Postgame Report

April 30, 2009: Magic 114 Sixers 89

Box Score | Postgame Notes | Postgame Quotes | Video: Highlights | Postgame: DiLeo | Iguodala & Williams | Lockerroom

Heartbreaking loss ends hard-fought series

Living up to the reputation Rocky gave the city of Philadelphia, the 76ers held an Orlando team, which won 59 games and averaged 101.4 points over the regular season, under the scoring century mark throughout the first five games of the series, while shooting almost .400-percent from beyond the arc. But in a heartbreaking game six home loss, the 76ers surrendered 114 points and shot 350-percent from long distance. This opened the door for a Magic team playing without All-Star center Dwight Howard, who was serving a one game NBA suspension, to get out to an early lead, which they’d never relinquish on their way to a 114-89 win. The Magic shot .462-percent from three-point range and 53.7-percent overall.

"That was the best offensive game we’ve played in a month," said Magic Head Coach Stan Van Gundy. "We just shot the ball extremely well, and obviously that opens things up."

After the Sixers started the game with a 5-2 spurt, the Magic went on a 28-10 run, ending with a Rafer Alston floater and Orlando ahead 30-15 with 1:05 remaining in the first. During the game, the Magic’s lead would swell to as much as 25 points, and although the Sixers would fight till the end, overcoming the deficit was too much.

The Sixers were led by 24 points from Andre Miller and 20 points from the ever ready Andre Iguodala. Miller’s attack of the basket got him to the free throw line often, where he went 10-12. On the night the Sixers were 20-25 from the charity stripe. Off the bench Lou Williams pumped in 17 points.

For Orlando, Rashard Lewis and Alston combined to go 8-14 from three-point range. On the night, Lewis led all scorers with 29 points and Alston finished with 21 points, to go with a game-high 10 assists.

In a series that saw the first three games decided in the last three minutes, two of which were in question until the final possession, the Sixers were on the losing end of the final two games, after leading the series 2-1 against one of the Eastern Conference’s powers.

Game Notes

• With the win tonight, the Magic take the best-of-seven series 4-2 over the Sixers. Orlando advances to the second round of the playoffs for the second straight year. Philly loses in the first round in six games for the second straight year, winning Games 1 and 3 but losing Games 2, 4, 5 and 6 both times.

• Since the First Round of the playoffs was established in 1975, the Sixers have gone 10-2 in series when winning Game 1. Both losses have come over the past two years. This is the first series the Magic has won when losing Game 1 in any playoff series (1-9 mark overall).

• Orlando scored 114 points tonight after not having more than 98 points in any of the first five games of the series. The Magic snap a 12-game streak of scoring below 100 points dating back to the regular season. Orlando was 42-4 when scoring 100+ points during the regular season. Philly was 2-7 when allowing 110+ points during the regular season.

• Philly scored below 90 points in all four of its losses this series. After scoring 100 points in Game 1, the Sixers averaged just 86.2 ppg over the final five games of the series. During the regular season, Philly was 3-15 when scoring below 90. The Sixers have scored below 90 in 22 of their last 38 playoff games.

• Orlando hit a series-high 12 3-pointers tonight after not having more than 8 3FGM the first five games of the series. Over the final two games of the series, the Magic hit 9 more 3-pointers than the Sixers after having just one more 3FGM than Philly the first four games of the series.

• Without Dwight Howard in the lineup, Philly MADE 20 free throws while Orlando ATTEMPTED just 20. In the first five games, of the series, the Magic had 94 FTM compared to just 99 FTA for the Sixers.

• Philly had just 17 assists to 17 turnovers tonight. Since having 20 assists to 10 turnovers in Game 1, the Sixers had just 87 assists to 78 turnovers over the final five games of the series. Philly averaged 14.7 tpg this series after averaging 12.3 tpg over the final 36 games of 08-09.

• Marcin Gortat recorded a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds tonight starting in place of Dwight Howard. Howard missed three regular season games for the Magic (2-1 mark). Gortat started all three of those games, averaging 10.0 points and 11.7 rebounds.

• Orlando had all five starters score in double-figures tonight and in three of their four wins this series (Games 2, 4 and 6).

• The Magic outshot the Sixers 53.7% to 40.8% from the floor. Orlando outshot Philly in each of the final three games (48.8% to 40.6%) after the Sixers outshot the Magic in each of the first three games (50.0% to 44.7%). During the regular season, the Sixers were 1-15 when the opposition shot 50.0% or better from the floor.

• Andre Miller scored a team-high 24 points on just 13 field goal attempts. He averaged 21.2 ppg this series on 47.5% shooting from the floor.

• Andre Iguodala had 20 points tonight. He scored 20+ points in five of the six games this series after doing so just once his previous 11 playoff games. Iguodala averaged a team-high 21.5 ppg this series.

Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Tony DiLeo

On the game:
Well that was an extremely disappointing game for us. After the season we’ve had, after the playoffs up to this point, the fact that we’ve had to finish off a season with that game is disappointing, but they beat us in every category. They beat us offensively, they beat us on the boards, they beat us defensively, they just beat us in every category. Like I said before the game, I thought they were a dangerous team. I thought they put us on our heels right from the beginning of the game, hitting shots, (JJ) Redick hit a couple, and they just put us on our heels the whole game. Our team is full of fighters, and resilient, but this game, for us, was a total collapse.

On whether Dwight Howard is in 3-second lane illegally too often:
They were extremely frustrated. I know you can see in their faces, in their body language, they were extremely frustrated tonight. Our character has always been the fight back, resilient, and for whatever reason we never had that second punch. They hit us and then we never really came back with anything serious; we never got anything going. I don’t quite know why, but we had a good season. People didn’t pick us to win a game in this series, didn’t pick us to win a quarter in this series. Even though this game was extremely disappointing, I thought up until this game we really had a good series against Orlando and that’s really the positive about this series.

Andre Miller

On tonight’s loss

They hit shots, and it is all about opportunity which they took advantage of on every shot. A couple of players were saying that they move the ball better without Dwight Howard in the line-up. They did that tonight by scoring over 100 points. That says a lot about the confidence of the players with him not in the line-up.

On how disappointing it is to go out this way:
It is very disappointing. As a player, you know that you don’t get this opportunity too many times. You want to be able to take advantage of those opportunities, and I think we knew that, but just didn’t go out there and make that happen. We just got caught up in the moment and there is no way we can point a finger but at ourselves

Thaddeus Young

On if tonight’s loss was embarrassing

No, I wouldn’t say it was embarrassing; we just came out and didn’t play a good game. Those guys were making shots and finding different ways to score. They came out on us harder than we went at them.

On if they took this game for granted since they didn’t have Dwight Howard

No. We never take games for granted, especially when we know the players that they have. We knew that they had a lot of different scorers on that team and could come at us from all angles. We never take anything for granted; Dwight is a good player, along with Rashard, Alston and Hedo. So we knew we couldn’t take anything for granted.

On if they played under pressure because they were expected to win the game

No, there wasn’t any pressure at all. We just came out and we weren’t making shots. They came out and were very aggressive with us and got us out of our game a little bit.

Andre Iguodala

Reflecting on tonight’s game

I think we just didn’t play as a team. We have a young team and at times we have a tough time understanding the importance of communication. We have guys who might make a mistake and instead of making it up for the team they are making it up for themselves. That’s when you get out of whack and that’s what happened tonight. We were all over the place. We weren’t trying to cover up as a team.

On Orlando’s performance

They did a better job than us in every aspect of the game. They beat us to the punch everywhere; rebounds, loose balls, they were crisp on offense, defensively they were communicating, and they showed that they were a tougher team.

On what won the game for Orlando

The lack of us being a great three-point shooting team. They are going to do that (take away the inside). That’s a scheme that if I was coaching against our team I would do the same thing. We don’t have a lot of three-point shooters and they cut from the middle. We tried to get to the basket and they just sunk it in. We couldn’t beat it throughout the series and we definitely didn’t beat it tonight.

On Orlando’s defense on him

I don’t think it takes away. You try to continue to play the same way and try not to change it up too much and then you are out of your element. You try to keep it consistent so that your teammates know that you are still with them and are behind them 100%. That’s what I try to do.

On comparing this year’s playoff performance to last year's

It’s a little tougher. The difference between this year and last year is that last year we were surprised we got there (last year). We surprised a lot of people too. This year we felt like could get here and we felt like we could win.

On if he wants Tony DiLeo to continue coaching

I think he did a great job coming in unexpectedly, keeping the unit together, giving us some confidence, and coming out with a winning record. We’ll see about that. We’ll go in and talk and try to get the best case scenario.