By John DentonDec. 13, 2014
ORLANDO – Downright irked with how he played on Friday in Atlanta, Tobias Harris disgustedly muttered to himself time and again on the flight home that the Orlando Magic would be winning on Saturday.
And as he walked through the Amway Center training room about three hours prior to tipoff on Saturday, Harris screamed out, ``We’ve got to win’’ for anyone and everyone around him to hear.
Then, late Saturday night, Harris proved to be a man of his word by once again coming through in the clutch to make sure that Orlando got the win that he so vigorously demanded.
With Orlando down one in the final seconds, Harris caught an in-bounds pass at the top of the key, dribbled hard to his left three times, ignored defenders on his left and right and let fly a leaning jumper that gave the Magic the victory that was promised.
The game-winning shot – Harris’ second of the season at the buzzer – lifted an Orlando team that had been a victim of a couple of crushing last-second losses of late to a 100-99 defeat of the Hawks that thrilled the 15,939 fans in the Amway Center.
``We needed this one,’’ Harris said. ``When I got off the plane (in the early hours of Saturday morning), I told everybody, `We’re going to get this win.’ And when I woke up (Saturday) morning, I told myself all morning and all afternoon that we’re going to get this win. And when I walked in here I said, `We’re going to get this win.’ So it was the mindset that I had and everybody on this team had the mindset that we were going to fight all the way to the end.’’
Just prior to Harris’ heroics, Orlando (10-16) seemed cursed at the end yet again when Atlanta’s Kyle Korver drilled a contested 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds to play to put the Hawks up by one. Harris also had something to do with that one-point difference having missed a free throw five seconds earlier that gave Atlanta (16-7) an opening to steal the victory.
But Harris clearly would not be denied on this night from fulfilling his winning proclamation. He initially struggled to get open – and in-bounder Evan Fournier contemplated breaking the play and passing to center Nikola Vucevic – but Harris finally shook free. The 6-foot-9 forward took advantage of DeMarre Carroll’s slip and he attacked immediately. And even with Paul Millsap on his left and Carroll gaining on his right, Harris let fly the confident stroke that secured a much-needed win for the Magic. Mobbed by reserve center Dewayne Dedmon and later by all his teammates, Harris was overcome by the emotion and magnitude of the moment. He got some playful ribbing from his teammates afterward for the tears in his eyes, but no Magic players minded considering how Harris had lifted the pall that hovered over the seemingly snake-bitten team.
``I really didn’t see it go in, but I saw teammates jumping up and I was pretty excited after that seeing that we had just won the game,’’ Harris said. ``Everybody made fun of me, saying I was crying. But I just told them that I was just emotional. All day I was thinking about (Friday) night’s game and thinking about the games that we’ve had and been so close and haven’t been able to get wins. So to get it tonight, it was a step for us.’’
Harris’ shot ended Atlanta’s winning streak at nine games and it avenged a sloppy 87-81 loss to the Hawks in Georgia 24 hours earlier. It also turned around some of Orlando’s hard luck late in games considering that they had lost in recent weeks on a Steph Curry 3-pointer and a Bradley Beal layup lob.
``I’m like, `We need the basketball gods to please help us out tonight,’ and they came through,’’ said Magic guard Victor Oladipo, who overcame a sloppy start and had 15 points and seven assists – seven of those points and four of those assists coming in the fourth quarter when the Magic wiped out a 92-86 deficit. ``It was a big shot from Tobias and it’s just overwhelming.’’
Orlando, now 3-6 at home after hosting eight winning teams at the Amway Center, got several big contributions outside of Harris, who had 20 points, six rebounds, five assists (tying a season-high) and three blocked shots (a new season-high).
During one point of the fourth quarter, Oladipo had a hand in nine straight points with a 3-pointer, a driving layup and two assists – a stretch where Orlando went from down 92-86 to up 95-94. Center Nikola Vucevic, who was playing his first game in 12 days because of a back sprain, swatted a Jeff Teague shot with 42 seconds to play and gave the Magic 18 points and 11 rebounds in almost 35 minutes. Fournier, who spent the past two days chasing Korver all over the court, wisely cut backdoor for the layup that gave Orlando the lead with 1:02 to play and he chipped in 19 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Fournier’s biggest play of the night was the patience that he showed in in-bounding the ball and waiting until Harris got open. He said he felt great relief when he saw Harris shot go in because seconds earlier Korver had nailed Atlanta’s go-ahead shot over his outstretched arm.
``I almost gave (the ball) to (Vucevic), but (Harris) was open and I had to pass it to him because he’s the guy that makes shots for us,’’ Fournier, who had 18 and 19 points in back-to-back games against the Hawks. ``He proved it once again. It feels good to win this game. We can’t just give up, we fought very hard and we played together.’’
Magic coach Jacque Vaughn implored his team early Saturday to share the ball more after Friday’s meltdown in Atlanta when Orlando had more turnovers (19) than assists (14). They incredibly kicked the ball away 10 times in Saturday’s first quarter, but got their issues solved and had just five turnovers over the final three quarters.
``For the most part in life you get what you deserve,’’ Vaughn said. ``You try to put yourself in position to get wins by doing the right thing over the course of the night. It’s not about what happened (versus) Golden State or any other game before that or (versus) Washington. It’s about, `Are you disciplined from the beginning to end to earn a win.’’’
For just the 13th time in the franchise’s 26-year history, the Magic played the same team on consecutive nights. Orlando lost 87-81 in Atlanta to the Hawks and arrived back in Central Florida just before 1 a.m. on Saturday morning. It’s been eight years since the Magic played the same team on consecutive nights.
Orlando has played more games (26) and far more road games (17) than any team in the NBA, yet it will leave town once again on Sunday. The Magic will play in Toronto (Monday) and in Boston (Wednesday). After that, Orlando will play consecutive games at home (on Dec. 19 and 21) for the first time since Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 – a remarkable stretch of seven weeks between playing two games in a row at home.
Separated by a point at halftime, the teams never got more than five points apart from one another in the first three quarters. And by the start of the fourth period, the score was knotted at 72 even though Orlando was shooting 52.8 percent with eight 3-pointers and the Hawks were stuck at 39.4 percent with seven 3-pointers.
Veteran guard Ben Gordon gave the Magic a lift in the third period with two long 3-pointers and two steals. He had three 3-pointers, three free throws after getting fouled and 12 points for some much-needed bench support for the Magic.
In the end, the final result came down to Harris simply oozing the confidence that he can do whatever it takes to lift the Magic to a win with his ability to make big shots. He hit a fading jumper at the buzzer in Philadelphia on Nov. 5 for a win and Vaughn went to him nearly two weeks ago for a big basket late in a victory in Phoenix. And on Sunday he hit the shot for the win that the Magic so desperately needed.
``It just comes from the endless hours in the gym when no one is watching, getting those repetitions up and getting shots up,’’ Harris said of his belief in his abilities. ``The biggest thing is I missed the free throw before and I feel like I kind of let my team down and I wanted to get this win. That shot solidified it for us.’’