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Anderson, Bobcats snap slide against reeling Magic

Mar 13, 2007 - 4:01 AM CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The Orlando Magic were looking for an easy win to get back into the Eastern Conferenceplayoff hunt. Derek Anderson did not let that happen.Anderson posted a double-double and the Charlotte Bobcatssnapped a season-high eight-game losing streak with a 119-108victory over the Magic.Orlando (29-36) entered the contest trailing New York (29-34) byone-half game for the last playoff spot in the East. It didnot play like a team desperate to make the postseason and lostfor the sixth time in seven games."The Bobcats played like a team fighting to get into theplayoffs, and we were playing like a team that didn't have achance to make the playoffs," Magic forward Grant Hill said. "Ijust don't understand. It's disappointing."Anderson was 9-of-15 from the field and added 10 assists andfive rebounds as the Bobcats had their way against the porousdefense of the Magic. Charlotte had a team record 14 3-pointersand 39 assists while shooting 56 percent (42-of-75) from thefield."We shared the ball tremendously, and that made them workdefensively and tired them out," Anderson said. "That's whatmakes you win games. Tonight, we did a great job and everybodyreally contributed to the win.""I thought coming off the bench, the old man played well,"Charlotte coach Bernie Bickerstaff said of Anderson. "We needDerek and our other veterans to keep us poised. Derek makes alot of cerebral plays."Raymond Felton scored 21 points and Gerald Wallace added 20 andnine assists for the Bobcats."Our failure tonight was our inability to play anybody off thedribble," Magic coach Brian Hill said. "They went wherever theywanted to go with the ball and forced our defense to constantlyhelp and rotate. Obvioiusly, they made shots. I don't thinkit was from a lack of our guys playing hard, it was ourinability to play people off the dribble."Dwight Howard scored 26 points and Hedo Turkoglu 23 for Orlando.The Bobcats played their eighth straight game without leadingrebounder Emeka Okafor, but Howard was unable to take advantageof his absence when it counted.Howard scored 13 of his points in the fourth quarter withCharlotte already comfortably ahead. He added 11 rebounds and apair of blocks but was just 10-of-19 from the line."I think the Bobcats definitely had the hot hand tonight, but atthe same time, we had a lot of mental lapses on the defensiveend," Howard said. "They did a great job of moving the ball andfinding the open man."