Orlando has pushed that magic number to one. With a fast start, unyielding defense, and a strong offensive finish, the Magic are eying another Southeast title.
Orlando wasted no time as they attempted to put Memphis away early in a game that seemed to hold little merit in the overall big picture of the season and the playoff hunt.
Sunday night’s fast start began early against the Memphis Grizzlies. After only one minute of play and down 7 – 0, the boys from “Good Ole Rocky Top,” had very little to hang their hats on. Memphis, who would eventually lose, 107 – 92, proved that even with little to gain they had a lot of fight left inside of them.
The Magic’s offense, led by Vince Carter’s 26 points and seven rebounds, and notable off-the-bench shooting from J.J. Redick with 15 points, nine of which would come by three clutch 3-pointers, scored efficiently enough to only lose their lead briefly in the third quarter.
Zach Randolph had 24 points and 18 rebounds as the only bright spot for the Grizzlies offense. The Grizzlies have lost four of their last five games and will miss the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
Despite Randolph’s performance, Orlando’s defense dominated much of the night creating useful turnovers and swarming coverage on beautiful blocks by Dwight Howard. Sunday night’s game also marked the 60th game where a Magic opponent was held under 100 points.
After not surrendering the lead in the first half, the Magic would go into halftime with a 54 – 46 advantage. This lead would never be in question until 6:54 left in the third quarter. It was then that an intense scuffle between Orlando’s Matt Barnes and the Grizzlies Hasheem Thabeet changed the shape of the game.
After a very apparent defensive foul on Barnes, the situation quickly turned into a playground-like shoving match involving nearly 10 players when he protested the call. When the dust settled, a total of five technical fouls, two on Barnes along with an ejection, one on Vince Carter, Thabeet and O.J. Mayo were handed down by the officials. Suddenly, a very meaningless game became very physical and very serious.
The Magic may not have had as much fight in them as expected, prompting Coach Stan Van Gundy to say, “We didn’t have a whole lot of fight until everything went down, and then we got a little bit of fight.” “Thabeet pushed him… at least the benches did not empty and no punches were thrown.”
Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson each scored 18 points apiece for the Magic to complete an offensive surge in the third quarter. After the brief melee, the Grizzlies pushed ahead by five. The Magic, aided by the “fight,” then went on a 17-6 run, ending the third quarter with a 75-69 lead.
The key to the eventual lead change began at 1:25 left in the third quarter. The Magic’s Dwight Howard manhandled an attempted dunk by the Grizzlies Rudy Gay with a brilliant block, causing a lose ball which Carter flipped to Mickael Pietrus in the corner, resulting in a 3-pointer that gave the Magic a one point lead. The Magic defense forced another turnover, allowing Carter to nail another unanswered 3-pointer. After a next possession foul on Memphis, the Magic built a 75-69 lead and never looked back.
The Magic, who are now 52 – 23, are one win, or an Atlanta loss, from locking up a division title and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
With Sunday night’s win, the Magic also became the first team this season to beat every team in the NBA. This was a statistic Coach Van Gundy recognized upon arriving to work on Sunday morning. “Everybody thinks that they can beat everybody in this league, and they’ll talk about it. We’ve literally done it.”
The Magic will host the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, April 7th at 7:00 PM ET.
Jason Smith is a free lance writer for the West Orlando News. He can be reached at doverjase@hotmail, on twitter at twitter.com/doverjase.
