Heartbreaking defeat
Magic erase huge deficit only to lose in final seconds
CLEVELAND — Orlando Magic players and coaches cannot wait for late this afternoon to arrive. Sometime around 5 p.m., give or take an hour or so, the NBA will release its officiating report for the final two minutes of the Magic’s heartbreaking loss Thursday to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Specifically, the Magic will scan the document for a play that drew a whistle with 11.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
With Orlando clinging to a 103-102 lead, Cleveland point guard Isaiah Thomas drove into the lane, and Orlando’s Shelvin Mack grabbed at the ball. Magic players and coaches thought Mack had forced a jump ball. Instead, crew chief Kane Fitzgerald called a foul on Mack, sending Thomas to the free-throw line.
Thomas made both foul shots, and Elfrid Payton missed a contested layup over Tristan Thompson with 3.2 seconds to go, resulting in one of the Magic’s most frustrating losses of their disastrous season, a painful 104-103 defeat at Quicken Loans Arena.
“I just feel like I made a basketball play,” Mack said. “I guess we’ve just got to wait and see until tomorrow when we get the two-minute report.”
Aaron Gordon, who saw the play unfold from inches away, offered a less diplomatic take.
“It wasn’t a foul,” Gordon said. “Shelvin was there with great defense. He tied the ball up. It was a jump ball. But it was the world champions in their building, and we don’t have that respect, so they’re not going to give us that call. But it’s a jump ball. It’s not a