Orlando Magic Recap: Same Game, Different Day. Orlando Magic Fall to Atlanta Hawks Late, 95-83
By Zach Palmer
The Orlando Magic fought hard for three quarters but once again could not close the deal in their 95-83 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
95. 125. Final. 83. 38
It has gotten stale hasn’t it? The Magic once again put up a good fight for the first three quarters of the game only to unravel in the fourth quarter.
Through the first three quarters, the Hawks did not shoot particularly well from three and that was bound to change. Heck, Orlando was not doing a good job of contesting them, but at least the offense was humming along to give the team control of the game and a double-digit lead.
In the fourth, the Hawks did find their three point stroke and it helped down the Magic late.
Now the 3-point shooting was kind of expected to come back to the Hawks, but what really downed the Magic during that final 24-3 stretch in the fourth quarter was turnovers. The Magic turned the ball over six times in the final six minutes of the game.
Orlando could not get its offense going. The Hawks defense definitely deserves some credit for this, but the Magic offense just had no rhyme or reason late. There were a lot of times where the Magic would try to force it into Vucevic for a full 10 seconds and nothing was there. If that was not there Victor Oladipo or Tobias Harris would set up and try to isolate while burning time.
Elfrid Payton tried to navigate through traffic in the paint and it led to some bad turnovers as the Hawks played off him and recovered to close him down on drives, further clogging the paint and the attack lanes.
Payton and Oladipo both ended the game with five turnovers a piece.
The issue this year for the Magic has been their late-game execution. Yes, this team is young, yet you would hope to see some improvement in these areas.
Hopefully for Orlando all that is needed is a new head coach and some experience.
Game Notes:
- With the Magic out of the playoff race (all but mathematically), I am really confused by James Borrego’s rotations. Willie Green is getting more minutes than Aaron Gordon and Maurice Harkless. This season is a loss, the Magic need to accept it and let their young guys accrue value and gain game experience.
- I watched Tobias Harris on defense the entire game, and there were some glaring issues. Harris continually ball watches which leaves his man pretty much free to roam on offense. If Demmarre Carrol was not so off tonight Harris would have been exposed a whole lot more.
- Nikola Vucevic just does not have his head in the game on defense. I do not think he contested more than three shots tonight. For some reason James Borrego placed him on Paul Millsap instead of Al Horford (pick and roll worries?), and Vucevic was nowhere near Vucevic for most of the night. Vucevic finished with 16 points on 8-for-15 shooting.
- Victor Oladipo got some nice foul calls tonight and got to the line for nine free throw attempts. If Victor can get those calls more consistently his scoring is going to get a major boost.
- Dewayne Dedmon did not score tonight but his impact was huge. The Magic defense played its best when he was in during the late third quarter.