Mavericks at Magic
THE STORY: The Orlando Magic are starting to resemble a top
heavyweight boxer with a glass jaw. When they go down, they fall hard
and don't get up. Orlando, which owns the third-best record in the
Eastern Conference, will attempt to rebound from its latest debacle when
it faces the visiting Dallas Mavericks on Friday. Dallas had its modest
two-game winning streak snapped at Miami on Thursday and dropped into a
tie with Memphis for fifth place in the West.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, SunSports (Magic), FS Southwest (Mavericks), ESPN3.com
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (29-23):
Dallas could not keep up with the Heat in its first trip to Miami since
winning the NBA title last season. It didn’t help that super sixth man
Jason Terry had his worst offensive output of the season with three
points on 1-for-10 shooting. Reinforcements are on the way. Guard
Delonte West played for the first time since breaking a finger on Feb.
15, and center Brendan Haywood (knee) is expected to return Friday after
missing seven games.
ABOUT THE MAGIC (32-19): Wednesday's road loss to the New York
Knicks, in which Orlando trailed by 39 points, left coach Stan Van Gundy
incredulous. “To be a .600 team and get crushed like that as many times
as we have? That's shocking," he said. Superstar center Dwight Howard,
who leads the league in rebounding, had more turnovers (six) than boards
(five) and scored only 12 points – the fifth time in seven games he has
failed to reach 20 points.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Wednesday's beating snapped the Magic's
three-game winning streak (each victory by double digits) and marked
their fourth defeat by more than 20 points since Jan. 23.
2. Dallas point guard Jason Kidd played in his 1,308th game Thursday, moving into 10th place on the all-time list.
3. Up next for the Mavericks is a three-game homestand before playing seven of the final 10 games on the road.