NBA: 76ers continue Magic's disappearing act

Stingy defense by the Philadelphia 76ers held the Orlando Magic to just 33 percent shooting from the field overall and sent the Dwight Howard-led squad to their fourth straight loss, 74-69, Monday (Tuesday, PHL time). 

 

Philly was up 37-33 at the break, but a decisive 21-9 third period essentially doomed their foes. 

 

A split at the line with two minutes, 51 seconds left to play in the game by Evan Turner had the low-scoring affair at 69-51. It was then that the Magic reserves made an attempt to get the deficit to a more respectable figure, scoring 18, with Howard watching from the bench.

 

Andre Iguodala led the 76ers with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds, plus six assists. Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young added 12 and ten off the bench, respectively.

 

Dwight Howard put up his customary double-double, 17 points and 11 rebounds, but he needed 17 field goal attempts and 13 looks at the stripe to amass that figure. Ryan Anderson added a double-double of his own, 14 points and 20 boards.

 

The Magic were without their starting backcourt of Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson, leading to Chris Duhon and JJ Redick getting into the first five. 

 

Orlando is just 5-5 in their last ten games, 12-8 overall, reigniting speculation that the team may trade Howard by the March 15 trade deadline. 

 

Howard can opt out of his current deal in the 2012 off-season, leading to speculation that the team will attempt to trade him to get assets in return, instead of watching him walk away. 

 

The 76ers on the other hand improved to 14-6, and are the only team above .500 in the Atlantic Division. — Adrian Dy/RSJ, GMA News