In a sloppy game where the Orlando Magic went cold from outside, the team instead took the ball to the basket to grind out a tough win.
If anyone ever just gets an itch to watch a really sloppy, ugly, turnover-filled basketball game, well they should have tuned it to the Orlando Magic’s 85-74 win against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.
From start to finish it was an up and down game, just not in the good way.
The Magic had 20 turnovers, the Nuggets had 17. So many of these were the sloppy, cannot-quite-get-my-fingers-on-the-ball, no-look-pass-gone-wrong variety.
Both teams had quarters scoring less than 20 points, and the Magic were the better team by shooting 43 percent (Denver had 33 percent). The Magic made it look even uglier by shooting 1 for 16 from the three-point line.
In a league obsessed with shooting 3-pointers, how did the Magic manage to survive and grind out a win?
They went old-school, by taking the ball, and getting it to the rim.
It was Tobias Harris who gave the go ahead that this would be their mandate. Harris jumped out to nine points in the first quarter, leading his team and trailing Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari by just two.
These nine points all came from the paint or just outside as his shot chart from the first quarter shows:
Harris was relentless in getting to the basket, dunking, finishing through contact, just muscling through. He actually finished the game scoring just one basket outside the interior.
Before long, other Magic players took the hint and started getting to the rim.
This could not have been more important on a night when the shooters went cold.
Evan Fournier, possibly the top outside threat for the Magic hit the team’s only three on the way to shooting 1 for 4 from beyond the arc (and it ended up being his only shot of the game as Fournier put up one of his worst games of the year with 1 for 7 overall, no free throws and 5 fouls). Fellow shooters Victor Oladipo and Shabazz Napier had no more luck, going 0 for 4 and 0 for 3 respectively.
Oladipo and Payton at least received Harris’ message and listened to it. Though Oladipo did not finish on a high percentage, most of his shots were in around the basket and his running the floor really helped in getting the Magic going.
Payton even more so. Where Harris led in the first quarter, it was Payton who stood out for the Magic in the third.
Payton scored eight of his 18 points in the third, and his shot chart for the whole game displays a very telling story:
Payton finished the game tied as the Magic’s leading scorer along with Nikola Vucevic.
Vucevic had possibly his best game of the last two weeks or more, finishing with 18 points and 13 rebounds on 64 percent shooting. Though Vucevic was one of the only ones with his jumper going (hitting two midrange shots), he was 7 of 9 right under the basket.
This is big for Vucevic, who has drifted to the midrange lately, it was big for the Magic to see him muscling under the boards and finishing strong.
The effort of getting to the basket, finishing plays or following them, is a huge plus sign for the Magic. Earlier on in the season, the team looked listless and they could easily be accused of settling for long jumpers when the game got tough.
Whether the game with the Nuggets could be considered ‘tough’ is a question, it was a close game throughout, but it was more ugly than anything else, with neither team able to settle into what they wanted to do.
With the recent winning streak, however, the Magic have looked a lot more lively and the results have reflected it. Being able to sift through the murky mists of the game with the Nuggets, and just get to the basket for easy shots, is incredibly encouraging.
Not every game can go smooth, not everyone will shoot well, but the team being able to will itself through and get something good out it regardless is a mark of winners.
This could easily have been a game the Magic let slide, still hung over from the heartbreaker against the Los Angeles Clippers, and with Aaron Gordon out with a sprained ankle. It is the tail end of a road trip after all, and the first night of a back-to-back.
Previous editions of the Magic would have hung their heads and let it go. Not this edition.
Orlando out-rebounded Denver on the offensive glass 14-11, and obliterated Denver inside the paint. Not only did the Magic outscore the Nuggets 54-34 inside, the Nuggets were putrid in the paint:
The end result goes some way to making up for the loss to the Clippers, and is a builder of confidence for the team. They now know they can win the sloppy games where everything does not go to plan.
Next: Orlando Magic win ugly over Denver Nuggets
After all, they have now won six of their last seven, and sloppy or ugly or whatever, every win counts.