This season has been somewhat dubbed a turning point season for the Magic. That is the big picture of things. The team needs to begin showing some growth and showing progress.
There will be nights where the team looks like a young team, trying to grind their way and struggling to make a whole ton of progress. And then there will be some nights where the team gets it all together. And then there will be some nights where the good and the bad are all mixed into one performance.
Welcome to the roller coaster of a young team. Get used to it. We are just two games in.
The Magic came out flat, as Evan Fournier described it, turning the ball over eight times in the first quarter. That set the tone. The Wizards continued that hounding tempo and built a 16-point lead. Then the Magic fought back. That is a major characteristic of this team dating back to last year too.
Ben Gordon‘s heroics helped cut the lead to three points at one point. Nikola Vucevic missed a baby hook to cut it to one. Paul Pierce drained two tough fadeaway jumpers from the baseline that more or less sealed things for the Wizards, helping them hold on for a 105-98 victory.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
| Washington | 105 | 107.8 | 53.1 | 16.7 | 11.6 | 32.5 |
| Orlando | 98 | 100.5 | 55.6 | 8.8 | 17.9 | 33.3 |
That there is the difference between experience and youth.
“As we continue to grow, part of that growth is understanding that it’s just not the last possession in the fourth quarter, it’s the other possessions throughout the course of the game that matters,” coach Jacque Vaughn said. “Overall, our group is sensing that. I love the urgency that they played with when we did get down. That group showed some fight and showed some rally to get back into the game. We’ll take away some good as well.”
This has been the common refrain after losses like this one. The fight is admirable, but at some point it is not enough. That point is on the horizon although it might not be here yet.
Paul Pierce and the Wizards knew how to calmly finish the game and build a big lead on the Magic. Orlando’s six third-quarter turnovers and 36.8 percent shooting in the third quarter did not help matters either. Washington really took control with that 28-15 advantage.
In that frame, the Magic struggled to move the ball offensively with just three assists. They allowed the Wizards to grind the game and slow them down. The offense became about isolation basketball.
Even Nikola Vucevic was struggling to score, making just one of his five shots in the quarter. Much like the action when the Magic fell behind in the opener in New Orleans, they stagnated offensively and failed to find a rhythm. It affected both their offense and defense.
The problems offensively were compounded by turnovers throughout the game. While the Magic shot 51.4 percent for the game and a solid 6 for 15 from beyond the arc, they committed 18 turnovers. Six came in that third quarter. Eight, including four from rookie Elfrid Payton, came in the first quarter. That kind of hounding tone and tempo was established as the Magic did not have the focus on detail needed to win these kinds of games.
A 48-minute effort is still required.
“We came out flat,” said Evan Fournier, who scored 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting including three of four from beyond the arc. “Maybe nervous, I don’t know. We’ve got to definitely change it and adjust to it because we had a lot of turnovers. I don’t know how many. Maybe, 20-something. Way too much.”
The fourth quarter was different. There was a greater sense of urgency and it showed in their play.
The Magic trailed by 17 points with 10:34 to go and seemed to be drifting toward another blowout defeat. Orlando then went on a 26-9 run to cut the lead to three points on a Fournier 3-point line. A Magic crowd hungry to believe in this team erupted in one of the loudest ovations since Dwight Howard left. This was a true home court advantage.
Ben Gordon, of all players, powered that run, creating well off the dribble and taking shots when no one else seemed capable of creating one for himself. Gordon scored seven of his 22 points in that fourth quarter run. It was reminiscent of his days in Chicago and the exact kind of guy the Magic are hoping can get resurrected.
The energy sparked the rest of the team as Fournier started showing up big.
Ultimately though, Fournier was right. Vaughn was right. The deficit was too big. There were too many mistakes.
Pierce finished things off, shooting over the smaller Ben Gordon because Vaughn had to ride his hot lineup (Luke Ridnour, Gordon, Fournier, Tobias Harris and Nikola Vucevic). Pierce’s six straight points on that baseline sealed the Magic on his way to 16 points. John Wall kept the Wizards moving with 30 points and 12 assists.
The Magic could not get the same consistency from their point guard (Elfrid Payton was solid but mistake-prone with two points, seven assists and six turnovers) and from their star.
Nikola Vucevic had another strong scoring night with 23 points and 12 rebounds. But going 11 for 21 from the floor, including some key misses in the lane at the end of the game were among the little plays the Magic left on the board.
The learning continues.
“It’s tough. We fought back,” Vucevic said. “It’s a learning process. We’ve already had a lot of those in the past two years. We’ve just got to figure out how first not to dig a hole like that and then come back and make big plays at the end of the game.”