The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Orlando Magic 114-90 in a game that saw the opposite sides of the N..."/> The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Orlando Magic 114-90 in a game that saw the opposite sides of the N..."/>
Orlando Magic Daily
Fansided

Magic Allow 15-5 Run To Los Angeles In Third, Fall To Clippers 114-90

By Quentin Haynes

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The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Orlando Magic 114-90 in a game that saw the opposite sides of the NBA.

The Clippers are a juggernaut, led by two superstars, a roster with a couple good role players, and an elite head coach operating the roster. The Orlando Magic, however, are on the other side of that spectrum. The roster is young, full of talent, but we have no clue how good they truly are. The role players are mediocre, and the head coach is still in the “figuring it out” phase.

For starters, the Magic looked good in this game. Looked really good. If the future design is for Orlando to be a strong defensive team from the guards in, then they showed some promise. With Victor Oladipo back in the starting lineup, the Magic looked great in defending Los Angeles in the first half, leading to numerous bad shots from the Clipper guards.

In the midst of Los Angeles’ first half, the Magic held their own on the offensive end. Center Nikola Vucevic did a great job of establishing the offense, scoring 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Like always, Vucevic’s offense was varied- a couple layups, a few jumpers in the restricted area, and a couple mid-range shots to pull out DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin.

Moving into the second quarter, the game remained the same. Orlando did a good job forcing Los Angeles into terrible shots, while Los Angeles continued to find open shooters. Matt Barnes, Jamal Crawford, and J.J. Redick all found multiple shots, where the results varied, which was great as Orlando moved from Oladipo to Elfrid Payton running the show.

The third quarter was where everything went to hell for both teams. Both teams struggled offensively, highlighted by Orlando’s 20 points on 36.8% shooting. The combination of Victor Oladipo and Willie Green scored five points in the quarter, but on 3-9 shooting. Oladipo is understandable, but at this point of the game, Willie Green playing so much going into the third quarter wasn’t a good sign.

On the other side, Chris Paul began to heat up. The announcer noticed this on his first two jumpers. Paul cooked Orlando in the third quarter. From a scoring perspective, Paul hit a couple of good mid-range jumpers, traveling and orchestrating through the different picks and screens DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin set for him. The passing was where the Clippers began to take off. A couple noticeable assists – a huge alley-oop to DeAndre Jordan and a couple sweet passes to Crawford for some killer backbreaking threes to Jamal Crawford.

The final three minutes of the quarter saw Los Angeles go on a 15-5 run, thanks to a couple Jamal Crawford threes. Chris Paul finished with four points. It turned a small deficit into a double-digit lead for the Magic, ending their night.

Notes

  • The Magic shot 39.5% from the field and had 13 turnovers. That third quarter was pretty brutal to watch. It was more and more evidence that the Magic could use some more reinforcements. Also, must be important that Evan Fournier was out. That lack of shooting was huge, but not enough to overcome their lead.
  • Nikola Vucevic had 19 points and 14 rebounds in what looked like a decent game for him. The first half made me believe that we was on the verge of another monster game, but the Clippers did a good job of fronting him, preventing him from getting the ball, and sent players to battle him on the glass.
  • Tobias Harris looked like someone who has a distinct role in the league. I like, maybe love Harris in that scorer role. He’s too big for small forwards, eating Matt Barnes alive. He’s too fast for power forwards, working well against Blake Griffin and Glen Davis. That combo forward is excellent.
  • I love Maurice Harkless, and I want him to get more playing time. He can defend small forwards and shooting guards, and he’s still a developmental three-point shooter. 29 minutes of play is nice, and I want to see more of this with Gordon out for a limited stretch.
  • Channing Frye had a bad shooting night, but he played well. On the offensive end, Frye got open numerous times behind the arc for some jumpers and chipped in with seven rebounds and two assists. Defensively, he contested some Blake jumpers and didn’t allow Blake to dominate him.