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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| KINGS | 22 | 10 | 17 | 35 | 84 |
| MAGIC | 23 | 25 | 29 | 24 | 100 |
Recap:
ORLANDO (AP) -- The Sacramento Kings may have set a new standard for poor shooting in Friday night's 100-84 loss to the Orlando Magic.
Before missing 28 of 32 shots in a 17-minute stretch after the first quarter, the Kings even had three points SUBTRACTED by a replay.
Coach Paul Westphal suggested the Kings had set "some kind of new record for futility" in their sixth straight loss and 11th in 12 games.
"Even teams at the top of the league have three or four games a year where they just can't get anything going at all, no matter what they do," Westphal said. "Lesser teams, which we are -- we are not one of the top teams in the league by any means -- we're going to have some games like this.
"We haven't had very many like this this year. I really can't think of any where we went 48 minutes as dry as we were tonight."
Rookie Tyreke Evans scored 19 to lead the Kings, who shot 33 percent for the game.
"We're glad it was only a 16-point loss," Westphal said. "It could have been a lot worse, felt like a lot worse."
Dwight Howard matched Evans' 19 while adding 15 rebounds for the Magic, who led by as many as 32 in the third.
Howard, who has shot under 60 percent from the line in each of the last four seasons, made 11-for-12 free throws to get his season percentage up to .605.
"Fantastic. He made his first 10," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. "If he could stay in that 70-75 percent range, all the defense on him changes."
Howard has been finishing practices with 100 free throws under the supervision of assistant coach Patrick Ewing, and after Friday's shootaround he made 80.
"The big thing for me," he said, "is to be consistent with what I do ... just try to clear my head and not think about anything," Howard said.
"I'm just making sure I'm always shooting free throws after practice so when I step up to the free-throw line in a game, it'll be easy."
It wasn't the only thing that came easy for the Magic (28-15) on Friday night.
The Kings (15-27) came into the game ranked eighth in scoring (102.3 points) and 13th in field-goal percentage (.460).
They made their first two shots Friday night, and 3-pointers by Evans and Donte Greene helped them to a 10-6 lead. After a Howard layup, another 3-pointer by Greene had apparently stretched Sacramento's lead to 13-8 with 6:08 left in the first. But during a timeout at the 4:37 mark, the officials looked at a replay and determined that Green's latest 3-point attempt had come after the 24-second shot clock had expired.
"I suspected it might have been late when he shot it," Westphal said.
"I wasn't really expecting him to go back a minute and a half later, but since they have that capability and technology marches on, I told the officials: 'I wish we could go back and review one of those three-seconds when Howard was in the lane for about eight seconds.' You can't review that one."
NBA replay rules state that a replay review can reverse a ruling during the next timeout or at the break between quarters.
Coincidentally or not, the Kings never seemed to recover from the reversal.
"We were playing hard in the first half, but we just couldn't make any shots," said Evans.
Sacramento scored only 27 points in the middle quarters, and its 32-point first half is the lowest of the season against the Magic.
"For the most part, we had great help defense," said J.J. Redick, who came off the Orlando bench for 15 points. "Tyreke Evans and Kevin Martin are great scorers and it is difficult to defend them with one guy."
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POSTGAME HIGHLIGHTS:
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Preview:
(STATS) -- The Orlando Magic are tough to beat when Dwight Howard has a big game, and the reigning Defensive Player of the Year had an outstanding offensive performance to help his team end a three-game losing streak.
The Sacramento Kings know all too well about Howard's ability to dominate.
Howard has tormented the Kings in recent years, doing so again in a road win last week, and he will look to help send the visiting Kings to an 11th loss in 12 games Friday night.
Orlando (27-15) didn't rely as much on Howard for scoring last season as it reached the NBA finals, but it has had a tough time winning in 2009-10 when he does not produce offensively. Howard attempted seven field goals or fewer in nine of the Magic's losses, while Orlando has gone 13-2 when he scores 21 points or more.
Howard averaged 27.8 points and shot 75.4 percent from the field in the past five games against the Kings. He overpowered Sacramento in the most recent meeting Jan. 12, piling up 30 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks in a 109-88 victory at Arco Arena - the Magic's fourth straight win in the series.
Howard's 20.4-point average against Sacramento is tied for his best against any opponent.
That victory started Orlando's four-game road trip on a positive note, but it was the only one the Magic would come home with.
In danger of a second four-game losing streak this month, Howard shouldered the load Tuesday against Indiana with a season-high 32 points in a 109-98 win.
"I don't care if we lose 10 games in a row,'' Howard said. "I believe that the guys we have in this room, if we come together and sell out to the game plan every night and sell out to each other, there's no one that should be able to beat us.''
Vince Carter has been going through a disastrous stretch, averaging 7.0 points on 21.5 percent shooting in his last seven games. The effect of his slump has been lessened somewhat by Matt Barnes, who has averaged 13.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 58.3 percent shooting since replacing Mickael Pietrus in the starting lineup Dec. 30.
Barnes had 10 points, a career-high 16 boards and six assists against the Pacers.
"I think that he has really given us a big boost," coach Stan Van Gundy said. "He runs up and down the court, he's in tremendous shape. He's putting in big minutes, he's guarding 3s and 4s and some 2s."
The Magic will have to deal with Kevin Martin on Friday, but Sacramento's leading scorer has not been the same dominant player he was before a fractured left wrist kept him out from Nov. 7-Jan. 12. In four games since returning, he has averaged 18.5 points - 12.1 fewer than before the injury.
The Kings (15-26) trailed by two at halftime at Atlanta on Wednesday but lost 108-97. Tyreke Evans had 24 points and Martin added 23 for Sacramento.
"We had a little bit of success in the first half," said Evans, who averaged 23.8 points in his last eight games. "We're definitely trying to get our chemistry back together, especially with Kevin back in the fold now."
Along with the play of Evans and Martin, the Kings' chances of beating the Magic may depend on the ability of Jason Thompson and Spencer Hawes to deal with Howard. Sacramento is second in the league with 46.6 points per game in the paint, but it was outscored 52-26 inside by the Magic last week.
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Live Baseline Blog:
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Game Notes:
Jan. 22 vs. Sacramento: Orlando is 20-22 all-time vs. Sacramento (14-7 at home, 6-15 on the road) during regular season action, including 1-0 this season (see recap below)…Last season, Orlando won the season series, 2-0...Orlando has won seven of the last 10 meetings overall…The Magic have won six of the last eight outings at home…The Kings had won 11 straight meetings in Sacramento until a 92-89 victory by Orlando on Dec. 4, 2006... Ryan Anderson attended the University of California and went to Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills, CA…Matt Barnes played four years at UCLA from 1998-2002 and attended Del Campo High School in Sacramento…He also played with the Kings briefly in 2004-05…Anthony Johnson was originally drafted in the second round (40th overall) by the Kings in the 1997 NBA Draft and played 104 regular season games in Sacramento (1997-98, 2007-08)…Head Coach Stan Van Gundy is a native of Indio, CA…Assistant GM Dave Twardzik served as a scout for the Kings from 1999-2002…For last season’s stats and Magic career numbers vs. Sacramento, see p. 286 of the media guide…Jan. 12 @ Sacramento – Magic 109, Kings 88: Dwight Howard finished with 30 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, three steals and three blocked shots, as Orlando defeated Sacramento, 109-88, at ARCO Arena. Orlando used an 18-4 run to start the fourth quarter and held Sacramento to just one field goal over the first 7:14 of the period to build an insurmountable cushion over the Kings. The Magic shot over 50 percent for the second consecutive game and saw six players score in double figures. The Kings, who were led by Tyreke Evans’ 18 points, managed to shoot only 34.9 percent from the floor.
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. KINGS: 44 pts., Tracy McGrady (@ Orlando, 11-19-01)
BEST ALL-TIME SCORING PERFORMANCE VS. MAGIC: 42 pts., Mike Bibby (@ Sacramento, 1-15-06)
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