Orlando Magic crumble again late in loss to Toronto Raptors

As the Orlando Magic have all season, they struggled to find answers late in the game and fell to the Toronto Raptors on the road.

The Orlando Magic were running on fumes it seemed. The Magic had pushed the Toronto Raptors, the second best team in the East, to their limits and were trying desperately to hold onto the lead.

The Raptors turned things up and that familiar panic set in. Andrew Nicholson got the ball in the post, saw a double team to cool off his hot hand and fired it to Elfrid Payton for an open 3-pointer. His shot fell off the backboard no good.

And then Toronto came. Orlando kept trying to go back to the well, a surprisingly hot Andrew Nicholson, and kept getting nothing. And even more alarmingly, they stuck with it time and time again without getting results.

The Raptors took that missed 3-pointer and drew another of their seemingly countless fouls. Orlando’s six-point lead evaporated in a 9-0 run and Toronto had control.

Orlando’s close game problems came back, the tightness ensued. Good shots went no good. The team lost track of players defensively, gave up offensive rebounds and fell apart at the end as they always have.

Evan Fournier said the team may not be consciously saying, “Here we go again,” but the question of how many times does this team have to see this happen does persist. And that little bit of doubt can change things too.

So as Terrence Ross came flying in for a putback jam to put the Raptors up 97-93 with 2:18 to go and put them firmly in control, another loss seemed inevitable. The Magic for a multitude of reasons ranging from the players to coaching decisions to execution to just plain missing shots, fell to the Raptors 105-100 at Air Canada Centre.

Victor Oladipo (ORL) — 21 pts., 6 rebs.; Evan Fournier (ORL) — 21 pts.
DeMar DeRozan (TOR) — 25 pts.; Bismack Biyombo (TOR) — 12 pts., 11 rebs., 6 blks.

With those little plays and momentary lapses in the final minutes of the game, the Magic were close, but never really in it a the end. The result seemed predetermined.

That might be a defeatist attitude. But the team was playing in desperation mode at that point and unable to reverse course.

Evan Fournier brought the Magic within one, only to turn around and give up a three-point play to DeMar DeRozan. Then Victor Oladipo turned the ball over, failing to catch a dribble handoff from Nicholson.

There were opportunities lost despite frustrations with the rotation and sticking with the hot hand too long.

Ersan Ilyasova and Andrew Nicholson struggled to secure rebounds and provide much impediment at the rim despite a good game from Dewayne Dedmon down the stretch. Coach Scott Skiles and the Magic seemed determined to ride Nicholson’s strong game and fourth quarter.

Nicholson was good. It would be hard to peg him as a scapegoat. He was thrown out there with all his strengths and limitations. He performed well, scoring 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Nicholson seems to be pushing for some more playing time.

The Magic got contributions from several unexpected players. Devyn Marble came in and helped stabilize the defense some in the second quarter as the Magic seemed to parade players to the line. That was important.

Dewayne Dedmon helped set a good tone when he was in the game with his shot blocking. He brushed off his few mistakes well and made a good play to make up for it time and time again.

And then the Magic got strong efforts from Victor Oladipo, picking up his defense as the Magic took the lead in the second and third quarters, and scoring on his improving mid-range jumper. Evan Fournier was efficient and got his shots.

This was a good game overall for Orlando. They played with good energy and intention and stuck with the game despite falling behind by 11 points in the first half. The Magic are playing better basketball.

There were still undoubted holes though. They fouled DeMar DeRozan (25 points on 13-for-16 free throw shooting) and Kyle Lowry (18 points on 7-for-10 free throw shooting). They turned the ball over a lot and did not look sharp.

Once those tightened up, the Magic were able to execute, get good shots and take the lead. They were dialed in.

It was once again those late moments where the team got tight and failed to execute. Or executed and failed to make shots. Those moments where the team needed to get a stop and could not secure the rebound.

The frustration from the team, from the coaches and from the fans is real. And it should be as this happens again and again.

There is certainly a point to looking at the rotations. It was clear Nicholson and Ilyasova were not working — at one point Ilyasova stepped in front of Nicholson trying to draw a charge and got called for a block at a big point in the game. And yet they remained in the game over Aaron Gordon and Dewayne Dedmon. Only Skiles can answer why he stuck with those players.

There is certainly a point looking to the players and their struggles late in games. Their inability to hit jump shots and get good looks at critical moments were key. The players still got good shots and missed them, pressing.

None of these are new problems for this team though. The Magic have shown themselves plenty capable of competing with the best teams in the league, but continually unable to finish.

And again late, the Magic were searching for answers from everyone and finding none.