The Orlando Magic almost completed an epic comeback against the Dallas Mavericks on their home floor on Wednesday night -- well almost.
After trailing 65-48 at halftime, the Mavs scored the first five of the second half and Orlando (21-49) faced its biggest deficit of the night at 22 points, down 70-48 with 10:19 remaining in the third quarter.
But the young Magic then went on a 52-31 run to cut the Dallas lead to one at 101-100 with 1:00 remaining in regulation after rookie guard Elfrid Payton, a Louisiana native who delivered his first career triple-double (15 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds), hit two three throws.
However, the Mavs hit seven of their final eight foul shots, including Devin Harris going four-for-four from the line to pull away in the end for a 107-102 victory at American Airlines Center, making Dallas 3-1 on their five-game homestand, their longest of the regular season.
"This stuff comes at you, you just got to be defiant in making it go away and just got to stay with it and play harder. We didn't play well, I know that and we're going to have to play better, but I'm glad we won," Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle said postgame.
Offensively, the Mavs (44-25) were led by Dirk Nowitzki, the game's top scorer with 25 points. The Big German finished 9-of-15 from the field, including a near-perfect 5-for-6 from long distance.
Nowitzki shook off some recent struggles and delivered big baskets for the Mavs, who started the game on a 12-0 run, all night long.
"I like the way he's playing," Carlisle said of Nowitzki. "He's scrambling out there. He's rebounding. He's giving a real effort. He just needs to continue with that."
Monta Ellis scored 21 for Dallas, who also got 12 from Devin Harris and 10 from Charlie Villanueva off the bench.
The Mavs finished minus-one on the glass (41-40), getting eight rebounds each from Tyson Chandler, Nowitzki and Al-Farouq Aminu off the bench in his first game after missing the previous two with a strained left shoulder.
Aminu finished with seven points, including two big foul shots at the end of the game to go with his eight boards, one assist and one steal.
And no one was happier to see him back on the floor than his head coach.
"Well, we stayed pretty even on the boards and he was one of the reasons. He had a big rebound at the end. We missed him," Carlisle said of Aminu. "We've been getting by and winning some games, but he helps in a lot of those areas. He gives us another defender when teams go small like they did tonight. Aminu at full strength definitely helps."
Considering the Magic were down two starters in Dewayne Dedmon and Tobias Harris, both of whom were out with ankle injuries, seeing his team storm almost completely back after pretty much being left for dead early in the second half was a big source of pride for Magic interim head coach James Borrego in his postgame remarks to the media outside the Orlando locker room.
"That was one of the proudest halves we had together as a group," Borrego said. "To be down 22 in Dallas on the road and shorthanded, we didn't fold. We stuck together, we fought, we competed. And I'm just really proud of the effort, the intensity, the togetherness, the growth we're making and I think we saw it in the second half."
Orlando, which lost its sixth straight game overall and 12th straight on the road, was led by Victor Oladipo, who finished with 19 points. Maurice Harkless also chipped in 18 as all five Magic starters finished in double-figures.
And even though Carlisle was pleased to escape with a win, he offered big praise for how well Borrego has been handling being an NBA head coach for the first time, taking over after Jacque Vaughn was fired earlier in the season.
"James Borrego's doing a good job with that group. They got a bunch of guys out and they battled really hard last night in Houston and they just got a little unlucky at the end," Carlislie said. "Tonight, they're down 22 points at one time. They get the thing down to one. He's got those guys fighting hard, so he's doing a good job with them."
But one number which Carlisle wasn't happy about from Dallas' 44th win of the season was the 20 turnovers the Mavs committed, which led to 29 Orlando points.
And with the hard-nosed Memphis Grizzles coming to the AAC on Friday to finish out the homestand, Carlisle knows his team must do a better job of taking care of the rock against the Grizz. Otherwise, Dallas could be in for another tough night, much like on Jan. 27 when Memphis came to town and handed the Mavs a 109-90 defeat.
"We got an angry team coming in here on Friday. These guys just took a 10-point hit in Detroit last night (Tuesday)," Carlisle said. "They've been having their struggles. We got to just understand what we're getting into with that. Last time they were in there, they handled us pretty easily."
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