[hobojoe]

Orlando Magic at Charlotte Bobcats, 7 p.m. ET


Orlando Magic
Coached by: Johnny Davis

Projected Starting Lineup:

S. Francis | C. Mobley | Grant Hill | D. Howard | K. Cato

Key Reserves:

T. Battie | H. Turkoglu | P. Garrity





Charlotte Bobcats
Coached by: Bernie Bickerstaff

Projected Starting Lineup:

B. Knight | J. Kapono | G. Wallace | E. Okafor | P. Brezec

Key Reserves:

S. Smith | Jason Hart |M. Ely


Key Matchup:
Battle of the Top 2 Draft Picks-

Dwight Howard vs. Emeka Okafor


My Prediction: The Magic start out a little sluggishly playing back-to-back games on the road, and coming off of two emotional victories, but they recover soon enough to beat the expansion Bobcats pretty easily, 103-89.

[JNice]

Scouting Report from OrlandoSentinel.com
------------------------------------------------------

Magic at Bobcats, 7

WHERE: Charlotte (N.C.) Coliseum.

BROADCASTS: TV -- WRBW-Ch. 65. Radio -- 580 AM (WDBO); Spanish-language, 1030 AM (WONQ).

MAGIC UPDATE: After facing the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night, the Orlando Magic will play their first back-to-back of the season. SF Grant Hill will play his first back-to-back since December 2002. . . . Sidelight of the game: Magic PF Dwight Howard, the No.1 pick in the draft, plays against PF Emeka Okafor, the No. 2 selection. . . . Although it is common for players on the injured list to travel with teams, PF Brandon Hunter, C/PF Mario Kasun and C/PF Andrew DeClercq did not make the trip.

BOBCATS UPDATE: Charlotte lost its inaugural game as an expansion franchise Thursday night, falling to the Washington Wizards 103-96. . . . G Keith Bogans, traded from Orlando to Charlotte last week, is on the Bobcats' injured list. . . . .The debuting double-doubles by Howard and Okafor were the first by No. 1 and No. 2 draft picks since 1981 when Isiah Thomas and Mark Aquirre recorded double-doubles in their first games.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Howard vs. Okafor. It looks to be a matchup to watch for years.

[JNice]

Sweet. Looks like I am going to get this game here in Tampa. I guess some of the games will be on here like last year on Channel WXPX Pax 66, some really crappy local channel that I never even knew I had. Nice.

[hobojoe]

NBA.com's Preview of Tonight's Game

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- After starting the 2003-04 season with a 1-19 record, the Orlando Magic look for their first 3-0 start since the 1993-94 campaign when they visit the expansion Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday.

Steve Francis, who was acquired in a trade with the Houston Rockets for two-time scoring champ Tracy McGrady during the offseason, scored 26 points in Orlando's season-opening victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, including the go-ahead layup with 0.2 seconds left.

On Friday, Francis came through with another clutch performance. He scored 19 points and hit a follow shot with 2.7 seconds remaining to lift the new-look Magic to a 90-89 triumph over the New Orleans Hornets.

It was the first consecutive one-point victories in franchise history for Orlando, which returned just four players from last year's team.

Free-agent acquisition Hedo Turkoglu scored 21 points in Friday's victory after managing just four points in his Magic debut.

Saturday's contest marks the first meeting between Dwight Howard and Emeka Okafor - the top two picks in the 2004 Draft.

[lw32]

I'm hoping that Dwight gets some more touches in tonights game. Considering that last night he only had 2 field goal attempts I really think we should be getting the ball to him more often, even if he misses all of the shots, he needs the experience of at least knowing how to get his shot up. Even though we won last night in New Orleans, I was somewhat shocked to see Dwight only attempt 2 shots.
I believe that we should dominate this game and win by double digits, especially with our experienced backcourt against Knight and Kapono.
I'm hoping to see Dwight score a bit tonight, and actually get some opportunities considering that Okafor and Brezec is a weak frontline. This game is ours to lose, 98-83 Magic.

[hobojoe]

Originally posted by <b>Lachlanwood32</b>!
I'm hoping that Dwight gets some more touches in tonights game. Considering that last night he only had 2 field goal attempts I really think we should be getting the ball to him more often, even if he misses all of the shots, he needs the experience of at least knowing how to get his shot up. Even though we won last night in New Orleans, I was somewhat shocked to see Dwight only attempt 2 shots.
I believe that we should dominate this game and win by double digits, especially with our experienced backcourt against Knight and Kapono.
I'm hoping to see Dwight score a bit tonight, and actually get some opportunities considering that Okafor and Brezec is a weak frontline. This game is ours to lose, 98-83 Magic.

I agree, last night was an ugly game. A lot of negatives if you look at it, but the one huge positive is that our team didn't play well but somehow found a way to win. That's a great sign. Tonight I'd like to see Mobley get on track, he has no excuses going up against Jason Kapono. I'm also looking for Dwight to have a better game, and get a few touches down low or at least get involved in the fast break. Which brings me to my next point of the Magic needing to get out and run more like they did against Milwaukee. That's a great way to get Howard involved in the game, as well as to create easy buckets and get to the line.

[hobojoe]

11-6 Bobcats, Howard on the bench with 2 early fouls.

[hobojoe]

20-14 Bobcats, Grant Hill to the line for 2. The Magic's halfcourt offense is way out of tune, and they're playing sloppy once again.

[adomis82]

Did I just see Hedo posterize Okafor??

[hobojoe]

HEDO TURKOGLU!!!

Nice finish to the quarter by the Magic, end up taking a 22-20 lead after one. But damn, what a dunk by Turkoglu. Almost like Francis' dunk over Erick Strickland.

[Half-aMAziNg]

Charlotte looks great out there....

[hobojoe]

Holy ****, what a horrible finish to the half. Bobcats up 7 at the break, 49-42. Francis didn't do much in the first half, Garrity sucks and keeps throwing up bricks, Battie is throwing up a bunch of bricks too, the only reason we're still in the game is because we're at least getting to the free throw line. Hill had 12 points in the half, which is a good sign considering the Magic played last night too. Let's hope we can have a better second half and pull this one out.

[hobojoe]

Assists
Magic: 5
Jason Hart: 9

3-Pointers
Magic: 0-4
Bobcats: 3-3

Field Goal Percentage
Magic: 28.2%
Bobcats: 42.0%

[Captain Obvious]

Good thing nobody's watching this game...