By Jennifer Welker |Special to the Sentinel7:46 AM EDT, October 20, 2007

Preseason Record: 5-1 Next Game: October 25, vs. San Antonio, 7 p.m Last Game: Oct. 20, d. Cleveland 100-84

MACAO - At the start of their finale at the NBA China Games 2007 early Saturday, the Magic played as if they had flown from Orlando to China a week earlier and then played three games in four nights.

They got outrebounded 13-4, made five turnovers and shot just 60 percent from the free-throw line in the first quarter.

But they bounced back to outscore the Cleveland Cavaliers 77-54 in the final three quarters and prevailed 100-84, prepared to return home to Orlando with a perfect 3-0 record and a sweep of the defending Eastern Conference champions in exhibition games in China.

"We're 3-0 in China now, and one thing you worry about is security in this business, so if I need another job, I should have a pretty good shot at a spot in the CBA [Chinese Basketball Association]," Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy said jokingly at a postgame news conference. "There can't be that many guys who are undefeated in China.''

Center Dwight Howard led the Magic in scoring with 17 points, but it was their hot shots who led Orlando's comeback. After falling behind by as many as nine points at 30-21 in the first quarter, the Magic started to claw their way back on the strength of 60 percent shooting from 3-point range.

The slow climb back started with a jumper by J.J. Redick and two 3-pointers by Keith Bogans until Hedo Turkoglu pulled Orlando to three points back, 43-40, with a 14-foot jump shot. After a missed jumper by Cleveland's Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Turkoglu grabbed the rebound and Howard made a layup and was fouled by Ilgauskas to tie the score at 43. Howard fouled the Cavs' LeBron James on the other end, and James' two free throws put Cleveland up 45-43 with two seconds left in the half. Jameer Nelson's 3-point attempt at the buzzer fell short.

Howard finished the half with 10 points, Pat Garrity had eight and Turkoglu and Nelson had seven each.

Turkoglu picked up where he left off when play resumed, putting Orlando up 49-47 with a 3-pointer at the start of the second half that gave Orlando its first lead. James tied the score once again, but Turkoglu kept attacking the basket and finished with 13 points and nine rebounds in 33 minutes.

That seemed to get the rest of the Magic's shooters going. Redick, who had just two points in the first half, finished with 14 points – including two off an assist from Nelson that put the Magic up 69-67 with 49 seconds left in the third quarter. After some seesaw scoring, the Magic took the lead for good on a hook shot by Adonal Foyle with 21 seconds left in the third quarter.

The ability to fight through fatigue is something Van Gundy had hoped to see to prepare the Magic for the start of the regular season. Orlando has six back-to-backs in the first month alone and will log a lot of travel time, with 20 of their first 33 games on the road.

Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown said he was experimenting and mixing up the player combinations in the second half, so that had a big impact on the outcome of the game.

"I threw out some combinations after my starters that I will not play during my regular season and wanted to see [some of those] combinations. . . . It's tough to do, to mix them up like that when they aren't used to it [and expect them to be successful].''

To some extent, that was true for both teams. The Magic's Howard played just 23 minutes, 32 seconds and was pulled for good with 5:59 left in the third quarter. The Cavaliers' James scored 14 points, dished out five assists and grabbed three rebounds in just 27:13.

Van Gundy praised the Magic players who don't always get the opportunity to start, especially Redick, Bogans and Carlos Arroyo.

"Bogans played well tonight,'' Van Gundy said. "I left him out there a long time (33 minutes, 5 seconds) for conditioning purposes in the fourth quarter.''

Bogans made the final shot for the Magic to put them up 100-82 and finished with 14 points.

"Those three guys are key to us,'' Van Gundy added. "We're going to need a bench to defend the way we want to, and we'll need eight or nine guys a night to play at a high level."

After a 25-point game against China's national team on Thursday, Arroyo had just three points Saturday, but he helped drive the ball down the court and made some key passes. In almost 23 minutes, he had seven assists.

In the frontcourt, Foyle scored eight points in just more than 24 minutes, and James Augustine got 16 minutes on the court, scoring four points and grabbing three rebounds. Garrity finished with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting, including a perfect 2-for-2 from behind the 3-point arc.

Now the Magic will return to the United States for their final exhibition Thursday against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, who should give them another test to measure how ready they are to start the regular season.

So far, they are 5-1 in the preseason even though they have seen their prize free-agent acquisition, forward Rashard Lewis, for just more than 30 total minutes of playing time because of leg cramps and a sprained right ankle.

They also have been without sparkplug guard Keyon Dooling, who is bothered by an abdominal injury, and power forward Tony Battie, a starter last season who will be out for the entire season after he undergoes surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder once the Magic return to Orlando. They also played in China without Trevor Ariza, who the Magic say has an inflamed left foot.

Ready or not, the Magic will kick off their regular season at home against the Milwaukee Bucks on Halloween, and fans will start to find out if the preseason has been a tease or if they are in for a real treat.

[ 本帖最后由 风の语 于 2007-10-21 16:29 编辑 ]