Magic 96, 76ers 94: Sloppy, but effective

Rashard Lewis shot seven for 17. But it was shot No. 17 and make No. 7 that mattered most to Orlando.

With four seconds left, Lewis hit a 3-pointer in the corner to give the Magic a two-point lead and an escape from Wachovia Arena with a 96-94 win.

Lewis struggled throughout the night, but finished with 19 points. His offensive struggles were symbolic of the team's overall offensive struggles. After opening a 10-point lead in the first half, Philadelphia slowly whittled away at the lead before taking it entering the fourth quarter on a half-court three by rookie Marreese Speights.

Orlando continued to struggle into the fourth quarter, despite shooting 47 percent for the entire game. The team turned the ball over 17 times and played incredibly sloppy.

Elton Brand anchored the second-half comeback with 21 points and six rebounds.

The Magic struggled to counteract the scoring threat. Dwight Howard had 21 points and 14 rebounds. Tony Battie added 20 points off the bench -- most in the first half. It was a struggle to find scoring elsewhere in the second half. Hedo Turkoglu went four for 11 and scored only 12 points (he also committed a boneheaded, over-aggressive foul that allowed Philadelphia to take a one-point lead with about 20 seconds to play).

This was my first look at the team all season (that is what I get for working outside of Orlando). And overall it was not a horrible game.

The first quarter showed the full potential of this team. The Magic were getting the ball into Howard in the low post, running effectively and playing fantastic defense. It was a great display of what the team can do.

Then it was a sloppy, turnover prone, 3-point happy team that wasted opportunities and let a worse team come back on them.

It is early in the season, so hopefully it was the quality of the opponent that led to some of the struggles. But it did not seem that way.

The problems stem from some problems with the active team. The 76ers made a big portion of their comeback by using a press when Anthony Johnson was out of the game. Courtney Lee, Turkoglu and JJ Redick are not backup point guards and for the next week it is something that will be exploited.

But a major part of the problem is that Johnson is not a starting point guard. He fills his role and is a good game manager. What Jameer Nelson does though is force action and create for others on the floor. Johnson was not doing that -- and it showed over his 37 minutes of play.

When the shots were falling, Johnson worked fine. When they were not, he and the team struggled.

In the end, this game is a win. The Magic have done a good job the last two seasons of winning games that they do not deserve to win. Orlando did its best to give this game away and then took it back at the last second.

Certainly made it better for the national television audience.