RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Scot Pollard is the Sacramento Kings'
resident goofball. He wears his hair in an oddly placed ponytail,
he's been known to paint his fingernails, and he's always quick
with a joke.
|  | | Orlando's Tracy McGrady scored 18 in the first half, but suffered a hip flexor injury and had only two points after halftime Tuesday in the Magic's loss. |
But after Pollard scored a career-high 22 points in Chris
Webber's place during Sacramento's 96-82 victory over the Orlando
Magic on Tuesday night, the secret was out: This oddball can play
ball.
"My whole plan was to score my career-high with Chris out,"
Pollard said with a straight face. "That was the whole idea. ...
(Webber) was faking, really. He wanted to take a night off."
Pollard jokes around, but the Kings (7-2) have been all business
on the court during a five-game winning streak that's put them
percentage points behind Phoenix for the Pacific Division lead.
Webber, the Kings' leading scorer and rebounder, sat out to rest
a sprained ankle, and Pollard filled in remarkably, going 10-of-11
from the field and playing solid low-post defense.
"The thing about Scot is he knows what he can do," Sacramento
coach Rick Adelman said. "He works his tail off, and if you don't
pay attention to him, he's going to be around the basket all the
time."
Peja Stojakovic had 27 points and 11 rebounds as the Kings got
their fifth straight victory and remained undefeated in four home
games this season. Orlando was limited by a hip flexor injury to
Tracy McGrady, who was in and out of the lineup in the second half.
McGrady had 20 points but couldn't move effectively after
halftime. Sacramento stopped double-teaming him, which allowed the
Kings to shut down the rest of the Magic.
"It's one thing to have Grant (Hill) down, and it's another to
have both Grant and Tracy down," Orlando coach Doc Rivers said.
"He tried to go and we were trying to use him as a decoy for as
long as we could, but they understood that he couldn't run."
The Kings rallied behind Stojakovic, who starred during the
Kings' season-opening four-game road trip but hadn't shown the home
fans a standout performance until Tuesday night.
Stojakovic capped his night with a running rebound slam of Jon
Barry's missed 3-pointer with 1:24 to play. The electric dunk was
part of a 12-2 run in the closing minutes that put the game away.
"With Chris out of the game, it was a very important game for
us, especially at home," Stojakovic said. "It wasn't a nice game
to watch, but we played strong. We played good defense."
Vlade Divac added 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the
Kings, and he held Magic center John Amaechi to two points on
1-of-10 shooting.
The Magic lost their third in four games, largely thanks to the
injuries to their two stars. Hill missed his sixth straight game
with an ankle injury, and McGrady was limited after suffering what
the team called a right hip flexor strain late in the second
quarter.
"Right now I'm in a lot of pain," McGrady said after 20
minutes of postgame physical therapy. His status for Thursday's
game at Utah wasn't immediately known.
Darrell Armstrong led the Magic with 22 points and thoroughly
dominated Jason Williams, who had eight assists but missed all five
of his shots and couldn't stay with Armstrong on defense.
Bobby Jackson, who had 10 points, clamped down on Armstrong in
the fourth quarter, holding him scoreless on four shots and also
hitting a key jumper with 3:31 to play.
With McGrady scoring 18 first-half points, Orlando held an early
lead that was wiped out by a 15-2 Kings run shortly before
halftime.
Game notes
The game's early start time (5 p.m. PST) to accommodate a
national television broadcast meant Arco Arena wasn't completely
full at game time. It was much quieter than normal as Orlando
streaked to its early lead. ... Midway through the third quarter,
Bo Outlaw's goggles were knocked partially off his head when he
turned the ball over. As he ran back on defense, Outlaw threw the
goggles toward the Magic bench -- and they hit Williams as he
brought the ball up the court. Williams shrugged it off and play
continued. ... The game was the first of 20 national television
appearances for the Kings this year.
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NBA Scoreboard
Orlando Clubhouse
Sacramento Clubhouse
McGrady status unknown after injury
RECAPS
Atlanta 99
Portland 97
Cleveland 96
Golden State 86
Miami 89
Charlotte 86
Sacramento 96
Orlando 82
Houston 110
Chicago 83
San Antonio 86
Utah 79
Seattle 96
New York 75
LA Lakers 119
Denver 103
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