Magic Lock Up No. 3 Seed for Playoffs With 101-86 Win Over Cavaliers
By TOM WITHERS | Associated Press | Apr 5, 08 4:51 PM CDT in
Sports
Hedo Turkoglu scored 23 points, Rashard Lewis added 21 and the Orlando Magic locked up the Eastern Conference's No. 3 playoff seed with a 101-86 win Saturday over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Magic, who have sat behind Boston and Detroit in the standings for much of the season, won despite getting only 4 points on 1-of-8 shooting from All-Star center Dwight Howard _ 17 below his average. Orlando's defense, though, was the difference.
The Magic held Cleveland to 14 points in the fourth quarter and didn't let Cavaliers superstar LeBron James get his first points of the period until there was 1:48 left. By then, Orlando was up by double digits and in cruise control.
James, who has been bothered by back spasms, finished with 17 points (on 6-of-22 shooting), 9 assists and 7 rebounds. But for the second straight game, he wasn't able to score as he usually does and his teammates didn't give him any help.
Cleveland was 4-of-23 in the fourth quarter, one game after the Cavs blew a 17-point second-half lead in a loss to Chicago.
Jameer Nelson had 16 points and 9 assists for the Magic (48-28), who won 40 games last season and are now two victories from their first 50-win season since 1995-96.
Delonte West scored 19 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas 18 for Cleveland, which has dropped five of seven and is staggering toward the regular-season finish line.
With the score tied 75-all, the Magic ripped off 10 straight points, the last coming on a three-point play by Keyon Dooling with 5:37 left. Ilgauskas finally ended the drought for Cleveland, but Turkoglu, one of the NBA's best performers in the fourth quarter this season, scored five points and Orlando opened a 92-79 lead with 3:02 remaining.
Cleveland's outside game was almost nonexistent, and with Orlando sagging its defense to stop James from driving, the Cavaliers needed someone to step up. Wally Szczerbiak and Daniel Gibson both went 1-of-7 from the field.
Unable to get the ball down low where he's most comfortable and double-teamed almost every time he touched it, Howard had two points entering the fourth. He doubled his total with two free throws to start the period and the Magic made eight from the line before Dooling's layup made it 79-75 with 6:32 left.
Before the game, Cavs coach Mike Brown revealed that James' back has been bothering him for some time. He was held out of a practice earlier this week, and didn't speak to the media before facing the Magic so he could get treatment on his back.
Notes:@ Brown said he wants to get James as much rest as possible over the final five games of the regular season to have him as fresh as possible for the playoffs. ... Turkoglu is a leading candidate for the league's most improved player award. He's averaging career-highs in scoring, assists, rebounds and minutes played. On top of that, Turkoglu leads the Magic in fourth-quarter scoring (6.1 points) and has won three games with shots in the closing seconds.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.