Kemba Walker has historically been an Orlando Magic killer, but Orlando’s own worst enemy may have been itself in yet another loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
Kemba Walker really seems to savor playing against the Orlando Magic. To be sure, he came into this game already feeling it, and his gaudy stat line of 40 points, nine assists and seven rebounds only really begins to tell the story.
Walker’s impact was so far reaching that Scott Skiles saw little other solution but to put Victor Oladipo on him in overtime, pulling Elfrid Payton out of a game in a move that caused more than a few to scratch their heads. Payton may have been having his struggles with Walker, but he has consistently been Orlando’s only creator on the offensive end.
Walker connected on 14 of 28 from the field and hit two of Charlotte’s 10 3-point field goals as the Magic dropped its ninth game in its past 10 with a disappointing 120-116 loss to the Charlotte Hornets in overtime at Amway Center. Orlando lost a 19-point second-half lead leading to more pressing and probing questions for this team.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | 120 | 112.5 | 49.5 | 29.5 | 8.3 | 21.8 |
| Orlando | 116 | 104.2 | 55.5 | 17.1 | 16.1 | 20.9 |
Kemba Walker (CHA) — 40 pts.; Spencer Hawes (CHA) — 16 pts., 10 rebs.
Victor Oladipo (ORL) — 29 pts.; Nikola Vucevic (ORL) — 15 pts., 12 rebs.
“Our character is going to be built during this time,” Victor Oladipo said. “What kind of players and what kind of men are we is the question. We have to question each other and look in the mirror and question ourselves. And realize we’ve got to step up and ask ourselves are we really going to fold right now or change this around.”
There were plenty of great stretches of Magic basketball, but the team’s inability to protect the basketball in the fourth quarter spelled the eventual demise.
Orlando led by as many as 19 points late in the third quarter, but Charlotte would open the fourth quarter on a 20-4 run, taking its first lead of the second half late in the game.
The Magic had nine of their 19 turnovers in the fourth quarter, with poor execution taking much of the blame in yet another Magic loss. Orlando shot just 5 for 19 from the field, compounding the problems on defense present for much of the night.
“We knew our defense wasn’t that sharp most of the night but we played excellent offense,” coach Scott Skiles said. “We had the lead, we were knocking down shots and as a coach you are always a little bit concerned what’s going to happen as the game goes on if you start missing shots or we don’t get the quality of shots you were getting. They turned up the heat and we had trouble executing.”
Skiles estimated that somewhere in the 20s of the team’s final possessions, they basically took a bad shot or turned it over after they executed so well for most of the game. Indeed, the Magic scored just six points and committed seven turnovers in their final 17 possessions of regulation. The Hornets cut down a 15-point lead in that time.
The Hornets eventually seized control of the lead following a Nikola Vucevic bricked jumper that led to a Walker breakaway bucket with no players stepping up to slow down the speedy scorer.
“We got away from what we were doing well — moving the ball,” Nikola Vucevic said. “That’s what got us the lead. Moving the ball around, playing together, finding the open guy, I think we went away from that in the fourth quarter. Too much dribbling and we couldn’t find a way to score. Once they got closer, it got harder.”
The Magic were down 107-106 with 22 seconds to go, and ran Oladipo off a high pick to get him a chance going to the basket. He missed, failing to draw a whistle, and the Magic were forced to foul with 22 seconds to go.
Elfrid Payton then came away with a backcourt steal on Walker, but Walker recovered in time to strip the ball and call timeout. Walker would then hit two free throws to put Charlotte up 109-106.
Then came Oladipo’s biggest trick of the night on a night he scored 29 points and returned to the starting lineup.
Oladipo had already had a 14-point third quarter and several heat checks throughout the game, but his biggest heat check came on the banked triple that sent the game to overtime.
Once the game reached its extra period, the Magic seemed to have run out of gas, and the defense proceeded to fall back apart.
The Hornets began the overtime period on a 4-0 run before a short hook by Vucevic stopped the bleeding. Oladipo would then take his turn picking Walker’s pocket after an Aaron Gordon 3-pointer, and Orlando improbably reclaimed the lead 116-115.
That was Orlando’s last bucket.
Kemba Walker drew Vucevic in on a pick and roll, leaving Spencer Hawes wide open in the left corner to hit the go-ahead three for the Hornets.
Walker next iced the game at the free throw line, and the Magic took a four-point loss in a game it led by as many as 19 in.
“Obviously we haven’t been responding the way we need to,” Oladipo said. “But at the end of the day, it’s just a rough patch. That’s what I truly believe.
“We’ve just got to stick together. Basketball is an imperfect game. There is no such thing as a perfect game. It’s just a tough time right now. But what’s great is we know what we’re capable of. Everyone in America knows what we’re capable of because we’ve done it. We have to get back to what works and believe we can get back to that.”
The frustration may not be able to mount any higher following this loss which now puts Orlando two games below .500 and fading quickly out of relevancy in the East’s playoff chase.
Next: Youth still an issue for the growing Orlando Magic
Philip Rossman-Reich contributed to this report.