Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson Too Much as Magic Defeat Raptors 114 - 100

In the East’s 3 versus 6 match up, the Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors met in Game 1 to help decide who would likely play Detroit in the second round. The Magic jumped out to a 24-point first half lead, but the Raptors would battle back to cut the lead to five in the fourth quarter. In the end Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, and Jameer Nelson would prove to be too much for Anthony Parker, Chris Bosh, and the Raptors.

First Quarter

The teams began their playoff quests in front of a rambunctious packed house in downtown Orlando. After gathering the opening tip, the Magic struck with a 3-pointer from Jameer Nelson. It would set the tone for the quarter. The Raptors began with a zone defense to neutralize Dwight Howard down low, but Orlando punished that strategy by making its first seven shots. Toronto had a balanced attack early, but the Magic’s defense gave them trouble.

Maurice Evans and Nelson scored 16 of Orlando’s first 25 points with hot shooting from the outside. Toronto’s offense was about evenly split between drives by T.J. Ford and post ups by Chris Bosh, but it could not keep up with Nelson, Evans, and Rashard Lewis.

When Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell brought in Jose Calderon to spell Ford, Magic head coach Stan van Gundy would counter with Keyon Dooling rather than Nelson’s usual backup Carlos Arroyo. Dooling is known for his defense, but he joined the scoring party by making two quick threes. At the end of the first quarter the Magic led 43 – 23, on the back of 80% shooting from the field. Orlando’s nine made three-point shots tied an NBA record for the first quarter of a playoff game, and Howard controlled the middle with three blocks and four rebounds.

Second Quarter

Orlando continued its torrid shooting early in the quarter thanks in part to a disorganized defensive effort by Toronto. The Magic’s offense ironically was heavily based on the drive-and-kick scheme that makes the foundation of the Raptors’ offense. Hedo Turkoglu did the majority of the driving, and he picked up five assists in the process. Toronto managed to keep it about even for the first half of the quarter in part thanks to Rasho Nesterovic capitalizing on Howard being drawn away from the basket by driving guards.

Midway through, Orlando’s offensive focus shifted to finding Howard in the post as it had done most of the year. As the game’s pace slowed down, so did the Magic’s scoring. Jason Kapono provided a spark off the Raptors’ bench, making three of his first four shots for eight points.

Between the quarters, Mitchell stated his goal was to cut the lead to 10 by halftime. Orlando did its part to help Toronto meet that goal with some sloppy offensive play during the final couple of minutes. Lewis appeared to hit a shot with no time remaining, but video replay correctly showed it to be a shot clock violation. After the teams were called back out of the locker rooms to play the final 0.7 seconds of the half, Anthony Parker missed a Hail Mary from half court.

Toronto finished the half on a 14 – 3 run led by Kapono, but the Magic still led by a 60 – 47 score. Orlando’s shooting percentage fell to 62.2% for the game, and it made just two threes in the second quarter. After cutting a 24 point lead to 13 in the final 6:24, the Raptors had the momentum going into the half.

Third Quarter

Orlando continued to pound it inside with Howard, and the increased attention on him generated open shots for Turkoglu and Lewis. Bosh led the Raptors on offense by getting to the free throw line, and increased attention on him generated open shots for Parker and Andrea Bargnani.

Both teams began to lean on the pick and roll, and Nelson got back-to-back uncontested layups out of it to help preserve Orlando’s lead. Bosh continued to lead the Raptors on the offensive end as they slowly and steadily chipped into the lead. The game had no real flow like it did in the first half as Toronto kept getting to the line and Orlando kept losing focus on offense.

Howard helped to recover some of the lead by missing just one free throw in a number of trips to the line. Despite the feel that the Raptors were controlling the game, they could only cut the lead by three as the Magic led 85 – 75 at the end of the period. Orlando’s shooting fell another eight percentage points, and it made just two more threes.

Fourth Quarter

Stan van Gundy told TNT’s Stephanie Ready between the quarters that he planned on having his team run an inside-out offense. Instead, the offense was run through Orlando’s Mr. Fourth Quarter, Turkoglu. Toronto countered by running plays for Kapono, who scored eight points in the first three minutes.

As time rolled on, Howard made his presence felt by grabbing rebounds and dunking home misses at will. It energized the team on both ends of the floor, and Toronto appeared to be running out of gas after clawing back all game. To make its final stand down the stretch, the Raptors continually fed its star forward Bosh. When that failed to cut into the lead quickly enough, the Raptors resorted to launching outside shots.

Nelson and Turkoglu scored enough points in the Magic’s run-out-the-clock offense to keep the Raptors at bay. The Magic prevailed 114 – 100, led by Howard’s 25 points, 21 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Nelson and Turkoglu joined Howard in scoring over 20, and Nelson had 7 assists. Parker led Toronto with 24 points and Nesterovic was the high rebound man with 8. Bosh had 21 on the game despite 4 of 11 shooting from the floor, thanks to being perfect on his 13 free throw attempts.

Notes

Howard became the first Magic player to have 20 points and 20 rebounds in a playoff game since Horace Grant in 1996… Toronto made its first 23 free throws and finished 27 of 28 for the game… The win is Orlando’s first playoff win since a 100 – 92 victory over Detroit in Game 4 of their first round series in 2003… The teams combined to have 10 double digit scorers, with six for the Magic and four for the Raptors.