<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Magic Lose Ninth Straight Quentin Richardson was all the offense the Los Angeles Clippers had in the first quarter. He and Corey Maggette were all the defense they needed to contain Tracy McGrady in the second half. Richardson scored 31 points Saturday night and helped hold McGrady to 19 following his 51-point outburst the night before as the Los Angeles Clippers sent the Orlando Magic to their ninth straight loss, 95-92 Saturday night. "We knew McGrady was the guy that was going to take all the shots and be the focal point," Maggette said. "Quentin slowed him down, but we had to make shots, too, and `Q' hit big shots. At the end of the game, you have to step up and be the leader and make good defensive stops." McGrady shot 7-for-16 and was held to just four points after halftime. "It's tough, especially when you've got a guy like Corey guarding you. He's really tough. And if you get by him, you have those other guys to deal with," McGrady said. "We should have had those guys down by 20 to 25 points. We just gave them confidence, and they got back in the game." Maggette scored 17 points and Marko Jaric added 15 points off the bench for the Clippers, who are 4-0 since losing a season-opening two-game set to the Seattle SuperSonics in Japan. It's their first four-game winning streak since March 2002. "We just regrouped and forgot about the Japan trip," Richardson said. Juwan Howard scored 22 points and McGrady had 19 for the Magic (1-9), off to the worst start in the team's 15-year history. The losing streak is their second-longest behind a 17-game drought during 1991-92, the season before they drafted Shaquille O'Neal. "We knew that they would come out strong because they wanted to get on the left side of the won-lost column. But we ultimately did a great job down the stretch getting stops when we needed them," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. Jaric's 3-pointer capped a 9-0 spurt that gave the Clippers their biggest lead, 71-63, with 3:37 left in the third quarter. Howard and Keith Bogans kept the Magic within reach in the fourth, and McGrady's driving layup put Orlando ahead 91-90 with 1:36 to play. The Clippers, who made just two field goals in the final 8:18, regained the lead 32 seconds later when Maggette sank a pair of free throws after rebounding a long jumper by Jaric. Drew Gooden missed a turnaround 12-footer in the lane with 12 seconds left, Chris Wilcox grabbed the rebound and sank two free throws at the other end for a 94-91 lead. Tyronn Lue made a free throw for the Magic, then missed the second and Gooden failed to tip in the rebound. Richardson made one of two at the line with 3.2 seconds to go, and Orlando failed to advance the ball in time for a tying 3-point try. The amazing thing about the Clippers is that they are winning without their cornerstone, injured power forward Elton Brand. Wilcox and rookie Chris Kaman, their two most recent No. 1 draft picks, are making key contributions. "We have a young group, and they're like plants -- if you water them enough, they grow. If you don't, then they don't grow," Dunleavy said. "We've got some guys who are growing, and it's been very positive for us. Guys are getting minutes at that position that aren't normally going to be there." Richardson, who had a career-high 32 points last Tuesday against Atlanta, scored 15 in the first period on 7-of-11 shooting while the rest of the Clippers were a combined 0-for-9 from the field and were outscored 13-0 by McGrady. The first Los Angeles basket by someone other than Richardson didn't come until 1{ minutes into the second quarter when Eddie House hit a 20-footer that cut Orlando's lead to 33-21.</div> Full Story Box Score
Another loss. Magic are struggling. Howard and Bogans both played good in different roles. Gaines is going to have to step up and play good, now that he's the backup pg, with Shammond Williams injured. He made a shot! Now he's like 1-13 from the floor this season. Bogans will continue to start and Howard will continue to come off the bench. Tmac was tired, because all of his shots came up short it seemed.
From the highlights and tv games this season, I see terrible defense by Orlando. They just pretty much stand flat footed and don't even put their hands up half the time. I love Doc Rivers, but I am starting to think that maybe he has lost control of this team, because they are not playing hard for him. Come on Doc, time to do something to get their attention, or that will be your job.
Somebody needs to do something because I think I speak for all the magic fans out there when i say this"stop losing games get a W for once" Nine loses in a row isn't called for for a team like orlando. it's like they don't want to win. come on do something to win. Please for all the fans for you all win something.
Magic played hard, it's just Tmac again didn't shoot the rock in the 2nd half. He took maybe 5 or 6 shots in the entire 2nd half. They played hard in every game, with exception in the Twolves game. It's either Tmac has a great game and the rest of the team sucks or the rest of the team does good and Tmac does nothing. We desperately need 1 win this road trip, and the only chance we have now is against the Jazz on Monday. There is almost no chance we will beat the Suns or the Kings, so we have to win tomorrow to avoid going 1-12 early in the season. If we do go 1-12, then Doc is definetely out.
