featured-image

Postgame Report: Magic vs. Kings (11/21/15)

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John Denton

Nov. 21, 2015

ORLANDO – Because they don’t have a team full of elite 3-point shooters and they regularly struggle in getting to the free throw line, the Orlando Magic’s margin for error quite often is paper-thin.

Throw in a bundle of turnovers, troubles in transition – this time on both ends of the floor – and a puzzling absence of fight midgame on Saturday and it’s not difficult to see why the Magic succumbed to the Sacramento Kings at the Amway Center.

All of Orlando’s warts came to the surface at the same time on Saturday as Sacramento used a game-turning 22-2 run late in the third quarter to set the stage for a 97-91 defeat of the Magic.

Third quarters have been a trouble spot for Orlando all season, but usually they emerge at the start coming out of halftime. This time around, however, the Magic inexplicably came unglued over the final 5:03 of the third period, allowing the struggling Kings to run past them.

Up four midway through the third period, Orlando got sloppy on both ends of the floor and yielded the 22-2 stretch that put Sacramento firmly in control. The Magic made several runs at the Kings in the fourth, but they could never overcome their third-quarter sloppiness.

How bad was it? During the stretch where Orlando went from up 65-61 to being down 83-67, the Magic missed seven of eight shots, turned the ball over five times and failed to get to the free throw line even once. Sacramento, a team that came into the game 0-4 on the road, made eight straight shots at one point, got eight points off Orlando’s turnovers and drilled all five of its free throw attempts.

``They made a run and at the end of the day we have to be able to come back stronger than that,’’ said forward Tobias Harris, who scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half, but he was unable to keep the Magic afloat. ``Twenty-two points to two is too much and we’ve have to find a balance when shots aren’t falling for us to be locked in on the defensive end. We have to always be locked in defensively and we weren’t ever able to do that.’’

Not in possession of a better-than-.500 record since Nov. 6, 2013, the Magic (6-7) will have to wait a little bit longer for such a distinction because of the forgettable finish to the third quarter. Orlando saw its modest two-game winning streak come to an end as well as its four-game winning spree at the Amway Center. Sacramento (5-9) won on the road for the first time in five tries.

Orlando tried rallying in the fourth, but it caught a bad break with 5:59 to play. Evan Fournier’s layup that would have cut the score to 88-82 was disallowed when referee Josh Tiven called the Magic guard for an offensive foul. As Fournier went up to lay the ball in his elbow appeared to clip Sacramento’s Darren Collison in the chin. An emotional Fournier objected, resulting in Orlando third technical foul of the game.

It was that kind of day for Fournier, who entered leading the Magic in scoring and coming off a game-winning 3-pointer in overtime on Wednesday night. However, Fournier missed nine of his first 10 shots on Saturday, finished just seven of 20 and he misfired on eight of his 11 3-point shots.

``We couldn’t keep up with the pace. (Sacramento point guard Rajon) Rondo was just running, running and running – made baskets, missed (baskets), free throws, whatever,’’ said Fournier, who scored 17 points. ``We had no answer for Rondo and (DeMarcus) Cousins.’’

Orlando had little working offensively (41.3 percent shooting and 17 turnovers) or defensively. The Magic put the Kings on the free throw line 31 times and they were outscored by a whopping 22 points from the charity stripe – a problem most of the season. Cousins, who had 29 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three steals and three blocks, made 13 of 15 free throws – far more than the Magic (six of eight) in both categories.

``We have some habits we’re trying to clean up where we have a guy driving and maybe we have him in good position and he goes to shoot and we lack discipline to be vertical,’’ said Magic coach Scott Skiles, whose team was whistled for 26 fouls. ``And we were playing against a team that was predominantly switching (defensively) most of the game. The scarier thing is that we only shot eight free throws ourselves while they were (switching bigger defenders onto Orlando’s wing players). Professional players, when bigger players are switching onto you, you’ve got to take advantage of that and we didn’t do a good job of that.’’

Nikola Vucevic had 11 points and 11 rebounds, but he didn’t play in the fourth quarter for a second straight game. Victor Oladipo, who was playing his second game after suffering a concussion on Nov. 11, chipped in 11, but he didn’t score in the second half.

Said Vucevic: ``The third quarter was a big run by them and we never responded. We went into mistake after mistake after mistake. They took advantage of it and we didn’t respond. They kept going and we never responded.’’

Rondo, long a Magic killer with his ability to push the pace, made his first 3-point shots, scored 13 points, handed out nine assists, grabbed seven rebounds and swiped three steals. Sacramento won despite shooting just 38.3 percent from the floor.

Saturday’s game was tipped off two hours earlier than normal after it was picked by the NBA to be televised internationally to 21 countries around the globe. It was just more international exposure for a Magic franchise that played a preseason game in Brazil and is scheduled to play a regular-season game in London on Jan. 14.

``We came apart right when the ball was thrown up tonight,’’ Skiles said. ``We got open threes and couldn’t make them and had a bunch of fastbreak opportunities and couldn’t convert. We couldn’t find a way to stabilize ourselves. In the fourth quarter, obviously, we played better. We had more energy and more purpose, but you can’t wait until the last 10, 12 minutes of a game to start playing.’’

The Magic play next in Cleveland on Monday against LeBron James, Kevin Love and the Cavaliers. The Magic will be home for the Thanksgiving Day holiday, hosting the New York Knicks on Wednesday and the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.

The Magic came into Wednesday’s game ranked first in the NBA in first-quarter field goal percentage and 3-point percentage, but they got off to a slow start on Saturday for a second straight game. After slogging through Wednesday’s first quarter and first half, the Magic made just 10 of 23 shots in Saturday’s first quarter and 20 of 48 in the first half. That left Orlando in a 53-47 hole at intermission.

Said Skiles: ``We started the game with so many open looks, just one after another and none of them were even in and out. I’m surprised the rim didn’t come crashing down on some of (the missed shots). They weren’t close and that can cause you to be demoralized, for sure, but you hope that you’re not that weak.’’

Orlando’s most consistent player all season and the hero of Wednesday’s victory, Fournier couldn’t buy a break early on versus the Kings. The Magic’s leading scorer missed his first seven shots before converting a dunk in transition. After the ball passed through the net, Fournier playfully kissed it – drawing a delay of game warning from the referees.

``My first six or seven shots I was wide open,’’ Fournier said incredulously. ``I mean, it was great movement and great basketball and I just couldn’t make it. I was obviously very frustrated by that, but you can’t focus on that. (The kiss of the basketball) was just a way to say, `Ahhhh, finally!’’’

Some 12 days ago, Orlando had a game in Indiana and needed a win to even its record at .500. The Magic led by three late in that game only to endure a 5-minute skid where they either missed shots or turned the ball over on nine straight possessions as the Pacers used a 12-0 run for the win.

This time around, Orlando shook itself out of its first-half slumber and seemed poised to defeat the Kings and claim a winning record for the first time in two years. But once again, they were done in by an unsightly skid – this time 22-2 over the final 5:03 of the third quarter.

Until the team can figure out how to respond to midgame adversity like that it will likely continue to be an inconsistent squad that simply hovers around .500 and is unable to gain much traction in the standings, Vucevic said.

``It’s disappointing because we play well one game and then another game we don’t,’’ Vucevic said. ``We get to .500 and have a chance to get into the winning column and when you don’t do it over and over, it’s frustrating. But we’ve got to stay together because it’s early in the season. It’s not the end of the world, but we have to figure this thing out pretty soon if we want to get to where we want to be.’’