• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Magic host Thunder before West Coast swing

Dec 5, 2008 - 11:25 AM Oklahoma City (2-17) at Orlando (14-5) 7:00 p.m. EST

ORLANDO, Florida (Ticker) -- Before embarking on a season-long road trip against some of the elite teams in the west, the Orlando Magic will have to take care of the conference's lowest-scoring team at home.

The Magic will look to sweep the season series against the Oklahoma City Thunder when the teams meet on Friday before opening a five-game West Coast trip.

Orlando followed up its worst defeat, a 19-point blowout loss in Boston on Monday, with an easy win over Minnesota, 100-89, on Wednesday. The Magic limited the Timberwolves to 50 points over the first three quarters before allowing 39 in the fourth when the game's result was no longer in doubt.

Dwight Howard registered his sixth-straight double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds while Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu added 23 and 22, respectively. The most impressive performance of the night came from rookie Courtney Lee, who made 8-of-10 from the field, including all three 3-pointers he attempted, en route to a career-high 19 points.

Lee should see increased minutes with Mickael Pietrus and Keith Bogans expected to miss at least three more weeks with thumb injuries.

Oklahoma City was unable to duplicate its first road win, dropping a 103-97 decision to Charlotte on Wednesday. The Thunder won in Memphis on Saturday, 111-103, registering a season-high in points and snapping a seven-game road losing streak and 14-game overall skid.

Kevin Durant shot a season-high 75 percent (9-of-12) for 24 points but the Thunder, whose 91.8 points per game ranks above only Charlotte (90.1) for worst in the league, committed 18 turnovers and sent the Bobcats to the free-throw line 33 times. Charlotte converted 27 of those attempts.