Orlando Magic 101, Chicago Bulls 98

The Magic trailed by four points with about two minutes to play. Then all hell broke loose.

Ryan Anderson's three a minute later gave Orlando a one point lead and after a defensive stop it seemed free throws would all but seal it.

Ah, but Dwight Howard has not quite fixed the free throw bug and the Bulls made it more than interesting, nearly winning a jump ball about 10 seconds left and trailing by two points after Brad Miller intentionally missed a free throw.

Matt Barnes split his pair of free throws for a three-point lead before making up for it with a steal at midcourt as the Magic defeated a B-plus Bulls squad 101-98 at the United Center on Monday to remain undefeated in the preseason.

That is probably the best place to begin. It is the preseason so a lot of the things that are somewhat concerning, probably are not. It seemed to me from pregame warmups (I was in attendance and there far too early) that the team was just not mentally into the game, while the scrappy Chicago team playing without its best player in Derrick Rose, came out ready to play.

The defensive rotations were slow and the offense stagnant at times. Anderson and Brandon Bass each had two fouls by the end of the first quarter and Orlando really struggled keeping Chicago off the free throw line. The Bulls went to the line 27 times on 22 fouls. The defense did not help as Chicago had six players in double figures, led by John Salmons with 19 points -- he also torched Vince Carter a few times especially early -- on 50 percent shooting.

Defense not encouraging.

Offense, very much so.

This was my first chance getting to see Ryan Anderson -- since he did not play against Dallas two weeks ago. And the kid can play. He was built for this system. Anderson is not afraid to shoot and can hit it. He is more than a Rashard Lewis, who did not play tonight, replacement. I am feeling fairly confident about his acquisition. Anderson scored 18 points in 23 minutes on four of seven shooting.

Brandon Bass, also pretty good. He struggled with fouls tonight, but he has good range and works hard on the glass. I actually really liked pairing him with Howard. He does not extend out to the 3-point line like a guy like Lewis or Anderson might, but he can hit that mid-range jumper and adds the support Howard needs on the boards. He will definitely come in handy.

Otherwise offensively, I still think the big players are coasting. Howard had his moments, but it was clear Orlando was trying to work other things on offense. He is a little more patient passing out of double teams and his free throw shooting is better -- 10 of 17 tonight -- but he still tends to rush things and that needs to change.

Jameer Nelson also looked pretty good if not dialed back a little. He is not recklessly going to the basket, but that jumper of his is so deadly that it will certainly come or he will burn teams with that 18 footer if they go under the Howard screen.

Now to Carter. I think Carter is coasting more than anybody at this point. He showed some flashes, making a quick move to the basket for a jam in the third quarter -- clearly hitting turbo all the way -- and making some nice fadeaway jumpers. He and Matt Barnes even connected on an alley-oop in the first quarter. I have complete faith Carter is going to fit into this offense perfectly and will pick it up once the games start counting.

Early on, I was not impressed with his defense. But I was not impressed with anybody's defense tonight. It was not pretty. Generally everyone on the team has to focus more on keeping their man in front of them and not trying to just funnel everything to Howard. Howard fouled out tonight and that is becoming a pattern.

The only time the offense really stagnated was in the second quarter when Stan Van Gundy used a lineup of Anthony Johnson, JJ Redick, Mickael Pietrus, Matt Barnes and Marcin Gortat. You can see the offensive problems. They did decently defensively, but clearly not something we will see.

Turnovers are still a little bit of an issue, but the team got sharper in the second half. The Magic had 18 turnovers total, but only six in the second half. Hopefully that is turning the corner as most of the mistakes looked like rushing mistakes or familiarity mistakes. It is getting better.

The last thing that I think needs to be said is how the Magic won this game. My biggest concern was about the team's resiliency. Could they make that four-point comeback with two minutes left and somehow find a way to win a game they did not deserve.

With the starters playing down the stretch, Orlando did that. And despite the Magic trying very hard to give it away at the end, they found a way to win tonight. The defense was not perfect, but in the regular season the W's are all that matter. 6-0 in the preseason is pretty irrelevant, but I think this team definitely has its pieces together and is just waiting to hit the on switch next week.

Definitely plenty to see and improve upon in the last two games of the preseason, but overall you have to feel confident about the way this team can play.