By Kyle Soppe
The Magic proved once again that on a given night, they can beat the best team in the NBA or lose to the worst. Two nights after being run out of the building by the Bobcats, Orlando built a big lead early and held onto to win in Chicago, 99-94.
The Bulls won the final 38 minutes of this game by 12. Orlando’s 37 first quarter points nearly outscored their next two highest point producing quarters combined (42).
Dwight Howard delivered in a big way, going for 29 points and 18 boards. He made 7/10 free throws, the best percentage he has shot in his past eight games. In March, Howard has tallied at least 28 points in four out of five games. He has grabbed 14 offensive rebounds in the last two games, his most over any two consecutive games this season. After attempting 19+ shots only three times in the seasons first nine weeks, Superman has down so three times in seven days.
Orlando and Chicago both were within one made three pointer of their season average, which resulted in a +18 point difference in favor of the visitors.
JJ Redick, who came into last nights action as the top free throw shooter in the NBA, opened the season with 38 consecutive games without missing multiple freebies in a game. The Duke product has made 8/12 over his last three games, including two games in which he missed two free throws.
Jason Richardson connected on four three pointers last night, extending his streak to 17 straight games with at least one made triple. In 14 of those games, he’s hit at least two shots from behind the arc.
Chicago shared the ball exceptionally well, recording eight more assists than the Magic while turning it over eight fewer times. John Lucas III led the way with five assists and no turnovers in 11.5 minutes of action.
The teams two all stars (Luol Deng and Derrick Rose) combined to shoot 22.6% from the field, while their teammates connected on 50.9% of their attempts.
A big part of that production was Carlos Boozer. He poured in 26 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and recorded a season high four steals. While he has underwhelmed while in Chicago, he has been effective of late, totaling at least seven rebounds in nine of his last 11 games.
Look carefully at the newspaper, and notice the shooting line of Jimmy Butler (a rookie out of Marquette). To my knowledge, he is the first player this season to record a 1 2 3 4 5 line. That is, he made 1/2 shots from the field, 3/4 from the line, totaling five points.
College hoops is heating up, but don’t miss out on a 10 pack of NBA games.
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