For three quarters, the Magic could not do too much wrong offensively, save for the stray turnover or a missed free throw. Nikola Vucevic scored 17 of his 27 points, making 8 of 10 from the floor, in the third quarter to help the Magic keep pace with a hot Nets team and maintain distance in this game.
Then in the fourth quarter, the well dried up. The execution was not as sharp. The ball stuck as the Nets cut off driving lanes and stayed on Vucevic’s hip. Orlando could not create down the stretch and could not get a shot to fall.
Brooklyn has that experience and taught the young Orlando team a lesson.
Deron Williams was getting by Elfrid Payton throughout the game and looking more and more like the player Dwight Howard wanted to play with oh so long ago. They were moving the ball and finding the open man and then beating the Magic to the offensive glass.
The Nets owned the fourth quarter and pulled away with forced turnovers and key baskets — a few by rookie Bojan Bogdanovic — for a 104-96 win at Barclays Center on Sunday.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
| Orlando | 96 | 102.1 | 57.3 | 13.9 | 17.2 | 21.3 |
| Brooklyn | 104 | 110.5 | 50.6 | 35.0 | 13.9 | 27.7 |
Brooklyn was just the better team down the stretch. The Nets outscored the Magic 23-19 in the final quarter, outscoring the Magic 17-7 in the final 6:23. Orlando had just one field goal after Channing Frye made a 3-pointer to give the team a two-point lead. The Nets were clung to Vucevic’s hip, no longer letting him escape for the 15-foot jumper on pick and rolls. Kevin Garnett is still that good of a defender and Vucevic could not establish himself in the post.
After Vucevic’s big third quarter, Vucevic did not take a shot in the fourth quarter. He was held without a rebound too, making a dour end to his big night.
Where did the Magic go offensively in this stretch?
In the final 6:20, the Magic were 1 for 7 with Tobias Harris and Willie Green missing both their attempts. The Nets were 5 for 11, but got three offensive rebounds. This came down to making and missing shots. The Magic missed their shots. The ball got stuck at times and the Magic could not execute.
This was not the case most of the night.
Most of the night, the Magic got where they wanted on the floor and shot the ball well. Evan Fournier (19 points, five assists) worked the pick and roll beautifully with Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic hit so many jumpers, he moved Brook Lopez out of the paint and opened the lane for Fournier to drive to the hoop.
Really, though, this game was about the Magic making a ton of jumpers. Orlando shot 52.0 percent from the floor and made a season-high eight 3-pointers.
Luke Ridnour (11 points, four assists) and Channing Frye (13 points, 3-for-4 shooting on 3-pointers) were the other good pick and roll duo. They helped the Magic take the lead in the second quarter with a great effort and timely shooting. The Magic picked their spots and worked for good shots. There was a lot offensively the Magic did right, and the 25 assists the team earned were proof of that.
When the ball is moving, this offense can be very successful. However, too often it gets stuck in one players’ hands as the team tries to give Tobias Harris an isolation or Vucevic a post up. At that point the offense can get bogged down. The third quarter showed those holes as Vucevic accounted for 17 of the Magic’s 25 points in the third quarter.
The Nets were neither spectacular nor horrible and that kept them in the game.
Playing Channing Frye at center for long stretches gave Mason Plumlee the opportunity to grab five offensive rebounds. The Nets had 14 for the game and had a 22-7 advantage on second chance points. This is where the Nets really controlled the game, particularly it seemed in the fourth quarter.
If the Magic had the chance to pull away in this one, it was canceled out by these momentum-killing plays.
Orlando had to give something up and kept losing Bojan Bogdanovic throughout the game (22 points). The Nets just continued to make plays to burn the Magic.
It was not a perfect effort. Orlando was just outexecuted at the end. The Magic left this one on the board, struggling to keep the Nets off the line in the end — the Nets took 23 free throws and made virtually everyone while the Magic missed six of their 16 free throw attempts.
Orlando did not have that something to close this game out. Whether that is trust in an offensive system the team is still learning and gaining faith in or whether that is simple execution is perhaps something to answer on a second viewing or the next time the Magic find themselves in this situation. Teammates admitted they needed to find Vucevic more late in the game, having never really run any straight post ups for him.
Sunday against the Nets, the Magic just did not have it in the end and took one on the chin without perhaps trust or experience on either end of the floor to finish and give them a better chance to win.