The Orlando Magic did not play anywhere near a strong level in the first half against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They recovered and won in overtime though.
The same word kept coming up when the Orlando Magic described their lifeless first half effort. Frankly the worst word that could be said about a team, especially one coached by Scott Skiles.
Soft.
There was no other way to describe a team that fell behind 52-38 at halftime, shooting 17 for 53 from the floor and a paltry 13 of 33 in the paint. Not for a team that saw its best, most consistent player — Nikola Vucevic — shoot 4 of 13, its point guard Elfrid Payton make just 3 of 10 shots and its budding star, Victor Oladipo, go 0 for 6. At least Oladipo had the excuse that he had not played much basketball in a week playing his first game since suffering a concussion.
This was not the way the Magic wanted to play. At all. It did not take much of an observer to see some type of change or shift was needed.
Skiles sat Nikola Vucevic the entire second half. Victor Oladipo came off the bench and Skiles went searching for energy. There was no message to send, he was just seeking to win.
Whatever lever Skiles had to pull, his team found some energy and found some push to get back in the game, force over time and take a 104-101 win at Amway Center on Wednesday.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 101 | 97.9 | 44.7 | 24.4 | 15.5 | 35.3 |
| Orlando | 104 | 96.1 | 41.4 | 30.3 | 8.3 | 19.1 |
Andrew Wiggins (MIN) — 28 pts.; Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) — 21 pts., 12 rebs.
Evan Fournier (ORL) — 26 pts.; Elfrid Payton (ORL) — 24 pts., 7 rebs., 6 assts.
Evan Fournier hit two big 3-pointers, rescuing the Magic when he got trapped on the wing, stepped through the double team and hit a running 3-pointer to give the Magic a one-point lead with 1:09 to play. Elfrid Payton drove to the hoop and finished the lay up with the foul to give the Magic a two-point cushion, but a foul gave Karl-Anthony Towns two free throws to tie.
From there it was Tobias Harris digging out a jump ball between Jason Smith and Zach LaVine after Elfrid Payton missed on a mid-range jumper. And Fournier did the rest.
Fournier sized up Tayshaun Prince and buried a 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds left for the Magic’s 104-101 victory.
“We played harder basically,” Evan Fournier said of the difference between the first and second half. “Like coach said, we played very soft. We came out flat, no injury, no awareness on defense. We picked it up, the bench did a great job. They played with a lot of energy for us. That’s the way we’ve got to play.”
Wins can mask some problems. But it is always better to learn lessons while winning games. The Magic did just enough to win.
Somehow, the team found its footing. Minnesota could never get too far away, making just 4 of 18 3-pointers. Orlando kept within reach and chiseled away at the lead.
Elfrid Payton would get a steal and ignite a fast break or get in the paint and score. Tobias Harris would dig out an offensive rebound and get a putback. Evan Fournier would find a big shot or get into the paint.
Things started to build and the Timberwolves could not stem the tide.
“It’s kind of contagious,” Payton said. “Everyone feeds off it and got us going.”
In the third quarter, the Magic went on a 14-0 run in a nearly two-and-a-half minute stretch to tie the game after the Timberwolves took a 14-point lead. In this stretch, the Magic did the simple things necessary to win games. They made shots — all five of them — and got stops.
The energy began to permeate the team and things picked up. Skiles stuck with the energetic bunch in Jason Smith, Andrew Nicholson and Channing Frye that helped turn the game around some in the third quarter. It was Smith’s entrance into the game in the third quarter that began Orlando’s run.
This was no plus-minus fluke — Smith had a +16 for the game — his impact was noticeable as he worked to talk defensively, block shots and grab rebounds. It was not pretty, but someone had to do these things and give the Magic some kind of spark.
“Just came in with a lot of energy,” Jason Smith said. “Our bench came in, our coach was searching for a lineup that would give us some get up and go. We knew this team was really good on the road. We didn’t respect them in the beginning and they kicked our tail in the first half.”
The bigger question remains why the Magic had the long stretch of lethargic play to start the game. The team could not turn the corner or find any type of energetic play. The Magic cut the lead to seven points right before the half and then gave up seven unanswered points in the final 1:17 to go into the locker room down 14 points.
Skiles shook things up in a major way, sitting Vucevic for the entire second half as he desperately searched for a combination that worked. He simply said Vucevic didn’t play very well. That was his only explanation given for sitting him.
He was determined to win the game, he said. It wasn’t trying to send a message. He was just looking for a right combination to win.
It was a desperate search throughout the first half and a drastic rotation change to get that in the second half.
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“As I said, sometimes there is a reason and sometimes there isn’t. And the group just isn’t in sync that night or whatever it is,” Skiles said. “This group, the way we’re set up right now, I feel like I’m making a mistake if I don’t go searching because we’ve got other people over there that can do positive things in the game. So that is something we are making a point of trying to do.”
Skiles has a bench he intends to use. And he used every bit of it to find some working combination to win the game.
Again, the levers he pulled worked. The Magic found their energy and picked up the pace to pull out the win.
It was not pretty by any stretch, but effective does not have to be pretty in the end. The team can pick up the pieces and answer the bigger questions in victory rather than defeat.