We blew a 15-point halftime advantage which had ballooned to 19 points early in the third quarter by allowing the Bobcats to outscore us 58-37 in the second half. But is anyone really surprised? Really?

Jason Richardson celebrates after his three-pointer clawed the Bobcats back into the lead. Stan Van Gundy calls a timeout to stop the bleeding, but it didn't work. The Bobcats beat the Magic, 99-93, to avoid being swept in the season series.
Photo by Chuck Burton, the Associated Press

There's not much I can say about this loss that hasn't already been said about the losses to Memphis and New Jersey. I understand that teams sometimes blow big leads, but it's not as isolated incident with us. We consistently piss games away when we play inferior teams, and something has to be done about it.

Boxscore.
Gameflow.

The Magic enter the midway point of the season with a 24-17 record, which is just two games better than their pace after the same amount of time last season. $118 million and a new coach just doesn't get as much as it used to, I guess.

Jameer Nelson left with a strained right foot. Considering he was the only one of our starters to have a positive +/- rating, it's safe to say his presence late in the game could have changed its outcome. I missed the part of the game during which Keith Bogans ran the point, as the AP recap mentions he did, but I imagine it wasn't pretty.

My halfway-point report cards should be up sometime later today. Stay tuned for that.