Rafer Alston is coming back to Orlando this week hoping to make the Magic pay for trading him. Alston was the Magic's starting point guard through the second half of last season when they went to the NBA Finals. He was traded to New Jersey this summer -- as part of the deal to get Vince Carter -- to make sure there would be no point guard controversy with Jameer Nelson returning. He was not happy when the Magic traded him, sending him out because the Nets wanted him in the last year of his contract. He has gone from one of the best teams in the league to one of the worst.
When the Nets play in Orlando Friday, he will be in the starting lineup, matched against Jameer Nelson, whose job he held in the second half of last season. Alston is starting for New Jersey only because Devin Harris is hurt. He is expected to be more than a little energized in his first return to Orlando.
The Magic beat the Nets in New Jersey earlier in the season, but Alston was in a backup role then, playing 17 minutes and getting 10 points.
The other guys who left in the trade, Tony Battie and Courtney Lee, are not expected to play Friday because of injuries, leaving Alston to remind the Magic fans of what they are missing.
CAVS 102, MAGIC 93: LeBron James scored 36 points and Mo Williams added 28 as the Cavaliers thumped the Magic without much trouble. In a rematch of last season's Eastern Conference final, the Magic never had the kind of energy they needed to slow down the Cavs. Vince Carter had 29 points, but the Magic were not sharp defensively, allowing the Cavs to out-shoot and out-rebound them.
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