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Orlando (39-13) at New Orleans (31-20)
Dwight Howard delivered a huge performance in the Orlando Magic’s first game back from the All-Star break. He’ll try for another against a New Orleans Hornets team that just traded its defensive anchor.
After moving Tyson Chandler, the Hornets hope to have enough interior defense to counter Howard and the Southeast Division-leading Magic when the clubs meet on Wednesday night in New Orleans.
Chandler, sidelined for New Orleans’ last 12 games before the All-Star break with an ankle injury, was dealt to Oklahoma City on Tuesday. The trade brought veteran power forwards Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox to New Orleans and should give the team some salary cap room next season, but it could weaken the Hornets inside for the remainder of this season.
“It just leaves a big question mark in the middle. I think we were all kind of looking forward to him getting back healthy and plugging that middle up for us. Now we just don’t know,” All-Star forward David West said. “We hope that these guys coming in can come in and provide some presence.”
It’s unclear if Smith or Wilcox will be with the Hornets (31-20) on Wednesday, but they could certainly use them to try to stop Howard, who’s coming off a career game in a 107-102 overtime win over Charlotte on Tuesday.
The All-Star center had a career-high 45 points on 16-of-23 shooting from the field with 19 rebounds and eight blocked shots and helped Orlando (39-13) rally from a seven-point, third-quarter deficit.
“Dwight was unbelievable, unbelievable,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I mean phenomenal. He just put us on his back. That’s leadership right there, that kind of play on the floor. It kept everyone else motivated.”
Van Gundy’s club split its last 10 games before All-Star weekend, and Howard appeared determined to start the second half strong.
“We really needed this game off the break,” he said. “When my teammates see me bringing it at both ends every night, they will do the same. I have to start everything at both ends.”
While Howard was dominant, New Orleans looked vulnerable inside in a 100-98 road win over Oklahoma City. The Hornets gave up a career-high 47 points to forward Kevin Durant and 24 to forward Jeff Green.
The Hornets, holding opponents to 36.0 points in the paint per game before Tuesday, gave up 46 to the Thunder. Despite that weakness in the post, New Orleans pulled out the victory on Chris Paul’s runner with 2.7 seconds remaining.
“(Paul) did a great job of running the clock down so (the Thunder) didn’t have a whole lot of time,” coach Byron Scott said. “Again, it was a situation probably that we shouldn’t have been in. You know, if we did a better job defensively we could have put this game away a lot earlier.”
Orlando was the dominant defensive team in these clubs’ highly anticipated first meeting on Christmas. The Magic held the Hornets to their lowest point total and their second-lowest field-goal percentage (33.3) of the season in an 88-68 home victory.
Paul, an All-Star, had 12 points and four assists while shooting 5-for-14 in that game.
Partially because of Chandler’s physical presence inside, Howard was limited to 12 points and 4-for-15 shooting. The Magic, though, had four other players scored in double figures, including Hedo Turkoglu, who had 20 with six rebounds and five assists.
Orlando is 11-2 on the road against Western Conference opponents this season.
Dwight Howard delivered a huge performance in the Orlando Magic’s first game back from the All-Star break. He’ll try for another against a New Orleans Hornets team that just traded its defensive anchor.
After moving Tyson Chandler, the Hornets hope to have enough interior defense to counter Howard and the Southeast Division-leading Magic when the clubs meet on Wednesday night in New Orleans.
Chandler, sidelined for New Orleans’ last 12 games before the All-Star break with an ankle injury, was dealt to Oklahoma City on Tuesday. The trade brought veteran power forwards Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox to New Orleans and should give the team some salary cap room next season, but it could weaken the Hornets inside for the remainder of this season.
“It just leaves a big question mark in the middle. I think we were all kind of looking forward to him getting back healthy and plugging that middle up for us. Now we just don’t know,” All-Star forward David West said. “We hope that these guys coming in can come in and provide some presence.”
It’s unclear if Smith or Wilcox will be with the Hornets (31-20) on Wednesday, but they could certainly use them to try to stop Howard, who’s coming off a career game in a 107-102 overtime win over Charlotte on Tuesday.
The All-Star center had a career-high 45 points on 16-of-23 shooting from the field with 19 rebounds and eight blocked shots and helped Orlando (39-13) rally from a seven-point, third-quarter deficit.
“Dwight was unbelievable, unbelievable,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I mean phenomenal. He just put us on his back. That’s leadership right there, that kind of play on the floor. It kept everyone else motivated.”
Van Gundy’s club split its last 10 games before All-Star weekend, and Howard appeared determined to start the second half strong.
“We really needed this game off the break,” he said. “When my teammates see me bringing it at both ends every night, they will do the same. I have to start everything at both ends.”
While Howard was dominant, New Orleans looked vulnerable inside in a 100-98 road win over Oklahoma City. The Hornets gave up a career-high 47 points to forward Kevin Durant and 24 to forward Jeff Green.
The Hornets, holding opponents to 36.0 points in the paint per game before Tuesday, gave up 46 to the Thunder. Despite that weakness in the post, New Orleans pulled out the victory on Chris Paul’s runner with 2.7 seconds remaining.
“(Paul) did a great job of running the clock down so (the Thunder) didn’t have a whole lot of time,” coach Byron Scott said. “Again, it was a situation probably that we shouldn’t have been in. You know, if we did a better job defensively we could have put this game away a lot earlier.”
Orlando was the dominant defensive team in these clubs’ highly anticipated first meeting on Christmas. The Magic held the Hornets to their lowest point total and their second-lowest field-goal percentage (33.3) of the season in an 88-68 home victory.
Paul, an All-Star, had 12 points and four assists while shooting 5-for-14 in that game.
Partially because of Chandler’s physical presence inside, Howard was limited to 12 points and 4-for-15 shooting. The Magic, though, had four other players scored in double figures, including Hedo Turkoglu, who had 20 with six rebounds and five assists.
Orlando is 11-2 on the road against Western Conference opponents this season.
