The Orlando Magic made some key errors throughout the game but the late mistakes from Victor Oladipo clearly cost the team a win.
Scott Skiles had praised Victor Oladipo as one of the best defenders in the NBA just the day before. He asked the league to find him someone playing better defense than Oladipo.
Those words came back to bite him and the Magic on Sunday night. Oladipo helped too far off Kyle Korver with the game tied at 100 in a situation Skiles said the team instructed him not to leave Korver. That gave Korver an open 3-pointer and what turned into the game-winning 3-pointer.
Oladipo put the entire blame for the loss on himself. It was his mistake — that play, plus a turnover on the ensuing possession trying to find Tobias Harris on the opposite wing for three — that cost the Magic in the short run. But it was the Magic’s defensive woes throughout the game that cost them.
Atlanta shot 50 percent from the floor and from beyond the arc as Orlando had to claw their way back into the game with a 16-0 third-quarter run and rely on offensive execution to win.