Orlando’s Arron Afflalo, who hopes to hear his name called on Thursday night as one of the picks for the Feb. 16 NBA All-Star game, scored 10 points on a rare inefficient shooting night (four of 11). Nelson added 13 points and three 3-pointers.
Orlando also made a change to its lineup as rookie guard Victor Oladipo (12 points) returned as a starter one night after coming off the bench in Detroit. To make room for Oladipo, Harris (nine points and 11 rebounds) was moved into a sixth-man role. Andrew Nicholson, a native of suburban Toronto, didn’t get into the game until the final 3:17 of the fourth quarter.
``We just didn’t have any rhythm out there,’’ Harris said. ``Offensively, we looked out of sync. They did a good job of defending our plays.’’
The Magic are expected to be off on Thursday before playing the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night at the Amway Center. The team’s stay in Orlando will be a short one as the Magic will depart on Saturday for a 1 p.m. Sunday game in Boston. It’s the fifth time in Magic history that they will play on Super Bowl Sunday – three of those times being in Boston.
Down 15 at the half, the Magic seemed poised to make a game of it with the way that they came out of the locker room for the third quarter. Strong starts by Oladipo and Vucevic and two 3-pointers by Nelson had Orlando within 61-53 four minutes into the third period. But that rally would be short-lived as Lowry drilled another 3-pointer and Amir Johnson got inside for two easy baskets. And when former NBA Dunk Contest winner Terrence Ross caught an alley-oop on the fastbreak to ignite the Air Canada Centre crowd, the Magic were back in a 17-point hole.
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