Orlando Nulls Walker’s Career Night, Win 102-94

The Orlando Magic were able to hold off the Charlotte Hornets on the road as Kemba Walker poured in 42 points.

Kemba Walker went absolutely nuts scoring a career high 42 points, but it was not enough to match the Orlando Magic’s beautifully orchestrated offense as the Magic held off the Charlotte Hornets 102-94 on Saturday earning them their 12th win of the season.

Nikola Vucevic (ORL) — 22 pts., 11 rebs.; Tobias Harris (ORL) — 21 pts.
Kemba Walker (CHA) — 42 pts., 7 assts.; Al Jefferson (CHA) — 14 pts.

The key to success for the Magic tonight was their pristine ball movement and decision making. The Magic tallied 22 assists and a season-low six turnovers which was most emphatically represented by rookie point guard Elfrid Payton. Payton himself tallied eight assists and zero turnovers. And it appeared as though Jacque Vaughn made a point of taking ball handling responsibility away from Victor Oladipo. The move helped Orlando’s offense thrive.

Early on the flow of the game was exactly what you expected from two teams on the second night of a back to back — it was sloppy.

The Magic and Hornets combined for 40 points in the first quarter as the Magic shot 8 for 19 from the field and the Hornets shot 8 for 28. In the second quarter, the Magic completely shifted gears, they stopped allowing the Hornets to snag offensive rebounds and were able to build a double digit lead at halftime thanks to a late Victor Oladipo flurry where he scored six of Orlando’s final eight points in the half by simply being faster than everybody on the court.

The simplest way to describe the second half was as follows: Kemba Walker vs The Magic.

Walker ERUPTED in scoring a franchise-record 35 second half points for the Hornets. And he did it in every fashion there was.

Walker put the Magic through the torture rack, specifically Elfrid Payton and Tobias Harris. Walker started his flurry off by having Harris switched onto him, Walker then dribbled himself into a groove and popped numerous mid range j’s off in Harris’ eye. From there Walker expanded his range to the 3-point line and finished off his flurry by relentlessly assaulting the rim.

Unfortunately for Walker it was not enough. The Magic offense as a whole was just as dominant as Walker was.

The Hornets had absolutely no answer for the penetration and playmaking of Elfrid Payton who seemed to take Walker’s flurry personally. Elfrid knocked down a couple floaters and continuously got his teammates great looks from mid-range and from deep. The Hornets were able to pull the game within six but Nikola Vucevic free throws locked up the game for the Magic.

Game Notes:

• You have to give Jacque Vaughn credit tonight. From a rotations standpoint Jacque did a great job of matching up with the Hornets when he needed too but more importantly he put his players in a position to succeed. He minimized Oladipo’s ball handling responsibilities, paired Frye and Fournier off the bench and they ran pick and pop multiple times effectively.
• Ben Gordon oozed “revenge game” tonight. He finished with 11 points on five shots. This might be theme the next two times these teams meet.
• Dewayne Dedmon was a steal for the Magic. Defensively, Dedmon has the ability to change the game for the Magic. He is active, gets to his spot quickly and is very adept at trying play to the “verticality” or Roy Hibbert rule.
• Another ode to Jacque Vaughn, he called quite a few effective out of bounds plays tonight. I would like to see some more outlets in case the initial read isn’t there but his team is executing them better.

Rookie Report:

Elfrid Payton: It is hard to say if this was Elfrid Payton’s best game as a pro tonight but it is definitely in the running. Payton was a calming influence on the offense end and seemed to find his teammates great shots every time he touched the ball. Defensively, he was a little more difficult to judge.  Tobias Harris and Elfrid Payton kept switching on pick and rolls involving Kemba Walker and it never worked. I am not sure if the Magic intended for this or if there was some kind of miscommunication between Harris and Payton that continued to happen. The most important development I saw tonight involving Payton was the level of trust that Jacque Vaughn had in him. Vaughn allowed Payton to close out the game. The Magic were rewarded for this faith as Payton assisted  Tobias Harris on a dagger three pointer to extend Orlando’s lead late.