Orlando Magic Grades: Orlando Magic 95, San Antonio Spurs 83

The Orlando Magic turned in perhaps their best overall performance of the season, dominating the San Antonio Spurs on defense and finding a flow on offense.

VS.

	1	2	3	4	T
Magic	16	29	30	20	95
Spurs	20	23	21	19	83

The Orlando Magic had lost four straight games entering Tuesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs to start a five-game road trip.

If we have learned anything about this Magic team, we know this team can compete against one of the top teams in the NBA after a losing streak. The defense ensures that.

The matchup against a likely contending Spurs team showed a competitive fire within a Magic team struggling to do some very basic things. The Magic were going to fight all night regardless of who made predictions.

And they took that fight to the Spurs on the road. Orlando took as much as a 17-point lead, matching San Antonio shot for shot at times and slamming the door shut defensively for most of the night in a 95-83 win at AT&T Center on Tuesday.

The Spurs entered this game on a 10-game winning streak against the Magic and were at full strength. Orlando could not afford a slow start defensively or offensively.

The Spurs came out firing on all cylinders from the perimeter. The Magic’s perimeter defense needed to be above average, and it was.

The Magic played aggressively on defense throughout the night, holding the Spurs to a season-low 83 points and 36.8 percent shooting.

Orlando never took its foot off the gas and collected the team’s biggest win of the year.

The Magic were starting to turn into the team they know they could be if they played consistent on both sides of the ball, taking control late in the first quarter and never really letting go defensively after a slow start.

In the first game of a five-game road trip, Frank Vogel stuck with the same starting five from the loss at home to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, which consisted of Elfrid Payton and Nikola Vucevic coming off of the bench in favor of Bismack Biyombo and D.J Augustin.

The second quarter and the second half was a glimpse of the blue print for this Magic team. The Magic registered a 29-point second quarter and led at halftime 45-43. No one saw that coming. They followed that up with a 30-point third quarter to put the Spurs on their heels.

Consistency is something the Magic have struggled with since the season’s opening tip. Vogel has to figure out which lineups will get the best out of his players.

To do so he will need to continue to challenge players and continue to tinker with lineups so no one gets comfortable. This is a team that can’t afford to be comfortable with their minutes.

They may have found their starting lineup and offensive identity in this big win.

C. Orlando Magic. NIKOLA VUCEVIC. B+. Nikola Vucevic has now registered six consecutive double doubles against the Spurs in his career. And although he did not start tonight, he showed a similar strong performance. Vucevic scored 12 points to go with 10 rebounds.He rebounded well and showed his vintage post moves with his right hook shot against a solid defender in <a rel=

A-. Serge Ibaka did not jump at every head fake like he has been occasionally this year and looked good defensively for the majority of the night, considering he was matched up against a top-3 power forward in <a rel=. PF. Orlando Magic. SERGE IBAKA

PG. Orlando Magic. ELFRID PAYTON. B+. Elfrid Payton looks more comfortable shooting in these last two games that he has come off of the bench. He scored 10 points to go with four assists.He scored eight points in the second quarter and looked good driving to the basket at times. All he needs to do is be more consistent with his outside shooting and decision-making in order for the Magic to accomplish its goals.Payton looked like a floor general coming off of the bench. He found his teammates in their sweet spots and the team’s confidence continued to increase.He showed quick hands in the second half stealing the ball away from Patty Mills and following it up with an easy layup. Payton followed that up with a nice block from behind on Aldridge in the fourth quarter which led to two points on the other end from <a rel=

Frank Vogel has inserted Bismack Biyombo in the starting lineup for the second consecutive game only to disappoint. This isn’t what Magic fans expected when the Magic spent $72-million.Biyombo scored nine points to go with six rebounds. Based on these two performances he has not provided any evidence to start over Vucevic going forward. Although Biyombo is a great defender in the paint and likes to bang bodies as a rebounder, his offensive game is limited to the third power.Biyombo was able to match up with Pau Gasol and made him pass the ball out whenever he faced Biyombo up. Biyombo does not have a problem defending any center in the NBA, but has a problem scoring on just about every center he’s matched up against. He mad just 3 of his 11 shots.He set a lot of solid screens that helped <a rel=. F/C. Orlando Magic. BISMACK BIYOMBO. B-

D. The San Antonio Spurs did not look like the team we are accustomed to seeing and some credit has to go to the Orlando Magic defensive game plan.The Spurs were terrible offensively and got out rebounded by a Magic team desperate for a win.It seemed as if the Spurs might have taken their foot off the gas a little and allowed the Magic to gain confidence as the game continued. The Magic held the Spurs to their season-low points and field goal percentage. It was a thorough beating as San Antonio failed to get momentum back.. 14-4. 2nd West. SAN ANTONIO SPURS