featured-image

Postgame Report: Magic vs. Nets (4/15/15)

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John DentonApril 15, 2015

NEW YORK – In a scene that was entirely emblematic of Orlando’s sour season, the Magic showed flashes of greatness throughout and dominated Wednesday’s regular-season finale for 38 minutes only to see it all slip away down the stretch.

Because far too many games played out just like Wednesday’s frustrating finish in Brooklyn, Orlando will once again be on the outside looking in when the playoffs begin this weekend.

Hopeful of ending the season with some positive momentum, the Magic led at the end of the first quarter, at halftime and two minutes into the final period of the season. But a lead that was once 12 in the second half vanished when Orlando failed to execute offensively and once again got torched on the defensive end by a lightly regarded perimeter player.

A Brooklyn team that needed to win to keep its slim playoff hopes alive got a big game from Bojan Bogdanovic (12 of 17 shooting, four 3-pointers and a career-best 28 points) as the Nets rallied past Orlando 101-88 at the Barclays Center.

Orlando (25-57) led by as much as 12 points in the second half, but it was outscored 48-23 over the final 20 minutes of the game. The Magic also got doubled up 26-13 in the final period to end the season with three straight defeats. The Magic led in the fourth quarter of 20 of the 30 games under interim coach James Borrego, but they managed to win just 10 of those over the final third of the season.

Staring disgustedly at the locker room floor after the game, Magic point guard Elfrid Payton – a leading candidate for the NBA’s Rookie of the year award – vowed that he and his Magic teammates will spend the summer working to make sure there is no repeat of this season next year.

``We always give ourselves a chance to win and sometimes that all that you can ask for, but going into the offseason we’re going to work on being able to close out these games in the fourth quarter,’’ Payton said. ``We had some success in these last games (last week in wins against Chicago, Milwaukee and Minnesota), but we’ve got to be able to do it consistently.

``Next year we’re going to be over the hump – simple as that,’’ Payton said confidently.

Magic center Nikola Vucevic had an especialy strong finish with 26 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Standout guard Victor Oladipo, who made huge strides in his game in season two at the pro level, pumped in 19 points and three 3-pointers. Payton concluded his stellar rookie season with six assists, two points and three rebounds.

``I thought we played well, did a good job of fighting and keeping ourselves in the game,’’ Oladipo said. ``Now, we’ve just got to work hard and get better so that we can make big plays down the stretch in fourth quarters.’’

A Magic team that experienced a bevy of erratic highs and lows throughout the season will miss the playoffs for a third straight season. Orlando reached the postseason six straight years from 2007-12 under head coaches Brian Hill and Stan Van Gundy, but it hasn’t captured a playoff series victory since a lopsided sweep of the Atlanta Hawks in the second round of the 2010 playoffs.

Borrego, who hopes to be considered strongly for the full-time head coaching position after improving Orlando’s interior defense and sharing of the ball, feels the future is bright for Orlando.

``I told the group that we’re not that far away,’’ said Borrego, who has been on the Orlando staff for three years and is held in high regard among the Magic’s management team. ``In 20 of our 30 games together we’ve had the lead at some point of the fourth quarter. We led again tonight against a hungry, playoff-driven team. Our goal now is to use this as fuel. These 20 losses, we’re going to use them as fuel to get better. We have a huge summer ahead of us. We’re not that far away and the future is bright here.’’

A week ago, Orlando was in possession of a three-game winning streak following a thrilling defeat of the Chicago Bulls at the Amway Center. The Magic were 10 seconds away from extending that streak to four games for the first time in three seasons before Toronto’s Lou Williams buried a 3-pointer that buried Orlando. From there, Orlando had uninspired efforts against New York and Miami in losses before Wednesday’s well-played finale.

Payton, a leading candidate for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award, came into Wednesday’s finale needing 17 assists to tie Penny Hardaway’s franchise record for assists by a rookie (544 in the 1993-94 season). Payton, whom the Magic acquired in a draft-day trade last June, finished with 533 assists. He is among a group that includes Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins, Chicago’s Nikola Mirotic, Philadelphia’s Nerlens Noel and Los Angeles Lakers point guard Jordan Clarkson for the Rookie of the Year award.

``I’ve gotten off to a good start and I think I had a pretty good season, honestly,’’ said Payton, who was the only player on the Magic roster to play in all 82 games this season. ``This is what I expected. I expected to have a few ups and downs, but I also expected also to get better as the season went on. I think that I did that. With that being said, I think I set a nice base for myself and now it’s time to improve. I think I can get a whole lot better and that’s my goal this summer.’’

Orlando was without key pieces as Tobias Harris (sore Achilles tendon) and Evan Fournier (sore hip), who were rested for precautionary reasons. Harris set career highs in points (17.1 ppg.), assists (1.8 apg.), blocks (0.5 bpg.), steals (1.0 spg.) and 3-point shooting (36.4 percent). Fournier, who was acquired on draft night last June, also set career highs in points (12 ppg.), assists (2.1 apg.) and steals (0.7 spg.).
Harris, who will most likely become a restricted free agent on July 1, thinks that the Magic can make significant improvements this offseason and come back a vastly better team next season.

``For our team to make that next step, we have to improve ourselves. We have to work on our games and really get better,’’ Harris said. ``We have to come in with a hunger and an attitude that we’re disappointed with this year. We have to get over the hump as a team and take the next step, but it’s only going to come from the work that we put in.’’

Orlando headed into the final quarter of the season knotted into a 75-all tie with the Nets. But the Magic needed a last-second free throw to pull even after seeing the Nets go on a 22-9 run to wipe out a 12-point Magic lead. When Andrew Nicholson buried his second 3-pointer of the third period, Orlando shockingly led 65-53 and boos were emanating from the Barclays Center crowd.

Orlando’s advantage would be short-lived as Bogdanovic heated up with one jumper after another. The rookie forward had 22 points through three quarters by making 10 of his first 14 shots.

And in the fourth quarter, Brooklyn turned an 80-77 deficit into a 91-82 advantage with a game-sealing 14-2 burst. A lapse in focus by the Magic allowed Brooklyn to get four consecutive points from Mason Plumlee to start the game-turning spurt. Plumlee converted a reverse dunk as he was tapped by Andrew Nicholson. Then, when there was no box out on the enduring free throw, Plumlee followed up his own miss with another basket that put Brooklyn ahead 81-80.

That basket took away Orlando’s final lead of the season. Oladipo promised that there will come a day real soon when the Magic learn how to close out tight games like Wednesday’s – and so many others this season – that were infinitely winnable.

``This is temporary,’’ Oladipo said. ``That’s motivation in itself. This year, we just need to use it as fuel and fire. This summer needs to be all about winning. We need to have that mentality that we’re going to do whatever it takes to win.’’

Playing free and with nothing to lose, Orlando dominated much of the first 24 minutes and led 52-48 at the half. Orlando’s stellar play early on caused some understandable angst in the Barclays Center and some in the crowd jeered the Nets at halftime as the squad left the floor.

Orlando shot 53.3 percent of its shots, drilled four 3-pointers and handed out 13 assists on its 20 field goals in the first two quarters. The Magic led 18-10 after making eight of their first 12 shots and they led for 21 of the 24 minutes in the first half.

Coming off one of his worst games in a Magic uniform on Monday in Miami, Vucevic throttled the Nets for 14 points, five rebounds and four assists in the first half. He got badly outplayed by journeyman center Hassan Whiteside on Monday, but bounced back in Wednesday’s finale to make seven of his first nine shots.

There was also a Kyle O’Quinn sighting in the first half, and the versatile power forward/center who has been buried in the rotation for weeks made contributions on both ends of the floor. In nine first-half minutes, O’Quinn – a native of nearby Queens – had eight points, six rebounds and a blocked shot. He stuffed a Mason Plumlee layup that led to a Magic 3-pointer on the other end of the floor. And O’Quinn ended the half with a hustle play that resulted in a tip-in basket off a free throw miss by Oladipo. O’Quinn finished the game with nine points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes.

When he addressed the Magic in the locker room after the finale, Borrego told the team that each player needed to look themselves in the mirror and focus on getting better this offseason. Individual improvement, Borrego said, is one way that Orlando can make big strides next season.

``What we can control is getting better,’’ Borrego said. ``The group that we have and the men in that locker room, what they can control is working to get better. That’s where we have to put our focus right now. We can’t look to the outside; we have look to what we have, build on it, grow and let this season drive us to get better.’’