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By John DentonDec. 30, 2015
ORLANDO – Sloppy and sluggish most of a sleepy Wednesday night at the Amway Center, the Orlando Magic certainly could have used a blast from the past and a record-setting performance from a point guard.
That Wednesday just so happened to be the 25-year anniversary of former point guard and current head coach Scott Skiles setting some NBA history with 30 assists on Dec. 30, 1990 only added to the intrigue of a night when Orlando desperately sought a spark.
Orlando lost hobbled and ill point guard Elfrid Payton early in the game, but a couple of perfectly timed assists – fitting, no? – from Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris allowed the Magic to rally past Brooklyn 100-93.
The Magic (19-13) trailed 93-92 when Vucevic took the ball in the post, drew a double-team and found a cutting Harris for a layup that put them into the lead with 45 seconds to play. Seconds earlier, with the Magic down three, Harris drove hard to the middle of the floor to draw a crowd and open up a layup for Vucevic.
``For 40-something minutes we couldn’t get anything going and there was a lot of mistakes on both ends of the floor, but at the end were were able to get something going with a couple of nice plays,’’ said Vucevic, who notched his seventh straight 20-point performance with 20 points, nine rebounds and three assists. ``Tobias dumped that one off to me and then I was able to find him and we made some big defensive plays. We just found a way tonight and that’s great for us.’’
Added Harris, who had a key follow-up dunk in the third quarter and 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists: ``It’s just about everybody making the right play for each other and making the right play for the team. There are a lot of situations where we lost the ball movement, but we were able to get it back at the end and make plays.’’
Orlando closed Wednesday game with a confident and decisive 10-0 run.
Orlando, which has won seven of its last nine games, improved to 13-5 since Nov. 25 – the best record in the Eastern Conference over that time period. Also, the Magic moved to 10-5 in December. The last time they had a 10-win month was February 2012 when they went 11-4. The last time the Magic had a 10-win December was 2008 when they went 12-3.
``I think we’re starting to believe in ourselves and we’re getting confidence that we know that the system works and the coaching staff is really point us in the right direction,’’ said power forward Jason Smith, who opened the fourth quarter with six straight points to ignite a Magic rally. ``I’ve said that since Day One that this coaching staff has done a great job really giving us a great sense of direction and a plan to go and get wins. We’ve done that so far. We have a lot of things to get better at, but we’ve done pretty well so far.’’
It was Dec. 30, 1990 when Skiles – then a point guard for the Magic in their second year of existence – handed out a NBA-record 30 assists in the 155-116 rout of the Denver Nuggets. Skiles’ mark has stood the test of test, going 25 years without anyone even approaching a record that may never be broken.
It was only fitting that the Magic celebrated the anniversary of their coach’s record with brilliant passes by Vucevic and Harris.
``We had two nice passing plays at the end,’’ said Skiles, who has helped the Magic make one of the NBA’s biggest turnarounds since his hiring in late May. ``We had a hard time, really, all night getting anything going. We had to try and find a way at the end; somebody needed to make plays for us and those two guys made two good plays.’’
Vucevic came into Wednesday riding a streak of six consecutive 20-point performances – the second-longest active streak in the NBA. Over those six games he averaged 23.7 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting 58.8 percent from the floor.
That caught the attention of the Nets (9-23), who sent double teams at the 7-footer to slow him down. He had eight points in the fourth, but his biggest play came after his patient approach in the post when he found a cutting Harris. Vucevic has 12 three-assist games in December and 16 assists in his past three games.
``They started (double-teaming) again and on the last play I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t a lot of time on the clock and make sure I got the best shot or made the best play that I could. That was the most important time of the game,’’ said Vucevic, said who ended December by averaging 19.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists – just the second player in Magic history to average at least 17 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in a month. Shaquille O’Neal (four times) was the other.
``I was patient, (Brooklyn’s Bojan) Bogdanovic was helping but not really coming (to double) and Tobias made a great cut and I was able to find him,’’ Vucevic added. ``he was able to make a great catch and finish and that was a big play for us. In games like that where it’s hard to get something going, if you have a chance at the end you have to make sure you make the right play.’’
Evan Fournier gave the Magic 17 points and five assists – 12 of those points coming in the second half. Aaron Gordon scored 10 points and blocked two shots off the bench.
Magic guard Victor Oladipo confidently stroked his first shot of the night – a 3-pointer from the left wing – but then he fell back into the shooting struggles that have haunted him for nearly a month. The cat-quick guard struggled to convert both at the rim and from the perimeter, missing his next six shot attempts. He finished with 12 points on three of 11 shooting, but he did sink two clutch free throws with 16.6 seconds to play.
``A lot of people are worried about the numbers – me not shooting well and me not finishing well – but at the end of the day I’m just about winning,’’ Oladipo said. ``I’m doing what I can to help us win.’’
Brook Lopez, who was badly outplayed by Vucevic in Brooklyn two weeks ago, had 24 points and 15 rebounds. Bogdanovic added 20 points for Brooklyn.
Orlando beat the Nets 105-82 in Brooklyn on Dec. 14 – a game that sparked a three-game winning streak and a stretch of five victories in six games.
The Magic leave on Thursday for a short, but very challenging road trip over the next five nights. Orlando plays in Washington (Friday), in Cleveland (Saturday) and in suburban Detroit (Monday). The Magic are 0-2 against both the Wizards and the Cavaliers this season and will be playing the vastly improved Pistons for the first time this season.
Payton, who has never missed a basketball at any level because of an injury, tried to play through injury and illness on Wednesday, but he was lifted just five minutes into the game. Payton, who was still healing from a left ankle injury suffered two weeks ago, sprained his right ankle in Wednesday’s rout of New Orleans. He also missed Wednesday morning’s shoot-around session because of an illness.
Skiles said before the game that he and Athletic Trainer Keon Weise were on the fence about playing Payton, but the decision was made to lift the point guard from the game early in the night.
Down seven points at the break, the Magic made a charge in the third quarter to within three of the lead, but they couldn’t maintain it. Orlando’s defense was much better after halftime, forcing six turnovers in the third and it headed into the fourth trailing the Nets 73-68. That was potentially troubling considering that the Magic came into Wednesday just 4-8 when trailing after three periods.
But on this night, the Magic found a way to win the game – fittingly enough – with their passing. Before the game, the Amway Center JumboTron showed highlights from 25 years ago when Skiles led fast break after fast break and etched his name in the record books with his flawless passing. This time, the Magic once again found a way to win by sharing the ball and setting up teammates for open looks.
``I just thought that we made the right play,’’ Harris said of Orlando’s passing. ``Defensively we were there for each other. We were scrappy in those last couple of minutes, we were able to get our hands on some balls and we kept it moving with our passing. That helped us get out of here with a win.’’