Orlando Magic 120, Philadelphia 76ers 105

Orlando wanted to start its season off with a bang, unveiling its new conference championship banner, trying this new video player on the court itself for introductions and inviting back Gina Marie Incandela to sing the national anthem.

The Magic certainly pulled out all the stops before the game, but the question was would the addition of five new players, two new starters and the absence of Rashard Lewis due to suspension hamper the Magic in any way?

Umm... no. At least for one game.

Orlando started slow, but quickly erased an early deficit and used its bench to distance itself from Philadelphia in a dominating performance and a 120-105 win. There certainly will not be a Finals hangover. The only thing that appeared to go wrong was the Internet going down at Amway Arena.

The start was slow for sure and it left Orlando with some things to at least think about. There are still 81 of these things left in the season. But to start with the good.

Orlando's bench came in and took firm control of the game. The Magic trailed for a good part of the first quarter before rallying to take a 29-27 lead. It was the second unit of Marcin Gortat-Brandon Bass-Matt Barnes-JJ Redick-Jason Williams that helped kickstart the Magic.

Orlando outscored Philadelphia 41-20 in the second quarter and had firm control ino the third quarter, scoring 100 points through 36 minutes. They led by as much as 31 and let the margin decrease with a lackadaisical fourth quarter.

The reason? Orlando cut down on its turnovers and were getting anything it wanted on offense.

The Magic shot 16 of 29 from beyond the arc taking advantage of the attention Dwight Howard was getting inside. In the third quarter when the attention was on the 3-point shooters, Howard took advantage in the paint. He finished with his first double-double of the year (21 points, 15 rebounds).

More interestingly, the Magic got out on the break more than they had in the past. They out ran the running 76ers. It was definitely something the team was looking to do and with the athletes and depth they have, I would expect them to push the pace more.

Vince Carter had a decent premiere, hitting a few shots but not really showing off his playmaking ability. He finished with 15 points.

Jameer Nelson also looked like he was completely back and ran the offense well scoring seven points and dishing out six assists. Everyone seemed to fit in offensively and besides falling in love with the 3-pointer as the game got out of hand, the offense was run about as perfectly as it could.

The game was so out of hand that they were definitely dialing back in the fourth quarter.

Still, Stan Van Gundy was not thrilled with some things on the defensive end. And really you can't blame him. Orlando will not shoot 55.6 percent for every game this year and the defense needed a little more focus. Like I said earlier today, that is what got the Magic to the Finals more than their 3-point shooting.

Philadelphia did some things good but is clearly still adjusting to its new offense and coach. The 76ers played much better in the second half, even though they could not close the gap. They ended up shooting 50 percent and scoring more than 100 points.

A lot of work is clearly left to do on that side of the court. But a lot of the problems was just apathy in the fourth quarter after building a 30-point lead. Can't blame them, but can't be encouraged by it either.

The 76ers did a good job pulling Howard away from the basket with their Princeton sets and Marreese Speights looks like a perfect fit with his jump-shooting ability as he finished with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-11 shooting.

In the end, it is tough to find anything too negative to say. The offense did hide some defensive issues but it was clear Orlando had too much to overwhelm Philadelphia tonight. The team had six players in double figures and got whatever it wanted offensively.

That is pretty much all that needs to be said about this game. There is still a long way to go and we will see if they can keep up this offensive pace Friday in New Jersey.