Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Houston Rockets 93, Orlando Magic 83

It is always a good sign when you tune into a game in the middle of the fourth quarter, your team trails by almost 10 points and you think to yourself: "OK, we are fine. This game is still within reach."

Recent history has shown the Magic are certainly capable of coming back from pretty medium-sized deficits against good teams on the road. Their trip to Houston had its bumps, but the game was certainly within reach.

That extra gear never came Tuesday.

Houston took advantage of a struggling Orlando offense and were never really threatened in the final seven minutes of the game on its way to a 93-83 win. The loss puts the Magic one game behind the Celtics for the second spot in the playoffs with five games remaining for both teams.

When you live by the three, you will also die by the three. And sometimes the Magic simply do not have enough muscle inside to make up for a poor shooting effort from beyond the arc. Simply nothing was clicking tonight for Orlando.

The Magic were 10 of 28 from beyond the arc, and Yao Ming effectively held Dwight Howard to 13 points and 10 rebounds. Howard shot just five of 11 from the floor, continuing his struggles against his all star counterpart from the Western Conference.

It simply was not the Magic's night.

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