It didn't take long for the Magic to show the Sixers who was the defending Eastern Conference champs.
Dwight Howard had 21 points and 15 rebounds, Vince Carter scored 15 points and the new-look Magic rolled to a 120-106 victory over the 76ers on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.
“You look around,” Carter said, “this is like heaven.”
But, for the Sixers it looked like hell as stars Elton Brand and Andre Iguodala struggled to score and the defense was virtually non-existent for the lackluster Sixers.
Brand was only two for seven and scored just eight points in 31 minutes in his first regular-season game since missing most of 2008-09 with a right shoulder injury for Philadelphia. Iggy didn’t fair much better shooting three for 11 and scoring only eight points as well.
The bright spot for Philly was power forward Marreese Speights who drained 26 points in just 26 minutes off the bench. He went face-to-face with Howard after the big men got tangled up underneath the rim in the second quarter. Howard was called for a technical foul on the play.
“He is very strong and athletic,” Speights said. “That is a good learning experience for me. I learned a lot from this game.”
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“This is a heck of a team we played tonight,” new Sixers coach Eddie Jordan said. “They got away from us a little bit in the first half with some layups in the open floor, but the 3s destroyed us.”
The Magic were energized especially despite missing suspended forward Rashard Lewis.
Philadelphia didn't show quite the same energy. Having Brand back didn't help much, and although Louis Williams had 18 points, his reign as the full-time point guard was shaky. The Sixers were sloppy and resembled little of the team that took the Magic to six games in the first round of the playoffs last season.
