The Orlando Magic’s balanced attack was the reason for their thrilling 107-104 victory over the Portland Trailblazers Wednesday night.
Orlando (7-3) came out firing taking a 36-22 lead at the end of the first quarter and leading 62-50 at half time behind 11 3’s.
The Magic’s largest lead 81-58 would come 6 minutes into the third quarter following a Howard dunk.
The Blazers (7-3) would not throw in the towel. Behind the sharp shooting of Jamal Crawford and the use of the pick and roll to draw Howard away from the basket, Portland would out score the Magic 36-22 in the fourth. However it would prove to be too little too late.
“They got off to a fast start, and at that point you have to play almost perfect to win the game,” Crawford said.
Portland who was (6-0) at home prior to this game would cut the deficit to 102-99 with 32.1 seconds left in the game following consecutive lay-ups by Crawford and Wesley Mathews but 4 late free throws from JJ Redick would ice the game for Orlando.
“It got tough for us late in the game,” Howard shrugged.
Jamal Crawford would lead the Blazers with 24 points. In his first season with Portland Crawford is proving to be the difference maker they were hoping for. LaMarcus Aldridge would add 23 points and 8 rebounds.
All five of the Magic’s starters would reach double digits in scoring by the end of the third quarter.
Hedu Turkoglu, Ryan Anderson would both score 16, JJ Redick would add 17 points off the bench followed by Howard’s 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Orlando’s 59% from 3 point range is a season high. The Magic are showing that they can play with the NBA’s best teams and hopefully making a case for Dwight that he can win a championship with this team.
The Magic will finish up it’s west coast trip tonight when they play the Golden State Warriors at 10:30pm.
