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Magic cruise in season opener

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 29, 2009

ORLANDO - Dwight Howard had 21 points and 15 rebounds, Vince Carter scored 15 and the new-look Orlando Magic rolled to a 120-106 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.
Ryan Anderson added 16 points, and Jason Williams had 15 points to highlight a deep Magic bench.

Orlando went ahead by 23 points at the half, scored 100 through three quarters and showed no signs of a hangover after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals on the same floor in June.

St. Petersburg native and University of Florida center Marreese Speights had 26 points, and Elton Brand added eight in his first regular-season game since missing most of 2008-09 with a right shoulder injury for Philadelphia.

The Magic didn't spend much time embracing last season's success.

The Eastern Conference championship banner already was hanging from the rafters before the game. A video montage of their playoff run only lasted about three minutes.

The only real fight Philadelphia showed all night was when Speights 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.

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