Orlando Magic turn it on too late again

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - It was all about effort Tuesday night -- and the Orlando Magic didn't have it.

What should have been the easiest game on this swing through the Western Conference turned into a glaring disaster.

That hard-to-explain, away-from-home treasure chest -- which gave them more road wins than anyone else in the league -- - turned up mysteriously empty.

The Sacramento Kings, without a single marquee player in uniform, drilled the Magic 104-100 at Arco Arena, delighting a crowd that reveled in the upset.

The Magic started poorly and only got worse -- until a final rally that made it sound close, even if it really wasn't.

"The Kings played a lot harder, more aggressively than we did,'' said Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy. "We've just gotten into this bad funk at the start of games. The intensity just isn't there. That's disturbing.''

Dwight Howard led the Magic with 29 points and 15 rebounds, scoring twice in the fourth quarter on offensive rebounds.

Rashard Lewis had 22 points, hitting six of 11 from 3-point range.

Although Howard is headed for his first All-Star Game start next month, he was one of those fingered by Van Gundy for a lack of effort defensively.

"Our three main guys (Howard, Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu) need to take more responsibility in the effort areas,'' Van Gundy said. "I thought Rashard made a decent effort, but I don't think Hedo and Dwight gave much of an effort on the defensive end at all.''

The Kings, who often made it look easy, got good balance, getting 20 points from center Brad Miller, 17 points from point guard Beno Udrih and 21 points from John Salmons.

The Magic never mustered the urgency they needed until late in the game. And even then, it never seemed strong enough to change the outcome. They trailed almost from the start, trailing by 19 points early in the fourth quarter.

"It disgusts me a little bit that we will have to make playing-time decisions based on intensity. You would think that everybody out there would put out great effort, but that isn't happening,'' Van Gundy said.

It wasn't until little-used guard J.J. Redick finally entered the game, with 7 minutes, 54 seconds remaining, that they started to rally. Redick had not even played in three of the previous four games. He has played in less than half the games this season. But he looked more than worthy Tuesday at the end.

The Magic trailed by 17 points when he entered, but even when Redick was missing shots, they were cutting the lead. They closed the deficit to 103-100 when Hedo Turkoglu hit a 3-pointer, but that was as close as they would get.

Redick finished with 10 points in his less than 8 minutes.

The game was typified late in the third period when Miller, 31, outhustled and then beat Howard, 22, to a loose ball at midcourt, leading to an easy, Sacramento score.

The Magic play tonight in Los Angeles against the Clippers, then continue the trip with games against the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz.

The Magic trailed by 16 points when the fourth quarter began, offering little hope for the final 12 miniutes.

Keyon Dooling, though, who didn't score in the first three periods, scored the first five points in the fourth. The Kings pushed the lead up to 19.

The Magic were so bad in the first half that Van Gundy changed his lineup at intermission, starting Jameer Nelson and Maurice Evans in the second half instead of Carlos Arroyo and Keith Bogans, who started the game.

The Kings led 53-38 at halftime, riding the hot start of Udrih, who looked like Steve Nash knifing through a poor-excuse for defense with 16 points and four assists in just 19 minutes.

The Magic fell behind quickly, and looked comfortable staying behind, providing little resistance. Howard had 13 points and five rebounds in the first two periods, but he got little help.

Turkoglu was excited about returning to Sacramento, where he started his NBA career, but he didn't start like it, looking badly out of sync when he missed his first six shots.

The Magic were so cold early, it looked like they were playing inside an igloo. Not counting Howard -- who made his first four shots -- they made three of their first 24 shots.

The Magic's revolving-door backcourt continued to turn Tuesday when Bogans returned to the starting lineup, ending the one-game experiment with Dooling.

Van Gundy, who left his interview with the Kings this summer to take the Magic job instead, received a smattering of boos during pregame introductions.

The Kings came into the game missing the nucleus of the team they thought they had this season. Mike Bibby (torn ligament, left thumb), Ron Artest (right elbow surgery) and Kevin Martin (right groin strain) were in street clothes.

But it wasn't until Bogans hit a 3-pointer with 4:48 remaining in the first period -- pulling the Magic within two -- that anyone other than Howard scored.

The Kings led 26-18 after the first quarter, getting back-to-back 3-pointers from Quincy Douby and Dahntay Jones.