By John Denton
Nov. 29, 2016
SAN ANTONIO – In a city historically known for defying the odds and making a courageous stand, the Orlando Magic might be wise to try and channel the fighting spirit of legend Davy Crockett tonight when they face the Spurs in San Antonio.
The Magic (6-11) come into Tuesday having dropped their last four games – three of them to losing teams at home – and now they need to make a stand as they begin an arduous nine-night, five-game road trip. Like Crockett’s storied (and possibly mythical) defense of ``The Alamo’’ against an army much larger and stronger, Orlando needs to bring a major sense of urgency against the surging Spurs (14-3). San Antonio has won nine straight and is off to the second-best start in franchise history.
``We didn’t take care of home, so now we need to come out here (to San Antonio) and be road warriors,’’ Magic forward Aaron Gordon said. ``And that’s what we’re going to do.’’
Orlando is hopeful that getting out on the road can help to bring its team closer together and that will be the missing ingredient in a sour season so far. Two of the Magic’s biggest wins – Nov. 13 over Oklahoma City and Nov. 1 over Philadelphia – came on the road in games where they had to play clutch basketball in the fourth quarter. Do that again tonight against the Spurs and the Magic might be able to notch the kind of thrilling victory that could be the equivalent of releasing a pressure valve on the team, head coach Frank Vogel said.
``All we can do right now is focus on the moment. We had a great practice (on Monday), I felt, where we accomplished a lot of things and now we have to focus on beating the San Antonio Spurs,’’ he said. ``We don’t have to win five games. We just have to win one.’’
Vogel will stick with the lineup changes he made on Sunday – ones that saw point guard D.J. Augustin and center Bismack Biyombo replace Elfrid Payton and Nikola Vucevic in the starting five. Gordon, a starter in the first eight games of the season, also started on Sunday, but that was because of Jeff Green’s lower back soreness. Green is available to play tonight, but he will be used in a reserve role – one that he has thrived in so far this season.
Gordon and Green will be tasked with trying to slow down MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard, who is averaging 24.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals in 17 games. The 6-foot-7, 230-pound Leonard hit a game-winning shot over Gordon in Orlando last February – one of the many big moments he’s had as the go-to threat on a San Antonio offense that averages 104.4 points per game and shoots 46.5 percent a night on average.
``We’re just going to be need to be focused and that means being locked in to every moment and taking care of every assignment,’’ Gordon said of the tall task of facing the Spurs. ``We go in knowing that we need to play very well to come out on top.’’
An impressive 10-0 on the road to start the season, the Spurs have been surprisingly shaky at The AT&T Center this season. Thus far, they are just 4-3 at home after dropping games against the Jazz, Clippers and Rockets. The Spurs won their first 39 home games last season, not losing in San Antonio until April 10 en route to a 40-1 home record.
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