/08 vs. Los Angeles Clippers

FINAL: Orlando Magic 110 - Los Angeles Clippers 88

March 12, 2008 - Amway Arena

	1	2	3	4	F
CLIPPERS	19	28	29	12	88
MAGIC	32	31	27	20	110

Orlando Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy:
On the overall game�
�I thought it was a good effort defensively pretty much the whole night. It�s a different game defensively against them because they really don�t move the ball at all, it�s just whoever gets it is going every time. It�s five one-on-one games going at a time. So it challenges us in our individual defense and it challenges our help defense and they�ve got some very good individual players. We couldn�t keep Maggette off the line in the first half; we did a better job in the second half, but then Mobley got going. They�ve got some good individual guys I thought we defended well. I thought we got outstanding point guard play. Twenty-five points, nine assists and one turnover out of those two guys, I thought they were terrific. Obviously I thought Dwight dominated the game inside. He had a little bit of a struggle there in the third quarter, but I thought he played extremely well. And Rashard made some pretty good shots. It was a pretty good overall effort, so I�m pretty happy with that.�

On 3-pointers being an offensive weapon�
�We didn�t shoot it very well tonight. Second half we shot it a little better, we shot 8-for-17. We didn�t shoot it well in the first half and at times it gets frustrating even for us. We feel like maybe we�re taking too many 3�s but the shots were wide open. They didn�t really closeout. Those shots were wide open. They were staying back in the paint and you�ve got to take them. Usually we�ll hit a stretch where enough of them will drop and we�ll be in pretty good shape.�

On Dwight�s injury�
�He�s got a bruise, nothing else. I think he�ll be fine. We might even let him take tomorrow off. We�ll see. I�m a pretty nice guy.�

On clinching a playoff spot being a priority�
�We have it on the board and we�ve had it for awhile, sort of a countdown, days and games left with the primary thing being on the board that we want to get our game right. But then we had six goals in increasing difficulty. The first one we got tonight, a winning season. Obviously with our record people have sort of taken that for granted, but we have some guys in the locker room who had never had a winning season, and this is the first time in five years here. It was big. I told them we�re onto bigger things, but at the same time it�s a long year and you�ve got to appreciate some of the things you accomplish. I don�t believe that the only thing that matters is what happens at the end of the year. So you�re telling me seven months are meaningless? I don�t buy that. That was a nice goal for us, we got that one done. The next goal for us was to wrap up a playoff spot and then from there we want to win our division, we want to secure home court. We�d like to get 50 and if we could really go on a run maybe even 55 wins. And then the last one would be to try to catch Detroit, which obviously would be very tough at this point, they�re quite a ways ahead. That�s sort of the things we�re playing for here over the last 16 games. It was nice to get one of them done. Someone had actually already erased it when I walked in tonight.�

Orlando Magic GuardJameer Nelson:
�Well, we controlled the game from the beginning. You always play with a sense of urgency. You have to go out there with a sense of urgency that the team you�re playing is capable of putting up big numbers and they have big number guys. So you have to play your game, stay on top of things, and not even give them a chance.�

�Once you get a team down, we were just talking about it, keep our foot on them and keep them down.�

Orlando Magic ForwardHedo Turkoglu:
(On scoring 13 straight points) �I took my time, didn�t want to rush anything. My teammates looked after me and I just got hot in the 3rd quarter. We had a good game as a group. We take our jobs seriously every game right now. We just controlled them from the beginning and finished strong. We tried not to have any problems come up that would cost us anything. We did great as a group. Overall I think we had a great game.�

�Playing inside out, playing unselfishly, making extra passes really opens up everything. Finding the open guy, we had a lot of open looks and we didn�t miss too many. Just that�s how we played. Go through Dwight, he gets double-teamed, and he kicks it out.�

Orlando Magic GuardMaurice Evans:
(On hitting 3�s) �It�s a huge weapon given that we have an inside powerhouse like Dwight, someone who is so dominate in the inside. You generally want to surround a player like that with people who can spread the floor and make shots. Obviously we have people here who can do that; shoot the ball well. We�re just capitalizing on his double-teams.�

�With Dwight, he started in the first quarter alone with 14 points and nine rebounds. Then you have to pick your poison and make somebody do something different. And what was different for us was that they had to make us hit shots from the outside and we did that tonight.�

Los Angeles Clippers Head Coach Mike Dunleavy:
�For us without Kaman to go against Dwight Howard, I knew it was going to be a pretty long night unless we caught fire from outside. We couldn�t put any pressure on him (Howard) to get into foul trouble. We couldn�t make him play defense in the low area. He just roamed in there, rebounded and his size advantage early in the game to go with his offensive rebounding ability, almost led him to a double-double in first quarter. He was just such a nightmare match up for us. Due to all the double teaming we had to do it created all the outside opportunities for their guys. They were sitting with their feet set on threes. They buried them when they had to bury them.�

�You couldn�t stop them inside, so it was damn if you do�damn if you don�t. We had to collapse and double team and they have too many good shooters. Sooner or later someone is going to catch fire and create the opportunities for others.�

�They hit two (three-pointers) in transition (in third quarter) where they had numbers against us. Lewis hit that one from the left wing then they got one from the corner. It got up to 15 and gave them that cushion. I told the guys at halftime that in the third quarter if we can make a run at them and get it down to single digits, maybe we can put enough pressure on them and they are not free stroking from the outside. It puts a little more pressure on your shoulders when you have to make it in a tight game vs. when you have a big lead.�

�He (Thornton) has been great for us. We obviously needed a big game out of him. You look at all the games that we have won in the last month and a half and we have needed that third scorer in there. We are going to get points from Maggette. Mobley is going to get points. When Kaman is in there he is going to get points. When Al is in there and gives us a really good game then we get that extra guy that gives us a chance to win games.�

Los Angeles Clippers GuardCuttino Mobley:
On the recent team injuries:
�I haven�t been 100 percent from November to late January. We have Corey Maggette, Tim Thomas, so many guys, any other team could do that with their top four or five guys and win is one heck of a team, especially in the West. If you have some of your guys out you can just forget it. You still just have to keep playing and have fun knowing that you love the game. You grow up loving the game but not everybody thinks like that. You have your owner and other people just thinking you�re supposed to win all the time but when you have so many guys that are gone, it�s hard to establish chemistry and play when you have another team coming at you 100 percent.�

On forcing players to play a key role:
�You have myself, Corey Maggette, Brevin Knight, Chris Kaman, all those guys healthy we would be pretty tough. I have never been in a situation like this but you just have to go out there and have fun. We have guys like Josh Powell who are playing hard. He�s put in a situation where he has to play and play hard because his mistakes are magnified. Then Al Thornton and a lot of other guys are growing up fast, so hopefully it is a negative that will turn into a positive for us next year. When we need those guys next year they will already know what to do.�

Los Angeles Clippers ForwardAl Thornton:
On being back in Florida:
�It�s good to be back home. I have a lot of family members down here including cousins, friends and people I went to school with. It�s just good to be back down here, it feels like home. I had a lot of fans who came out to support me tonight so it felt really good.�

On added pressure of being back in his home state:
�No, there wasn�t any added pressure. I just came out and played my normal game. I kind of had a rough night tonight but you can�t dwell on that.�

On trying to hold Dwight Howard:
�Dwight is definitely a beast on the inside. We tried to make it tough on him but he�s a beast in the paint. He�s a great player.�

POSTGAME NOTES

� With the Magic�s 11 3-pointers made in the game, this improves the season total to 622, which matches a franchise record for most threes made in a season, with 16 games remaining in the regular season. The previous mark of 622 was set during the 1995-96 season, when the Magic finished the season 60-22.
� The Orlando Magic defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 110-88 to improve to 42-24 on the season, 20-12 at home, while the Clippers fall to 21-42, 9-20 on the road. The Magic are now 21-17 all-time vs. the Clippers, 13-6 at Amway Arena. The Magic now hold a 2-0 advantage over the Clippers in the series this season.
� Center Dwight Howard finished the night with his league-leading 57th double-double of the season, 209th of his career as he notched 22 points and 13 rebounds. Howard has recorded double-doubles in the last 11 consecutive games, averaging 23.4 ppg and 14.5 rpg. (257 points; 160 rebounds)
� Along with Howard�s 22 points, five other Magic players finished the night in double digits. Forward Rashard Lewis finished with 19 points, nine rebounds and five assists in just under 40 minutes of action. Hedo Turkoglu contributed 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes. Guard Maurice Evans and Carlos Arroyo both finished with 13 points apiece, while Jameer Nelson dished in 12 points on 3-of-5 from the field and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
� The Clippers had four players finish in double figures as Corey Maggette finished with 22 points and nine rebounds. Of Maggette�s 22 points for the night, 20 were scored in the first half.
� Both Cuttino Mobley and Al Thornton finished with 17 points apiece, while Tim Thomas dished in 14 points.