Orlando Magic Recap: Victor Oladipo, Tobias Harris Close Out Milwaukee Late As Orlando Wins 97-90

The Orlando Magic tallied their second straight win behind some big shots from Tobias Harris and Victor Oladipo.

Tonight was a good night for Magic basketball.

Tobias Harris and Victor Oladipo closed out the game. Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton both racked up double-doubles.

The Magic beat a team that is going to make the playoffs — on the road — and they looked like the better team for the latter half of the game.

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Tobias Harris hit a right corner three-pointer to break an 88-all tie with two minutes left and Victor Oladipo finished off the game by scoring the final six points and eight of the final 11.

Harris finished the game with 23 points and 10 rebounds while knocking down five of his nine 3-point attempts. Oladipo saved his best for last tonight as he struggled mightily early on. Before the final two minutes, Oladipo only had scored nine points on 4-17 shooting.

Elfrid Payton collected himself another double-double by scoring 10 points and adding 11 assists in one of those now lower-key Elfrid Payton games. Payton was not particularly noticeable tonight and still managed to help his team achieve victory.

Aaron Gordon collected the first double-double of his NBA career by scoring 10 points and nabbing 12 rebounds including four offensive boards. Gordon was a huge part of Orlando’s victory tonight thanks to his hustle and defense. Gordon’s “glue” plays kept Orlando going in the second half.

Tonight’s win for the Magic was much more fulfilling than last night’s win against the Minnesota Timberwolves and most of that can be attributed to the fact that the Magic just played a better all-around game tonight against a better team.

Orlando’s perimeter defense outside of Nikola Vucevic “defending” Ersan Ilyasova for some reason was very good. The Bucks only connected on five of their 16 three’s tonight and that was key to Orlando’s victory. On the offensive end, the Magic still did not look all that enlightening tonight. Orlando’s spacing was routinely poor and it caused some really bad shot attempts and turnovers.

Nights like tonight outline why fans are so disappointed with this season. The Magic show talent but Orlando’s coaching staff does not do a good job of putting its players in position to succeed.

It will be vital for Orlando to hire a coaching staff that is really good at handling their X/O’s for the future. The potential is there.

Game Notes:

• I wouldn’t be surprised to see Aaron Gordon get a few starts before the season ends.
• Channing Frye collected another DNP-CD. I would not read too much into it when it comes to his future with the team. Orlando is likely just trying to take a look at what the have heading into the off-season.
• Maurice Harkless and Kyle O’Quinn also collected DNP-CD’s. This, on the other hand, is a lot more interesting. These are the kinds of players you would imagine Orlando would try to evaluate at the end of the season.
• Victor Oladipo just cannot get his jumper to fall the past two games, well outside of the dagger three that is.
• Nikola Vucevic had another pretty good night tonight. His defense was still atrocious and his rebounding wasn’t nearly as dominating but he was extremely efficient on offense.

Next: Did patience with his injury save Aaron Gordon's season?