Orlando Magic survive ‘bad quarter’ and score late win over New Orleans Pelicans

The Orlando Magic survived a bad quarter, something the team will have to learn to avoid, in scoring an overtime win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

As the seconds ticked down, the ball was going to Nikola Vucevic on one end and to Anthony Davis on the other. The two team’s starters were going to go toe to toe to the end of this one, a good string of practice for late game situations.

The battle continued to overtime as the Magic finally pulled away when Mario Hezonja tracked down a rebound from Evan Fournier, chased the ball into the back court after the Pelicans knocked it away from him and then started the ball reversal that found the ball back in his hands for a pass to Evan Fournier.

Fournier drained the 3-pointer and the Orlando Magic pulled ahead by five points, sealing a 110-107 overtime win over the New Orleans Pelicans at Amway Center on Wednesday.

Anthony Davis (NOP) — 33 pts., 16 rebs.; Nate Robinson (NOP) — 18 pts.
Nikola Vucevic (ORL) — 24 pts., 14 rebs.; Mario Hezonja (ORL) — 19 pts.

Again, it was a game of good, a game of bad, a game of recovery and a game of continued learning. That is all preseason is for, but it was nice to get a win even with some missed opportunities — Vucevic missed an opportunity to win the game in regulation when he missed a pair of free throws late.

The strong finish from Vucevic — he scored eight points in the fourth quarter as did Hezonja — was a response to a difficult second quarter, showing the continued inconsistency of this team. In the end, the team responded how it should and with many key players playing to the final buzzer, found a way to win.

“It’s bad that it happens to us that we start in such a great way and we have waves, down and then coming up again,” Hezonja said. “After we talked [in the locker room at halftime] and we entered the second half, we brought a new level of energy and an overall better mentality. We fight against the other team. We did a great job.”

Nikola Vucevic scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in 33 minutes of game action, probably the closest simulation he will have to regular game minutes. Mario Hezonja provided a strong spark off the bench with 19 points, making four of his six 3-pointers and 6 of 10 shots overall. Tobias Harris had 18 points and eight rebounds, getting much of his work in early before he was shut down for the evening.

Orlando’s offense flowed well for much of the game, particularly in the first quarter. The cuts were decisive and the team was sharp both in its passing and its execution. Defensively, Vucevic did a good job staying down and staying in front of Davis. He made things difficult.

And the Magic got to the offensive glass, scoring 19 second chance point on 15 offensive rebounds to just four for the Pelicans. They also outscored the pelicans 44-28 in the paint. Orlando was attacking the paint well when its offense was working and pulling the New Orleans defense apart.

But things were not always easy. Especially with Davis. He scored 33 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, getting to the line for 17 makes on 19 attempts.

The Magic gave up 51 free throw attempts, allowing the Pelicans to stay in the game as they made 43 in the game. The second quarter was a disaster after a strong first quarter. New Orleans outscored Orlando 37-19 in the second quarter, making 10 of 17 field goals and 16 of 20 free throws.

The Magic could not get out of their own way with the fouling throughout the contest. And they dug themselves a hole after building a 10-point lead in the first quarter. A 20-point turnaround in one quarter saw Orlando needing to find some energy and a little more precision to get back into it.

They found it in the locker room and behind Hezonja starting to heat up and Harris leadig the charge, taking advantage of Anthony Davis guarding him, they came back.

The good news was the players responded, the bad news was they lost focus for a quarter and needed to.

“We shouldn’t have a bad whole quarter,” coach Scott Skiles said. “A bad four or five minute stretch, that happens in a NBA game. But when we go eight, nine, 10, 12 minutes where we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing, we have to address that. The guys have responded. You don’t typically during a regular season game want to fall behind by double digits when you had a decent lead especially against a team like that. We have to be able to self correct while we’re going through it.”

The lessons continue to get taught as the preseason comes to a close. The team is trying to tighten things up as they have one last preseason game before things start counting for real next week.

The Magic’s game against the Pelicans was not a work of art. Orlando fouled far too much and struggled with some simple things on offense throughout the night — sloppy dribble handoffs, a few inbound turnovers and difficulty bringing the ball up (slightly attributable to Elfrid Payton and Shabazz Napier‘s absence).

All that will need to get cleaned up.

But overall, Skiles was able to get his team in a close game and see them perform well enough to win. An important point. The wins will start mattering soon and so to see the team pull one out against a star like Davis was a major step forward for this young team.

Or at least another step on the road.

Next: Mario Hezonja making Orlando Magic nationally intriguing