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Having climbed to the fourth place in the Western Conference, the Thunder could very well stay in the race for home court advantage if they continue to push the ball offensively and feed off the plays of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Hoping to get another win, the Oklahoma City Thunder will host Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic on Friday at 1 a.m. GMT.

Without any doubts, the Magic’s blockbuster trade two weeks ago improved the team around All-Star center Dwight Howard by leaps and bounds. More specifically, the re-acquisition of Hedo Turkolgu helped Orlando’s ball movement, while Gilbert Arenas and Jason Richardson are two excellent guards who are perfect fits for coach Stan van Gundy’s inside-out system. In fact, the Magic have won nine straight and could turn out to be a legitimate championship contender down the stretch. Nonetheless, Orlando will have to keep up its high level of play when they square off against Kevin Durant and company on Friday.

You can watch all games of the Orlando Magic and Oklahoma City Thunder right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of NBA live streaming.

Posted: 9th November 2009

Although the Magic fell to the Pistons after four straight wins, there is no doubt about the vast potential of Stan van Gundy’s squad. Thus, Dwight Howard and the Magic will travel to Oklahoma to take on the Thunder on Monday at 1 a.m. GMT.

In contrast, the Oklahoma City Thunder got off to a good start with back-to-back wins versus the Sacramento Kings and Detroit Pistons but slowed down a bit recently. More specifically, the team around Kevin Durant dropped two straight versus the Portland Trailblazers and Los Angeles Lakers. That said, the Thunder played fairly well versus Kobe Bryant and the Lakers but ultimately failed to close out the game as they lost by 101-98. Nonetheless, Oklahoma seems to continue to improve and could stay in the playoff mix down the stretch. Most importantly, they will have to keep up their solid effort at the defensive end of the floor. In the first week of play, the Thunder held their opponents to just 89 points per game and showed a significantly better defensive rotation scheme than in last year’s NBA campaign. Offensively, the team was led by Kevin Durant who averaged 23.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per contest.

The Magic on the other hand have very little to complain about as they outplayed their opponents despite the absence of Rashard Lewis as well as Vince Carter playing with a sprained ankle. Especially Dwight Howard did a great job of drawing double-teams in the low post and kicking the ball out to Orlando’s shooters on the perimeter. In fact, the Magic shot 43% from beyond the arc thus far and were just too much to handle for their opponents. Considering the aforementioned situation, Dwight Howard and company appear to be everyone’s favorite to secure a win when the game between the Magic and Thunder gets underway. Ultimately, the Magic might be shorthanded but still have a much deeper bench than Oklahoma and can count on Jameer Nelson and Dwight Howard to open up things for their role players.

You can watch all games of the Orlando Magic and Oklahoma City Thunder right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of NBA live streaming.