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By John Denton
Dec. 9, 2015
PHOENIX – Even as the Orlando Magic were surging through their best stretch of basketball in the past 3 1/2 seasons, coach Scott Skiles remained grounded and reminded that his team’s success still hung tenuously “on a game-to-game basis.”
So even though Orlando came into Wednesday having won a night earlier in Denver, riding a stretch of six wins in the previous seven games and already owners of a winning road trip, Skiles knew that his team would need to be at its best on both ends of the floor to have a shot in Phoenix.
And when the road-weary Magic suffered disappointing letdowns early in the second quarter, all throughout the third period and again after a couple of stirring comebacks, it showed how small their margin is between winning and losing.
Once down as much as 12 points following a poor second-half start, Orlando rallied back three times to get the game tied at 86, 102 and 104, but it couldn’t ever get fully over the hump in a frustrating 107-104 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Orlando (12-10) had possession of the ball and a chance to tie the game again at 106, but point guard Elfrid Payton – who was brilliant much of the night during the Magic’s rallies – mishandled his dribble for a backcourt violation with 25.6 seconds remaining.
From there, Eric Bledsoe (21 points and nine assists) made one of two free throws, but the rebound went out of bounds off Phoenix. Victor Oladipo missed a potential game-tying 3-point shot with 5.9 seconds remaining. Evan Fournier had another try at knotting the game, but didn’t get the call when he got contact from Phoenix center Alex Len and he misfired at the horn.
Despite Wednesday’s crushing loss, the Magic still had a winning road trip, notching victories in Minnesota, Utah and Denver. The losses were both of the crushing variety, losing in the final minute against the Clippers and Suns (10-13).
The Magic could very well have a much better record if they weren’t so snake-bitten at the end of games. Orlando is just 4-6 in its 10 games decided by five points or less this season.
Phoenix had a 50-28 edge on points in the paint, thanks in large part to big nights from Len (a career-high 20 points and 14 rebounds), Jon Leuer (15 points and six rebounds) and Mirza Teletovic (15 points).
Nikola Vucevic scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, but most of his damage came in the first half. Fournier showed signs of breaking out of his two-week shooting funk by hitting three 3-pointers and scoring 14 points.
Tobias Harris withstood a hard hit to the face in the third quarter and scored 16 points, none of them bigger than the two free throws he made with 2:15 to play that tied the game at 102. Oladipo responded following a poor first half and finished with 14 points, while Payton chipped in 12 points and 10 assists.
Orlando turned the ball over 16 times, leading to 20 Phoenix points. Twelve of those miscues came after halftime.
The Magic were playing for the second time in as many nights after winning in Denver on Tuesday. Wednesday’s game wrapped up a 10-day, five-game road trip – Orlando’s longest of the season in terms of days away from Central Florida.
On the road much of the past two weeks, the Magic will receive a much-needed day off on Thursday. They will be back on the Amway Center court on Friday night to host LeBron James, Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs whipped the Magic 117-103 on Nov. 23 – a game where Love scored 34 points and James handed out 13 assists in three quarters of work.
Brandon Knight chipped in 21 points for Phoenix on Wednesday.
A poor finish to the second quarter put the Magic in a two-point hole at intermission and an even worse start to the third period put Orlando into a 12-point hole. The Magic had little energy at all after halftime, allowing Phoenix to make 13 of 19 shots and nine of 11 free throws. And when Alex Len rammed in a missed layup, the Magic found themselves in an 84-73 hole heading into the fourth period.
The Magic played well and with lots of energy in the first half, but they found themselves trailing the Suns 49-47 at intermission because of a poor finish to the second quarter. A 10-2 burst, capped by a P.J. Tucker put-back at the horn, wiped out Orlando’s six-point lead and left it in a halftime hole.
Whereas Orlando came into the game worried about the speed and explosiveness of Bledsoe and Knight, it was offseason free-agent acquisitions Teletovic and Leuer who hurt the Magic most in the first 24 minutes. Teletovic, who won Phoenix’s game in Chicago on Monday with a last-second put-back shot, shredded the Magic for 15 points, four 3-pointers and three assists in the first half. Meanwhile, Leuer had 10 points and four rebounds in the first 24 minutes.
A night after missing their first 15 3-point shots, the Magic got four first-half 3-pointers – including a step-back shot from the left corner from Fournier. Mired in a slump much of the past seven games, Fournier played with confidence early on Wednesday and scored eight first-half points.
Vucevic and Harris, who have been two of Orlando’s most consistent players all season at the start of games, scored 11 and nine first-half points. They combined to make nine of 18 shots and grabbed nine rebounds early on. Much of their early success was made possible by Payton, who handed out six assists in the first half.
For the first time since moving into a reserve role seven games ago, Oladipo struggled mightily in the first half. Not only did he miss four of his first five shots, but he turned the ball over twice. Oladipo’s best play of the first half came when he drove hard into the lane, drew the defense to him and handed the ball off to Vucevic for a layup.
