The Magic had four seconds to separate themselves from a victory and another five-minute slog to fight and scratch for a win. At this point in the season, no team can panic too much about their record but 0-5 looks really bad.
So Jacque Vaughn had to draw up a play for a final shot. And it had to be executed flawlessly. That was not a guarantee with the way the Magic turned the ball over throughout the game.
Evan Fournier though took the inbounds and waited for Tobias Harris to come through and around on the screen. Never short on confidence, Harris got the ball and rose up quickly and smoothly for a jumper. A great screen from Channing Frye and a perfect feed from Evan Fournier led to the shot and the ball falling into the bottom of the net.
Orlando is on the board with a 91-89 win over Philadelphia at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
| Orlando | 91 | 88.1 | 46.0 | 30.4 | 23.2 | 13.6 |
| Philadelphia | 89 | 88.0 | 48.1 | 14.0 | 19.8 | 29.9 |
Getting there was an extreme grind with so many jumpers falling off and the Magic failing to put the game away. Harris’ game-winner was the culmination of a lot of hard work to give the team a chance.
The Magic held off the Sixers and got some extremely strong effort from Elfrid Payton. He was not going to let the Magic lose. In one sequence he forced a backcourt violation on Tony Wroten by applying pressure on the backcourt. On the next he dove on the floor to secure a steal from Henry Sims. The Magic were given opportunities to build their lead. And Payton showed plenty of emotion in fighting to get his team going.
Even Tobias Harris in his moment after hitting the game winner had to acknowledge the will Payton exuded on this team that propelled them to this victory.
Again, the young point guard struggled to shoot and struggled to finish at the rim. The Sixers bevy of shot blockers found their way to protect the rim as the Magic had to attack the paint. Payton finished with eight points, six rebounds and five assists. He had a few of his opportunities for assists robbed from him by just plain missed shots.
The Magic shot 44.3 percent from the floor and an icy 3 for 20 from beyond the arc. Orlando had good opportunities to score and the chance to pull away, controlling the game in the fourth quarter. The team just could not make enough of them. The grind was on and being able to survive it was a good learning experience.
Harris finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Channing Frye finished with a double double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. Nikola Vucevic was solid in the post but tired as the game wore on, finishing with 17 points and making just two of his eight uncontested jumpers, according to NBA.com.
The Magic just could not get their good looks to fall. Orlando finished shooting 14 for 39 (35.9 percent) on uncontested jumpers according to NBA.com. That is likely not going to happen too often again. But there were so many opportunities left on the board.
None moreso than the turnovers because the Magic actually shot 53.7 percent in the first half and scored 40 of their 52 points in the paint. Orlando had a good pace to the game in the first half, running and scoring in transition or catching Philadelphia in transition before the team could get set.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCdcLxt5nfw
The Magic committed 17 turnovers in the first half and started the early parts of the third quarter with turnovers too. This killed much of the team’s momentum and allowed the 76ers to get out in transition on their own. They had 18 fast break points and took advantage of the breakneck pace the game took on.
As Orlando slowed down, the offense bogged down some more and the team struggled to generate points. But so was Philadelphia’s. Give the Magic’s defense their credit for forcing turnovers, challenging shots at the rim and getting fortunate with a few misses.
Henry Sims’ game-tying basket was actually pretty well defended with it following some good defense from Vucevic stonewalling Tony Wroten cutting through the middle of the lane.
Despite the win though, there was that feeling of frustration. The Magic found a way to grind their way to a victory but continued to make mistakes that prevented them from taking full control of the game and really running away with this one.
It looked like early on as the Magic were forcing turnovers and moving the ball that the Magic might have an easy win. It did not turn out that way and Orlando found a way to win, which is important (kudos have to go to Ben Gordon who had 15 points and had a nice scoring run to help the Magic come back from a fourth quarter deficit). But what was the lesson? What are the consistent themes in these games?
A stagnant offense looks to be part of that equation. The Magic have to continue to find a way to move the ball and keep the team moving to move the defense. Too often, there was a lot of standing around and no penetration on the pick and roll. Orlando was getting into its sets too late and struggling to make the defense work. That is going to be a constant struggle this year but the Magic continue to have moments of brilliance.
Those have to come out more and more as the season goes on.
Getting that first win though is a good feeling, no matter how it is gotten. The Magic made the plays they have struggled to make in close games so far this season. You could see the relief on the Magic’s faces as Harris celebrated a game-winning jumper.
The team is off the schneid now and can finally get in some work to get win number two.