The Orlando Magic were hardly their best on either end Tuesday night. But the Orlando Magic found a way to win, digging down deep on defense to clinch it.
The fire coming out of Scott Skiles ears seemed palpable in many moments of the Orlando Magic’s game against the Denver Nuggets. His team was not closing out strong, committing silly fouls and not stopping the initial ball handler. On top of that, the Magic were not sharp on offense, committing silly turnovers, getting in each other’s way and taking poor shots.
It was ugly in every sense of the word for the Magic. They were just not sharp.
Whenever and whatever Skiles got to say to his team at halftime or in moments of the second half or whenever during the game, Elfrid Payton was ready to answer the call.
Payton knifed through the land and got out in transition. He pushed his team forward and brought them along with him offensively. Nikola Vucevic finally found a rhythm. Victor Oladipo finally found an outburst.
And the defense? The defense found its groove and dug things out even with the offense sputtering.
The Magic lost a small fourth-quarter lead after erasing a seven-point halftime lead. But the Magic kept the defense up. Whether it was Andrew Nicholson ripping down rebounds, Nikola Vucevic challenging the ball handler (finally) or Tobias Harris digging down to contest shots at the rim, the defense was stifling.
The Nuggets were left frustrated and searching for offense as the Magic did just enough and attacked just enough for an 85-74 win at the Pepsi Center on Tuesday.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orlando | 85 | 83.0 | 43.8 | 21.3 | 19.5 | 11.4 |
| Denver | 74 | 72.7 | 37.5 | 18.5 | 18.7 | 23.8 |
Nikola Vucevic (ORL) — 18 pts., 13 rebs.; Elfrid Payton (ORL) — 18 pts.
Will Barton (DEN) — 23 pts.; J.J. Hickson (DEN) — 10 pts., 11 rebs.
Orlando held Denver to 27 points and shot just 24.4 percent from the floor in the second half. The Nuggets committed five turnovers and missed 7 of 11 free throws. Orlando was swarming again and disrupting Denver’s offense in every way.
The things the Nuggets did well in the first half seemed to dry up as the Magic upped their intensity.
Denver was not getting into the paint with the same regularity and ease and not getting to the basket the same way. Orlando was starting to dictate tempo defensively and cut off the drives that torched the team to the tune of 47 points and 9-for-20 shooting in the restricted area. The Nuggets made just 6 of 20 shots in the restricted area in the second half.
While the Magic gave up the same amount of field goals, the quality of those looks had changed dramatically.
What needed to change for the Magic to secure the win was some offense with the Magic shooting just 43.2 percent for the game and 1 for 16 from beyond the arc.
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That came in the form of Elfrid Payton, who attacked aggressively in the half court and seemed to be doing whatever he wanted in getting to and through the lane. He finished with 18 points and four assists. All 15 of Payton’s field goal attempts came in the paint.
Nikola Vucevic soon followed, finishing up several of Payton’s misses around the rim. He scored 18 points to go with 13 rebounds. He started hitting his jumper to go with his putback to bolster the Magic.
Orlando was fighting itself much of the game with missed shots and poor ball movement for much of the game. The Magic committed 20 turnovers in the game and the Nuggets were ready to take advantage. And these were not turnovers that were aggressive turnovers. They were careless turnovers. The kind a team should really never commit.
Scott Skiles lamented after the game how both teams made plays NBA teams should not make and how sloppy the Magic were. It was a difficult thing to overcome.
But the game came down to defense and the individual efforts it took to dig the game out.
It came down to Andrew Nicholson fighting off Kenneth Faried for one of his career-high 14 rebounds. It came down to Victor Oladipo locking up Will Barton (23 points on 9-for-23 shooting). It came down to the will to play their man and get stops.
If there was a positive to take it was that in the second half the Magic played some strong defense, making up for the lackluster effort through the first half, without relying on their offense. It needed some refreshing in moments in the early fourth quarter when the Nuggets made one last run.
But in the end, the defense held firm and the offense came through. It came through with Payton darting through the lane or Evan Fournier finally breaking that cold streak to hit a 3-pointer. It seemed in the end, the Magic were destined to hold onto the lead because the defense would not let up.
Next: Orlando Magic gaining mental fortitude
It was ugly. But winning ugly is sometimes good. Winning period is good.