MAGIC: Quotes: 04/01/08 vs. New Orleans

FINAL: New Orleans Hornets 98 - Orlando Magic 97

April 1, 2008 - Amway Arena

	1	2	3	4	F
HORNETS	21	23	30	24	98
MAGIC	27	26	23	21	97

Orlando Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy:
On overall game�
�It was a good, hard fought basketball game. I thought obviously the number one factor for us was 21 offensive rebounds by them, and they just really outworked us on the glass. And that�s going to be very, very hard to overcome. I thought our defense was as good as it could be against that basketball team in the half court, but we just gave them too many extra opportunities. I thought that was the key factor. I also thought Rashard�s foul trouble�he was in a great rhythm, we were in a great rhythm. That was a tough time for him to have to go to the bench. I sort of kicked myself, and thought maybe I should�ve just let him play through it. It was awfully early in the second half and we were able to stay ahead so I didn�t. So I thought that was a factor and then our inability to both get Dwight the ball when he was open in the middle of the paint and to make better plays out of the blitzes. We finally moved the ball great and got Mo (Maurice Evans) the three that put us up three in the corner. And then he got another one too, but it took us a long time to get to that. I thought it was a problem. And then down the stretch, with a three point lead, we got a couple of very, very unfortunate calls at the end. The foul on Mo, it was a real tough call. And then the out of bounds call with 12 seconds, that means we had to foul, was a very tough call. Those are the things that decided a very hard fought game. I thought we had some good performances, but that kind of effort on the glass simply will not get it done.�

On the last play of game
�Watching it again, and I thought so at the time, he [Rashard Lewis] was wide open coming out. I think he wanted to be very aggressive and attack and probably could�ve just raised up and shot the ball.�

On expecting Rashard Lewis to step up and shoot the ball�
�Once he took the ball off the dribble, there was no way because they came at him with two guys and he made the play. Keyon got a shot off the bounce, and got Chris Paul leaning the wrong way, he was just short on it. I don�t have a problem with the play he made. I hear that all the time. �He made the right play. I thought he should have shot it when he first came up, but you put good players in a spot at the end of a game and they have to make decisions. He�s been very good in that spot. Both making shots and getting shots. You can�t quibble over what he did. Again, I thought he was open coming up, but I�m not the one out there making the play and I don�t see what he sees�

Orlando Magic ForwardHedo Turkoglu:
(On Peja hitting 3-ptrs in 4th qtr.) �He�s been doing that all his life, all his career. He had a small space and he just threw it up and it went in.�

(On not getting call for last shot) �Not at all. We have Rashard, he hit big shots for us during stretches in the season. Normally cool, he�s a great player too. It�s really not important who takes the most shots or who gets the call. He�s been carrying the team all year and hitting big shots and I don�t mind that.�

(On rebound disparity) �We�re always undersized to most of the teams. We have to do a better job as a team to help Dwight. We just can�t let him get all the rebounds. We should have a team effort. And tonight, they did a good job of getting offensive boards and the ball was bounding crazy and they were the team at the right time at the right place.�

�It was a good game to see ourselves playing the good teams. New Orleans is the best team in the West. I think we did great until the last second. We had the lead and they came back. Good game for us. We�ve got stuff to work on like rebounding and turnovers.�

Orlando Magic GuardKeyon Dooling:
�It was definitely a physical game. Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler, that�s a great pick-and-roll combination. David West, those guys, they have a pretty nice team over there. They did a good job down the stretch. The game could have went any way, one break here, one break there, it could have gone any way. But it was a good, hard fought game. It was a very competitive game. It was fun to play.�

�Tyson Chandler is obviously the best offensive rebounder in the league. I think he had six tonight. They did a good job of crashing the boards. They got a lot of shooters. Chris Paul is amazing off the dribble. He really gets into the teeth of the defense and we�ve got guys helping and trying to recover. There�s going to be loose balls and they were able to run them down more so than us.�

(On Chris Paul) �In my opinion, in this season, and I think it�s pretty much the consensus who the NBA player is, he�s been the best point guard in the league this year. And even though he didn�t start out well, in the fourth quarter, we definitely felt his presence. It seemed like he made every play or he made the play for somebody else. He did a fabulous job.�

New Orleans Hornets Head Coach Byron Scott:
On the Hornets� second half defensive performance:
�I thought each quarter we got better defensively and I thought in the second half, especially, our guys were all over the place. They made some tough shots. (Hedo) Turkoglu is a great player and had one of those good games where he seemed to be just on fire. We got some key stops when we needed and made some big shots at the end on the other side. I thought Peja�s (Stojakovic) three was big. He was 1-of-10 for the night and boom. I just had a feeling. I called the play for him and I didn�t know if he was going to get it off because Turkoglu was right there, but when he fell down he got it to him and knocked it down.�

On Chris Paul�s fourth-quarter performance:
�He normally knocks those (free throws) down in those situations. I really thought he was probably just tired because he played the whole second half and was getting bumped around pretty good all night long. We knew we had to get a stop and that�s the bottom line, that�s all I tried to tell the guys. We were still up one point and we had to play our best defense and make sure they don�t get anything open. Every shot has to be challenged and I thought Chris did a good job of challenging Keyon�s (Dooling) shot at the end and gave us the win.�

On why the Hornets have been a good road team:
�It�s just the mentality. We won 15 last year and we talked about that we have to do to win 20-plus this year. Right from training camp we understood we had to be a good road team. It starts there, and again, having some guys who are very tough minded with Peja, and CP (Chris Paul), David (West), Tyson (Chandler) and all those guys, that helps as well.�

On Peja Stojakovic�s game winning shot:
�It�s just one of those things where sometimes you have a feeling and I knew Peja was due. He had so many good looks tonight and I thought he was probably a little tired too. He�s been playing a lot more minutes than I thought I would be playing him at the beginning of the year. He�s one of those guys where he could be 0-11 but the one thing about him is he�s looking forward to taking that next shot. I just thought that he was due and as soon as it left his hands I said, �Man, that looks good.� Lucky for us it went in.�

New Orleans Hornets ForwardPeja Stojakovic:
�We were able to stay focused down the stretch especially on the defensive end. It was a really tough game. All of our guys went to the offensive boards. That was the reason why we stayed in the game and had a chance to win.�

(on his shooting struggles tonight before big shot) �You have to give yourself a chance. I always say that. If you don�t shoot, you are never going to find out. I just wanted to stay in the game and stay aggressive for my team. The coach called my name and I was ready.�

(on key to tying franchise record 24th road win during a season) �I think defense especially on the road. We have shown a lot of maturity this year especially for a young team. In addition, we have two young All-Stars who are such great leaders.�

�It is a great team. Orlando is playing great basketball. Hedo is amazing. He should have been an All-Star this year. That pick-and-roll he is running with Dwight Howard is nearly unstoppable and especially having Rashard Lewis and a couple of other shooters on the wing. They play very good basketball.�

New Orleans Hornets ForwardDavid West:
�We have been trying to take steps forward as a team every single time we get on the basketball floor. The way the game was developing obviously they are going to hit shots because they are a very talented group of guys. They play a very unconventional lineup with Turkoglu and Lewis. We knew we were going to have our hands full around the three-point line. We felt like we did a pretty decent job on Dwight. We didn�t give him all the easy touches. We made everything difficult for him. It worked out for us. We don�t hang our heads. We have been taking steps forward in terms of our maturity with this basketball team.�

�We don�t really get rattled especially on someone else�s floor. We know teams are going to play well on their home floor. We stick to our principles. We did a good job of maintaining our aggressiveness and getting stops when we needed to.�

�Peja is a scorer. He has got that mentality. He could miss a hundred (in a row), but the next one is going to go in. Coach came out and wanted to run that play for him and we all had the confidence he was going to make it.�

New Orleans Hornets GuardChris Paul:
�I didn�t know that Peja was 2 for 11 tonight. It seemed like he made more shots than that. I was like 6 for 19. I realized early in the game it was not about the percentages. We just have to grind it out and get the win. Guys had to make plays when we needed to.�

�When you miss so many shots, you get a lot of chances for offensive rebounds. We shot the ball horribly tonight, but it shows a lot of perseverance on our team and fight and hustle for us to grind out this win.�

�It (lack of national recognition) doesn�t even matter right now. We have nine games left and we do not pay to much attention to that. We take it one game at a time.�

POSTGAME NOTES

� The Orlando Magic fell to the New Orleans Hornets 98-97 in front of a sold out crowd at Amway Arena. So far, the Magic have tallied 30 sellouts this season compared to last season�s 25 sold out games.
� The season series between the teams now stands at 1-1, while the Magic still hold the overall advantage at home, 17-14.
� Forward Hedo Turkoglu led all scorers for the night with 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Turkoglu also dished out seven assists while pulling down five rebounds.
� Playing limited minutes due to foul trouble, forward Rashard Lewis finished with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field, 6-of-8 from beyond the arc, while swiping two stolen passes.
� Center Dwight Howard chipped in 17 points and 15 rebounds to finish with his league-leading 65th double-double of the season, 217th of his career. Howard is four double-doubles shy of breaking the team record for most double-doubles in a season (68), set by Shaquille O�Neal during the 1992-93 season.
� Rounding out the double-digit scoring, both Maurice Evans and Keith Bogans finished the night with 11 points each as both finished shooting 3-of-7 from the field. Evans was nearly perfect from the line on 3-of-4 shooting, while Bogans pulled down three rebounds.
� The Hornets had all five starters finish in double figures for the night as guards Chris Paul and Morris Peterson each finished with 19 points. (Paul-19; Peterson-19; David West-18; Tyson Chandler-12; Peja Stojakovic-10)
� To go along with Paul�s 19 points, the guard also dished out 12 assists to notch his 48th double-double of the season, which is fourth in the NBA. Of his 19 points, 15 were scored during the second half on 5-of-14 shooting from the field, 5-of-8 from the free-throw line. Of his 12 assists for the night, nine came during the second half.
� Along with West�s 18 points, the forward also pulled down 11 rebounds for the night to notch his 28th double-double of the season.