The Orlando Magic were able to win despite a lackluster effort in their last game. They may need a little more Monday at the start of their five-game road trip against the Los Angeles Clippers, who are coming off their most lopsided road win in over four years.
The Magic (15-5), who are one game off last season's pace when they won 52 games and the Southeast Division, are coming off a 98-89 victory over Oklahoma City on Friday night. Dwight Howard had his 16th career 20-point, 20-rebound game with 21 points and a season-high 23 boards.Howard averaged 19.5 points, 15.0 rebounds in helping the Magic sweep the Clippers in the 2007-08 season series.
"Dwight was terrific, again," Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy. "We didn't put much into the game and it was frustrating, from a mental standpoint and an energy standpoint."
The Magic were outrebounded 46-45 by the Thunder, two days after getting outrebounded 42-31 by Minnesota. The Clippers, meanwhile, are coming off a season-high 54-rebound effort against the Timberwolves.
Orlando hit a season-high 13 3-pointers against Oklahoma City, but made only 3-of-11 from beyond the arc in the first half.
Rashard Lewis, who was averaging 25.7 points in his three previous games, missed seven of his first nine shots and was held to 11 against the Thunder, while Hedo Turkoglu started 1-of-11 and had 13 points.
"It wasn't just their shooting," Van Gundy said. "The bigger problem is they had eight turnovers between them. They just can't play like that and have us win very many nights."
The duo, though, combined for 12 of the Magic's 28 fourth-quarter points.
"This isn't a game we'll look fondly on at the end of the year," said J.J. Redick, who is averaging 5.8 points and shooting 42.1 percent in his last four games - all starts. "Stan talked to us about losing our minds. We have to find our minds."
Orlando received a big boost in the backcourt from Jameer Nelson, who had 15 points and seven assists after missing five games with a strained hip flexor.
In his last four games versus the Clippers, Nelson is averaging 17.0 points and 5.3 assists while shooting 61.0 percent.
After losing seven of their previous eight, the Los Angeles Clippers (4-16) ended their four-game road trip and three-game losing streak with a 107-84 win over Minnesota on Saturday.
It was the Clippers' largest margin of victory on the road since defeating Indiana 102-68 on Nov. 10, 2004.
"We've been struggling," said Marcus Camby, who posted his third straight double-double with 12 points and a season-high 19 rebounds to go with seven blocks. "We didn't get out to the best of starts and we wanted to salvage the rest of this road trip."
Playing with Denver last season, Camby averaged 7.0 points, 10.0 boards and 3.5 blocks against Orlando. Point guard Baron Davis, who had 27 points and nine assists against Minnesota, averaged 26.0 points, 6.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds versus Orlando last season playing for Golden State.
Zach Randolph, who is averaging 23.8 points and 9.6 rebounds in five starts since being acquired from New York on Nov. 21, has 24.2 points and 11.2 rebounds per game in his last five against Orlando.
Prior to last season's 113-106 loss on Jan. 9, the Clippers had won six of the seven previous matchups with the Magic in Los Angeles.
