Magic roll over Sixers in debut
Dwight Howard had 21 points and 15 rebounds, Vince Carter scored 15 points and the new-look Orlando Magic rolled to a 120-106 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.
Ryan Anderson added 16 points, and Jason Williams had 15 points to highlight a deep Magic bench. Orlando went ahead by 23 points at the half, scored 100 through three quarters and showed no signs of a finals hangover after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers on the same floor in June.
Marreese Speights had 26 points, and Elton Brand added eight points in his first regular-season game since missing most of 2008-09 with a right shoulder injury for Philadelphia.
The Magic didn’t spend much time embracing last season’s success.
The Eastern Conference championship banner was already hanging from the rafters before the game. A video montage of their playoff run only lasted about three minutes, and coach Stan Van Gundy – in his usual play-the-game-already attitude – was stretched out in his chair on the bench during opening night introductions.
It didn’t take long to open a big lead, either.
A perfect preseason behind them, the Magic showed signs that those exhibition wins weren’t a fluke. They went down by five points early in the first quarter before showing why so many have them picked to again contend with Boston and Cleveland for a conference title.
Heat 115, Knicks 93: Dwyane Wade picked up where he left off. So did defenseless New York.
Wade began defense of his NBA scoring title with 26 points, Jermaine O’Neal finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Miami opened the season with a win.
New starting power forward Michael Beasley scored 21 for Miami, which shot 9-of-25 in the first quarter – then a staggering 26 of their next 31 over the next 20 minutes, on the way to building an 85-59 lead.
David Lee scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds for New York.