Orlando Magic Grades: Orlando Magic 75, Los Angeles Clippers 74
The Orlando Magic secured a 75-74 win over the Los Angeles Clippers thanks to Mario Hezonja‘s game-winning 3-pointer.
Final. 74. 77. 75. 38
The Orlando Magic won both their opening Summer League games on Saturday at the Amway Center. It was the second game featuring their roster players that caught the attention and proved to be the highlight of the entire day at the Orlando Summer League.
The Magic came from behind to force overtime in the fourth quarter behind the stellar performance from Aaron Gordon. And then rookie Mario Hezonja hit the game-winning shot for a 75-74 win.
The game was much more than just the finish. Orlando saw many of its roster players play huge games and even show new aspects to their game.
It was not a clean game for the Magic. The team’s focus and intensity waned through portions of the game and the game had its typical Summer League sloppiness. Surely the Magic will look to clean some of this up.
But when this team was on, they had the look of a team that could out-talent the Clippers and just overwhelm some of their players. Particularly with Aaron Gordon and Elfrid Payton looking heads and tails better than anyone else on the court.
F. Orlando Magic. AARON GORDON. A. <p>After some discussion with a few other writers at the end of Summer League, I think I feel pretty safe saying this was Aaron Gordon’s best game in a Magic uniform (practice or otherwise).</p><p>Gordon dominated the game from the beginning scoring 12 points and grabbing eight rebounds in the first quarter alone. He finished the game with 22 points and 18 rebounds. This was not just a matter of Gordon getting putbacks and dunks. He was hitting fade aways and short jumpers.</p><p>More than anything he was confident. He knew he could have been the best player on the court. He went out and grabbed rebounds from other players and drove into traffic (sometimes to his detriment) and always looked to score. Gordon was clearly the best player on the floor for the 42 minutes of this game.</p>
B. <p>Mario Hezonja proved to be the hero in the first game of Summer League. His 3-pointer was exactly the shot the Magic drafted him to make. He showed he has no problem letting things fly and no problem playing in a crunch time moment. That was as advertised.</p><p>Largely however, Hezonja was trying to find his way into the flow of the offense. There were few plays run for him and few opportunities for him to attack. On those few opportunities he did a good job creating for others, sometimes forcing passes or going for a flashy pass when a simple one would do.</p><p>At the end, Hezonja scored 12 points on 3-for-8 shooting. The expectation is for him to get a little more comfortable in his second game. But overall it was a solid debut for him and there was plenty to say he can deliver more in the future.</p>. G/F. Orlando Magic. MARIO HEZONJA
C. <p>Elfrid Payton gets a bad grade only because so much is expected of him. We know what he can do and nothing that happened in Saturday’s game would suggest there is any reason to worry about Payton. He can dial back some of the things he was experimenting with when the games start to count.</p><p>Payton did a good job distributing with nine assists. But his five turnovers came from him trying to force plays he would not normally force in the regular season.</p><p>The other thing we watched was his jumper. Payton is still getting confident with that and it does look more fluid, but it is not quite there yet. He shot 3 for 10. However, Payton got things rolling with a few jumpers late. When he was on balance, his jumper looked significantly better.</p>. PG. Orlando Magic. ELFRID PAYTON
B. <p>The Clippers got off to a horrible start as the Magic defense swarmed them and prevented them from doing much of anything. The Magic built a 16-point lead and with their talent, it felt like the game was over.</p><p>Los Angeles fought its way back though. And it was really a collective effort. <strong><a href=. 0-1. 2 pts.. LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS