Magic Dominate 76ers
ORLANDO, Fla. — As Orlando prepared to play its 30th game of the season, coach Stan Van Gundy made it clear that the Magic’s defense wasn’t close to where it needed to be.
Luckily for Van Gundy, the Magic are producing more than enough offense — particularly from the 3-point line — to get by for now.
Ryan Anderson had seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points, Dwight Howard added 17 points and 14 rebounds and the Magic shot their way past the Philadelphia 76ers, 103-87 on Wednesday night.
Orlando earned its third straight victory, made 15 of 25 attempts from 3-point range, had all five starters reach double figures for the second consecutive game and avenged a loss to the Sixers last month that was the capstone of a season-high, four-game losing skid.
“I think we just wanted to move on from that bad stretch,” said Anderson, who hit his first four 3-point attempts. “We knew how we could play. We played like this in segments earlier in the season. We want to make this a consistent thing coming out with a ton of effort and energy.”
Jason Richardson had 14 points, including four 3s.
Point guard Jameer Nelson, who tied a career-high 14 assists to go along with 12 points said he is most impressed with how Anderson is finding his own opportunities offensively.
“People don’t understand that this guy is averaging 16 or 17 points without having a play called for him all season,” he said. “(Anderson’s) just growing. He’s developed a lot of confidence. We’ve always had confidence in him as a group. We always knew he was a great player and probably one of the greatest shooters in the league.”
Tags: Orlando Magic
