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By John Denton
Jan. 26, 2016
MILWAUKEE – The kind of well-oiled machine early in games that makes them resemble the team that carved up foes while compiling a 19-13 early-season record, the Orlando Magic continue to have the kind of finishing issues that make late-game scenarios a downright torturous activity now.
These days, the Magic seem to have a split personality when it comes to the first and second halves of games. Once again, the Magic looked strong early in the night and breezed to a seemingly safe 16-point lead. But, as has been the case too often of late, they struggled on both ends of the floor in the second half and suffered another crushing defeat.
Up as much as 16 in the first half and by one point with less than two minutes to play, the Magic surrendered a put-back dunk by Giannis Antetokoumpo and a Jerryd Bayless corner 3-pointer in a 107-100 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks that left them still in search of answers for a puzzling skid.
Orlando (20-24) lost its seventh straight game and it has not won since Jan. 8 in Brooklyn. Since the start of 2016, the Magic have dropped 11 of 12 games. Excruciatingly so, many of those defeats have gone the same way: The Magic play free and easy early on, but inexplicably get tight late in games and make too many self-inflicted errors that cost them chances at winning.
The Magic led 97-96 with 1:58 to play following a Nikola Vucevic tip in. However, many of the big moments the rest of the way went in favor of the Bucks (20-27). Khris Middleton (25 points) drilled two free throws with 1:09 to play and Antetokounmpo (25 points and nine rebounds) followed up a Milwaukee miss with a dunk with 35.8 seconds to play. Then, after Orlando got back within 100-99, reserve point guard Shabazz Napier left Bayless open in the corner and he drilled the game-sealing 3-pointer for the Bucks.
Victor Oladipo had a big bounce-back night after struggling with his shot a night earlier in Memphis and finished with 18 points and five assists. Evan Fournier continued his stellar play since moving into a reserve role, scoring 15 points and making four 3-pointers. His clutch shot from the right corner tied the game at 91 with 4:40 to play.
Rookie guard Mario Hezonja, the No. 5 pick in last June’s NBA Draft, gave the Magic big minutes down the stretch and scored 11 points on four of seven shooting.
Magic center Nikola Vucevic had 16 points and 12 rebounds, but he missed badly on two long jumpers down the stretch. For the game, he made just seven of 19 shots.
Tobias Harris scored 13 points, but just four of those points came in the second half.
Greg Monroe scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Milwaukee, which shots 49.4 percent and made five 3-pointers. Orlando hit just 41.3 percent of its shots and made 10 of its 13 3-pointers in the first half.
The Magic came into Tuesday night coming off a crushing 108-102 overtime loss in Memphis a night earlier. Orlando led by four points with 17 seconds remaining, but it came unglued late in regulation with a series of errors and lost in OT.
Orlando’s three-game road trip continues on Friday when it faces the Celtics in Boston. The two teams then turn around and meet again on Sunday – this time at Orlando’s Amway Center. In their only prior meeting this season, the Magic whipped the Celtics 110-91 on Nov. 29 in Orlando.
Orlando squandered almost every bit of a 16-point edge late in the second quarter and the shaky play continued in a third quarter that left they down 82-78.
After shredding the Bucks early in the game, Orlando’s offense made just seven of 19 shots and turned the ball over five times when the Bucks picked up the defensive heat.
Milwaukee’s offense wasn’t much better just after halftime, but it turned four of the Magic’s five turnovers in the third period into baskets. Antetokounmpo made 11 of his first 15 shots – none of them further than 8 feet – and he scored 10 points in the third quarter alone.
The Magic led 56-53 at the half, but they couldn’t really savor it because of a poor finish to the second quarter. Once up 48-32, Orlando allowed the Bucks to close the period with a 21-8 spurt. After calling timeout, Milwaukee responded with runs of 10-2 and 11-6 to nearly draw even with the Magic.
Orlando showed no ill effects of Monday’s crushing overtime loss early in the game, making eight of their first 10 3-point shots and 17 of 33 shots overall. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Fournier and Oladipo gave the Magic their 48-32 lead and made it look like they were en route to an easy rout. However, the sizeable advantage would be short-lived.
Orlando’s ball movement and sharing mentality was evident in a first half in which 10 players scored and eight players had assists. They used 13 assists to set up their 19 field goals in the first half.
Oladipo came into Monday night on one of the best shooting tears of his career, but he struggled through a five-point night where he missed nine of his 10 shots and all four tries from 3-point range against the Grizzlies. On Tuesday, he was aggressive from the jump. He carved up Milwaukee with the pass early on (four assists in the first quarter) and he scored 11 of his 13 points in the second quarter.
