By John Denton
Jan. 14, 2015
ORLANDO – It’s the kind of offensive about-face that would make a drill sergeant beam with pride: An Orlando Magic team that struggled to muster 84 points in an ugly loss to one of the worst defenses in the NBA just six days ago is suddenly a high-scoring juggernaut doing things this franchise hasn’t seen since the days of Shaq and Penny.
Two days after gashing the bruising Chicago Bulls for 121 points, the Magic once again picked up the pace, rode stellar start-to-finish efforts from Victor Oladipo and Nikola Vucevic and got clutch contributions from Elfrid Payton and Channing Frye to stun the high-powered Houston Rockets 120-113.
How significant were the happenings from Wednesday night when an Amway Center crowd of 16,828 throbbed with raw emotion and took great delight in toppling former Magic superstar center Dwight Howard? In a span of three days, Orlando (15-27) has twice scored 120 points – the first time that it has done that in consecutive games since Feb. 13 and 16 of … wait for it … nope, not yet … 1996!!!
Anyone who considers themselves a fan of the Magic and bleeds pinstriped black and blue has to be wondering what has changed to make this formerly struggling squad one of the highest scoring squads in Orlando since Shaq roamed the paint?
``Sometimes you just figure things out, man,’’ said Oladipo, who capped his electrifying 32-point performance with a 360-degree dunk that was an exclamation point for the night. ``We figured it out.’’
To lend more perspective to this jaw-dropping turnaround for the Magic, late last week they were in the throes of an unsightly six-game losing streak and their inability to put the ball in the hoop had dropped the offense to 28th in the NBA in scoring. The low point came on Friday night when Orlando slogged its way to just 84 points against a Los Angeles Lakers team that was sans Kobe Bryant and had given up on average 108 points a game.
Now, fast-forward to Wednesday when the Magic looked like a well-oiled machine. They shot 48.9 percent from the floor, had five players score in double figures, they poured in 36 fourth-quarter points and they shredded the previously surging Rockets (27-12), winners of four straight before Wednesday night. That prompted Howard, who had 23 points despite a chorus of boos, to crack: ``(The Magic) pushed it on every possession. That’s how they won the game. We couldn’t stop them from pushing the ball down the floor. Every time they did that they got easy buckets.’’
Count Magic coach Jacque Vaughn among those somewhat baffled by Orlando’s surreal offensive 180, saying: ``It’s like the old ``Seinfeld’’ (episode) `Bizzarro World’ a little bit where it’s the Magic, but it’s not the Magic. Overall, you can just see it – when the ball goes through the hole a lot of times it carries over to the other end of the floor. Tonight, we were committed to both ends of the floor and even through turnovers and things not going right – it wasn’t perfect; basketball’s not perfect – but there were a lot of good things.’’
For most of Wednesday, it was difficult to distinguish the all-star players and the up-and-coming standouts what with the way Vucevic (25 points and 12 rebounds) and Oladipo (32 points, six rebounds, six assists, three 3-pointers and three steals) were trading blows with Houston’s Howard (eight field goals and shocking seven-of-seven from the free throw line) and James Harden (26 points, 10 assists, five steals and seven turnovers).
Then, from out of nowhere, Payton and Frye stole the show with some fourth-quarter heroics. Payton, Orlando’s quickly blossoming point guard, entered the fourth having missed six of his seven shots. However, he scored 12 of his 15 points in the final quarter by making all four of his shots and all four of his free throws. With 15 points, six rebounds and four assists, Payton was again a cog in the Magic’s new up-tempo approach.
``It’s about trying to change something. We had been losing and you can’t going into games doing the same thing and thinking something is going to change,’’ said Payton, who has 11 assists in the past two games. ``Picking up the ball (full court on defensive) and picking up the pace is something I thought I could change. All of the guys on the team thought it would be a good idea and now we’ve had some success.’’
Frye, who has been mired in a month-long shooting slump, drilled a key 3-pointer with 1:20 to play that put the Magic up 111-107 and sent them on their way to victory. Frye, who had made just two of his last 15 3-point shots before Wednesday, drilled five 3-pointers in the game and scored 15 points.
``This is not surreal; this is who we’re supposed to be and we’re embracing it right now,’’ said Frye, Orlando’s prized free-agent signing back in July. ``We understand that it’s not going to be easy. You’re seeing guys gassed out there, diving on the floor, giving and supporting each other on the bench. This is fun basketball.
``The thing is this is nice, but it’s two wins, but we need to be consistent,’’ Frye continued. ``We need to continue to play this way and not get complacent with winning two. We need to try to win three and four in a row. When we get that consistency we’ll be able to fine-tune things.’’
An Orlando team that topped 92 points just once during a recent six-game losing streak has now scored at least 120 points in the past two games. Orlando is 11-1 this season when scoring at least 100 points.
Orlando, which was once again playing without standout forward Tobias Harris because of a sprained ankle, handed out 22 assists and had a season-high 14 steals. The increased activity allowed the Magic to get off seven more shot attempts, make as many 3-pointers as the Rockets and attempt three more free throws – a true rarity for this Magic team.
Howard was back in Orlando for a fourth time since he forced his way out of town and was dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers on Aug. 10, 2012. As usual, he was booed when he was introduced and each time that he touched the ball, but the vitriol from the fans has died down a bit with each return through the years.
``It’s always fun to play here and come back think about those great times that we had here,’’ said Howard, who came within one more free throw make of equaling the best free-throw shooting performance of his NBA career (8 of 8 on March 2, 2005 with the Magic). ``Like I always say, this is the place where I grew up. I’ll always have love for this city.’’
Orlando was hoping to continue the momentum built up from a strong showing in Portland on Saturday night and Monday’s impressive 121-114 victory in Chicago. Against the Bulls the Magic shot 59 percent from the floor and scored 121 points – two things that they hadn’t accomplished in four years.
Up by three at halftime, Orlando lost the lead in the third quarter when Houston started pounded the ball down inside to Howard. The eight-time all-star scored 12 points in the third period by making four field goals (three of them dunks) and surprisingly sinking all four of his free throws.
Through three periods, Oladipo (26 points) and Vucevic (20 points and 11 rebounds) were outproducing Harden (20 points) and Howard (18 points and six rebounds).
Orlando had a 55-52 lead at halftime thanks to a stellar start and some more strong play from Oladipo and Vucevic. The Magic led 11-2 when Houston needed its first timeout and they were up 16-4 midway through the first quarter.
Fresh off Monday’s spectacular 33-point performance, Oladipo was once again electrifying in an 18-point first half performance. He had eight points in the first quarter by routinely getting to the rim against Houston’s sketchy defense on the perimeter. Oladipo then keyed a 10-0 run late in the second quarter by drilling 3-pointers on each side of a steal that he converted for a layup.
Vucevic had the best two scoring games of his NBA career on Saturday against Portland (34 points) and Monday in Chicago (33 points) and he picked up where he left off in the first half. Despite having to go against Howard’s defense, Vucevic poured in 15 points in the first half and grabbed eight rebounds (four offensive boards). Mixing his jump shot with his improved low-post moves, Vucevic made six of 11 shots and all three of his free throws in the first 24 minutes.
Vucevic was trying to become the first Magic player with three straight 30-point games since Howard did it on Feb. 13-16-23-25 of 2011. During that stretch, the former Magic center scored 31, 32, 31 and 40 points.
But Vucevic, who had a game-sealing three-point play off a feed from Oladipo with 47 seconds to play, said he could care less about scoring 30 points or besting Howard. What matters most to him, he said, is that the Magic have adopted a style of play that makes their offense electrifying and basketball is fun again.
``It has turned around pretty quickly, but this is something that we’ve talked about wanting to do for awhile,’’ Vucevic said of playing more of an up-tempo pace that has allowed Orlando to avoid playing against so many set defenses. ``That was fun. (The Rockets) are a great team and they’ve been playing some great basketball lately. It was an intense fourth quarter and you could tell both teams really wanted it. It was great also for us that the fans were there for us and they were pumped after we made some big plays. … That was really a lot of fun and now we’ve just got to keep it going.’’
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