• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Magic figure to rest stars in finale vs. Bobcats

Apr 14, 2009 - 8:38 PM By Nicolino DiBenedetto Stats Writer

Charlotte (35-46) at Orlando (58-23) 8:00 p.m. EDT

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- The Orlando Magic haven't lost four consecutive games in more than two years, and that doesn't appear to be a concern now with the playoffs looming.

The Magic could possibly be without several resting starters again Wednesday night when they close the regular season against the Charlotte Bobcats.

Orlando (58-23) already has won the Southeast Division title, securing the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and a first-round matchup against either Chicago or Philadelphia.

With all but their opponent determined, the Magic have opted to rest center Dwight Howard and forwards Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis. Howard is healthy, while Turkoglu has a sprained left ankle and Lewis is nursing right knee tendinitis.

All three players sat out Monday's 98-80 loss at Milwaukee as the Magic's losing streak reached a season-high three games with each defeat coming against a team eliminated from playoff contention.

Orlando last dropped four in a row from February 20-25, 2007.

"We'll be OK," said Magic forward Tony Battie, who has totaled 27 points and 10 rebounds in starting the last two games for Lewis. "We got our starters some rest, we got our bench players some minutes. We'll be ready to go when it counts."

If Magic coach Stan Van Gundy decides to give the trio another game off, his team could be in for another poor shooting performance. Orlando made 31.8 percent of its shots Monday and was 2-for-18 from 3-point range.

"We just couldn't find anybody to make a shot," Van Gundy said.

Marcin Gortat could get his second consecutive start in place of Howard, who averages a team-high 20.7 points and leads the NBA at 13.9 rebounds per game. Gortat, a 7-footer from Poland, had 10 points and a career-high 18 rebounds Monday in his third start of the season and first since December.

The Magic have won six of the last seven meetings with the Bobcats (35-46) and are looking to sweep the four-game season series for the first time.

Charlotte, which will finish fourth in the Southeast and was eliminated from playoff contention last week, is also likely to use reserves extensively after doing that in Monday's 91-87 loss at New Jersey.

"This game, I thought, was to give guys a chance to get guys who play so hard in practice some playing time," Bobcats coach Larry Brown said. "If the game meant something to the playoffs, I might have played it differently, but we weren't going to the playoffs and New Jersey wasn't going. So I decided to give the other guys a chance to see some time.

"I'm pleased that we were able to play some other guys."

D.J. Augustin, the ninth overall pick in June's draft, is one of the players seeing increased playing time of late. The point guard has started the last two games and is averaging 14.8 points in his last five, making 10 3-pointers.