FINAL: Washington Wizards 87 - Orlando Magic 86
March 19, 2008 - Amway Arena
| |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
F |
| WIZARDS |
20 |
16 |
31 |
20 |
87 |
| MAGIC |
26 |
17 |
22 |
21 |
86 |
NBA.com Preview |
Game Notes (PDF) |
POSTGAME QUOTES
Orlando Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy:
On the overall game…
“Other than (Hedo) Turkoglu and (Keith) Bogans, it was miserable, miserable, miserable offensive night. We had trouble getting good shots, and when we got them we couldn’t make them. And then we were making free throws until the end when we needed them, and then I don’t know what. We missed three straight. We went to the line for two three straight times at the end and couldn’t make the two. It was just one of those nights. It was just a miserable evening. If you take Keith and Turkoglu out of that we were 10-for-47. Wow. It was a very, very bad night. I thought for as poorly as we shot, and as poorly as we played, I thought we hung in there and gave ourselves a chance obviously at the end and so that I was happy with. When we get 10 points total out of Dwight (Howard) and Rashard (Lewis) and still have a chance to win at the end, that’s almost remarkable. I’ll take a lot of blame; I couldn’t find anything and couldn’t get any flow offensively. It was just a bad night.”
On Turkoglu taking the last shot…
“We just wanted to get him the ball and let him go. Obviously we would have liked to have gotten it to him in a better spot the first time and we didn’t and then he squared up and got fouled. But they’re not going to make that call standing there out of bounds when they can just give us the ball back. That’s just the way that is. I thought we got it to him in a good spot, and I thought he was just going to get space, which he had, and raise up and shoot it. But he tried to be real aggressive and go to the basket and just didn’t even get a good shot. It’s disappointing, but I don’t really second guess going to him at the end. He was about the only guy that had anything going tonight.”
On the team’s second consecutive bad offensive performance …
“I don’t know what it is, but that was a brutal offensive game. The other night we got it going for awhile, but tonight was brutal. It was tough and frustrating on our players too. It’s just a very difficult night when you can’t get the ball to go in the basket. Thank God Turkoglu was having the night he was or that game would’ve been a blowout. But, on the positive side I think other than the third quarter where we didn’t defend or score, I thought we battled hard to stay in the game and give ourselves a chance. We had a lot of opportunities. Going to the line for two to tie, going to the line for two to get a lead, two good free throw shooters at the line shooting them and we just couldn’t get two to go in. It was that kind of night. We couldn’t get the job done when we needed to. It wasn’t for lack of trying or anything else. We just couldn’t get it done. It was very frustrating. I like the way our guys hung in and it was a difficult loss and we’ll try to get back to playing better. Get a day off here and try to see if some rest will help us.”
On Dwight’s performance…
“It doesn’t help obviously and he just never really got in the flow anyway. He had turnovers, he was missing shots inside and then we tried to get him the ball on the move out of our pick-and-roll game, but never did. And we ended up everybody else shooting the ball on a bad shooting night. It was me too. I couldn’t figure out what to do to get us going offensively. It’s a frustrating night for a coach because I know I’ve got a better team than what we played tonight. I just didn’t find anything to go to.”
Orlando Magic GuardKeith Bogans:
“It was one of those nights where we got great looks at the basket but the shots weren’t falling. They made some great shots, but it was a tough night.”
“My job is to play defense. I just take the shot when it’s there. Turk, Rashard and Dwight are our main guys on offense.”
(On Turkoglu) “He had a great birthday today. I know he’s a little upset now, but he’ll make up for it on Friday.”
Orlando Magic ForwardHedo Turkoglu:
(On getting fouled on last play) “Yeah, I got hit before that, twisted my arm. Part of the game, I guess. In the end, it was kind of a tough angle for me. Before that, they fouled me, so they were holding me again. But it was a tough angle for me and I just really couldn’t go strong with the left. Didn’t have a good shot.
“I don’t want to settle for a jumper because right before that, they fouled me. So I was going to go strong but the angle really wasn’t what I wanted. With four seconds, I wanted to go strong.”
(On the last time he missed more free throws than 3-pointers) “I guess today on my birthday. I don’t know how I missed it. It just came out. That really hurts. But we’ve got to put it back behind and move forward.”
Orlando Magic CenterDwight Howard:
“I was on the bench. I think that was (their) defensive stop right there.”
“I think it’s the flopping. Some of the things, I understand. People can beat up on me, and nothing happens. But when I touch somebody, I get calls. I try (to talk to refs) but it doesn’t seem to do any good. I really can’t focus on that. It’s only one game. We’ve just got to come back. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again Friday.”
(On last play) “It was a play for Turk but coach said that if the ball comes to me, take it to the rack, at least try and get a foul.”
Washington Wizards Head Coach Eddie Jordan:
On the game plan to defend against Dwight Howard:
“We have Brendan (Haywood) who can match him eye-to-eye which is pretty rare in this league where you have a veteran center who can meet Dwight eye-to-eye and knows how to really play him. You can’t stop him, I’m not saying he’s a stopper, but he makes it tough for him. Brendan did a great job in the paint for us.”
On their halftime adjustments:
“We just talked about continuing to defend. We thought our shot selection in the first half was very questionable and we said if we can just get better shots, be a little bit more selective in our shots, stay organized and keep defending. Both forwards can score; their two and our two, and the two forwards who have the size to defend are going to have the upper hand. I think we took the bull by the horns in that regard.”
On how they defended the Magic’s last possession:
“Everybody had different ideas but just play our basic package but just play it well. You can out-coach yourself sometimes, you can just outsmart yourself. Just play your basic defense and do it well. Don’t have any breakdowns and we just got it done.”
On how pleased he is with the win:
“I’m very pleased. We respect them a great deal. I have the utmost respect for Stan (Van Gundy). They do a great job. They’ve been beating their drum all year. They’ve been having consistent high level play and we’re just pleased to come down and compete. That’s what we wanted to do, number one, compete, and then just stay organized and see what happens and we eeked out a win.”
On the performance of Antawn Jamison:
“I thought he really played smarter in the second half. He played harder and got himself closer to the rim as opposed to taking 3’s and tough shots. So it’s a credit to him that he adjusted his game and stayed professional and got some scores in the paint.”
Washington Wizards CenterBrendan Haywood:
“I had a lot of motivation (on shutting down Howard). I think we had a lot of motivation as a team. We let them really get off in D.C. and have a good time especially Dwight. He had a phenomenal game in D.C. He was dunking, posing, staring at people. We didn’t like that so we didn’t want that to happen again. We made a concerted effort to try and stop him tonight.”
(on last play of game) “I saw that C.B. (Butler) tried to press him (Turkoglu) and take away the three. Once he got beat I tried to step up. Turkoglu is so long and somehow stepped around me but had a bad angle at the basket. His shot kind of ricocheted off the backboard. DeShawn had a great box out on Dwight to not allow him to get a tip-in.”
“It shows what type of team we are. People have kind of slept on us all year long and when we get healthy and get guys playing at the level they are supposed to we can be mentioned with any of the teams in the East.”
“We can definitely see them in the first round. This isn’t like we are saying we are going to beat them or anything like that but at the same time, this is like a statement to them that we are not going to be any pushovers. After D.C., they probably thought they could do whatever to us.”
“We have done a better job all year long at helping the helper. I thought Hedo was in such a scoring mode that he was going to try and score and there was only four seconds left so there wasn’t a lot of time to for any dribbling and passing. You kind of got to get to your move and hope it goes in.”
Washington Wizards GuardDeShawn Stevenson:
“I don’t know what Dwight was eating but he had a horrible game. He usually doesn’t do that. I think we played good. I think Hedo Turkoglu played awesome and we just got the last play.”
“I am not going to say too much right now because they are a great team. I don’t want to add any fire. They are a good team and have great players. They have an All-Star center and we just have to go out and play. They beat us by 30 in our arena. We barely snuck it in tonight. It is good getting a win but they are a talented ball club.”
“I was fortunate to get two fouls on him (Howard) early by driving and then he got another quick foul. He was in foul trouble, but other than that he didn’t get a chance to get the ball in the post.”
POSTGAME NOTES
• Forward Hedo Turkoglu had a career night for the Orlando Magic as he finished with a career- and season-high 39 points for the night, while also tallying six rebounds, three assists and one block. In just under 41 minutes of action, Turkoglu was 11-of-20 from the field, 7-of-9 from beyond the arc and 10-of-14 from the free-throw line. His previous career-high of 37 points came on April 4, 2007 against the Toronto Raptors.
• The Magic fell 87-86 to the Washington Wizards at the Amway Arena, snapping a five-game winning streak, four-game home winning streak. The loss drops the Magic to 45-25 for the season, 22-13 at home, while the Wizards are 34-33 on the season, 14-18 on the road. The season series between both teams now stands at 2-1 in favor of the Magic.
• Tonight’s loss is the Magic’s first loss this season when they hold an opponent to 95 points or less in a game. The Magic are now 26-1 when their opponent scores less than 95 points. The Magic are 32-5 when the opponent scores less than 100 points.
• Center Dwight Howard finished the night with three points and 14 rebounds, ending his consecutive double-double streak at 14 (Feb. 20 to Mar. 19), which is one shy of matching his previous season-high of 15 consecutive double-double set earlier this season. The record for most consecutive double-doubles is 18, set by Shaquille O’Neal from Nov. 27-Dec. 30, 1993.
• 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).
• Keith Bogans came off the bench to dish in 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc.
• Jameer Nelson rounded out the double-digit scoring as he finished with 12 points and nine assists.
• Antawn Jamison led the Wizards for the night with 31 points and 11 rebounds to notch his 38th double-double of the season, 218th of his career.
• DeShawn Stevenson finished with 14 points and five assists, while Caron Butler dished in 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Center Brendan Haywood finished with his 15th double-double of the season as he tallied 10 points and 11 rebounds.
