subject: NBA – Portland defeats the Orlando Magic for the second time this season [print this page] NBA Portland defeats the Orlando Magic for the second time this season
The Portland Trail Blazers took advantage of the suspension cast over the Orlando Magic's superstar Dwight Howard to take an important 89-85 win on the road. LaMarcus Alridge had 24 points for the night while Andre Miller added 15 and were key in the Trail Blazers holding on and resisting the fourth quarter comeback of the Orlando Magic. Portland has now won its third game straight and its 10th in the last thirteen as the team is going for a late-season stretch that could get them into the playoffs. The Orlando Magic, on the other hand, lost its second consecutive game and dropped to 1-2 this season without Dwight Howard. As you might know, Dwight Howard was suspended by the NBA for picking up his 16th technical foul last Friday against the Chicago Bulls. Still, you have to consider that this is only the 6th regular season game that Howard has missed in his 556-game career as a pro. The Orlando Magic is 3-3 without Howard over his entire career. Head coach Stan Van Gundy went on to defend Howard and state that he believes that the suspension was uncalled for. Van Gundy said that Howard has settle down and that considering the fact that Howard has been fouled 593 times this season, although none of those calls have been called flagrant, Howard has certainly keep his temper. Still, 16 technical fouls would seem like a lot, and Howard is now really got to keep his game under control. Particularly, he should restrain from arguing in the court with the referees, as referees' would probably already have a predisposition to just give him another technical. Should he pick two more technical fouls, he will be missing another game, and so forth until the end of the season. But let's get back to the game: Jason Richardson led Orlando with 22 points, including the three pointer that tied the game 74-all with little over 9 minutes to play. That was the shot that made the fans at Amway Center believe for a second that they could make another impressive come-from-behind win, liked the one they pulled off last week against the Orlando Magic. Richardson was followed by Ryan Anderson and Hedo Turkoglu who had 13 points a piece. Anderson then completed another three pointer to give the Magic a 77-76 lead for the first time since the beginning of the first quarter. Still it was not enough and the Blazers regained the lead 81-79 with little over 6 minutes to play. And the Blazers were held on to the lead until the end of the game. The Magic hit 11 of 22 3-pointers on the night, and even managed to outrebound and outblocked the Trail Blazers but were done in by their low performance scoring from the paint, 36 against 22 and by the 19 turnovers that led to several easy baskets for the Trail Blazers throughout the game. There were certainly some issues for the Magic that night. Not only were they sunken with the turnovers but there was little production from the point-guard. Considering that starter Jameer Nelson was just 1 for 7 from the field with two points and five turnovers and that Gilbert Arenas had nine points off the bench, but had six giveaways, this was certainly a bit too much for the Magic-sans-Howard to win the game.
