ORLANDO, Fla. — J.J. Redick was feeling confident after sparking a late Orlando Magic rally over the Memphis Grizzlies. His smile was big, his hair was slick and he had an extra bounce in his step.
So confident, in fact, Redick had the confidence afterward to wear a light-blue shirt complete with tight white pants and white shoes in a Magic locker room where poking fun at wardrobes is practically a hobby.
“Look at J.J., he’s looking like he’s in Miami Vice,” forward Rashard Lewis quipped, getting laughs from teammates.
The Memphis Grizzlies didn’t find Redick funny.
Hedo Turkoglu scored 20 points, Dwight Howard added 14 and the Magic rallied to beat the pesky Grizzlies 81-78 on Wednesday night. Redick scored all nine of his points in the fourth quarter to highlight a 19-7 run, helping the Magic overcome an eight-point deficit and stay in the hunt for the Eastern Conference’s second seed. Orlando (58-20) stayed a game back of Boston for the East’s No. 2 spot.
Redick, the former Duke standout, made a pair of free throws in the final minute that helped stretch the Magic’s lead, despite having Memphis guard O.J. Mayo in his hear.
“He was just telling me, ‘I know you’ll give us one (miss) even though you’re the greatest college shooter ever,”’ he said Mayo joked. “I’ve heard it all. It goes back to college. It’s always the same stuff.”
Rudy Gay had 18 points, and Mike Conley and Mayo had 17 points apiece for the Grizzlies, who were held to just 15 points in the final period and have lost two straight games after winning four in a row. Mayo missed two jumpers in the waning seconds, including a potential-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer that kept Memphis from again playing the role of spoiler.
“I do think that this team is starting to grow,” Conley said. “We’re starting to learn from what we’ve been through together as a group. The last week or two we’ve really started to gel, to get the chemistry in our favor.”
The Grizzlies made sure the game was played at their plodding pace.
It was understandable considering both teams were coming off a loss a night earlier in other cities and didn’t arrive in Orlando until the wee hours of Wednesday morning. The Grizzlies went ahead by as many as eight points in the opening quarter, taking advantage of some poor Magic defense that allowed them to shoot 57.9 percent.
The Grizzlies gladly took their time, a disruptively slow pace that kept the Magic from playing their usual up-tempo style. Orlando kept it close even though Memphis dictated the play.
The Magic responded with an 11-4 run with the points all coming from their three big men — Howard, Marcin Gortat and Tony Battie — to crawl back in, and eventually took a 39-38 lead with three minutes remaining in the first half.
“I’m trying to slow the tempo down so my players don’t get worn out and try to sporadically so we can keep the best players in the game,” Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. “And they did a great job at that.”
At times, this one was ugly.
Marc Gasol missed an uncontested dunk, free throws banked and open-jumpers clanked during a nearly three-minute stretch in the third quarter without anyone scoring a field goal. The Magic scored a season-low 10 points in the period.
When Memphis finally did stretch a lead, even that was done unconventionally.
Marko Jaric banked an 18-footer around the top of the key that highlighted a 10-3 Grizzlies spurt and put them ahead by eight points late in the third quarter, a lead they would hold until the Magic made their fourth-quarter run.
“I’m not faulting anybody’s effort. I’m not faulting anybody’s desire,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “But offensively we are playing the game very poorly.”
Notes: Magic backup point guard Anthony Johnson missed his second
straight game with an abrasion on his right eye. He was inadvertently hit by Howard during a shootaround at Houston on Tuesday. Reserve Tyronn Lue backed up Rafer Alston in his place. Johnson is day to day. … The Grizzlies are now 11-24 under Hollins, who took over as coach when Marc Iavaroni was fired earlier in this season. … The Grizzlies are 10-4 against the Magic the last seven seasons.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
