Basketball Daily

The Orlando Magic led the game all the way up until under the 1 second mark in the third quarter when the rookie Marreese Speights sank a prayer at half court to give the 76ers a 1 point lead heading into the fourth.  Philadelphia maintained the lead most of the way until the Magic overtook them and finished with a 96 to 94 victory.  There was only 4 lead changes during the whole game.

The leader of blocked shots this year, Dwight Howard, averaging 4 a game was the high scorer for the Magic with 21 points.  The other starters contributed well with Rashard Lewis having 19 points and Hidayet Turkoglu with 12 points.  Off the bench, Tony Battie shot 100% field goal shooting and dropped in 20 points.  Orlando has now won 8 of their last 9 games.

The Orlando Magic came out firing on all cylinders in their game against the Philadelphia 76ers.  There was no time throughout the game that the Magic were vulnerable in losing.  At one point they had a 23 point lead and the 76ers made a valiant effort in cutting the game to 6 in the first half of the fourth quarter, but to no avail as the Magic controlled the game.

The Magic played great team ball and spread the points around with Hedo Turkoglu having 20, Rashard Lewis with 20, Jameer Nelson with 16, Dwight Howard with 14 and Mickael Pietrus with 12 points.  Tony Battie and Keith Bogans had 8 points each off the bench.  Orlando wins with ease with a final score of 98 to 88.

Donyell Marshall the 6′ 9″ 14 year veteran was traded last year from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Seattle SuperSonics in the monumental 10 player, 9 team deal.  Marshall has played for 7 different NBA teams and it looks like it will be 8, with the 76ers looking to acquire the free agent.

Donyell’s career averages are 11.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.  He has played a total of 932 regular season games and has started in 422 of them.  Marshall, who is tied with others, has the NBA record for most 3-pointers hit in a single game with 12.

The 76ers are definitely looking for outside shooters to take the heat off of their star Andre Iguodala.  Marshall, the 4th overall pick back in 1994, can hopefully bring his sharpshooter aim from beyond the arc, to help out the much need outside shooting ability of the Sixers.