Magic 3-ball leads Orlando to first-round sweep of Bobcats
By Derek S. Smith, for NBA.comCHARLOTTE (NBA.com exclusive) -- The Orlando Magic again showed their depth and versatility.
Vince Carter scored 21 points while Jameer Nelson added 18 including a key basket late in the game to pick up a 99-90 win Monday. With the win, Orlando becomes the only team in the 2010 playoffs to earn a first-round sweep while the Bobcats failed to pick up a victory in the franchise's first-ever playoff appearance.
"That was a very difficult series," Stan Van Gundy said. "We struggled to score points and get shots. They had a great game plan in the series and both teams played extremely hard. I was proud of our intensity and resolve."
Nelson highlighted a 10-0 Orlando run with a three from the top of the key with 4:53 remaining, giving the Magic an 86-76 lead and effectively sapping all the remaining energy from both Time Warner Cable Arena and the Charlotte Bobcats season. The Orlando point guard finished with a series-best 23.8 ppg picking up some offensive slack from his Magic teammates.
Charlotte had cut the lead to a single point at 77-76, but the Magic again proved to be deadly from behind the arc. Mickael Pietrus drained threes on back-to-back possessions to squash the Bobcats momentum. Orlando sank a series-best 13 from behind the arc and made 45 over the four games in the series.
The Bobcats tried to make another run early in the fourth quarter but were stymied by an unusual set of fouls. Carter was fouled by Tyson Chandler. The Charlotte center was actually whistled for both a personal foul and a flagrant foul on the play. Carter made the two free throws, but the Magic was unable to capitalize allowing Charlotte to stay in the game.
The Magic took the lead for good in the final game of the series at the 9:09 mark of the third. Carter sank his first three of the series after missing his first 15. He finished the series 1-for-17 from the three-point line.
The Bobcats game plan all series was to frustrate and attack Dwight Howard. The Magic center became increasingly frustrated during the series and was limited to just 27 minutes and 9.8 points per game, and fouled out for the second straight game.
"If you had told me that (Dwight Howard) would have averaged well under 30 minutes for the series and gotten a sweep I would have said that there was no way that could have happened," Van Gundy quipped.
Orlando now has the opportunity to get some rest before hosting either Atlanta or Milwaukee in the second round while the Bobcats have a lot to learn from their first visit to the playoffs.
"They are a great team," Brown said. "They are really well coached and they aren't one dimensional. A lot of players really stepped up for them. They know how to play playoff basketball and we're still learning. We have a lot of guys that were in this for the first time. We have to have a group step up and play at a high level. Not just one or two guys each night. They never quit and we played hard."
One question that will remain for the Charlotte franchise is the status of Coach Brown. Rumors of his desire to take a front office job with either Philadelphia or the Los Angeles Clippers have persisted since before the All-Star break.
"I'm not coaching anywhere else but Charlotte," Brown reiterated. "Now am I going to go home and talk to my wife? I'm almost 70 and I've got two young kids. Am I going to talk to them and find out what I need to do and am I going to talk to Michael (Jordan)? Yeah, absolutely. But I'm not coaching anywhere unless it's for Michael Jordan if he wants me and I can work it out with my family."
| Orlando Magic (59-23) | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| field goalsrebounds | |||||||||||||||||
| pos | min | fgm-a | 3pm-a | ftm-a | +/- | off | def | tot | ast | pf | st | to | bs | ba | pts | ||
| M. Barnes | F | 27:37 | 3-10 | 3-7 | 5-6 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | |
| R. Lewis | F | 43:41 | 5-8 | 4-7 | 3-4 | +6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 17 | |
| D. Howard | C | 23:25 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 2-7 | +15 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| V. Carter | G-F | 39:50 | 7-16 | 1-5 | 6-9 | +12 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | |
| J. Nelson | G | 36:23 | 4-12 | 2-6 | 8-10 | +14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |
| M. Gortat | 24:35 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | -6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| J. Williams | 11:37 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| M. Pietrus | 17:52 | 3-6 | 3-6 | 4-4 | +4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 13 | ||
| J. Redick | 10:41 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 2-2 | +2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ||
| R. Anderson | 04:19 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | +3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| B. Bass | DNP - Coach's Decision | ||||||||||||||||
| A. Johnson | DNP - Coach's Decision | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | 240 | 28-67 | 13-33 | 30-42 | 7 | 31 | 38 | 18 | 23 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 99 | |||
| 41.8% | 39.4% | 71.4% | team rebs: 11 | total to: 7 | |||||||||||||
| Charlotte Bobcats (44-38) | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| field goalsrebounds | ||||||||||||||||
| pos | min | fgm-a | 3pm-a | ftm-a | +/- | off | def | tot | ast | pf | st | to | bs | ba | pts | |
| G. Wallace | F | 42:32 | 6-12 | 2-5 | 3-6 | -8 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 17 |
| B. Diaw | F | 31:46 | 6-11 | 0-3 | 1-2 | -5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| T. Ratliff | C | 07:55 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | -7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Jackson | G-F | 38:42 | 2-11 | 0-3 | 4-5 | -8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| R. Felton | G | 29:18 | 3-8 | 2-4 | 3-5 | -6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| N. Mohammed | 07:35 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 2-3 | +1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| T. Thomas | 28:54 | 9-12 | 0-0 | 3-4 | -5 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21 | |
| D. Augustin | 18:44 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| L. Hughes | 13:51 | 1-4 | 1-3 | 1-3 | -2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| T. Chandler | 19:47 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 2-2 | -5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |
| D. Brown | 00:01 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| S. Graham | 00:55 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 240 | 32-71 | 5-19 | 21-33 | 7 | 29 | 36 | 27 | 29 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 90 | ||
| 45.1% | 26.3% | 63.6% | team rebs: 17 | total to: 10 | ||||||||||||
inactive
- Magic: Foyle
- Bobcats: Ajinca, Diop, Henderson
technical fouls
- Magic: Van Gundy
- Bobcats: Jackson
scoring
- Lead Changes: 4
- Times Tied: 6
arena stats
- Arena: Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, NC
- Officials: #14 Joe DeRosa, #33 Sean Corbin, #34 Marc Davis
- Attendance: 19086
- Duration: 2:52
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