Orlando Magic 95, New Jersey Nets 85

Vince Carter stole the headlines before, making his first trip to New Jersey since the summer's blockbuster trade. Vince Carter stole the headlines during the game, dominating play and scoring 16 points in the first half. And Vince Carter will take the headlines after the game.

Carter left the game in the second quarter after spraining his ankle stepping on Devin Harris' foot and did not play in the first half. His presence was missed, but not enough for the Magic to fall in their first road game of the season as they improved to 2-0 with a 95-85 win.

But before that point, he and Dwight Howard got everything they wanted offensively. Carter finished with 16 points on six of eight shooting in about 15 minutes of play. He started the game with a driving dunk on the opening possession and looked like he wanted to have "one of those games."

It was unfortunate that it was cut short.

But it was fortunate on another end too. The offense was nowhere near as crisp as it was in Wednesday's opener against the 76ers. Hard to expect it to be, but it was like it was two different teams.

The big difference was hte play early in the second quarter when Stan Van Gundy put in his second unit. Instead of coming out with energy and getting to the basket and rotating the ball, they played a lot of one-on-one basketball and had to force up a lot of shots. Guys looked like they were trying to do too much or expected everything to go in because they had been the last two games (including the last exhibition game against Atlanta).

As Van Gundy said after Wednesday's game, the shots will not always fall as they did that night.

But still things never got out of hand. Orlando played decently defensively and kept the Nets generally out of hte paint. Devin Harris and Rafer Alston beat their man -- mostly Jason Williams with Jameer Nelson battling foul trouble the whole game -- a few times and helped create things.

Any chance New Jersey had to close the gap was met by a quick Magic run aor a timely shot. Most of the second half was spent in the 8-13 point range and rarely any more than that. Orlando took care of business when it needed to.

Dwight Howard had a dominant game defensively and really controlled the glass. He finished with 20 points, 22 rebounds and four blocked shots. He had a lot of energy and got Brook Lopez in foul trouble early and kept him from being a factor in the game.

Still, you got two senses from this game.

First, that New Jersey had its opportunities to win this game but simply could not hit any jump shots. The Nets finished shooting 38.3 percent from the floor and five of 15 from beyond the arc. Devin Harris led the way with 18 points, but it came on six of 17 shooting as he really struggled.

The second was the some of Orlando's offensive struggles at times would have been solved if Carter were on the floor creating. With Nelson out for a good portion of the game with foul trouble, Carter out with the ankle injury and Rashard Lewis sitting at home on his stationary bike, Orlando was missing that attacker from the perimeter.

When Nelson finally got out of foul trouble and played extensive minutes in the fourth quarter, things picked up offensively. Nelson finished with nine points and five assists, but the team just felt different with him on the floor.

The ball started moving and that is when Orlando is deadly. When the ball is staying with one person too long, it stagnates like any other offense would.

This was the first game where the Magic struggled from beyond the arc, going six for 21. There are going to be games like that. What was good to see was the team start attacking the basket more and getting other looks.

They found Howard underneath plenty of times. Nelson got deep in the paint a lot. Brandon Bass was extremely efficient with 13 points and three rebounds. Ryan Anderson also played very well, coming off the 3-point line and getting inside for a few inside baskets. Anderson also had 16 points in his first game back in New Jersey.

It was a little disheartening not to see the Magic really blow this one open. It was never a close game, but the game was always in doubt. The Nets are not a great team and they do not have a lot of great shooters. If they did, they could have very easily won this game. But it was pretty clear why they lost a 16-point lead to the Timberwolves on Wednesday night.

The free throw shooting really kept Orlando from distancing itself early. Howard was a horrible four for 11 from the line and missed his first six. The Magic were 15 of 25 overall. A better effort from the line could have made this game a rout early.

But it is what it is. There was certainly a lot to improve upon after this game. The defense played well and closed things down when it needed to. And I think the offense discovered what it can and cannot get away with.