CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hedo Turkoglu scored 24 points, Rafer Alston had eight assists hours after officially joining the Magic, and Orlando began life without All-Star Jameer Nelson by routing the Charlotte Bobcats 92-80 on Friday night.
A day after Nelson underwent season-ending shoulder surgery and Alston was acquired in a trade with Houston, the Magic toyed with the Bobcats and bounced back from their worst loss of the season two nights earlier at New Orleans.
Rashard Lewis added 18 points before leaving late after getting hit in the face under the basket for the Magic, who seemed to quickly get comfortable with Alston.
Raymond Felton scored 16 points for the listless Bobcats, who took Orlando to overtime Tuesday but were no match this time.
Alston, acquired in a beat-the-trade-deadline deal with the Rockets on the same day Nelson scrapped his rehab and had surgery, arrived in Charlotte around noon Friday. He immediately took a physical, went through a crash course of the offense with assistant coaches and was cleared to play about two hours before tipoff once the trade was finalized.
Alston, forced to wear the emergency, nameless No. 36 jersey the Magic carry with them on the road, checked in late in the first quarter and fed Tony Battie for his first assist 10 seconds later.
After throwing the ball across the floor to nobody on the next possession, Alston settled down and started finding his teammates in the right spots. While he scored just three points on 1-of-9 shooting, appeared poised to quickly replace Anthony Johnson as the starting point guard.
By halftime, Alston had accumulated five assists and the Magic had built a 49-35 lead behind Lewis’ 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.
Three nights after Charlotte let a late lead slip away in a heartbreaking loss at Orlando, the Bobcats were overmatched from the start in front of their fifth home sellout of the season.
Sloppiness, poor shooting and Emeka Okafor’s early foul trouble against draft-class nemesis Dwight Howard doomed Charlotte, which had won three of four.
The matchup of the top two picks of the 2004 draft has never been a fair fight, with the athletically superior Howard routinely dominating Okafor.
After scoring a career-high 45 points against Charlotte Tuesday, Howard took only eight shots and finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds. But Okafor struggled to defend him and picked up his fourth foul 20 seconds into the second half.
The Magic quickly built the lead to 20 points with Okafor sidelined, erasing memories of an ugly 32-point loss to New Orleans Wednesday that had dropped Orlando to 3-3 since Nelson’s injury.
Top scorer Gerald Wallace was held to 11 points for Charlotte, which shot 37 percent from the field.
Notes: Magic coach Stan Van Gundy started Courtney Lee at shooting
guard ahead of Mickael Pietrus, and then Pietrus left in the fourth quarter with a sprained right wrist after crashing to the floor on a drive. … There was the rare sight of a 3-point shot goaltended when Howard apparently thought Raja Bell’s 30-footer to beat the shot clock was going to be an air ball and caught it in front of the rim in the third quarter. … Bobcats managing partner Michael Jordan sat courtside in a brown checkerboard striped jacket.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
