Game 35 Recap: Magic 108, Nets 91

Ok Dwight, we understand you're a beast and all on the basketball court. Just come to New Jersey already, the suspense is killing me and all other Nets fans

In their final game before this week's All-Star break, the Nets were simply outperformed by envied trade target Dwight Howard and his current (hopefully not for long) team, the Orlando Magic. The Magic got off to a quick start in the 1st quarter by taking advantage of effortless and lackluster defense by the Nets. After 12 minutes, Orlando held a 34-17 lead and they would be to hold that lead, for the most part, throughout the rest of the game. 

New Jersey actually was able to show some life in the 3rd quarter as the Nets used 12 consecutive points by Deron Williams to cut their deficit to 8 points. Similarly to Monday's game against the Knicks, D-Will found his stroke from behind the arc and took advantage of it to give some life to his team. However, that offensive burst ended rather quickly as Orlando, behind a few 3-pointers from Chris Duhon and J.J. Redick, was able to rebuild its lead back up to 17 points by the end of the quarter. 

The 4th quarter was much the same as the 3rd as the Nets were able to cut the deficit to 13 but the Magic stymied the late comeback attempt and cruised on through to quarter to help secure their lead, and eventually, the win. The hyped match-up of Dwight Howard and Brook Lopez was rather easily won by Howard who racked up 20 points and 17 rebounds while Lopez managed 15 points but was of no help defensively or in rebounding, as he had a measly four. In fact, rebounding was a huge issue for the whole Nets team and it was a major reason why Orlando had such an easy win. No Net had more than six rebounds as the whole team was outrebounded by a margin of nine boards. This has been a major issue with New Jersey all season and usually the team loses when they don't rebound well and vice versa when they win.

The Magic also exhibited their shooting prowess, especially from behind the arc, en route to their easy win. Five Magic players hit at least two 3-pointers in the game and the Nets just didn't have the personnel apt enough at defense to contest those 3-pointers. Conversely, only two Nets hit more than two threes, Marshon Brooks and Deron Williams, which showed the sharp contrast between the two teams in balance on offense. Brooks was actually extremely efficient in scoring his 24 points as he hit 10-of-15 from the field along with his four 3-pointers. D-Will wasn't as efficient in his 23-point, 6-rebound, and 8-assist performance, only making 8-for-18 from the field. 

Some other observations I had from the game: Brook Lopez finally shook off his rust on offense and looked like the Brook of last season with an array of post-moves, jump-shots, and even a few hooks. He still couldn't get into a nice rebounding or defensive groove as he only had four boards and let Howard and Glen Davis have their way in the paint...DeShawn Stevenson reverted back to his form when he does almost nothing positive on the court. I guess the last three games prior to tonight were all aberrations...With Magic GM Otis Smith definitely playing a lot of attention to tonight's game, rumored trade piece Marshon Brooks played great and showed why many consider him to be one of the best pure-scorers from this past draft. His shot selection was murky at best but he just seemed to make all of his shots and even made some nice drives to the paint in addition to his usual jump-shots.


Looking Ahead
The Nets have a 6-day break until their next game, which is in Dallas against the Mavericks on February 28th. Of course, this is due to the All-Star break where a few Nets, and even a few Springfield Armor players, will be participating.