Just as Victor Oladipo‘s go-ahead three had lifted Orlando Magic fans into euphoria, Lou Williams brought them back down to stone-cold reality with the game-winning three-pointer.
As someone who has been guilty of saying they wish this season would come to its gruesome conclusion, the Magic are starting to make this conclusion a lot more interesting.
Even in tonight’s 101-99 loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Magic are showing remarkable growth as the season winds down.
The defense has picked up immensely thanks to giant efforts from Dewayne Dedmon and Aaron Gordon. Tonight Dedmon put up two points and eight rebounds in only 18 minutes while Aaron Gordon put up 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. While the box score does not show that either Dedmon or Gordon made a defensive impact, that could not be further from the truth.
Gordon was able to switch onto any Raptor player that took the floor tonight outside of Jonas Valanciunas which allowed Orlando to switch at will. Dedmon did a great job of getting Valanciunas under control on the glass after a big start from the Raptors big man.
This game was exactly the type of effort that fans have been looking for from the Magic most of the season. Orlando fought back from an early double-digit deficit and had a lead of four in the fourth quarter.
However, that lead did not expand thanks to Orlando’s display of youth. Tobias Harris turned over the ball on a lazy pass to Victor Oladipo (which Lou Williams was sitting on the entire way) and Evan Fournier stepped out of bounds on a play out of a timeout that was specifically designed for him.
Oladipo hit a cold-blooded three with his team down two and 13 seconds left to give the Magic a brief lead. However, he made the mistake of leaving Lou Williams and helping Nikola Vucevic corral DeMar DeRozan (who scored 29 points, by the way). Williams drained the 3-pointer in the corner, and it was a play Oladipo was still kicking himself over after the game.
Without a timeout and little time left, Oladipo took the ball the length of the floor and shot a wild floater from the free throw line. Vucevic could not finish and the Raptors escaped with the ball game.
Despite faltering late in the game, and even with the struggles of Nikola Vucevic and Elfrid Payton, the Magic showed during the twilight of the season that something special may be on the horizon in Orlando.
Games Notes:
- Willie Green and Luke Ridnour were active tonight. Willie Green did get some playing time.
- Channing Frye got back to his DNP-CD ways tonight. (Thank goodness)
- Andrew Nicholson and Tyler Hansborough held an honor duel at halftime. Nicholson was the victor thanks to some interference by Dewayne Dedmon. (OK this did not happen but it should have.)
- Elfrid Payton was held to single-digit scoring for only the second time in a month.
- Aaron Gordon’s court vision is incredible. The next coach for the Magic needs to utilize that skill.
- James Borrego made a questionable substution by taking Aaron Gordon out late in favor of Evan Fournier on offense. It sounds great in theory, but the Magic were rolling with their lineup.
- I wonder why James Borrego did not have Dewayne Dedmon out there for the Magic on their last defensive possession. DeMar Derozan blew right past Vucevic on the baseline which lead to Lou Williams open three. If Dedmon is in the game that baseline isn’t there.