The Orlando Magic fell behind early as the Cleveland Cavaliers seemed to coast to a win. The Magic though fought back and salvaged something in defeat.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
| Magic | 20 | 25 | 17 | 37 | 99 |
| Cavaliers | 33 | 29 | 18 | 25 | 105 |
The Orlando Magic looked as lifeless and disappointingly frustrated in the first half against the Cleveland Cavaliers as they had in a blowout loss to the Detroit Pistons. LeBron James had run roughshod over the team with little resistance. The Magic fell behind by 22 points.
Things did not look much better early in the third quarter. There were signs things were getting better.
The Cavaliers stopped hitting impossible shots and the game slowed down. The Magic finally found their footing.
The defense began challenging shots at the rim and closing down Cleveland’s shooters. Orlando got out in transition and found a good balance attacking the basket. When the Magic did not, a big was there waiting to clean up. The ball began moving better and shots started falling.
The Magic chipped away before the dam finally broke. And there they were with a minute left, down by three points against the defending champions. All the frustration and poor chemistry was put behind them for a moment.
D.J. Augustin led the way with his ability to get to the basket. Bismack Biyombo provided a strong back stop and an even stronger screening and physical presence and the Magic offense just worked better. Orlando just needed to execute to complete the comeback.
That last piece did not come to pass for the Magic. J.R. Smith hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including a back-breaking three as Evan Fournier hedged too much to defend a LeBron James pick and roll .
The Magic could not complete the comeback in falling 105-99 at Quicken Loans Arena on Saturday. But in the process they may have found something to build on. Of course, none of that will matter if the team does not carry it through to Tuesday’s game.
At least the Magic competed after two disappointing efforts and found a way to make it a game late. Problems still persist and hover around this team.