Orlando Magic Recap: Fourth Quarter Collapse! Orlando Magic Fall To Brooklyn Nets 101-88
By Zach Palmer
After a big surge in the third quarter the Magic found a way to lose the game to a lackluster Nets team 101-88.
147. Final. 88. 38. 101
So, do you want the good news first, or the bad news?
The good news, you say? All right. The good news is this underwhelming 2015 Orlando Magic campaign is over.
The bad news? We will not be able to watch the Magic play meaningful NBA basketball until October.
Since about February, I have wanted this season to end. The Magic looked disinterested at times, Jacque Vaughn was plainly and simply a poor head coach. James Borrego inherited quite a few of Jacque Vaughn’s terrible tendencies, Tobias Harris and Aaron Gordon could not stay healthy among others.
At times, the Magic showed their potential and that made the rest of the season that much more infuriating.
Now we get to the most heartbreaking part of the season. All of the fourth quarter collapses and second half leads blown.
Tonight summed up the season as succinctly as possible. The Magic looked great in the first 2.5 quarters. The ball was moving, players were moving on defense and the Magic were taking it to a Nets team that did not seem really to want it that bad (Nets coach Lionel Hollins said his team was tight early on).
In the third quarter, the Magic offense was rolling behind Andrew Nicholson and Victor Oladipo and managed to stretch the lead to as much as 12. Then, late in the third, the Magic offense became stagnant and the defense suffered as a result of their offensive struggles.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored a career-high 28 points (previous career-high 22 was against the Magic), while Joe Johnson added 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists including some huge fourth-quarter buckets that separated the Nets from the Magic.
The Magic were bit in their behind by their 17 turnovers and lack of production from rookies Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon.
In the end it resulted in their 101-88 defeat at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets.
Now as much as I wanted this season to end, it is sad to see it come to an end. There is nothing quite like enjoying Orlando Magic basketball after a long day. And now we will be without it for a good six-plus months.
Thank you to all the OMD readers for sticking with us for our game coverage all season long. While the season has now come to an end things are about to get extremely interesting for the Magic starting with the draft lottery and the selection of the next head coach.
OMD is ready to get to work on the looming off-season for the Magic, so stay tuned!
Games Notes:
- Kyle O’Quinn was dusted off tonight. He played 19 minutes and played fairly well.
- Evan Fournier and Tobias Harris both sat tonight for what can be likely called precautionary reasons. The official reasons were core injury and sore Achilles.
- One thing Aaron Gordon is going to have to work on this off-season is his shot selection. Gordon at times this year has passed up open 3s only to settle for a contested two. For a guy with a limited offensive game he needs to take what he is given. Confidence is not a problem, but he just needs to increase his skill on that side of the floor.
- Gordon spent most of his night defending Joe Johnson. Johnson broke through in the fourth quarter, but through three quarters he had nine points on 4-for-9 shooting. Things did not come easy for him.
- Nikola Vucevic woke up tonight and that was nice. The Magic offense ran really well early thanks to Vucevic’s passing.
- Willie Green played 22 minutes in the final game of a rebuilding year. Why not? Well, the Magic had just three guards available without Fournier, Luke Ridnour and Ben Gordon. Victor Oladipo played nearly 44 minutes tonight.
- James Borrego finishes the year with a 10-20 record as the coach of the Magic. Borrego definitely did some positive things during his time as coach and I would consider bringing him back as an assistant but there is absolutely no chance that he earned the head coaching gig this season.