Dwight Howard’s 25 points and 17 rebounds led the Orlando Magic to a 96-89 victory over the visiting Charlotte Bobcats Tuesday evening.
The Magic shot 46% from the field but were only able to connect on 31% from three.
The Bobcats would take a slim 50-47 lead into the intermission behind the play of forward Gerald Henderson.
Howard would pick up a technical foul in the fourth with 6 minutes left to play, but Charlotte would only convert on 1 of the 3 free throws awarded.
Hedu Turkoglu and Ryan Anderson closed the game for Orlando down the stretch. Turkoglu would hit a fade away with 2:01 giving the Magic a 83-79 lead. An Anderson 3 with 1:35 left gave the Magic an 86-81 cushion and they wouldn’t relinquish it.
The Magic have won 5 straight games with an attack that is hard to stop.
“We take away the three but Dwight kills us, we double Dwight he passes and they hit shots. Very difficult to defend,” coach Paul Silas said.
Silas would place Kemba Walker in the starting lineup. Walker would score 15 points and collect 6 assists.
“I’m not surprised coach started with me; I feel I played well but I have to get better.” Walker said. “We are a young team with room to improve and we will. Lack of training camp didn’t help but that’s no excuse, we will get better.”
Jameer Nelson would score 17 points followed by Turkoglu’s 15 for Orlando.
Dwight in a joking mood after the game saying things like “I’m going to sign with the Globetrotters, you heard it here first.” This in regards to the rumors of him wanting to play for the Clippers. Howard touched on the play of his team as well.
“Playing some great basketball — just got to keep it up,” Howard said. “We picked it up a little bit. We just have to be consistent and understand that this is going to be a tough season.”
Orlando (10-3) will host the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night giving them their back-to-back to back for the season.
