Magic top Cavs in battle of NBA East Elite

Lost amid coverage of the Boston Celtics’’ lengthy winning streak and LeBron James’ dominance with the Cleveland Cavs has been the fact that the Orlando Magic has been matching both teams victory for victory this season.  The Magic may no longer be flying under the radar after a decisive 99-88 victory over the Cavs in Orlando on Thursday night. 

With the victory, Orlando’s record on the season improved to 35-10.  By way of comparison, Cleveland’s record dropped to 35-9 with the loss and Boston’s division leading record is only slightly better at 38-9.  Out west, the LA Lakers also have a 35-9 record.  In other words, the NBA is overlooking the Magic at their own peril as they’re right in the thick of things among the league’s elite.

The Magic were led by yet another monstrous performance from Dwight Howard, who scored 22 points and pulled down 18 boards.  Hedo Turkoglu also posted a “double/double” with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Rashard Lewis contributed 19 points and 5 boards.  Jameer Nelson also added 18 points for the Magic.

LeBron James led all scorers with 23 points to go with 8 rebounds and 8 assists.  He received little support from the rest of Cleveland’s starting lineup, with Mo Williams the only frontliner posting double digits with 12 points.  Wally Szczerbiak added 14 and JJ Hickson 13 off the bench for Cleveland who was outrebounded for the game 48-39.  LeBron spent much of the game complaining to officials about the Magic’s physical defense and dearth of ensuing foul calls.  Afterwards, he addressed his gripe in as “politically correct” of a tone as he could:

"I'm just trying to be quiet and not say anything to the refs. But it can get frustrating at times when you continue to just get beat up and you don't get the attention of the refs. I just try to be quiet and hopefully they'll call it the next time. But it can get frustrating because it can turn the momentum of the game and it can definitely hurt us."

Cavs coach Mike Brown had to be restrained by an assistant while screaming at an official during the game, though he had calmed down by the time the media got a hold of him afterwards:

"The NBA is going to make calls how they see it. This was a physical game, and for a guy like that to go to the free throw line six times when he drove as much as he did, it's sad to see."

In the victorious Magic locker room, Jameer Nelson was asked about his team’s low profile relative to Boston and Cleveland:

"I hope we're still under the radar. Right now, it doesn't make a difference what people say about us as a team and as individuals. We just want to reach our goals at the end of the season."

Cleveland will host the LA Clippers on Friday night with their undefeated record at the Quicken Loans Arena on the line.  They’ll head to Detroit for a Sunday afternoon contest before returning home for a game against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.  Orlando will play at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Sunday afternoon before returning home for games against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday and the LA Clippers on Wednesday.