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.
Nikola Vucevic
C, Orlando Magic
He rebounded well and showed his vintage post moves with his right hook shot against a solid defender in Pau Gasol for the most part and had good positioning defensively. He showed the soft touch around the rim offensively in the final quarter and was critical in defending Aldridge and Gasol throughout the night.
Vucevic has been improving on his defense and it was on display early in this game and this year. A lot of credit needs to go to Vogel, Serge Ibaka and Bismack Biyombo.
Vucevic was very active tonight on both sides of the ball and is embracing the role to come off of the bench. A role he did not think he would have to play this year.
Serge Ibaka
PF, Orlando Magic
His nine points in the first half showed that he can be an offensive threat inside of the paint with his activeness and on the perimeter with his 3-point shooting as well. Ibaka is shooting a career-best 45 percent from downtown.
He finished the game with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Ibaka needs to keep improving his offensive game in order for the Magic to reach its potential. He is the only player besides Evan Fournier who has remained in the starting lineup which gives fans a clue in who Vogel feels are the most important contributors on both sides of the ball.
His ability to shoot the three drew Aldridge out to the perimeter all night which opens up the lane for slashers like Aaron Gordon.
Ibaka challenged shots around the basket all night and denied easy layups, which made the Spurs offense look out of sync periodically.
Ibaka’s presence was felt by on both sides of the ball, which makes the game a lot easier for the younger guys on the team.
Elfrid Payton
PG, Orlando Magic
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 Jeff Green. This is the Payton the Magic need.
He rolled his ankle after stepping on a Vucevic’s foot in the fourth quarter and hopefully the injury is not too serious, because I believe he took a step forward in his overall production tonight.
Bismack Biyombo
F/C, Orlando Magic
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 D.J. Augustin and Evan Fournier create off the dribble and find open looks for Ibaka and company.
Once Biyombo settles down offensively and his starts to make those easy layups and put backs it will bring more value to his position.
San Antonio Spurs
14-4, 2nd West
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.
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