Magic rout Bulls behind big bench effort

The Orlando Magic used a balanced effort from their entire lineup to defeat the Chicago Bulls 107-79 at the Amway Arena on Wednesday night.  The Magic have won seven of their last ten games, and clinched a playoff spot with the victory.  They also pulled within 1 ½ games of second place Boston and 3 ½ games of first place Cleveland in the battle for Eastern Conference supremacy.

Six Magic players scored in double figures, led by 18 points from reserve center Tony Battie.  Dwight Howard added 15 points and 9 rebounds, starting shooting guard Courtney Lee added 14 and Rafer Alston contributed 10.  Also stepping up big off the bench were J.J. Redick and Marcin Gortat who added 13 points each.  Only two Chicago players were able to break double digits, with John Salmons scoring 18 points and reserve center Brad Miller posting 11 points.   The Bulls shot a pitiful 31.4% from the field, and after the game guard Ben Gordon said it was ‘just one of those days’:

"There are nights like that. It is kind of bizarre and you can't get anything going."

Bulls coach Vinnie Del Negro instead blamed his team’s lack of energy and intensity for the poor showing:

"Everything we were doing was real difficult. We didn't bring the energy. We didn't make any shots. We shot so poorly."

In the victorious Orlando locker room, head coach Stan Van Gundy was more pleased with the team’s clinched playoff spot than the blowout victory:

"Not that it's been in doubt for any time, but I'm one of those until you do it, it's not done. The first goal on our board. That part is done. You know you're going to be playing when the season is done. Quite honestly, it's a good feeling."

The Magic will travel to Washington for a Friday night game against the Wizards before returning home to play the Utah Jazz on Sunday afternoon.  They’ll then head to Cleveland for a very important contest against the conference leading Cavaliers and LeBron James. 

Despite their 29-36 record, the Bulls are actually tied with Milwaukee for the 8^th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.  The Bucks currently hold the tie breaker advantage, and the Bulls’ schedule isn’t particularly favorable over the next week.  After playing the 76ers on the road this Friday, the good news is that they’ll return home for three of their next four games.  The bad news is that their three home opponents during this stretch will be the New Orleans Hornets on Saturday, the Boston Celtics on Tuesday and the Los Angeles Lakers a week from Saturday