Blazers drop first home game to Magic on last second shot

The Portland Trailblazers are undefeated at home no more.  After a closely contested contest, the Magic got hot from downtown at the right time and nailed three 3 point baskets in the final two minutes of play—including the game winner from Hedo Turkoglu from 25 feet with under a second to play—as they handed the Blazers their first setback at the Rose Garden Arena by a final score of 109-108.

The outside shooting onslaught capped an improbable comeback for the Magic, who trailed by as many as eight points in the 4th quarter, and represented a rare collapse down the stretch for the rapidly maturing Blazers.  Portland was led by Brandon Roy, who scored a season high 30 points and did everything but sweep the floor at halftime adding 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocked shots.  Power forward LaMarcus Aldridge added 25 points and 13 boards and four of the Blazers’ reserves chipped in double digits.

Rashard Lewis led all Magic scorers with 27 points, Turkoglu added 24 and Jameer Nelson contributed 21.  Dwight Howard added 14 points and 7 boards, but his presence was not enough to prevent the Magic from being outrebounded by Portland 44-29.  The Magic won their fourth straight game to improve to 17-5, good for the third best record in the East behind Boston (20-2) and Cleveland (18-3).

Stan Van Gundy sarcastically praised his coaching tactics down the stretch which, he suggested, were basically a function of luck:

"That was just brilliant, brilliant coaching down the stretch. If you're [the Blazers], you've got to roll your eyes, because we threw one in."

Validating Van Gundy’s self depreciating comments about his team’s successful “throw it up and hope it goes in” strategy down the stretch, Blazers guard Brandon Roy had very little to say about an otherwise decently played game that went south:

"Our offense was really bad the last minute and a half. It's a tough loss but tomorrow's a new day."

The Blazers head to Salt Lake City on Thursday for a tough game against the Utah Jazz at the EnergySolutions Arena before returning home for their next two contests against the LA Clippers (12/12) and the Sacramento Kings (12/16).  Orlando continues their west coast swing with road games against Phoenix on Thursday, Utah on Saturday and Golden State on Monday.  They’ll finally return home next Monday (12/18) for a game against San Antonio.