Magic Dethrone Kings 112-93

Looks like the Trevor Ariza trade was a success after all. I loved Trevor, and it pained me to see him go. I must say, though, that acquiring Cook and Evans, has been a pleasant surprise. The score was 46-46 at the half, but thanks mostly in part to Cook and Evans, we brok the lead open.

Cook has been playing defense much to Van Gundy's liking. He had some exceptional play in the fourth quarter. Great offensive burst and even solid on the defensive end. With Orlando, Brian Cook is shooting just under 50% from the 3-point arc! Wow!

Two things that jumped out to me when looking at the boxscore, was the defensive statistics by Rashard tonight. He had 2 steals and 3 blocks. Great game, Rashard.

Even though we had one of the worst shooting halves, in the first half, we kept attacking and learned from our mistakes. At the conclusion of the 1st quarter, Van Gundy told David Steele and Matty Goukas that the Magic's goal, for tonights game, was to limit the Kings to 10 fastbreak points. We gave up 11 in the first quarter. But after then, probably accompanied by a tongue lashing by coach, we limited them to only 6 in the final 3 quarters. Four in the second quarter, and only 2 in the third and fourth quarters.

Dwight had some trouble rebounding in the first half, with only 3. But we limited our turnovers to only 5, in the first half, which the team has worked extensively on. The guys seemed to lose Dwight in the last 5 minutes of the 2nd quarter, but he got back on track as soon as the 3rd quarter started.

Some game notes:

• We had only 8 turnovers against a Kings team who is one of the top teams in forcing turnovers.
• The Magic are 1-0 when Rashard blocks 3 shots. Yes that was a joke, but seriously we are.
• The Kings shot 57% in the first half tonight.
• J.J. Redick look like a lost puppy out on the floor and finished with a grand total of 1 point in about 2 minutes and 46 seconds worth of action.
• There are only 24 games left to play.
• We are 14 games over .500
• The Magic have scored 100 or more points, 8 straight times. That puts us in second place behind the Golden State Warriors.
• We are now 16-11 on our home court.
• The Magic's 36th victory in 58 games put them far ahead of last season's pace. The club didn't win their 36th game until April 9 --- Game No. 77.
• Orlando needs just four more victories to match last season's record of 40 wins.
• The Magic's next game is Tuesday against the New Jersey Nets.

Here is the boxscore, recap, and game photos.