It's been over a year since we beat them. It always seems like they have our number. Turkoglu led the way with 18 and Dwight had 15 and 16 tonight.
Magic Head Coach Brian Hill: "Well, obviously this was a real big win for us tonight. This was a team that had beaten us eight consecutive games and it was really good to get a win over them. I thought it was a really hard played basketball game that was kind of like a heavy weight fight out there, two teams throwing everything they had at each other. It got a little bit ugly at times but better to win ugly than lose pretty. I just thought our guys played extremely hard and did really good defensively. I thought DeShawn Stevenson did an excellent job on Dwayne Wade but he got help from the rest of the team and we had a real good team defensive effort until that 4th quarter until they started draining some three's on us, we played real good defense." (On if he saw Gary Payton step out of bounds): "No, I was kind of moving away at the time to kind of get out of the way of the play, but obviously he did or the referee wouldn't have called it." "It's important to be able to win games down the stretch, whether you're up by a few or down by a few, the main thing is to try and get the best execution you can. We had a couple possessions where we didn't get the greatest shots but then neither did they. I think you can credit that to the defense of both teams. They're one of the best defensive teams in the NBA and it's just really important to be able to make plays down the stretch from a confidence stand point. To get three wins in a row and get back to .500, a lot of people walked out of this building after the New Orleans game, myself included, and a lot of people didn't feel good about where we were at that point in time and that's a testament to these guys to come back after that game and rattle off these three wins and now we have to take our act on the road and try and play the same way on the road. And I'll tell you what, the crowd was big tonight. The crowd was like old time coming down the stretch. It was like an old fashioned Miami-Orlando game. I don't know how many people were here but I could tell that they were into the game and I think our players could sense that also." "Well we're tied in the loss column with Miami for first place in the division, that's all that counts. I don't look at the win column, all I look at is the loss column and we're right there at the top of the division with everybody else and that's got to be something we strive for." "We made big free throws down the stretch when we had to and I thought a big thing tonight was that our guys continually attacked the basket and kept the pressure on Miami." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magic Guard Steve Francis "It's good; we're definitely excited about the win. Because, I mean we work hard in practice, and the results are starting to show as we continue to play games. Everyone's playing tough together; it's not just one guy. Total team effort." (On Miami's 4th qtr. Run): "We gave them open shots. If you notice, all the three's they hit, we were scrambling on defense. They pretty much had their feet set and they were able the throw up some shots. We'll be O.K." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magic Guard Jameer Nelson "We knew that they were going to make a run, we had to withstand their punch. And that's what we did. Never gave the lead up, we fought hard out there tonight." "You don't have to do it with points or you know, anything in the stat column. I think you've got go out there and do what my coach asks me to do, what the team needs, and that's run the team and play defense. Every thing else will come in the game." (On out-rebounding the giants): "I lift weights for a reason. We've got two lift days a week for a reason." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magic Forward Dwight Howard "Came in with the attitude that we've got to beat Miami tonight and we did. Feels good." (On playing against 'Zo): "He's a big dude, man. That's all I can say, real big. I can't describe him, probably like mini-Shaq. It's fun, I like playing against him." "We wanted this game real bad. I think that the Heat has beat us like nine times in a row; we haven't beat them at home. So I think this is the first time we've beat them in a while. SO we wanted to stop that tonight. What can I say, happy." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magic Guard DeShawn Stevenson (On playing against D. Wade): "Yeah, he was kind of mad, complaining to the refs about I was fouling him and stuff like that. Once you get a player like that, his caliber, whining about plays, I won't say whining, but complained about plays, makes it kind of hard. He's a talented player, he can get a basket any time he wants, he can score. So the one thing I did was make it tough on him." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Miami Heat Head Coach Stan Van Gundy: "We need to find an answer to this. In the first half we did not come with great intensity. They just absolutely destroyed us on the boards. Our perimeter guys got beat off the dribble and when "the bigs" went to help them they didn't do anything but block out "the bigs". The perimeter guys did a better job both on containing the ball and helping us on the glass in the second half and so they go from 17 second chance points to 7. I thought our initial defense most of the night was good. But we turned the ball over to much especially in the second quarter where we got behind. We've got to make free throws. On top of the fact the neither team shot the ball well, but that game was neither teams not shooting it well. But they shot free throws very well and we did not. We turned it over more than they did. We only played half the game. So we can be mad at who ever we want to be mad at and that's what I just told them. We're only going to play twenty four minutes and I don't know who we think we are if we are not going to play until we get behind then we are going to have long nights." "Our perimeter guys especially didn't bring us any energy early and we did not get ball movement until the very end and then we had some great movement. Until then we simply would not play the game together. When guys are missing shots we start forcing. We don't have the discipline right now to stick with our game and it really shows. Then when the guys started making a couple shots we loosened up and played our game and we look like we know what we're doing. So we've got to answer that deep inside ourselves with some mental toughness and discipline to play the game hat we're supposed to. And then we brought the game right down to the wire, we got a big stop, we're down two and we've got a chance and we come right out of a timeout and don't execute the play. So it's very disappointing that a veteran team we're not able to sit and look at a play in a timeout and run it." (On the O.B. play at end): "I did not see it; I did not have a good view of what happened at the end." "Right now, we're not a team that has shown consistency of energy or intensity. We want to play only as much as we think we have to play, and we put ourselves in bad situations and we're taking some tough losses because of it. And either we'll learn from it or point fingers at referees or whoever and we won't learn anything and the same thing will keep happening. It's entirely up to our guys." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heat Center Alonzo Mourning "We put ourselves in a situation to win and when you're playing in a hole like that it kinda makes it difficult down the stretch for you to get back in the game on the road. I think our mentality has to be when we're on the road, especially on the road, to play like we're down all the time because we play better and I think we play with a little more energy when we play like we're down. I think that has affected the way we start games because the way we start games is kinda slow." "I think every individual on the team has to do a check. They gotta check themselves mentally and from the standpoint of approaching the game and understand that there's a sense of urgency in starting games off with the energy we need in order to win the game. I think starting the games off slow just gives our opponent the opportunity to build confidence and at the same time build a lead. Against great teams you can't do that. If we expect to accomplish anything in June or during the playoffs, we can't approach the game with that mentality at all. I know it's still early but we're practicing and preparing ourselves for the playoffs. This regular season is just preparation for the playoffs and I don't think we're doing a very good job in approaching each and every game the right way. In spurts we play well but there has to be a level of consistency. It might have something to do with the fact that we're a little short handed and at the same time we've got guys trying to learn the system, the defensive system that we have. We don't have too many problems scoring the basket—we've shown we can do that. We just gotta make a better effort in stopping the basketball; and rebounding and taking care of the basketball from a turnover standpoint." "I think everyone else takes losing hard. Everybody has a different approach to the game. I've been doing this for a long time so there's a lot of people that truly hadn't gone through the things I've gone through so I look at it from a different perspective then a lot of other people. At the same time, I hate it when you work your butt off and try to put yourself in a situation to win a ballgame and someone makes a decision that's not in your favor down the stretch. I'm talking about the end and the call that was made. I said "Lou (Referee Luis Grillo) you've got to let the players decide the game in that situation. This has been a hard fought game and let the players decide the game. Don't let that call decide whether or not we're going to win or lose." If we would have started the game a little better than maybe we wouldn't have been in that situation." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heat Guard Gary Payton (On the referee's call at the end of the 4th quarter): "He pushed me in my chest. I threw the ball and he (Luis Grillo) called the call. That's what happened. I don't know what he seen but he seen the call that he made. We can't do nothing about it." (On stepping out of bounds): I don't know if I stepped out of bounds or not. Once I turned around and he bodied me up in the chest. I threw the ball to Dwayne so I didn't know what was going on. He pushed me out towards the baseline and when I threw the ball to Dwayne I thought it was good. At crunch time part of the game, we're just supposed to play." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heat Guard Dwyane Wade (On the referee's call at the end of the 4th quarter): "Of course he got pushed. Steve (Steve Francis) was playing very aggressive and he was already on the tightrope out of bounds. A little questionable but we can't do anything about it now." (On what he says to the referees for not getting called for fouls when driving to the basket): "I don't know what to tell them. Hopefully they realize it because it's kinda ridiculous. At the end guys drive and they get the little bump fouls and we drive hard and I know I drive hard and it takes a lot for me to get a call. I get frustrated after a while but hopefully they'll make the call." (On if it affects him during the game): "Doing something over and over and not getting calls for it, you don't want to continue to do it. So it takes away from some of your aggressiveness but at the same time you're going to keep going down there. That's my strength. I'm going to continue to keep driving hard and hopefully I'll get the call." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- POSTGAME NOTES: • With a 76-74 win over Miami the Magic are now riding a three-game winning streak and improve their record to 6-6. This win also snaps an eight-game losing streak to Miami. Their last win came in a 96-74 victory on March 23, 2003 in Miami. • Dwight Howard posted a team-leading ninth double-double of the season netting 15 points and pulling down 16 rebounds. This is his ninth double-double in 10 games. • Hedo Turkoglu led Orlando with 18 points. 10 of those came from the free-throw line where he was a perfect 10-for-10. • The Orlando defense continued to dominate holding the Heat to just 17 second quarter points. This ties an opponent team low. On November 4, 2005 the Magic held Memphis to 17 second quarter points as well. • Orlando held the Heat to an opponent season-low 32.1% from the field (26-81). Miami's 33 first half points was the second lowest first half this season. Washington scored just 31 first half points on November 23, 2005. • This marks the eighth time this season and third consecutive time that the Magic have held opponents to 90 points-or-less. This is also the third time this season that Orlando has held the opposition to 80 point-or-less. • Alonzo Mourning pulled down a season-high 21 boards while posting 15 points. Dwyane Wade led all scorers with 21 points. (Courtesy of E-Magic Insider)
that really made me mad when the heat fans where chanting lets go heat... everyone did really well and i like the chemistry of the team.. howard is a monster and now we want him to get ball on offense. turkoglu did good as well he didnt take all his dumb shots he usually does he limited himself and came through good... francis and nelson ran the offense smoothly..i wish i could of saw dooling a little more. stevenson did a great job on wade... wade was all shut down till the last 5 mins of the 4th...great game i enjoyed the entertainment hopefully more games are like this to come
