Little went wrong in the Orlando Magic’s lopsided 139-105 trouncing of the Brooklyn Nets.
Some nights you just got it.
The Orlando Magic played something close to a perfect game in dominating the Brooklyn Nets 139-105 from tip off to the final horn at Amway Center on Tuesday. Most impressively in Orlando’s performance was that after building an early lead the Magic continued to play hard and make the lead bigger still.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn | 105 | 104.8 | 50.0 | 31.8 | 18.0 | 49.4 |
| Orlando | 139 | 133.2 | 69.2 | 16.7 | 9.6 | 20.9 |
Andrew Nicholson (ORL) — 24 pts.; Elfrid Payton (ORL) — 11 pts., 12 assts.
Thomas Robinson (BKN) — 18 pts., 12 rebs.; Wayne Ellington (BKN) — 12 pts.
“When you play like that, it’s just better,” Evan Fournier said. “Everybody is touching it. Everybody is involved. It was just a very good win.”
In a season which has been short on blowouts, the Magic for one night had nearly Golden State Warriors-esque success with its offense. Orlando passed the ball crisply and worked the extra pass en route to tallying 40 assists on 56 field goals. The Magic scored at least 30 points in every period and had 100 points by the start of the fourth quarter. That includes a 41-point second quarter where the Magic went from up to up big.
And the Magic shared the ball well enough to get a number of guys off. Orlando put eight players in double figures. The Magic also got 71 points from their bench, led by Andrew Nicholson’s 24 points on a perfect 9-for-9 shooting.
Nicholson was 6 for 6 from the field at the half, and three of his nine made field goals were triples. The Magic knocked down 14 of 27 from behind the arc, swinging the ball around the horn to always hit the open shooter.
“We felt good,” Nicholson said. “We trusted each other. We went to the right spots and found each other and went to the right spots.”
The game offered few points for criticism on the Magic’s part. Brooklyn, conversely, turned the ball over 18 times and allowed Orlando race out to a 41-point third quarter. The Magic converted 31 points off those 18 turnovers and had 22 fast-break points. Orlando’s defense was creating its offense to the point where the deficit was too large for any of it to matter.
Outside of Thomas Robinson, not a single Nets player in this one looked good.
Though Brooklyn’s 46 percent field goal percentage was not that horrible, the Nets shot just 26 of 39 from the free throw line. The Nets held a plus-4 advantage on the glass, but that was only because there were so few offensive rebounds for the Magic even to get.
The Nets found some offensive rhythm in the second half but the deficit was too big. The Magic’s offense just continued to roll.
When the ball is falling, everything works a lot better. Just about every player seemed to be feeling it, which made it naturally pretty easy to find good shots. From Jason Smith’s 7-for-11 shooting from the mid range to Aaron Gordon’s 9-for-11 from around the basket — including a few monstrous jams and a leap from nearly the free-throw line — the Magic basically played to each player’s strengths.
“We’re a really fast team,” Gordon said. “When we can get stops and we can run, we’re very dangerous. We shared the ball really well. The culmination of those three things, we’re a very good team.”
It was not unlike how we saw Orlando playing early in the season, despite the fact Orlando is eliminated from postseason contention. This game gave a glimpse of just how good the Magic can be when players trust one another and play unselfishly — and the undeniable importance of intensity and drive.
Though there was nothing on the line, the Magic came out and gave a 48-minute effort, never letting its foot off the gas the entire way, picking up their first win streak since defeating Atlanta twice in early February.
There will not be many games in a season where almost nothing negative can be said, but this game comes as close to that idea as possible. The Magic still maintain a 20-17 mark at the Amway Center, which is another positive that can be drawn from this season as it reaches its conclusion.
“It’s a very good feeling,” Jason Smith said. “To have the ball moving like that is how we’re supposed to play the game. It’s very good for us to keep the ball moving. Everyone was having a good time and a fun time tonight.”
Next: Orlando Magic induct Rich DeVos into team Hall of Fame
Philip Rossman-Reich contributed to this report.