Maybe it was the effects of a long roadtrip or simply the product of a short-handed team missing a key post player, but the Magic didn’t have nearly as much crispness offensively as it did in a well-played game two nights earlier in Portland.
Afflalo, Nelson and Davis were pulled from the game with 5:09 to play and Orlando trailing 93-75. Afflalo made just three of 12 shots, but did manage 15 points by making all eight of his free throws. Davis (12 points and 12 rebounds) missed his first six shots and even threw his palms into the air when he hit his first field goal in the second quarter. And Nelson didn’t have nearly as much effectiveness as his 17-point, 10-assist effort on Wednesday by missing nine of 11 shots on Friday.
In all, Orlando’s starting five of Victor Oladipo (13 points), Harris (16 points), Nelson, Afflalo and Davis combined to make just 19 of 59 shots (32.2 percent).
``I thought overall we got some good looks, but the ball just didn’t go in,’’ Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. ``They score 103 and basically we kept them at 100, which has been a decent mark for us, but the ball just didn’t go in. We had a little juice at the end of the third, but you just have to fight that mental battle when you don’t see the ball go in.’’
At one point of the second quarter, Harris was Orlando’s leading scorer with 10 points yet the team had been outscored by 11 points while he was one the floor. Oladipo tried leading the Magic back in the fourth quarter, getting them within 85-75 on a dazzling spinning layup.
But whatever hope the Magic had dissolved from there as the Kings (12-22) pulled away for the easy victory.
``We definitely had to expend a lot of energy to get back into the game,’’ Vaughn said. ``That unit that was out there and got us within striking distance, it was good to see them compete and do some good things on both ends of the floor.’’
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