A sluggish Orlando Magic team ran into a buzzsaw. The San Antonio Spurs routed the Orlando Magic in an embarrassing blowout victory.
The San Antonio Spurs knew they needed a win. The Orlando Magic… knew they wanted to get home.
The Magic’s pit stop in Texas after their nine-day West Coast swing always had schedule loss written all over it. The news that Aaron Gordon would not get clearance from the concussion protocol and Evan Fournier‘s continued absence only made the task harder.
Then the Spurs fell out of the top eight spots in the Western Conference. It was a formula to create the potential for an embarrassing scoreline. The Magic were entering the hornet’s nest.
San Antonio levied a 19-2 run on Orlando in the second quarter as part of a 38-19 period that blew the game wide open. Things got only worse from there. The Spurs started the second half on a 14-2 run to put the game completely away.
Orlando failed to take those punches and completely let go of the rope. What was a close, competitive game in the first quarter, quickly became a sloppy blowout. There was nothing to feel good about in a 108-72 defeat to the Spurs at AT&T Center on Tuesday.
The Magic took one to the chin and never responded. They had nowhere to go with both of their key starters struggling to get going offensively. Their defense consistently broke down and showed little resistance to the Spurs.
This was as bad as things could get for any team.
Orlando shot 34.1 percent from the floor. The team had poor ball movement and ended with 20 turnovers. Some of that was from a team trying to do too much to get back into the game. But really, it was a credit to San Antonio’s defense. The Spurs were harassing and dictating to the Magic what they were going to do all game long.
Orlando never stood a chance.
And with neither of the team’s key star players — Nikola Vucevic and Jonathon Simmons — able to pick up the slack, it was game over. The two each scored 10 points, but on a combined 8 for 27.
The Magic finally hit a rock-bottom moment in this disastrous season.
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The Orlando Magic are right back in action Wednesday night as they return home to face the Milwaukee Bucks.