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Magic vs. Blazers: Postgame Report

Dan Savage
Director of Digital News

By John Denton
Jan. 13, 2017

PORTLAND – Frank Vogel is somewhat serious and somewhat silly when he says that NBA head coaches are often responsible for making ``a thousand decisions a day.’’

Everything from Xs and Os, to starting lineups, to rotational adjustments, to offensive and defensive plans of attack fall at the feet of the head coach. And then there’s the many off-day and off-the-court duties – areas often overlooked and undervalued, Vogel stressed.

With his Magic in the throes of a four-game losing streak and seeing their season teetering on the brink of disaster, Vogel could have put his squad through a taxing, two-hour practice on Thursday before facing the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday. Instead, the seasoned head coach took the temperature of his team and went against the grain by having the Magic play a variety of shooting games in a light workout.

``It’s not just about Xs and Os, when to sub and all that stuff, like when to call timeout,’’ Vogel said of a coach’s many responsibilities. ``You’ve got to keep your group feeling the right way, believing in what we’re doing and believing in themselves.’’

As it turns out, Vogel’s decision proved to be a genius one as the relaxed Magic responded on Friday with one of their best offensive performances in weeks. They built a 17-point lead right out of the gates, hung on when the Blazers made a third-quarter push and buried one big shot after another in the fourth for a much-needed 115-109 victory in Portland.

Orlando (17-24) snapped a season-long four-game losing streak by pumping in 33 fourth-quarter points to quiet the high-scoring Blazers (18-24). The Magic won in Portland for the first time since Jan. 11, 2012 thanks to 49.4 percent shooting and 12-of-27 (57.1 percent) efficiency over the decisive final 12 minutes.

Center Nikola Vucevic responded well once again to being back in the starting lineup by scoring 30 points on 13-of-18 shooting. His highest-scoring night in the past 38 games was the fifth straight time he’s contributed 20-or-more points against Portland (18-24).

Vucevic liked that Vogel threw the team a proverbial curveball on Thursday by holding a light-hearted practice that promoted team unity.

``We had a pretty intense practice (on Tuesday) before the Clippers (game) and if we had another one it might have been too much,’’ Vucevic said with a laugh. ``(Vogel) did try to keep the positive energy going with the shooting games and stuff. Those things can help when you have a tough stretch and you aren’t playing great. In basketball, when guys get down it hurts. Frank did a good job with that to get us back in a positive groove.’’

Serge Ibaka, back in the starting lineup after missing his first game of the season because of a sore shoulder, scored 11 of his 13 points in the third quarter. Elfrid Payton, who has a history of playing well against former collegiate hero Damian Lillard, scored 19 points and handed out seven assists.

Vogel said it wasn’t just the players who were pressing after dropping two games in Orlando last week and falling twice in Los Angeles to push the skid to four. He felt the immense need for a win as well and he did what he could to inspire the team with Thursday’s light practice to lift the spirits.

``I got a sense that I was feeling tight, and I was feeling the misery of being surrounded by all the losses,’’ Vogel said. ``You’ve got to appreciate each other and appreciate the challenge. And it’s the game of basketball that is meant to be fun. You go out and compete and win or lose you compete. Hopefully our guys heard that message.’’

Friday’s game was Orlando’s 41st of the season, officially marking the halfway point of the 82-game season. While the first half of the season has been filled with a frustrating series of highs and lows, Vogel is confident that the Magic have the unity and talent to still make this a special season. Friday’s performance – strong defense early and late and some toughness when Portland briefly grabbed the lead – said something about the potential of the Orlando squad.

``Displeased with our record and pleased with our togetherness and our belief in what we can still do this season,’’ Vogel said before the game. ``There are just a lot of areas that we can improve upon.’’

The start of the game couldn’t have unfolded any better for the Magic, who drilled their first nine shots, saw Portland miss eight times and they once led 18-1. However, it didn’t hold up as the Blazers were within 13 at the end of the first quarter, down just five by halftime and in the lead early in the third period. This time, however, Orlando held firm and won the game in the fourth with some of its best execution of the night.

D.J. Augustin (15 points) and Jodie Meeks (12 points and two 3-pointers) played well off the bench for Orlando, which drilled 10 of 18 3-pointers and 23 of 26 free throws. Evan Fournier, who is still nursing a sore heel, had eight points – none of them bigger than his free throw with 15 seconds to play that sealed the victory.

``It’s good to get one on the road and this is big for the confidence because we’ve been struggling the last (four) games,’’ Fournier said. ``It’s never easy to win in this building, so it feels good.’’

Portland got 34 points from Lillard and 26 points from backcourt mate C.J. McCollum. Neither shot the ball particularly well – Lillard connecting on just 12 of 27 shots and two of 11 3-pointers, while McCollum hit 10 of 21 shots and four of six 3-pointers. The long-armed defense of Aaron Gordon – who spent time checking both guards – likely had something to do with that.

Friday’s game was the third of this 12-night, six-game road trip for the Magic. Also, it was the first of an extremely difficult back-to-back set of games what with Orlando in Utah on Saturday night. In addition to flying for two hours and losing an hour in the time zone change, the Magic aren’t expected to arrive at their Salt Lake City hotel until approximately 3:30 a.m. Then, they must face a defensively stout Jazz team that whipped them 87-74 in Orlando on Nov. 11.

The Magic play in Denver on Monday and in New Orleans on Wednesday to close out the longest road trip of the season.

Fournier said that Vogel’s approach to practice on Thursday and his organization of a team dinner later that night meant the world to the Magic. The guard, who has paid for team dinners himself this season, said it’s important that the squad sticks together through tough times like the recent four-game losing streak.

``Even though we were on a bad streak, I’ve thought the chemistry of the team is great,’’ Fournier said. ``We like to be around each other and we have fun. (Thursday) was a good practice for us. We had a good talk, we got a lot of shots up and we weren’t thinking about negative stuff. We’re looking forward and believing in what we do.’’

Former Magic forward Maurice Harkless, who has blossomed into a solid rotation player in his two seasons in Portland, did not play on Friday because of a strained calf muscle.

Vogel also made another big decision that played into Friday’s victory. With the game tied at 90, Vogel went back to his starters with 8:06 to play – much earlier than normal. From there, Orlando outscored Portland by eight points to secure the win.

``I just feel good about that (starting) unit,’’ Vogel said. ``They started the game strong and I probably didn’t come back to them soon enough in the second quarter. I just told myself that I wasn’t going to do that again. The first sign of trouble I was going to get that (starting) group back in. They rewarded me.’’

Its 17-point lead down to five by halftime, Orlando fell behind for the first time in the game because of yet another poor start to the third quarter. A 10-2 Portland burst to open the second half put the Magic in a three-point hole, but they steadied themselves when Ibaka came alive. Out of Wednesday’s loss in Los Angeles because of a sprained right shoulder, Ibaka didn’t seem engaged in the first half and had just two points. But when he scored 11 in the third period alone, it allowed the Magic to take an 82-78 lead into the fourth.

``We built a great lead to start the game, but we let them back in it with our mistakes and we didn’t keep doing what was working for us,’’ Vucevic said. ``But we responded well. We needed a game like that. We had games where we were playing pretty well, the other team would make a run and we fell apart. Tonight, for us to stick together, it was big for us.’’

Orlando held a 54-49 lead at halftime – an impressive feat considering the difficulty the team has had winning in Portland through the years. But the five-point edge was a bit of a downer considering the start that the Magic got off to in the first five minutes of the game.

In his second game back in the starting lineup, Vucevic went right at Portland center Mason Plumlee and dominated the matchup. He drilled seven of his first nine shots and all four of his free throws for 18 first-half points.

``We have to take this game as a lesson,’’ said Vucevic, who added 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots. ``When we play the right way, we were able to build good leads. And when we went away from it, they made runs. We have to be consistent with playing that way.’’

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