The Orlando Magic could not get themselves going offensively and paid the price as Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Hornets walked to another rout.
Kemba Walker has been a familiar thorn in the Orlando Magic’s side for the last five years. And he was not about to let the Charlotte Hornets’ 11-game win streak over their division rival Orlando Magic end. Not with his former coach on the opposing sideline.
Walker did what he has done for so many y years now. He called Cody Zeller over to him and watched as Nikola Vucevic sank back (just as the Magic’s scheme called for). He waited as D.J. Augustin was late coming over the screen and attacked, stopping on a dime when he felt comfortable and ready to shoot. With all the space in front of him he simply took the easy shot.
Again and again and again.
That has been the familiar refrain and it continued to happen in the Hornets’ 120-88 win over the Magic at Amway Center on Friday. Orlando was unable to solve the Charlotte puzzle.
The Magic scored just 31 points in the first half and shot a horrid 38.3 percent for the game. They made only 6 of their 31 3-point attempts and failed to get to the foul line, an important point of their attack in the season-opening win Wednesday.
In other words, this did not look like the scrappy, determined team that had everyone buzzing a few days ago. It looked like the lifeless, frustrated team that has sat near the bottom of the standings for the last six years.
Orlando is still seeking its identity and trying to buy into the system of a new coach and execute it effectively. Especially when the team is not playing its best. And instead of keeping up the fight, the Magic fell deeper into the pit.
Orlando was game defensively for the most part. The Hornets shot just 46.7 percent for the game and were worse than 40 percent in the first half. But Charlotte caught fire behind Walker’s second-quarter barrage and the spacing and chaos it created. The Hornets hit on 17 of 38 3-pointers, using that to create some separation and blow the game wide open. Walker made five of his own on his way to 26 points — and a mind-boggling +34.
By the time Cody Zeller jammed over Aaron Gordon and Mohamed Bamba in the third quarter, the game seemed already lost. Orlando simply did not have the firepower or the discipline to keep pace.
Another one in the Hornets’ ledger.
The Orlando Magic are immediately back in action Saturday as they take on the Philadelphia 76ers.