• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Turkoglu, Magic secure third seed, defeat Cavaliers

Apr 6, 2008 - 1:00 AM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Hedo Turkoglu scored 23 points Saturday as the Orlando Magic clinched the third seed in the Eastern Conference with a 101-86 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Rashard Lewis finished with 21 points and Jameer Nelson added 16 with nine assists for the Magic, who overcame getting dominated on the boards by forcing 16 turnovers.

"One of the biggest disappointments that happened tonight was our turnovers," Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. "We gave up 25 points off those 16 turnovers. They were bad turnovers that led to a ton of points."

Battling an injured back, Cavaliers superstar LeBron James was held to just 17 points, seven rebounds and nine assists.

"I definitely haven't had the lift that I've had in the past with my back tightening up," James said. "But I don't use that as an excuse. I've just not been able to come through for my team in the fourth quarter the last two games."

"It's not a factor," Brown added. "Every team is feeling dinged up right now, and we just have to keep trying to play through."

Trailing by three entering the final period, Turkoglu and Lewis helped Orlando outscored Cleveland by a 32-14 margin in the fourth.

"That was two totally different teams for us," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "In the first half, they (Cavs) missed 24 shots and got 14 offensive rebounds and scored 30 points in the paint.

"Then, in the second half, they scored four points in the paint, missed 30 shots, and got four offensive rebounds and we held them to 27 percent from the floor."

The Magic started the fourth on an 8-3 run without making a field goal, knocking down 8-of-9 from the free-throw line over the first six minutes of the period.

Lewis knocked down a pair of shots from the arc and Turkoglu made some critical jump shots as Orlando pulled away in the fourth.

"I have a lot of good players around me, and even if I don't have it, I can create for somebody else," Turkoglu said. "They were double-teaming (Dwight Howard) a lot and he was being unselfish and just getting the ball out and finding open guys."

Zydrunas Ilgauskas' two baskets were the only field goals the Cavaliers made over the first nine minutes of the final quarter.

Ilgauskas scored 18 points, and his nine rebounds helped Cleveland maintain a 48-33 advantage on the boards.

"It shows our toughness," Nelson said of overcoming the rebounding disadvantage. "We had to make some adjustments, individually and team-wise, and we had to man up and play guys off the dribble and keep the ball out of the paint."

Delonte West finished with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and Devin Brown added 15 for the Cavaliers (42-35), who can no longer catch the Magic (48-28) for third place in the East - trailing them by 6 1/2 games.

Cleveland shot just 39 percent (34-of-88) from the field, while Orlando made 47 percent (36-of-77) of its shots.

Howard was held to just four points on 1-of-8 shooting but did haul in 12 rebounds.

"We came out in the second half with a lot more energy," Howard said. "I think we just played harder than they did."