Orlando Magic, Nba Playoffs | featured news

The Orlando Magic are playing like a team that will settle for nothing less than its first NBA championship....

Rashard Lewis scored 22 points and the backups helped Orlando pull away early with Dwight Howard on the bench as the Magic romped to another playoff blowout, moving to the brink of their second straight sweep with a 105-75 victory over the Hawks on Saturday.

Maybe all the Orlando Magic needed after a slow start was a slap in the face. Dwight Howard came back from a bloody nose to finish with 29 points and 17 rebounds, and the Magic beat the Atlanta Hawks 112-98 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

As the final seconds ticked down, Dwight Howard was back in his familiar spot on the bench and coach Stan Van Gundy was steamed at his superstar for fouling out again....

With their superstar center stuck on the bench again, the Orlando Magic showed the depth, grit and experience of a championship contender....

Josh Smith swooped in to slam through Joe Johnson’s missed shot just ahead of the buzzer and the Atlanta Hawks finally beat the Orlando Magic, clinching a third straight trip to the playoffs with an 86-84 victory Wednesday night.

The Lakers are NBA champs for the fourth time this decade. In the end, it was just too much Kobe Bryant, who scored 30 points as the Lakers finished off the Magic 99-86 in Game 5.

The NBA on Friday quickly completed its review of Mickael Pietrus' two-handed shove into Pau Gasol's back in the final seconds of Game 4 and ruled that no further action will be taken against the Orlando Magic swingman

The Los Angeles Lakers comeback win over the Orlando Magic easily drew the most viewers Thursday night as evidenced by Friday morning's fast affiliates, and those numbers will increase dramatically once the true national ratings come in later this afternoon.

With clutch 3-pointers late in the game and in overtime, Derek Fisher helped give Los Angeles a commanding 3-1 lead over Orlando in the N.B.A. finals.