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Postgame Report: Magic vs. Bucks (1/29/15)

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John Denton

Jan. 29, 2015

ORLANDO – During a break in the action between the first and second quarters on Thursday night at the Amway Center, JumboTron cameras panned the crowd before stopping on one particularly energetic fan who held up a homemade poster for everyone to see.

However, the fan’s sign was upside down.

As it turns out, it was a fitting symbol for another night where just about everything was askew for the reeling Magic.

An Orlando squad that played some impressive basketball early in the season and was serious about making some significant strides took another hit on Thursday in an ugly, one-sided 115-100 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Not only did the Magic (15-34) never lead, but they trailed by as much as 29 points and gave a wanting crowd inside the Amway Center little to cheer about. Orlando, which recently played well in impressive defeats of Chicago and Houston, lost a seventh straight game and for the 13th time in the past 15 games.

Clearly, all of the losses at taking a mental toll now on the reeling Magic.

``I think we thought about things too much and we didn’t play with a relaxed mind and do what we do. We thought about the bad stuff too much and it really affected us,’’ said Magic center Nikola Vucevic, who found out before the game that he was left off the all-star team and then he struggled most of the night. ``You have to give them a lot of credit, but I just think that we thought about things too much and we didn’t have the effort at the start of the game that we needed against a team like that.’’

Milwaukee (24-22) came into the game having not won in Orlando since Dec. 29, 2004 – a stretch of 17 consecutive losses in Central Florida. But Thursday’s outcome was never in doubt after the Magic repeatedly kicked the ball away and Milwaukee converted them into dunks on the other end of the floor.

``I’m surprised because I really thought we had a great shoot-around today. There goes that theory of having great shoot-arounds and then going out and playing extremely well,’’ Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. ``I thought our focus and energy going into the game was really good. I’m really surprised by the results of tonight’s game.’’

Thursday’s defeat continued a stunning slide for a Magic team that seemed to have steadied itself after a poor start to the season and got to 9-14 with some inspired play. But since that Dec. 6 victory in Sacramento – one that wrapped up an impressive 3-3 West Coast swing – Orlando is a head-scratching 6-20.

Further frustrating matters is the fact that the Magic continue to struggle immensely at the Amway Center. They dropped to 5-16 at home, including a stretch of seven losses in the past eight home games.

``It’s hard right now, but there are better days ahead,’’ Magic guard Victor Oladipo said. ``It’s hard to see that right now, but you have to have the belief in yourself and your team to win. We have to stay strong.’’

Curiously, reserve center Dewayne Dedmon never played in the first three quarters of the game after the team had success with him on the floor Monday in Memphis. Dedmon was part of a Magic rotation that held Memphis to 36 second-half points and he was a plus-14 in his 30 minutes on the floor on Monday. But Vaughn explained that the Bucks playing wing player Jared Dudley at power forward negated the need to play Dedmon.

On this night, the Magic’s offense (24 turnovers) was nearly as sloppy as the defense (51.7 percent shooting allowed and outscored 23-18 on fastbreak). It was the 11th consecutive game that the Magic have allowed a foe to score at least 100 points and the fifth time in the past eight games that an opponent shot 50 percent or better from the floor.

In a possible sign of the Magic trying to do too much, six different players on the team had at least three turnovers. Orlando’s 24 turnovers led to 34 Milwaukee points.

``Going into this game, I thought our group felt really good and with the (negative) body language (throughout the game), that’s just basketball, just sports,’’ Vaughn said. ``One teams wins and one team losses and guys feel frustrated across the board. They want to win and we aren’t (winning) right now.’’

Orlando trailed by 10 points at the end of one period and by 15 at halftime. A 24-5 run by Milwaukee in the third quarter was the knockout punch and one that sent the Magic reeling into a 29-point hole.

``This is very frustrating. For myself it’s been a frustrating day, but we have to stay together as a team and pick each other up right now,’’ said Tobias Harris, who made just two of 12 shots and scored seven points as he continues to try and get comfortable off the bench. ``We can’t get away from doing what has been successful and that’s playing with each other. We’ve gotten away from playing together and it trickles down to the next guy and the next guy. It’s just a different vibe right now and that’s the most frustrating thing.’’

Oladipo scored 21 points, but it was a struggle with a poor start to the game and six of 17 shooting for the night. Rookie point guard Elfrid Payton, who was chosen to play in the Rising Stars Game at the NBA All-Star Game on Wednesday, scored 15 points and handed out six assists. Willie Green kept the Magic fighting throughout the fourth quarter and scored 16 points off the bench.

Milwaukee had seven players score in double digits, led by reserve guard Jerryd Bayless with 19 points. Brandon Knight, another all-star snub, had 16 points and nine assists for Milwaukee, winners of two straight.

Just before tip-off, the reserves for the Eastern and Western Conference squads for the Feb. 15 NBA All-Star Game were announced. Vucevic was left off – not because of his gaudy statistics, but likely because of the Magic’s lack of success this season. Orlando’s center is within a half-point of being the only player in the Eastern Conference to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds a game, but still Vucevic was passed over for his first all-star berth by coaches who voted for the reserves.

Vucevic, who had 17 points and 14 rebounds on Thursday for this 28th double-double of the season, could still be picked to the team as an injury replacement if some reserve goes down hurt.

On the first possession of the game, Vucevic missed a spinning shot in the lane and couldn’t convert on two follow-up tips. And things would only get worse from there for a Magic squad that got overwhelmed in the first half and trailed 59-44 at intermission.

By the time the game was 10 minutes old, Orlando was already down double digits – the sixth time that’s happened in the past seven games. Struggling because of defensive problems of late, Orlando had issues on the offensive end in the early going. The Magic made just eight of their first 25 shots and turned the ball over five times – issues that helped the Bucks race to a 13-2 advantage in fastbreak points.

``It’s on our minds and we don’t want to keep losing because it’s not something that we enjoy,’’ Vucevic said. ``It’s on all of our minds, but we have to find a way to get out of this. Nobody can help us but the guys that we have in this locker room. We’ve just got to keep playing, fighting and trying to find a way.’’

Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors.