Orlando Magic Grades: Sacramento Kings 111, Orlando Magic 95
The Sacramento Kings had the Orlando Magic backpedaling from the start and the Magic never caught up as their shots continued to miss.
38. 111. 84. Final. 95
From the very beginning of the game, the Orlando Magic clearly were not into the game. The first two baskets for the Sacramento Kings came on Willie Cauley-Stein alley-oop lobs without much of any resistance for the guard coming down the lane or the lobber rolling to the hoop.
It did not help toward the end of the first quarter when De’Aaron Fox stole an inbound pass for a dunk. Then not a minute later, stole another one to take for a two-handed jam. If that sounds like it is on repeat, that is because it is.
The Magic were sloppy from the start, both with their defensive attention to detail and their offensive execution. And the Kings took advantage over and over and over again.
Sacramento led by as much as 29 points and would have run away with it if not for a fourth-quarter rally from the Magic’s deep bench players. The game was well decided by then. Sacramento ran away with an 111-95 win over Orlando at the Golden 1 Center on Monday.
The Magic again struggled to shoot, hitting on just 36.8 percent from the floor. It was similar to the loss to the LA Clippers where the team struggled to get much of anything going in the paint outside of Nikola Vucevic‘s paint touches.
Turnovers were a big problem as the Kings forced 10 turnovers in the first quarter and 16 for the game. Frustration only grew as the team could not hit the open shots it did get and the Kings got into runouts and in transition thanks to them all.
Sacramento plays at the fastest pace in the league. So missing 3-pointers — Orlando was 13 for 37 — and turning the ball over only feeds the ability to get easy shots.
The Kings did that over and over again. They worked to find open shots in transition. But even without that, Sacramento attacked with virtual impunity. Orlando was not giving a lot of resistance. The game was pretty much over early on without that effort.
Orlando Magic. NIKOLA VUCEVIC. C+. With the Orlando Magic struggling to make shots, the team made it a focus to get <a href=. C
EVAN FOURNIER. C+. <a href=. G/F. Orlando Magic
AARON GORDON. D. No one seems to be guilty of the offensive frustration this team is facing more than <a href=. F. Orlando Magic
PG. Orlando Magic. ISAIAH BRISCOE. B. <a href=
A-. The Sacramento Kings need to do a few things to win games — force turnovers, control the glass and run, run, run. That is how De’Aaron Fox is best able to use his speed and keep a team on edge. If they are constantly worried about that oncoming train, they are liable to make more mistakes.<p>Orlando was caught in that vice all game. And Fox, with 20 points and five steals, had them backpedaling all game. Sacramento seemed to put some fear in Orlando from the start. And the Magic did everything offensively to help the Kings pull away.</p><p>Sacramento has shooters who can help spread the floor and it was the 3-point barrage that eventually broke the game open. But the Kings had the Magic on the edge from the very start. And them pulling away was a matter of time throughout the night.</p>. 20-20. 9th West. SACRAMENTO KINGS
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The Orlando Magic finish up their road trip against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Wednesday.