It’s hard to win games in the NBA when you get beat by double digits on the glass and the Orlando Magic earned themselves a refresher on that lesson Sunday falling to the Brooklyn Nets 104-96. The Magic lost the battle on the glass 45-31 and got beat for 14 offensive rebounds as the Nets out hustled the Magic down low. Leading the way for the Nets on the glass was Mason Plumlee with 10, five of which were offensive. No Magic player tallied double digit rebounds.
The first quarter was a back and forth affair with Evan Fournier as per usual this season, leading Orlando with eight of his 19 points in the first quarter, while Joe Johnson led the Nets with 10 points. The Magic came surprisingly hot in the second quarter behind the lineup of Ridnour-Gordon-Green-Gordon-Frye. Ridnour and Frye both connected on two three pointers in the period which accumulated to half of Orlando’s made three pointers for the game. This hot shooting jettisoned the Magic into a two point lead at halftime.
Both teams came out of the half on fire from the field shooting well over 50% each. The Magic were carried by Nikola Vucevic who scored 17 of Orlando’s 25 points in the quarter while the Nets more balanced attack was lead by Bojdan Bogdanovic who scored 11 of Brooklyn’s 31. However as has been the case for the Magic this season the disturbing trend of turnovers was the difference in the 3rd as the Magic turnved it over six times which allowed the Nets to end the third period with a four point lead.
The most notable advantage in the fourth quarter for Brooklyn was coaching. Lionel Hollins made a brilliant move and sat Brook Lopez in favor of Kevin Garnett and Mason Plumlee who combined to hold Nikola Vucevic scoreless in the period after his huge third quarter. Jacque Vaughn’s big coaching move of the fourth was to give extended minutes to Luke Ridnour and Willie Green. The Magic offense predictably stalled and ultimately fell 104-96.
Notes:
- The Magic just don’t consistently get to the free throw line. Very strange trend for a team leading the league in points in the paint.
- Willie Green played pretty good defense against Deron Williams in the 2nd quarter.
- Still a small sample size but Aaron Gordon seems significantly more comfortable playing the Power Forward spot.
- Maurice Harkless seems to be officially back in the rotation.
- Channing Frye is still awful at setting screens and playing pick and roll defense.
- Ben Gordon dribbling on the perimeter without making a move is not a good thing.
Rookie Watch:
Aaron Gordon: Gordon looked fairly good again today. He blew a couple rotations defensively but made up for it with great one on one defense against Joe Johnson and Mirza Teletovic. Offensively Gordon still has a ways to go but i’d like to see him try and finish strong more often. He gets fouled and sometimes tries to lay it in when he’s got the elevation to put it down. All in all Aaron Gordon seems to be finding his way as an effective rotation player at Power Forward.
Elfrid Payton: Safe to say this was Payton’s worst game of the season. Elfrid didn’t create much for anybody today and made some terrible passes that turned into turnovers. It’s been unusual for Elfrid to be a non-factor on the boards but tonight he was and Orlando really could have used him there. Teams are sagging off Elfrid and it’s making it hard for him to find open passing lanes. Elfrid is going to need to be a lot more aggressive attacking the rim for the Magic to be successful this season.