Magic beat
76ers 112-109 in overtime.
At halftime Monday night, Frank Vogel wrote one word on the dry-erase board inside the Orlando Magic’s locker room.
In black ink, entirely in capital letters, Vogel printed: “ENERGY!”
The Philadelphia 76ers had it. The Magic needed it.
“We had to shake whatever that was in the first half off,” Magic point guard Elfrid Payton said later. The Magic finally woke up. And not a moment too soon, either.
After a listless first half, they recovered from a 16-point deficit midway through the third quarter and beat the Philadelphia 76ers 112-109 in overtime at Amway Center.
“You’re going to get tired, but everybody’s tired,” Terrence Ross said. “You’ve just got to find a way to push through that.”
Bismack Biyombo made a key block midway through the fourth quarter when he rejected a driving dunk attempt by Richaun Holmes. The play prompted all the players
on the Magic’s bench to leap off their seats and show some signs of life.
Evan Fournier scored seven points in overtime, and Ross sank a 16-foot jumper that put Orlando ahead 106-104 with 34.7 seconds left in the extra period. Vogel called the play for Ross even though Ross had made only three of his 14 shot attempts.
“He’s just shown me … an ability to knock down a big shot at a big moment,” Vogel said.
Philadelphia’s T.J. McConnell missed a 15-foot jumper that would’ve tied the score 106-106. Ross collected the defensive rebound, absorbed a foul and then made a pair of free throws to extend Orlando’s lead to 108-104.
The Magic needed all of those points to eke out the victory.
For long stretches, the Sixers (26-44) dominated the Magic (26-45).
“Credit to them,” Holmes said. “They never stopped fighting.”
With the Magic trailing 97-96 late in regulation, Fournier drove toward the lane and lost control of the ball. But Payton scooped it up off the parquet floor and made a difficult layup in traffic to regain the lead.
The Magic clung to that one-point advantage when Aaron Gordon fouled out with 20.7 seconds left and sent Justin Anderson to the line. Anderson made only one of his two attempts to tie the score 98-98.
Orlando called a timeout to set up one final play before the end of regulation.
The Magic inbounded the ball to Fournier, who attempted to pass the ball to Nikola Vucevic. McConnell deflected the ball off Vucevic’s right shoe, and the ball rolled out of bounds with 5.7 seconds remaining.
Given a chance to win the game outright, the Sixers hurled the ball to Anderson, who tried to drive on Payton. But Payton ripped the ball out of Anderson’s hands to prevent a shot attempt and send the game to overtime.
With the victory, the Magic won consecutive games for the first time since they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers on Dec. 23 and routed the Memphis Grizzlies on Dec. 26.
The Sixers had only nine players available against the Magic, and most of those players, with the exception of rookie Dario Saric, are journeymen or fringe NBA players. The Sixers also were playing on the second day of a back-to-back after they defeated the Boston Celtics on Sunday afternoon.
Yet the Magic looked like the exhausted team. They returned Saturday from a seven-day West Coast road trip, and Vogel and players said the trip had left them sapped.
But the Magic eventually woke up.
Just in time, too.
Game Recap
THE SIXERS’ MVP: Holmes scored 24 points, gathered 14 rebounds and dished out four assists before he fouled out late in overtime. THE MAGIC’S MVP:
Payton picked up three early fouls in the first quarter, but he provided some critical energy during the third and fourth quarters. Even though he only played 31 minutes, he compiled 10 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. The Magic outscored the Sixers by 14 points when he was in the game. TURNING POINT: Biyombo’s block of Holmes’ dunk attempt with 7:50 left in regulation energized the Magic. A short while later, Payton blocked a shot attempt by Shawn Long from behind. KEY STAT: The Magic
attempted a season-high 46 free throws. The Sixers took just 24 foul shots. UP NEXT FOR THE SIXERS: The Sixers will continue their road trip with a game Wednesday against OKC. UP NEXT FOR THE
MAGIC: The Magic will host Charlotte on Wednesday. The Magic have lost all three games against the Hornets this season by an average of 26.7 points per game.
HE SAID IT: “It’s not about one win in a row, two wins in a row, however many wins in a row. It’s about establishing an identity and a standard that we hold ourselves to game-in and gameout.” — Gordon