Magic Top China All-Stars in Macao
The Orlando Magic improved to 2-0 at the 2007 China Games on Thursday, defeating the China All-Stars, 116-92.
Less than 24 hours after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in Shanghai, the Magic traveled to Macao to face the Chinese All-Stars. The Magic were led by a 25-point effort from Carlos Arroyo, while Hedo Turkoglu added 17 points and James Augustine chipped in with 14.
After playing 37 minutes against Cleveland, All-Star Dwight Howard played only in the first half against China, scoring 12 points in 13 minutes of action. Jameer Nelson, who logged 40 minutes against the Cavs, also watched most of the game from the bench - tallying four points in his nine minutes of action.
Orlando fell behind by a 12-3 deficit before hitting its first field goal on a Dwight Howard dunk at the 7:10 mark in the first quarter. The team then pulled within three after a trey by Pat Garrity. After a three-point play by Team China, Garrity canned another from beyond the arc to make it a 15-12 ballgame.
A few minutes later, Nelson hit his first field goal by nailing a three-pointer and Turkoglu found some room on the floor to drive in for a layup as the Magic found their first lead at 19-17. The team stepped up its defensive effort in the final five minutes of the quarter and led at the end of one, 24-18.
The Magic went off on an 8-0 run to begin the second quarter, forcing China to burn a timeout and try to regroup. After trailing by nine in the opening five minutes, Orlando went on a 21-6 run to take the commanding lead.
Howard then took over, scoring four straight buckets in the span of three minutes to lift Orlando's lead to 44-21. One highlight included Howard getting out in front of the Chinese defense on the fastbreak and dunking down a feed from Kevin Kruger.
By halftime, Orlando's lead had grown to 64-39 with a very balanced scoring effort. Howard led the Magic with 12 points at the half, while Arroyo had 11 and Turkoglu and Augustine each scored 10. In all, 10 players had a least one point after two quarters for the Magic.
The Magic will play one more game in China, Saturday in Macao against Cleveland, before heading back to Central Florida early Sunday. Orlando will finish off the exhibition season with a home game against San Antonio on Oct. 25.
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