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Defensive Woes Continue in Magic's Loss to Pacers

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John Denton

Jan. 25, 2015

ORLANDO – What looked to be an improved and inspired effort for the Orlando Magic over the first three quarters of Sunday night’s game all fell apart over a disastrous fourth quarter.

A slumping Orlando team in desperate need of a victory and some feel-good vibes saw a nine-point lead early in the fourth quarter disintegrate late Sunday night when it was once again gashed defensively and unable to string together any sort of stretch of stops.

Lightly regarded rookie forward Damjan Rudez scored 16 points in the fourth quarter – more points than he has had in any game this season – to allow Indiana to catch and pass Orlando in a 106-99 defeat of the Magic.

Surrendering 31 points in the fourth quarter after keeping the Pacers (16-30 and losers of seven straight before Sunday) in the 20s throughout the previous three periods was tough for the struggling Magic to swallow.

``This one does not feel good,’’ said Magic rookie forward Aaron Gordon. ``It just goes to show that we can’t have any lapses. And that’s what happened. If we go back in the film, we could probably nitpick. But when it comes down to it, we’re not good enough to have any lapses. We need to play our best basketball all (48 minutes).’’

An Amway Center crowd of 16,704 looked on in horror as the Magic (15-32) squandered a nine-point lead over the final 11 minutes. It was Orlando’s fifth straight loss and the third in a row against a team currently outside of the top eight spots in the Eastern Conference.

``We’ve just got to find a way to give a little bit more,’’ said Magic rookie point guard Elfrid Payton, who had 10 points and eight assists. ``We’re right there in every game, but we’ve just got to give more to get over the hump.’’

Incredibly, an Orlando team that played some of its best basketball at home last season fell to 5-15 at the Amway Center this season. They have lost seven of the past eight games at home.

``This is one tonight that you get that sense that you’ve played well most of the night and put yourself in position to win. You are up nine, you are creating opportunities to score the basketball and you are defending, but the focus needs to be there for 48 minutes,’’ Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said.

The Magic fell on Sunday because Indiana outscored them 31-17 in the fourth quarter. The Pacers made 51.8 percent of their shots and became the ninth straight team to score at least 100 points against Orlando. Also, the Pacers – losers of seven straight before Sunday’s fourth-quarter rally to victory – are the fourth opponent in the past six games to top 50 percent shooting from the floor.

Nikola Vucevic made 11 of 17 shots and scored 27 points, while shooting guard Victor Oladipo added 18 points. Rookie point guard Elfrid Payton chipped in 10 points and eight assists, but he struggled down the stretch.

Rudez had never scored more than 13 in a NBA game, but he made 16 of Indiana’s last 27 points. In the fourth quarter alone, he made six of his eight shots and four of six 3-pointers to surprise the Magic.

``Man, this one is really tough,’’ Oladipo said. ``We’ve been in situations like that (with a big lead) and we’ve lost and we’ve won games. Tonight, we just came up short and we’ve just got to find a way to close out these games.’’

The Magic will be back in action on Monday night when they face the rugged Grizzlies (31-12) in Memphis. It was the Grizzlies that defeated Orlando 106-96 last Friday at the Amway Center to end the Magic’s modest two-game winning streak following impressive defeats of Chicago and Houston.

Orlando came into the game having surrendered at least 100 points in the last eight games. The last few games – 127 to Oklahoma City, 128 to Detroit and 113 to New York – were especially galling to Vaughn because of his team’s unwillingness to play with more grit defensively.

They did that on Sunday night – until the fourth quarter. In the final period, Indiana carved Orlando up for 11 of 21 shooting (52.4 percent) and five 3-pointers – four of them from Rudez. Rudez had never made more than three 3-pointers in a NBA game prior to Sunday night, but he got hot late to sink the Magic.

``We just had some breakdowns defensively,’’ Vaughn said dejectedly. ``We’re up nine and we give up an open 3 to Rudez in front of their bench (because of poor transition defense). And that kind of started three or four more 3-pointers to follow.’’

Eager to try and inject some defensive toughness into the first string, Vaughn awarded rookie Aaron Gordon with the first start of his professional career. Gordon was playing just his fourth game after missing nine weeks with a fractured bone in the outside of his left foot. The 6-foot-9, 225-pound forward, who was the fourth pick in last June’s NBA Draft, didn’t let a minutes restriction in his first three games bother him as he played with great energy and was ultimately chosen to start at small forward on Sunday.

Gordon was limited to 21 minutes and he had nine points and four rebounds.

``We just have to continue to try and do the right thing every single time,’’ Gordon said. ``There’s not a magic pill that we can take (to end the losing streak). It’s just about listening to the game plan and executing every time down the floor.’’

Indiana standout David West won the power forward matchup, outplaying Orlando’s Channing Frye for a second time this season. West had 20 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Frye scored nine points, grabbed four rebounds and hit two 3-pointers.

Down two at intermission, Orlando came out of halftime playing much more life and vigor in the third quarter. Offensively, they pushed the ball to get layups and they got into the Pacers defensively. Orlando had three baskets on the fastbreak in the third quarter and reserve center Kyle O’Quinn swatted a shot to end the period. That strong play gave Orlando an 82-75 lead after three periods.

The Magic hit halftime trialing 51-49, but playing with much more passion and energy in the first 24 minutes. Vaughn was irate with his team following Friday’s 113-106 loss in New York, and the team came out and played much harder early on.

Still, a team that has had troubles defensively of late allowed the Pacers to shoot 54.8 percent in the first half. Indiana sped up its offense against Orlando’s reserves and made 12 of 17 shots (70.5 percent) in the second quarter alone.

Coming off a 34-point performance on Friday that equaled his career high, Vucevic picked up where he left off against the Knicks by scoring 15 first-half points.

Many of Vucevic’s seven field goals in the early going were set up by the brilliant pick-and-roll play by Payton. He set up all three and six of Orlando’s first-half baskets with assists.

Hoping that he could bring some energy and defensive toughness to the starting lineup, Gordon responded to getting his first professional start with some electrifying play in the early going. He swatted a Rodney Stuckey layup, caught an alley-oop feed from Harris for a dunk and drilled a 3-pointer in the first half. On a minutes restriction in his first three games back, Gordon played almost 14 minutes in the first two quarters and scored nine points.

``The first stretch of minutes that I got I felt a little winded, but then I got my second wind and I was fine,’’ Gordon said. ``

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