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ORLANDO - Basketball is truly a game of inches.
A great example of that came on the final two possessions of Wednesday’s game in Orlando.
Just before blocking De’Aaron Fox’s shot, Jonathan Isaac got a piece of the Spurs guard’s wrist as he went into his shooting motion. That sent Fox to the free throw line, where he buried the go-ahead foul shots with 1.4 seconds left.
Then, after Franz Wagner caught the inbounds pass from Anthony Black as the 6-foot-10 forward was cutting to the basket, Luke Kornet slid in from behind and blocked Wagner’s potential tying shot as time expired to give San Antonio a 114-112 victory at Kia Center.
The loss snapped Orlando’s three-game winning streak.
The Magic rallied in the fourth quarter after trailing by as many as 15 in the game and by six with under two minutes remaining. Wagner, after getting fouled on a 3-point attempt, tied it with three free throws with 7.7 seconds left.
“It wasn’t the fourth quarter that got us. It was the second quarter and the way we started the game,” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley said. “It was those pieces. We lose it at the end, but our process and our spirit wasn’t right for this game.”
One would have thought the Spurs would walk into Kia Center with tired legs having played the night before at home against the Grizzlies. But that didn’t appear to be the case, as San Antonio came out red-hot and then hit enough big shots down the stretch.
“Give San Antonio a ton of credit,” Mosley said. “Coming in on a back-to-back, getting in late and staying disciplined, staying focused and doing the job they needed to do coming in here.”
Fox racked up 31 points, rookie Dylan Harper scored 16 and Devin Vassell finished with 15 points.
Wagner led the Magic with 25 points, Jalen Suggs scored 24 before fouling out late and Desmond Bane recorded 14 points. Rookie Jase Richardson played crucial minutes in the second half and finished with eight points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Strange about the game was that Orlando actually did a lot of things well despite coming up short. It forced San Antonio into 19 turnovers, which led to 23 Magic points. It outscored the Spurs in the paint 64-42 and the Magic racked up 21 fast break points.
What the Spurs did extremely well was keep the Magic off the free throw line. Orlando, which ranks No. 1 in the league this season in free throw attempts, only took 19 of them, 11 fewer than its season average.
Paolo Banchero missed his 10th straight game for Orlando with a left groin injury, while Victor Wembanyama (calf) and Stephon Castle (hip) were out for San Antonio.
The Magic will now look to bounce back on Friday when they host the Miami Heat at 7 p.m. Their NBA Cup quarterfinal matchup will take place next Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 6 p.m. Sandwiched in between those two games is a Magic at Knicks contest on Sunday at 12 p.m.