By John Denton Jan. 31, 2014
ORLANDO – E’Twaun Moore aggressively drove down the lane to collapse the defense before flipping the ball over his shoulder to Maurice Harkless on the wing. Without hesitation, Harkless shuffled the ball onto the corner where a waiting Arron Afflalo drilled a 3-pointer as the first-half horn sounded.
It was a bit of perfect execution from the Orlando Magic on Friday and a microcosm of an otherwise flawless first half for a team that was in desperate need of something to feel good about.
Orlando took out some pent-up frustration on the Milwaukee Bucks – easily the NBA’s worst team – by capping a spectacular 67-point first half with Afflalo’s perfectly timed 3-pointer. That strong start, keyed by Afflalo’s strong desire to prove all-star voters wrong, paved the way to the Magic’s 113-102 thumping of an injury-ravaged Bucks team at the Amway Center.
``It felt pretty good. When we play that way, we’re a pretty good team,’’ Magic center Nikola Vucevic said of the team’s crisp ball movement. ``We’re hard to guard when we’re moving and being active. When we play defense and people are moving it’s hard to guard. We’ve just got to keep doing this. We’ve done it in games that we’ve won and now we have to do it over and over again. That’s our way to win.’’
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