Nets Fall Anew Against the Magic

The struggles of what could be the worst team in NBA history continue as the New Jersey Nets were defeated by Eastern Conference powerhouse Orlando Magic, 97-87.

Though the Magic won, they let the Nets hang around longer than expected and no one is more disappointed than their coach, Stan Van Gundy.

The win is the Magic’s fourth straight and it had an unlikely hero in Matt Barnes who contributed 16 points, 14 of which coming in the first quarter. Former Nets player Vince Carter had 13 points who gave credit to his former teammates by playing hard. Meanwhile, center Dwight Howard added 11 points while grabbing 16 rebounds while Jameer Nelson contributed 15 points and eight assists. The win was the Magic’s 3^rd straight win against the Nets this season and their seventh of their last 10.

For the Nets, Devin Harris had 17 points and 10 assists while center Brook Lopez gave out another double-double performance with 18 points and eight rebounds. Terrence Williams had 14 and Kris Humphries had 12.

In the first quarter, the Magic built a 32-18 lead courtesy of Barnes’ hot shooting. However, the Nets tried to comeback courtesy of Williams and Humphries to cut the lead down to seven points at the half.

After the half, Carter scored nine points to push the lead back to 15 and from that point, the Magic never looked back.

In spite of Van Gundy’s disappointment at letting the Nets come back, Carter said that closing out games is all that matters.

Nelson added that his team shouldn’t have let the Nets slice their 17-point lead down to eight and it’s one of the things that they should work on.

The win by the Magic gave them a firm grip at second place in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Nets, who are owners of the worst record in the league at 6-55, have lost eight of their last 10.

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