With the victory secured, the Magic (11-30) congregated at the free throw line for a somewhat emotional scene. It was there that they congratulated each other on playing the best game in weeks and sticking to the mantra of playing for one another.
``It’s just one win, but at the same time it was a win to be excited about,’’ said forward Tobias Harris, who drilled the two game-winning free throws with 10.1 seconds left to break a 91-all tie.
``It was a step in the right direction from (Friday). We had a goal and that goal was to push each other. We did that tonight and it was exciting to win and we want to build on this. So our next game will be a good test for us.’’
With the victory Orlando was able to corral its first win of the 2014 calendar year. The Magic had last won a game on Dec. 29 at home against the Detroit Pistons. In that time, Orlando dropped two crushing overtime games and lost all five last week on a difficult West Coast trip without starting center Nikola Vucevic (concussion). Orlando had lost the previous 12 games this season with Vucevic out injured, but won tonight for the first time.
Magic head coach Jacque Vaughn took great delight in seeing the Magic make several clutch plays down the stretch and then celebrate together at the free throw line as the final horn sounded.
``I think it was just great to see us kind of grind out that game from beginning to end,’’ said Vaughn, who shortened his rotation to just seven players because of matchups with the Celtics (14-28). ``And to be able to answer out of timeouts. We had execution with winning plays at the end such as diving on the floor. So it was just a great effort overall from the guys.’’
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