The Orlando Magic were hoping for the right turn in a last-ditch effort to salvage another blown lead. The plays needed to win just are not there.
The ball can turn in funny ways. Each little decision making a difference in the final outcome.
That decision to go after a loose ball or trust a teammate to get it. That decision to cut hard off a screen or where to pass it. The decision to lob the ball inbounds or snap a harder chest pass. The decision to let the ball bounce in front of you. The decision to fling it nearly the full length of the court.
The decision on how to lay it up.
Kawhi Leonard drained a pull-up jumper with 0.9 seconds left over the smothering defense of Aaron Gordon to give the Spurs a two-point lead and complete a 14-point fourth-quarter comeback.
“He shook me off,” Aaron Gordon said. “I thought that I recovered well enough. I practically gave him a high five and it went in. There’s nothing you can really do about it. He got to this spot and he shot it over me. I know that I’m going to have more matchups with him and I’m going to make it more difficult.”
It felt like the game was over but the ball had one more turn to take.
The Magic, without a timeout, set up one last-ditch play to tie the game. Evan Fournier looked to Nikola Vucevic at midcourt but saw Elfrid Payton escaping the defense. He fired a near-perfect baseball pass the length of the court for Payton, who let it bounce in front of him before grabbing it and laying it on the rim.
Payton said the ball slipped as he went for the reverse layup and it careened off the backboard and away from the rim no good. The ball had turned too much and instead of celebrating a win streak heading to the All-Star Break, the Magic were lamenting missed opportunities again in a 98-96 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at Amway Center on Wednesday.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Antonio | 98 | 100.4 | 47.2 | 22.9 | 13.3 | 16.9 |
| Orlando | 96 | 96.0 | 45.1 | 28.3 | 15.0 | 17.6 |
Kawhi Leonard (SAS) — 29 pts., 7 rebs.; LaMarcus Aldridge (SAS) — 21 pts.
Evan Fournier (ORL) — 28 pts.; Nikola Vucevic (ORL) — 20 pts., 13 rebs.
“I tried to let it bounce, it slipped out of my hand,” Elfrid Payton said. “I’ve got to make that shot. I’ve just got to make it.”
The ball might have been turning in Payton’s hands strange because of that bounce, but it was the other bounces and turns that cost the Magic the game. The bounces and turns the Magic failed to seize to secure a win.
Those little plays coaches and players always talk about are necessary to win games.
That would be plays like Patty Mills digging out an offensive rebound with about two minutes to go in a three-point game to help set up a LaMarcus Aldridge post-up and foul. Or Victor Oladipo driving into the lane with purpose rather than recklessness as Danny Green on two occasions ripped the ball from him and blocked his shot.
It is the little plays like getting the ball inbounded, as the Magic failed to do with one minute to play with the team down by one point after two timeouts. Evan Fournier’s inbounds was stolen by Patty Mills and the Magic panic-stricken fouled Kawhi Leonard to allow him to extend the lead to three.
All those plays — and plenty more lost rotations that led to open 3-pointer for the Spurs, who shot 3 for 8 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter and 50.0 percent in the final frame — added up to losing an 11-point lead in the final 7:29 of the game.
An all-too-familiar theme for this Magic squad.
“You could feel the Spurs picking it up, and we didn’t react real well to it,” coach Scott Skiles said. “We started throwing them the ball and we just became casual and they took advantage of it.”
The Spurs, when they were engaged defensively as they were in that fourth quarter and through parts of the first half, stymied the Magic. Orlando shot just 7 for 21 in the fourth quarter and committed six turnovers. It was all coming from different areas.
At points in that fourth quarter, it felt like the Magic were trying to force offense. They just could not get it going. The Spurs kept making shots and chipping away and the Magic had only mini answers.
“We have to stick to what is working: hustling, playing good defense and being the most aggressive team on the floor,” Fournier said. “For some reason, we just stopped doing it. It’s a tough loss. Nothing to say.”
Even with the lead completely lost the Magic found their composure to design a brilliant baseline out of bounds set where Fournier left like he was going to set a screen and then quickly cut back to the corner for an elevator screen and an open 3-pointer.
He calmly drained it to tie the game.
There were moments like this throughout the game. The Magic looked like they were letting go in the second quarter when they fell behind by 10 points. Skiles called a timeout and the Magic finished the half on a 11-0 run to take a one-point lead to the locker room.
It felt like the Magic were in control of the game from that point forward. The rope just started sliding again in the fourth quarter. The ball movement and spacing that helped create the lead began to evaporate and so did the lead.
The tightness from so many losses was present again and the Spurs became the aggressors. And they are so dangerous regardless of the lead or anything and began to take advantage.
“We just got a little lackadaisical,” Gordon said. “We relaxed, got undisciplined and got outhustled there for a span of time. And they got the momentum back.”
Momentum that seemed pointed in the Magic’s direction. Orlando has been playing significantly better this last week heading into the All-Star Break and that provides some solace.
But that is nowhere near the solace a win would have provided. Certainly a win over a team like the Spurs.
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Wins take a little bit more. They rarely rely on bounces or spins of the basketball. On the decisions made and unmade.
They rely on plays. The ability to rise up and make a jumper over a defender or the ability to make a clean pass or grab a rebounder. And, yes, the ability to hit a layup even with 0.9 seconds left.
The accumulation of those plays make up a game and every opportunity missed and play made or not made determines the outcome.
Again, when the chips were down, the Magic were not able to come up with those plays, looking like they were waiting for a bounce to come their way rather than take the game and the win.
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“When the play needs to be made, you’ve got to make it,” Skiles said. “There are a handful of plays in every game or more that just kind of don’t go your way or the other team outhustles you or something. For us, in key moments, we have struggled to just make the winning play or plays, a combination of plays.”