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Postgame Report: Magic vs. Nets

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

ORLANDO – Clutch so many times before this season in make-or-break, end-of-game situations, Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier didn’t want to hear about the odds evening out or how even the best players sometimes fail to come through on buzzer-beating shots.

Fournier, the hero of Magic wins over Cleveland and Detroit with his last-second heroics, came up short on Friday when he had a shot to tie the game and force overtime. Afterward, he not only didn’t make excuses about missing a 7-footer at the horn, but he talked about expecting himself to come through for an Orlando team that leans so heavily on him late in games.

``A great look, to be honest, and I couldn’t ask for more, but I just missed it,’’ said Fournier, whose Magic had to try and digest the disgust of blowing a big lead and losing 117-115 to the upstart Brooklyn Nets at the Amway Center.

Some 2½ weeks earlier, Fournier drilled a 15-foot floater over the outstretched arm of Detroit center Andre Drummond for an Orlando victory. Earlier this season, Fournier drilled a long jumper at the horn to beat Cleveland and against Denver he had a dunk on the final play of regulation to force overtime. On Friday, he once again had the ball in the middle of the floor and created space against shot-blocking center Jarret Allen, but his try hit the front iron and bounced away as the final horn sounded.

``I should have made that one, to be honest,’’ he said. ``My last step wasn’t as strong as it needed to be, I lost a little bit of power and that’s why it was short. But that’s a shot that I’ve got to make. You can say, `you’re not going to make it all the time,’ but that’s a shot that I’ve got to make.’’

Fournier’s frustration was just one aspect of a night where several things seemed to go wrong for the Magic, who are now 19-26 after losing two heartbreaking games in the past three nights. After blowing a two-point lead late and losing in overtime on Wednesday in Detroit, Orlando squandered a 21-point first-half lead on Friday against Brooklyn (24-23). Orlando was up 111-103 with 4:50 to play, but it didn’t score again until Nikola Vucevic converted a hook shot with 33.6 seconds left that knotted the score at 113.

The Nets, winners of 16 of their past 21 games, led 2-0 early in the game and not again until standout point guard D’Angelo Russell drilled a tiebreaking, step-back 3-pointer over Fournier with 27.1 seconds to play. Russell, who went to high school in suburban Orlando at Montverde Academy, scored 19 consecutive points for Brooklyn late in the first half and tied his career high with 40 points.

Brooklyn moved to 8-0 this season in games decided by five points or less. Also, in ``clutch games’’ – games where the score is within five points at some point in the final five minutes of action – the Nets are an impressive 10-2.

``We’ve got a gutsy group,’’ said Russell, who made 16 of 25 shots and eight of 12 3-pointers and scored 40 points without a free throw attempt – just the 12thplayer in NBA history to do so.
After Russell’s 3-pointer, Orlando failed on a chance to tie the score again when shooting guard Terrence Ross made only two of three free throws. ``You just swallow it and move on,’’ said Ross (13 points) of his missed free throw.

Seconds later, Fournier missed on his runner, but Vucevic said that was far from the only reason why the Magic fell on Friday.

``(Fournier) got a good look and came up short, but we didn’t lose because he didn’t make that shot,’’ said Vucevic, who had 16 points, 17 rebounds and six assists while also grabbing the 5,000thboard of his career in the guts of the game. ``We lost because we didn’t do a lot of little things that we needed to throughout the game. We had a lead and had things going our way, but we just didn’t finish the game off.’’

The loss might prove to be doubly painful for the Magic as standout power forward Aaron Gordon wrenched his lower back late in the third quarter and was able to only play 2 minutes, 41 seconds in the fourth period because of tightness in his low back. Gordon suffered a similar injury on Nov. 26, and it kept him out of action for 1½ games.

Orlando missed Gordon on both ends of the floor. He finished with 23 points on nine-of-13 shooting and three-of-four accuracy from the 3-point line. The Magic lost for the first time this season when Gordon scored at least 22 points after going 7-0 in the previous instances. This one, however, might deserve an asterisk after the way Gordon was unable to play over the final nine minutes.

``It’s always sucks when you can’t help your team,’’ Gordon said. ``My back locked up on me and I kept playing for a little bit, but I was moving way too slow. I didn’t feel it building; it was a loose ball and I went for it, but somebody else got it. When I changed directions, I felt (the back) grab.’’

Friday’s game was the start of the Magic’s third set of back-to-back games where they play both games at the Amway Center. Orlando swept the first two such instances this season, beating the Lakers and Knicks on consecutive nights in November and edging the Celtics and Rockets in stirring fashion last week.

Orlando will play the second half of the back-to-back on Saturday at the Amway Center against the East-leading Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee, which won in Memphis on Wednesday, has won three straight and eight of 10 to grab the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Potentially not having Gordon – the team’s ace defender all season – against Milwaukee superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo could be a tricky proposition for the Magic.

``I watched (Friday’s loss) from (the Magic locker room) and I thought we had it. We played hard but we just had a couple of mistakes down at the end,’’ said Gordon, who said the lower back stiffness he experienced felt similar to the pain he had in November. ``Injuries are a part of the game and I’ve just got to do a better job of taking care of my body so that I can be out there helping my team.’’

Brooklyn shot just 45.4 percent from the floor, but it made 19 3-pointers. Orlando shot 50 percent and led by 21 points in the second quarter. However, it got outscored 32-28 in the third period and 31-20 in the fourth by the Nets.

``Even for this league, they have a lineup that’s very difficult to defend,’’ Magic coach Steve Clifford said of a Brooklyn late-game grouping of Spencer Dinwiddie (20 points and three 3-pointers), Allen (six points, 10 rebounds and four blocks), DeMarre Carroll (10 points), Joe Harris (11 points and three 3-pointers) and Russell. ``It’s a ton of skill and a ton of shooting.

D.J. Augustin scored 17 points and handed out four assists, while Fournier chipped in 16 points and eight rebounds for the Magic.

Friday’s game featured the much-anticipated return of Magic center Mo Bamba and the prized rookie did not disappoint. After missing four games and more than a week with a bruised left foot, Bamba shot the ball with confidence and gave Orlando a tremendous lift off the bench. In the early going, Bamba repeatedly burned Brooklyn center Ed Davis, who backed off and dared him to shoot. Bamba finished with nine points in 15 minutes.

Surging Brooklyn is easily one of the hottest teams in the NBA, beating Boston and Houston earlier in the week and winning 16 of 21 since starting the season 8-18. The Nets used that hot streak to climb to the No. 6 spot in the East – four games clear of Orlando now. Orlando and Nets face each other again in Brooklyn on Wednesday.

Up 13 at intermission, Orlando made its first six shots of the third period to push the lead to 17 and threaten to run away from the game. However, the Nets heated up from deep, drilling five 3-pointers in the period to get within 95-86 by the end of the third quarter.

Orlando saw a nearly flawless first half fizzle late in the second period, but it still took a 67-54 lead into the locker room. The Magic made 11 of their first 15 shots of the second period to build a 58-37 lead, but that’s about the time that Russell started to heat up.

The Brooklyn guard, who played high school basketball in suburban Orlando at Montverde Academy, scored the Nets’ final 19 points of the first half. In the game’s first 24 minutes, he drilled nine of 14 shots and six of eight 3-pointers for 24 points.

Fournier said the Magic actually lost the game long before his shot just before the horn rimmed out. Letting Russell get going in the second and third quarters following a two-of-six start to the night proved to be Orlando’s undoing.

``We just made more mistakes than they did down the stretch and that’s how they came back into the game,’’ said Fournier, who had success earlier in the week guarding reigning MVP James Harden. ``(Russell) made some tough shots, for sure. But we kind of gave him some open looks at the end of the first (quarter) and late in the second (quarter). Guys that talented, you can’t let them get into a rhythm and you have to stay on them the whole game. That’s what happen when guys get comfortable – they start hitting tough shots.’’

Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors.