It could have been the moment to shine. At least that’s what the 19,057 fans expected to see when they showed up at the Amway Center, Tuesday night. But the largest attendance in franchise history was the only thing to stand out, and the Orlando Magic walked away with another loss against the Dallas Mavericks.
A revamp or a makeover. Whatever you call it, it was happening. After a devastating losing streak for the Orlando team, the new and improved Magic showed up at home for the first time with a new team.
The Magic had two trades that brought Arenas and Turkoglu from Washington, Richardson and Earl Clark from Phoenix. They gave up Rashard Lewis, Vince Carter, Mickael Pietrus and Marcin Gortat, all in the hopes of getting the team ready for the playoffs.
But the first two times the new players joined superman and friends on the court, they left much to be desired. After losing to Atlanta in their first game together, all three scored a combined 7 points during last night’s game.
The Mavericks, who are building a reputation of breaking winning team’s streaks all over the country, dominated the first quarter by building a lead of more than 12 points.
With so many shooters it was hard to watch the Magic close the quarter shooting only 35% from the three-point line.
Second quarter showed what the Magic could really do. After being behind most of the first quarter, they finally went ahead for the first time 28-27 with the help of newest member, Gilbert Arenas, with a 16-foot jumper. After Brandon Bass gets called for goaltending, he doesn’t forgive and makes a dunk adding two more on the scoreboard for the Magic. But as the lead built, so did Dallas’ fight. Tyson Chandler makes a slam dunk and ties the game 35-35 with seven minutes left. Orlando didn’t score again for a full 5 minutes. The first half ended with the Magic behind 49-45.
Could the help of the smoothing violin at half time bring the Magic the inspiration they needed? Only in the free throw line. Once again Dwight Howard showed his skills to top 20 plus rebounds in three consecutive games carrying the team on his back. He finished the game with 26 points, 23 rebounds and two blocks.
Howard dominated the third quarter and closed all his FT points. The Magic played catch up, there would be a tie and then there would be a bad pass, leaving the team staring at the Mavericks’ backs as they walked away. They trailed behind most of the quarter by three points.
The game wasn’t over and as the new team adjusted, so did Van Gundy’s line up. But once again it was a game of catch up. The fight only began with a few minutes left on the clock. Dallas had built another 12-point lead that was beginning to be a torn in the side of the Orlando team. After Howard made his two free throws, Richardson made a 26 three foot jump closing the lead to 3 points. Dallas came back with a jumper from Jason Terry but Turkoglu gets fouled and makes two more bringing it back down to three points with 27 seconds left. 99-96. Every second counts and three time-outs between both teams were called. Richardson makes another three but the excitement lands Orlando too many fouls and Dallas takes advantage of the free points in the paint. Final score 105 Mavericks, 99, Magic.
“Our ball movement was better and we didn’t have much trouble getting good shots,” Stan Van Gundy said.” We tried hard defensively most of the time, but I don’t think we’re very good defensively right now. But I think we can cure a lot of that over the next couple of weeks. And I like the way we fought in the fourth quarter.”
Orlando has 16 wins and 12 losses right now and ranks 3rd in the Southeast division. They face the two toughest teams of the league coming up, San Antonio on Thursday and Boston on Christmas day at home.
Game Leaders
| Dallas | Orlando | |
| Points | C. Butler 20 | D. Howard 26 |
| Rebounds | D. Nowitzki 8 | D. Howard 23 |
| Assists | J. Kidd 12 | H. Turkoglu 8 |
| Steals | J. Kidd 1 | D. Howard 3 |
| Blocks | J. Kidd 0 | D. Howard 2
|
By Fernanda Barros
Special to West Orlando News
