The Orlando Magic held a 21-point lead and seemed in control. Another late-game collapse allowed the Magic to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Aaron Gordon had willed himself to the free throw line. After missing a turnaround jumper, Jonathon Simmons dug out a rebound and the ball worked back to Aaron Gordon. The defense had opened up for him and the runway was clear. A foul was the only thing preventing a game-tying dunk.
Gordon and the Orlando Magic could still give themselves a chance to win the game despite losing a 21-point lead and an eight-point fourth quarter lead. It was all in their hands. Win or lose, they clearly would have no one to blame now but themselves.
Urgency crept in when Gordon missed the first free throw. The chance to tie was now gone. Gordon intentionally missed the second free throw and the Magic got a chance on an offensive rebound.
Orlando again was able to scramble and gave Jonathon Simmons a great look for the win for three. No good again.
The Orlando Magic, for any good they could do, could not escape their own late-game foibles, repeatedly butchered by Victor Oladipo and the Indiana Pacers in the pick and roll again and again in a 114-112 loss at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Saturday.
The Magic busted out of the gates early and seemed to have a good lock on the game even from the very start. Turnovers were the only thing keeping the Pacers within reach in the early parts of the game. Orlando was dictating the tempo and the pace.
It was even that way into the second half. Indiana was making little gains. But the Magic were able to keep the Pacers at bay. Someone would make a big shot to reverse momentum.
Eventually, the big shots stopped coming. And the Pacers kept going. It might have been when the Magic reloaded with their starters. Elfrid Payton and Bismack Biyombo lacked some of the energy that players like Shelvin Mack and Khem Birch played with. Mario Hezonja was playing well, but he checked out as things really started turning south.
Like so many other losses before, when the tide turned, it turned completely. Orlando’s answer to Oladipo’s pick-and-roll onslaught was repeatedly a quick shot or a lack of ball movement. The Magic stubbed their toe again and again.
Whether it was making just 62.5 percent of their free throws, wasting a rare game where the team went to the foul line more than 30 times, or whether it was turning it over 14 times, the Magic gave up opportunities to seal the deal yet again.
Another chance to win squandered.
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The Orlando Magic finish their road trip Tuesday in Houston against the Houston Rockets.