Magic pull a disappearing act before winning a thriller against the Bucks, 108-105. The Magic led by as many as 20 points before letting the Bucks back into the game late. Hedo Turkloglu and Carlos Arroyo made the big plays down the stretch to pull out the win.
Here's something you won't hear very often, Jameer Nelson fouled out early in the fourth quarter. Nelson was the victim of some very obvious flops by Milwaukee. Nelson also appeared to have twisted his ankle early in the game - not sure how serious it was. Turkoglu finishes with 24 points. Dwight Howard contributes 19 points and 17 rebounds in one of his better games lately. Arroyo chips in 17 points. And Trevor Ariza gives us another 8 rebounds off the bench tonight. If he keeps that up, Ariza will be a very valuable player in the years to come.
The Magic were up and down all game long - stretching out big leads and then letting the Bucks back into the game. And while the Magic did a decent job distributing the ball, they committed 18 turnovers and had only 1 block. I thought the Magic had been doing better in both the turnover margin and in blocking shots - but tonight they were a little careless. I would imagine this was mostly due to the extended time off between games.
Even though they blow the big lead, the Magic play hard down the stretch and take care of business. The only question I have, with the way the Bucks were shooting the 3 tonight - why aren't we fouling them with 9 seconds to go. I thought Brian Hill might have learned his lesson earlier in the year.
