Orlando Magic Net Another Win At Amway Center

There is only one place where you can catch Superman and the gang do that thing they do, and that place is the Amway Center. The Orlando Magic captured the crowd once again with another beat down, this time, of the Toronto Raptors, Friday night.

There was that uncertainty going in at first. The last time the two teams battled on the court this past November, the Raptors came out on top. But the Magic had the advantage of coming off one of their all time high performances this past Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.

And the rest was history….

It was easy to tell which team dominated from the start. The Raptors were fighting to get out of a 6 game losing streak but with no success.

Dwight Howard looked like a mean parent that was about to ground the entire Toronto team for attempting to enter his territory. After fouling out on Wednesday night’s game, Howard came out of this one with 31 points and 19 rebounds even after sitting out the entire fourth quarter.

The Raptors opened the scoreboard with two point,s but by the end of the second quarter they were down 13 points. The showdown in the first half did not compare to the whooping in the second half.

As the third quarter opened, the Raptors seemed determined to come back from their deficit. DeMar DeRozan made an 11-foot jumper and helped Toronto get closer on the scoreboard. But with Dwight Howard on the court, the Magic once again jumped ahead. For every minute of the third quarter, he was there…

10:22 layup
9:42 3-foot two point shot
8:02 two point shot
7:41 two point shot
6:09 two point shot
5:28 tip shot
4:07  defensive rebound
3:26  defensive rebound
2:51 free throw 2 of 2
:50 free throw 2 of 2

Howard went 12 for 21 from the field and had nine offensive rebounds. That’s almost as much as Toronto had combined, as a team.

“That was pretty impressive, very impressive,” Ryan Anderson said. “I remember looking over at Earl; we’re looking at each other like, ‘Wow, another one, an offensive rebound and a bucket.’ I mean he was pretty impressive like he normally is.”

The final score of 112 -72 reflected the determination to win. The Magic won at home for the eighth straight time. They are 17-5 at the new Amway Center this season.

“It feels good to have one like this after having a lot of close games in a row,” said Orlando Magic’s coach, Stan Van Gundy, . “Now, we have to go back on the road and do better than we did the last couple of games on the road.”

Here are the team’s stats for last night’s matchup.

Fernanda Barros