ORLANDO – Many of the 17,456 fans jammed inside of the Amway Center on Wednesday will remember the exact moment when Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon finally broke free of a weeks-long offensive slump with two clutch 3-pointers and a double-pump, reverse dunk to cap the night.
For Magic head coach Steve Clifford, he’ll instead remember another tremendous contribution that Gordon made before the game-turning second half began – one that ultimately allowed the Magic to rally and run away from the New York Knicks in a 95-83 victory.
``He was very verbal … at halftime with his teammates about, `Hey, let’s get the ball moving. We’ve got to move the defense and move the ball,’’’ recalled Clifford, referring to a pep talk that Gordon had for his teammates just before the start of the second half. ``I thought he was instrumental in the energy level and the purpose that we had in the third quarter.’’
Gordon, who came into the game averaging just 7.0 points a game while shooting a paltry 29.2 percent, backed up his words with actions late in the night. He scored 10 of his 15 points in a fourth quarter that the Magic (2-2) dominated by a count of 23-16 over the rebuilding Knicks (1-4).
The first blow from the 6-foot-9, 225-pound Gordon came with 5:35 remaining and the Magic clinging to an 81-80 lead. Taking a feed from Nikola Vucevic, Gordon confidently buried a 25-foot 3-pointer from the right wing. Then, with 2:58 left and the Knicks back within four, Gordon drilled a 26-footer from the left corner off a Jonathan Isaac pass.
Not only were the Magic finally starting to resemble the team that shared the ball and finished last season with a flourish, they were playing with the purpose and pace that Gordon prodded out of them with his provocative pep talk before the start of the second half.
``My message was (about) the pace that we play at after the half. That’s been one of our struggles for quite some time – coming out after the half and being flat,’’ said Gordon, who made all four of his shots in a second half where the Magic were a plus-22 on the scoreboard in his 16 minutes on the floor. ``Basically, I was just trying to encourage us to get the ball up, run and move the defense. And I think it worked.’’
Did it ever? Orlando scored 32 points in the third quarter – the most in any period all season – and then it finished off New York in the fourth quarter with the defense. The Magic held New York scoreless for the final 4:25 of the game, allowing them to turn a two-point game into a 12-point victory.
``It can help us a lot because that second half was a lot better offensively,’’ said Vucevic, who had a big bounce-back night with 21 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. ``In the third quarter we put up 32 and then at the end of the game we made some big shots. Still, 95 (points) total is not where you want to be offensively; you need more than that now with the way the league going, but it was a better second half for us, for sure.’’
The noisy Wednesday night crowd at the Amway Center saw the Magic end a two-game losing streak with their best half of basketball of the young season. Also, Orlando improved to 2-0 at home on the season. Dating back to last spring when the Magic won their final nine home games of the regular season, the Magic have now won 11 straight at the Amway Center. That is the longest home winning spree since the Magic won 11 in a row at home over the course of the end of the 2008-09 season and the start of the 2009-10 season.
Vucevic, who struggled through a dismal one-of-13 shooting night in Monday’s loss in Toronto, was solid throughout and finished with his third double-double in four games. Evan Fournier scored 14 points and Jonathan Isaac chipped in 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Veteran point guard D.J. Augustin added five points and seven assists, while Al-Farouq Aminu scored nine points and grabbed eight boards. Markelle Fultz had seven points, an assist and a steal in 20 minutes off the bench.
Orlando rallied to shoot 42 percent from the floor in the game and made 12 of 32 3-pointers. The Knicks struggled to just 37.8 percent shooting against Orlando’s long-armed defense. Julius Randle scored 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out seven assists for the Knicks. Rookie R.J. Barrett scored nine points and made just four of 11 shots.
After a day of practice on Thursday, the Magic will prepare for their first – and possibly their most challenging – back-to-back set of games of the entire season. Orlando hosts reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday and then faces Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets back at the Amway Center on Saturday. Milwaukee was the NBA’s lone 60-win team last season, while Denver was a winner of 54 games and earned the No. 2 seed in the rugged Western Conference.
The Magic came into Wednesday ranking at or near the bottom of the NBA in most major offensive categories – 29thin scoring (96.0), 30thin field goal percentage (38.7 percent), 30thin 3-point shooting (26 percent) and 30thin offensive rating (93.8 points per 100 possessions). In their opening win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Magic shot 43 percent overall, but made just nine of 30 3-point shots. Then, things proceeded to get even worse offensively in losses to Atlanta (35.4 percent shooting and five of 31 from 3-point range) and Toronto (38.2 percent shooting and 12 of 39 from 3-point range).
Those struggles had Gordon brainstorming ways to get his team back on track most of the night before facing the Knicks. The 24-year-old forward spoke up after halftime, demanding and encouraging his teammates to play with more energy and aggression.
``I think the game a lot,’’ Gordon said afterward. ``I was thinking about the game (Tuesday) night, kind of thinking about what could get us in a better rhythm coming out of the half and offensively in general. Pace of play is something that’s going to help us out a lot.’’
Down two points at intermission, Orlando came out dialed in to start the second half. The Magic not only scored the first 11 points of the period, but their 32-point outburst was the team’s highest scoring quarter of the season. That run allowed the Magic to lead by as much as 13 in the quarter and take a 72-67 edge into the fourth quarter.
Orlando made 13 of 20 shots and four of six 3-point tries in the third period.
The fluidity and pace of the third period was a direct contrast to the sloppiness and sluggishness of an ugly first two quarters. The ending to the first half – a desperation 3-point heave by Fultz that was partially blocked by New York’s Marcus Morris – was emblematic of an ugly start to the night. New York led 44-42 more because of its seven blocked shots than anything it did offensively.
In the end, the Magic made their stellar play in the third period stand up with Gordon’s clutch shooting in the tense moments of the fourth. After struggling over the final week of the preseason and throughout the first two weeks of the regular season, Gordon admitted that it was good to see some success finally come for the Magic’s offense.
``It was good, man,’’ a relieved Gordon said. ``(His shooting) was just a part of the process, getting to the open spots and trusting my teammates … being in the right place and they found me. They made great passes and allowed me to shoot a shot in rhythm.’’
Now in his sixth NBA season, Gordon admitted there were many times early in his career when he never would have spoken up with a passionate plea to teammates the way he did on Wednesday. A captain and clearly one of the organization’s foundational pieces, Gordon said he feels even more ownership in the team’s successes and failures and he’s more comfortable being in a leadership position.
Early in his career, Gordon played for a revolving door of head coaches that included Jacques Vaughn, James Borrego, Scott Skiles and Frank Vogel. Now, he said he has a newfound confidence while playing for the no-nonsense Clifford, who led franchise to the playoffs last spring in his first season back in Orlando as head coach.
``I’m way more comfortable now (being a leader) because I didn’t really understand how the NBA worked my rookie year, sophomore year, junior year and really my fourth year,’’ Gordon admitted. ``There was so much in and out and uncertainty within the organization. There were five different coaches, six different coaches and different GMs, so I didn’t even understand who I was learning from, who to listen to and who to not listen to.
``After seeing all of that, along with (learning from) the vets like D.J. (Augustin), (Al-Farouq Aminu) and (Vucevic), that’s given me the confidence to know an appropriate way to speak and an appropriate way to let my teammates know that we’re going to win here,’’ he added. ``I respect (Clifford) a ton and he’s an incredible coach. For him to say (Gordon led the team on Wednesday), that was cool. But I was doing it so we could win the game, not so that I could get the recognition.’’
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