Nik Vucevic’s jumper
Center’s game-winner makes up for mistakes down stretch and lifts Magic
beats the buzzer and lifts the Magic to an emotional 96-94 win over the Hawks.
If someone put a degree of difficulty on the shot Nik Vucevic attempted in the final seconds Sunday afternoon, it would’ve registered a 10 out of 10.
Al Horford held Vucevic from behind on an inbounds play with 2.2 seconds to go, the score tied and the Orlando Magic on the brink of another collapse. Elfrid Payton hurled the pass to Vucevic, who freed himself from Horford and caught the ball. Vucevic took one dribble, turned left and lofted a fadeaway jumper from just inside the 3-point arc in front of the Orlando Magic bench.
The ball arced high into the air. The ball descended, and the buzzer sounded. The ball fell through the hoop, giving the Magic a 96-94 win over the Atlanta Hawks at Amway Center.
Vucevic stood there almost expressionless, jutting out his jaw, as teammates
Shabazz Napier, Keith Appling and Mario Hezonja hugged him. Evan Fournier and Victor Oladipo ran over to tousle Vucevic’s hair. Payton pumped his right arm.
“It feels great,” Vucevic said later, after the pandemonium settled.
The truth is, Vucevic saved the Magic from themselves.
They took a 94-86 lead with 3:41remaining, but they frittered away their eightpoint lead through a combination of silly turnovers, awful defensive rebounding and mental errors.
Vucevic committed three of the Magic’s four turnovers during the final threeplus minutes. His last miscue occurred when he set an illegal screen during an Orlando inbounds play with the score tied 94-94 and 35.1 seconds remaining.
The error gave Atlanta a chance to take the lead. But Paul Millsap missed a jumper. Following a Hawks offensive rebound, Jeff Teague missed a jumper. Following yet another Hawks offensive rebound, Millsap missed a short-range shot that Fournier rebounded.
Fournier’s rebound set the stage for Vucevic’s gamewinner.
The Magic nearly bungled that, too.
On the team’s first inbound attempt, Payton needed to call a timeout when no Magic player got open to receive a pass. It forced the Magic to change their play. Coach Scott Skiles made Vucevic their first option. Vucevic made the shot. “That’s an impressive move for a 7-footer,” Fournier said. “It’s just a great move.”
That great move, and even greater shot, arrived at a crucial time for the reeling Magic, who had lost 15 of 17 games heading into Sunday.
The tailspin would’ve worsened if the Magic had lost to the Hawks.
Orlando took a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter and responded to a subsequent Atlanta surge by going ahead by eight points with 3:41 to go.
“I think the way we won, too, was big — to finally get something kind of going our way,” Payton said. “A lot of times, we’d be on the other end of this.”
For a time, it looked like the Magic (22-28) might rout the Hawks (30-23).
A left-ankle injury prevented Tobias Harris from playing Sunday, prompting Skiles to start Fournier at small forward in Harris’ place. The starting quintet of Payton, Oladipo, Fournier, Aaron Gordon and Vucevic had played a total of just 25 minutes together this season before Sunday.
They brought a level of defensive energy and cohesion their team hasn’t shown in weeks. The Hawks looked flat at the outset, and the Magic capitalized. Orlando held Atlanta to 39 percent shooting for the entire game and also forced 12 first-half turnovers.
Teague scored a game- high 24 points, causing Payton problems on defense.
But on offense, Payton broke out of his slump.
In the fourth quarter, Payton scored seven of his 12 points and delivered five of his game-high 12 assists.
The final last assist came on Vucevic’s game-winner.
“I’m just glad we got the win,” Vucevic said. “After a rough month with a lot of losses it’s good to come out and win against a good team like the Hawks are.”
Vucevic not only managed to escape Horford’s clutches, but he also got the shot off cleanly despite having to shoot over Horford’s outstretched right arm.
“You can’t guard him any better than that,” Millsap said.
The shot was Vucevic’s second game-winner of the season. On Nov.11, he made a turnaround, fadeaway jumper from 20 feet over