MAGIC: Quotes: 03/17/08 vs. Cleveland

FINAL: Orlando Magic 104 - Cleveland Cavaliers 90

March 17, 2008 - Amway Arena

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

Orlando Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy:
On the overall game...
�For me that�s probably the most satisfying win of the year, because we usually get it done when we�re one of the top two or three shooting teams in the league. We usually get it done with our offense, and to shoot 31 percent in the first half and 39 percent for the game and get a double-figure victory over a great basketball team. I have not seen our guys, in 69 games this year, and we�ve played hard a lot of times, but we have never played harder or fought harder than we did tonight. It was a very frustrating night. We had a lot of trouble scoring the entire night, particularly in the first half. We were sending them to the free throw line all the time, we had Rashard in foul trouble and we just kept fighting. We had a lot of guys in there that just kept fighting. The numbers for people are not as impressive as usual, but a great, great win. I thought (it was) a tremendous bounce back by Rashard. To play seven minutes in the first half and then come back in the second half and score 21 points, that is really hard to do, to sit there. That�s why you have guys like this on your roster like Pat Garrity. The guy has sat and sat and sat and he just keeps himself ready. We got Rashard with three, and Brian (Cook) with three and Pat comes in and plays virtually the entire second quarter and plays well and plays hard and just helps us, tremendous. Dwight obviously I thought was a real presence inside. He did a heck of a job, and Turk(oglu) had a nice bounce back also I thought. But our defense was really good in the second half especially, really good the whole game, we fought. Our only two problems were they got us in transition. If LeBron gets in the open court he�s like a runaway freight train. You�re going to have a hard time stopping him. And we didn�t do a great job on the boards at times. They got a lot of second chance stuff, but our half court defense was as good as it�s been all year. (It was) a very satisfying win to know that we can battle a good team and win a game when we�re not having a great offensive night.�

On relying on 3-point shooting�
�It�s game 69; I really don�t think we�ll change much. I think you have to build your style of play around the players you have. I know some people question it and the whole thing. I don�t know, number one that we really have a choice in terms of how we�re going to play the game. But, number two, ask the other coaches around the league if they find us easy to guard. I thought quite honestly one of the reasons the percentages were so low in the first half was because we didn�t get good shots. Their defense was good and we really forced the issue in the second half. We got the floor spread out, and had a lot better ball movement. You just can�t play Dwight one-on-one and so there�s going to be a second guy there, and if you find the open man we�ve got a chance to get it going a little bit. But our guys are fearless shooting the three and I don�t say much to them about it.�

Orlando Magic GuardJameer Nelson:
�We were scrambling, blocking out, doing all the little things that we�ve been talking about during the course of the season. It showed that we could do it even though people are counting us out. They want to talk about Boston, Detroit, and then skip over us and go to Cleveland. It shows that we are a good team and we can beat good teams even if we�re not shooting the ball well.�

Orlando Magic ForwardRashard Lewis:
�It�s been the first time all year that I�ve been in foul trouble, but I just kept my composure. There are two halves in the ballgame and I�m glad that the guys on the bench played well and kept the game close and we were able to capitalize at the end of the game.�

�We�re a better team than that. We know that it�s going to take four quarters to win the game. We�re going to continue to play ball. We know that we easily can get back into the game as well as teams can get back into the game if we get a lead on them. We�ve just got to keep playing basketball.�

�I think early in the third quarter, he (Van Gundy) started calling plays for me. I made my shots and was able to get into a rhythm and I was ready to roll every since then.�

�We definitely wanted to get this game tonight. We split with them already. They beat us on our home court earlier this season. And it kind of let you know that we�re a team to be reckoned with and it�s going to take a lot of effort to come and beat us on our home court.�

Orlando Magic ForwardPat Garrity:
�It�s a funny thing about the league, you never know. You can set for long stretches and then all of a sudden, someone gets hurts, or there�s foul trouble like we had tonight, and you get a chance. It was just fun to be out there. I hadn�t been out there in quite a while.�

�That�s the thing that you�ve got to keep in your mind even if you go a month without seeing the floor. In the NBA, you�re one injury or you�re foul trouble from getting in there. And you don�t get a lot of chances but you always get a few. And if you�re not ready, you end up kicking yourself when the season�s over for not being ready.�

Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach Mike Brown:
On the loss:
�You have to give credit to the Magic. You have to give credit to the crowd. I thought they were terrific in the second half. (Hedo) Turkoglu came out and had a big (second) half but more importantly I thought the difference in the ball game in the second half was that we couldn�t stop (Rashard) Lewis. They came out and they went to him. They went to him in iso(lation) situations and he got to the free throw line and obviously he knocked down 3�s. It was a terrific job by those guys in the second half.�

On Rashard Lewis being difficult to guard:
�He�s going to be a tough cover for us, but even during part of his run we had LeBron (James) on him and we put Ben (Wallace) on (Maurice) Evans. He�s a very, very good basketball player. He had the confidence going, the crowd was going and he was making plays on anybody who was guarding him. In the second half it was a tough cover for us no matter who was guarding him. Their pick-and-roll hurt us in the second half. We jumped out and showed and they had us strung out and we were tagging and they got some great looks. On the other end we weren�t as aggressive as we were in the first half when trying to get to the rim.�

On the Magic�s stretch of 3-pointers during the third quarter:
�It�s tough to defend that because Dwight (Howard) commands so much attention, especially when we play pick-and-roll the way we did. We had to change our coverage and they still hit a couple on us even though we changed our coverage. They�re a very good shooting team and we just have to close out and take away their space and hopefully they don�t go to the free throw line as much as they did in the second half.�

On giving up 30 points in both second half quarters:
�Rahsard Lewis had a big factor in that. He iso�ed us. He hit 3�s in isolation. He drove by us in isolation. He got to the free throw line in isolation. And then we didn�t defend them well in the pick-and-roll which opened it up for everybody else. Giving up 64 points in a half on the road, especially with the crowd that the Magic have, it�s going to be tough for us to get a win. You have to give them a ton of credit.�

Cleveland Cavaliers ForwardLeBron James:
�They made shots that they didn�t make in the first half. They are a team that shoots the ball very well. They hit a lot of three-pointers and when they do that it is tough to come back. We just never recovered from that.�

�It is very tough (come back when other team is hitting three-pointers). You saw it tonight in the second half. You try and cover the inside, but at the same time you have to cover the outside. We did a good job of it in the first half but they heated up in the second half and knocked those shots down.�

�They are a very good team. When you have an inside-outside threat like they have they are going to be very successful in this league.�

�We had some careless turnovers. We could have done some things differently in the second half. We didn�t play bad. They were just knocking down shots that were contested. They were jabbing and jabbing and hitting threes. It was tough to contain Dwight and then get out to their shooters.�

�We definitely can�t turn the ball over against a team like that (upcoming match up vs. Detroit). They are always in the top two or three in assist to turnover ratio per game. Defensively we have to be in tune because they are very efficient on offensive end. We have to work together. It should be fun because we have them a couple more times. We are not going to judge Wednesday�s game on the playoff picture, but it should be fun.�

�He (Lewis) is a very good player. They signed him this summer because of the things he can do with his perimeter game. He can shoot the three ball as well as he can. He is a triple-threat. He can put the ball on the ground and also do some things. He played really well.�

Cleveland Cavaliers GuardZydrunas Ilgauskas:
�It is just a matter of getting my rhythm back. I struggled today. I had a lot of open shots I didn�t make. It will take a week or two to get back. Hopefully I can stay healthy.�

�No matter when you play him (Howard) he is a handful. It is not a one man job. It is hard to stop him by yourself. I think we did a decent job on him today. He went to the line a lot today, but he had to work for it.�

POSTGAME NOTES

� With Orlando�s 104-90 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Magic�s �magic number� to clinch the Southeast Division championship is 5. This number is a combination of our wins and the second place team�s losses. (currently Washington) The Magic are now 6 � games up on Cleveland for the third spot in the Eastern Conference.
� Center Dwight Howard finished the night with his league-leading 60th double-double of the season, 212th of his career, as he finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Howard has now matched his season-high total from last season. Howard also recorded his 14th consecutive double-double, which started on Feb. 20. During the span, Howard is averaging 22.6 ppg and 14.1 rpg. (316 points and 198 rebounds) Howard is one double-double shy of matching his longest consecutive double-double streak of the season. The record for most consecutive double-doubles is 18, set by Shaquille O�Neal from Nov. 27-Dec. 30, 1993.
� The win improves the Magic to 45-24 for the season, 22-12 at home, while the Cavaliers fall to 38-30, 16-20 on the road. The Magic now hold the series advantage 2-1 over the Cavaliers this season and have taken the advantage 35-34 in the all-time series.
� The Magic are currently on a five-game win-streak, four-game streak at home, and are 8-1 in the month of March.
� Forward Rashard Lewis finished the night with his 28th 20+ point game as he finished with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting (63.6 percent) from the field and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
� Forward Hedo Turkoglu finished the night with his 31st 10+ point game as he tallied 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
� Coming off the bench, forward Pat Garrity turned in his fourth 17+ minute performance of the season for the Magic as he finished with five points on 2-of-3 shooting from the field, while grabbing three boards and notching his first blocked shot of the season.
� Heading into the fourth quarter, the Magic had a one-point lead over the Cavaliers and extended it by as much as 14 points three times throughout the fourth quarter to outscore the Cavaliers 31-18. Of Howard�s 23 points for the night, 10 points came in the fourth quarter.
� Forward LeBron James led all scorers for the night with 30 points and nine rebounds as he shot 50.0 percent from the field on 11-of-22 shooting. James also led the team with six assists.
� Guards Delonte West and Sasha Pavlovic rounded out the double-digit scoring for the Cavaliers as they finished with 16 and 14 points, respectively.
� The Cavaliers are now 5-4 during the month of March.