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By John Denton
Jan. 31, 2016
ORLANDO – An Orlando Magic team desperate for a victory in the worst sort of way finally found one Sunday night in, quite possibly, the best manner imaginable.
They played hard from start to finish, they had a purpose and a passion about them, they made one big shot after another in a tense second half and they hung tough late against one of the NBA’s hottest teams.
Playing as if their season was on the line Sunday night, Orlando finally broke out of the throes of an eight-game losing streak by putting on a shooting show in a 119-114 defeat of the red-hot Boston Celtics.
Orlando (21-25) won for the first time since Jan. 8 by making 53.7 percent of its shots and drilling 10 3-pointers – much to the delight of a sellout crowd of 18,846 at the Amway Center.
Using a formula for success from early in the season by moving the ball well to get several players involved, Orlando dominated the second half of the game, outscoring Boston 72-60 after intermission. The Magic didn’t lead for the first time in the game until late in the third quarter, but they ultimately ballooned their advantage out to as much as 11 points in the fourth period.
Guard Evan Fournier, who lamented how Orlando could have such a “great” December and a “horrible” January earlier in the day, scored 24 points and made four 3-pointers. His 3-pointer with 5:27 to play gave Orlando a 96-95 lead that it would not surrender the rest of the game.
Prized rookie Mario Hezonja, who has increasingly earned more meaningful minutes, scored a career-best 17 points in 33 minutes off the bench. Second-year forward Aaron Gordon was equally impressive, scoring 19 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
Center Nikola Vucevic also had a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds, while Tobias Harris and Victor Oladipo chipped in 16 and 11 points, respectively.
The only negative of the second half was Orlando’s shaky shooting from the free throw line – a place they had gotten to infrequently this season. The Magic made just 11 of their first 19 free throws of the fourth quarter, allowing the Celtics to cut an 11-point deficit to 117-114 with 14 seconds to play. However, Vucevic ended the threat with two clutch free throws.
Down seven points at intermission following a shaky start defensively, the Magic played with tremendous confidence in the second half to gut out the victory. Orlando outscored the Celtics 34-27 in the third period to get the game tied. It then made 11 of its first 19 shots of the fourth – including three 3-pointers – to pull away from a Celtics team that had won five games in a row and eight of the last 10.
Boston (27-22) got 23 points and five 3-pointers from all-star guard Isaiah Thomas, while Avery Bradley drilled three more 3-pointers and scored 20 points. Boston also got 19 points from reserve guard Marcus Smart and it made 14 of 41 threes against a Magic defense that was forced to help and scramble all night.
The Magic and Celtics were playing for the third time this season and for the second time in three nights. The Magic routed the Celtics 110-91 in Orlando on Nov. 29, but Boston returned the favor at TD Garden on Friday night to the tune of 113-94. The two teams close out the season series in Boston on March 21.
The Magic’s schedule between now and the break for the NBA All-Star Game will do them no favors. Monday night’s game in San Antonio is about as difficult as it gets with back-to-backs in the NBA. Not only will the Magic be playing the Spurs (39-8) in a second game in as many nights, but they will be doing so in San Antonio where the Spurs are 25-0 this season.
After that, the Magic play in Oklahoma City on Wednesday and host the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday. Following a (Super Bowl) Sunday/Monday home-and-home with the Atlanta Hawks, the Magic close out the first half of the season with a game against the Spurs on Feb. 10 at the Amway Center. The Magic will be off for the all-star break from Feb. 11-18.
Down seven at the half, Orlando made a spirited charge in the third quarter when things looked incredibly bleak. A 9-0 spurt put Boston up 67-54 and send the Magic into a timeout. But Orlando responded by riding the energy and athleticism of Gordon and Harris for a 16-2 burst of their own.
When Vucevic tipped in a miss with 3:07 to play in the third period, the Magic had their first lead of the night at 74-73. A running hook by Vucevic knotted the game at 81 at the end of the third period, one in which Orlando outscored Boston 34-27.
Orlando trailed 54-47 at the half largely because of its inability to run the Celtics off the 3-point line early in the game. Boston seven of its first 12 3-point shots in the first half to build a lead as large as 14 points.
Three of those 3-pointers came from Marcus Smart, including one just before the end of the first quarter. That had to spark bad memories for a Magic team that allowed momentum-turning buzzer-beating shots at the end of the second and third quarters in Friday’s loss in Boston.
Orlando’s lone bright spot in the first half was the play of Hezonja, who looked confident and played with aggression while scoring 12 points and handing out two assists early on. Not only did the rookie make four of his first five shots – including a couple of 3-point shots – he also had nifty no-look assists to Aaron Gordon and Oladipo for open looks.
Skiles mixed things up with his rotation in the first half, playing center Dewayne Dedmon more and stretching out the minutes of Hezonja. They seemed to breathe life into the offense and the Magic made 50 percent of their shots in the first two quarters.
