Orlando Magic Grades: Los Angeles Clippers 107, Orlando Magic 93
The Orlando Magic were never really in this game as the Los Angeles Clippers dominated aside from their own mistakes in a big win over the Magic.
38. 107. 77. Final. 93
The Orlando Magic never got themselves going as the Los Angeles Clippers led wire to wire in a 107-93 win at Amway Center on Friday.
Sure, the Magic got the game to within four points at the end of the third quarter. They never had a real chance though. Not with Chris Paul getting wherever he wanted or Lance Stephenson going on a surprise scoring binge. The Clippers were the far better team. At least more consistent on offense.
Orlando shot just 42.0 percent form the floor and 4 for 20 from beyond the arc. The team never quite found its rhythm offensive, really only fighting back off Los Angeles’ many turnovers and not even in transition.
The Magic never led and the Clippers always felt in control, even when the Magic made their run.
A lot of the same problems that have plagued Orlando for much of this difficult stretch continue to overflow at the surface. The Magic just were not in this one.
<p>The Orlando Magic’s defensive difficulties began with the simplest play — the pick and roll. <strong><a href=. C. Orlando Magic. NIKOLA VUCEVIC. D
B. <p><strong><a href=. SF. Orlando Magic. TOBIAS HARRIS
C+. <p>Victor Oladipo came out in this game really confident in his shot. That was not a good thing as he took some bad shots and settled for jumpers that were not falling. He eventually found some of his range in shooting 5 for 12 and getting to the line to make 7 of his 8 free throws for a team-high 18 points.</p><p>While Oladipo had his moments, they largely felt like empty stats. He was -18 for the night and was not particularly great defensively with five personal fouls in the game. Oladipo largely did not stand out except as a scorer.</p><p>It is still a bit hard to peg Oladipo down. He is getting his numbers again, but overall impact is still a bit confused.</p>. G. Orlando Magic. VICTOR OLADIPO
F. <p>Elfrid Payton is just struggling right now. It is hard to explain why, but he is a problem. Period. There is no other option and the Magic have a lot of their future invested in them, so they just have to hope Payton gets better.</p><p>He scored six points on 2-for-7 shooting and had just three assists. He turned the ball over three times. He made very little impact on the offensive end.</p><p>Defensively, he continues to struggle guarding the pick and roll and corral opposing point guards. Sure this was Chris Paul, but the Magic could have used at least a little resistance. Nikola Vucevic sure could with his limitations.</p>. PG. Orlando Magic. ELFRID PAYTON
B-. <p>What might sting the Orlando Magic more than anything was that the Los Angeles Clippers were not very good this game. The Clippers committed 22 turnovers which the Magic turned into 30 points. Most of those were dead-ball turnovers. Los Angeles was throwing the ball around and giving Orlando every opportunity to make up for the team’s bad shooting.</p><p>In the end though, the Clippers were in complete control of this game. They probably should have won by more than 14 points. They shot 54.1 percent from the floor and got about whatever they wanted. They could turn the ball over that much and still keep control.</p><p>Lance Stephenson scored 13 points off the bench with many coming in the fourth quarter and <strong><a href=. 33-17. 4th Western Conference. LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS