Oklahoma City Hornets @ Orlando Magic December 20, 2006 7:00 PM ET, Ch. 65 Starting Lineups Orlando Magic Carlos Arroyo, Grant Hill, Trevor Ariza, Tony Battie, Dwight Howard Oklahoma City Hornets Chris Paul, Desmond Mason, Rasual Butler, Hilton Armstrong, Tyson Chandler <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">After three days off from game action, the Orlando Magic return to the court tonight where they'll welcome the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets to the Amway Arena. The Magic are 16-10 on the season - just percentage points behind Detroit for the lead in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the Hornets are 10-12 and playing without injured teammates Peja Stojakovic, David West and Bobby Jackson. -- OrlandoMagic.com</div> The Orlando Sentinel reports that Jameer Nelson will not play tonight. He will be looking to return Friday against Golden State. Hedo Turkoglu will also be out tonight and he's looking to return sometime next week. Keith Bogans will play.
It's gonna be a great matchup. Even better if Nelson would play. Nelson vs Paul and Dwigt vs Chandler. I believe that Paul will cause some headache for you Orlando guys. Chandler is a strong and good post defender, isn't he ? I'm still hoping a monster game from Dwight. Grant has to step up, too. Hornets is a GREAT team.
<div class="quote_poster">Flow Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">It's gonna be a great matchup. Even better if Nelson would play. Nelson vs Paul and Dwigt vs Chandler. I believe that Paul will cause some headache for you Orlando guys. Chandler is a strong and good post defender, isn't he ? I'm still hoping a monster game from Dwight. Grant has to step up, too. Hornets is a GREAT team.</div> We have had 3 days to rest and get back into normal shape. We have played the most grueling schedule in the NBA so far and we're still pretty far above 500. We get Keith Bogans back tonight, so that gives us a little more added depth. We need to make sure to not give any 2nd chance points and to take good shots and not allow New Orleans to get out on the break. Dwight has struggled the last couple of games, but finally had some practice time to get back into the fundamentals. I expect him to have a pretty big game(20/15 type of game). I also expect Darko to get around 30 minutes again and if he can get pretty close to a double double again, then that would be great. Arroyo needs to keep the offense in check and get 5+ assists while not turning the ball over or forcing shots. With all the injuries, how deep is New Orleans? I think whichever bench is able to provide the most support for the starters will win this game. I wouldn't go as far as to say that New Orleans is a GREAT team. They are a good team and very underrated, but injuries have hurt them.
I was there and they couldnt get it to dwight all night.. all his points came off second efforts. All I can say is did anybody see cp3 dunk all over howard
Haha Howard got owned by little Chris. ;D That was an amazing dunk. I didn't even know that CP3 can dunk. LOL.
Yeah that was a nasty dunk. I was surprised he just attacked the rim like that. Diener was nasty though. LOL Subway Sub Player of the Game.
Ugly gets it done as Magic swat Hornets <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">There was no thrill of victory to this one. It was more like a big sigh of relief. No wonder Magic Coach Brian Hill wished his team had been on the road this week. The Magic beat the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets 86-83 Wednesday night, escaping with a victory that didn't really feel like one, not after they let an early 20-point lead melt away faster than a snowball by the fireplace. "I wish they always could be pretty, but that's not going to be the case," said Magic guard Grant Hill. "It's just a good thing when you can still win when things aren't clicking very well." The Magic (17-10) won their second consecutive game, staying close to Detroit (15-8) for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Although the Magic played well defensively, at times their offense was stymied, struggling to get the shots it wanted while committing 19 turnovers. "We were fortunate to get out of here with a win," Brian Hill said. "I didn't like our energy level -- I was troubled by the lack of it -- and I didn't like our offensive execution."</div> Source
