Magic ice-cold in loss to Charlotte
Coach Steve Clifford’s former team humbles Orlando, 120-88.
HORNETS 120, MAGIC 88
One might have thought the basketball surface at Amway Center was sitting on top of the Solar Bears’ ice-rink setup with the way the cold-shooting Magic bricked their way through a horrible first half Friday night.
The Magic finally started hitting shots late, but it was futile at that point as Magic coach Steve Clifford’s former team — the Charlotte Hornets (1-1) — routed Orlando 120-88.
The Magic (1-1) started the game ice-cold and seemed to just get colder in the first two quarters. They couldn’t find the bottom of the net very often, shooting a shivering 28.6 percent from the floor (14 of 49) in the first half, which included making only 2 of 17 3-pointers as their shooting woes from deep continued.
Orlando, which hit only 7 of 25 treys in the season-opening victory over Miami on Wednesday night, was urged by Clifford to shoot more 3s. Against the Heat, the shot selection was more determined by what Mi-
ami gave up in the middle as the Magic shot 33 layups but still only made 60 percent of those shots.
The Magic, who finished Friday night’s game 36 of 94 for 38.3 percent, again were unable to find a rhythm from distance, going 6 of 31 from 3-point range (19.4 percent). They have hit just 13 of 56 3s (23 percent) in two games.
Orlando’s worst singlegame 3-point shooting performance came in 2014 when the Magic shot under 1 percent from 3-point range (1 of 15, .67 percent) against Minnesota.
The Magic did a nice job early of denying and pressuring Kemba Walker, who scored 41 points in the Hornets’ season-opening loss to the Milwaukee Bucks this week. Walker missed his first four shots, but that was about it for limiting the talented Walker.
From there, the player Clifford used to watch from his own bench when he coached the Hornets got on track. Walker ended the first half with 14 points and then came out in the second half and hit two consecutive 3-pointers, building on the Hornets’ momentum.
Walker’s five 3-pointers against the Magic gave him 12 in the first two games of the season, tying an NBA record with 12 to start the season. The record was first set by Ray Allen in 2001.
If Walker wasn’t hitting shots, he was creating for teammates. The eighth-year point guard ended the game with 26 points and five assists. Nicolas Batum added 15 points and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had 10 for Charlotte.
Walker left the game late in the third quarter, giving way to veteran point guard Tony Parker, but nothing really changed for the Hornets — or the Magic.
Malik Monk’s 3-pointer with 10:10 left in the game gave Charlotte its biggest lead to that point at 92-59 and the deficit ballooned to 36 two minutes later on a Miles Bridges 3-pointer. The rookie Bridges ended up with 15 points.
Magic veteran center Nikola Vucevic eclipsed the 3,000-field goal mark for his career with his fifth bucket of the game with 7:18 left in the third quarter. Vooch now has 3,001 career field goals. He was 6 of 11 against Charlotte and had 12 points, as did Evan Fournier, whose shooting slump continued.
Fournier hit just 5 of 15 floor shots and 2 of 9 3-pointers. He was also 5 of 15 against the Heat in the opener and missed all five of his 3-point attempts. He’s 10 of 30 in two games and 2 of 14 from long range.
Terrence Ross led the Magic off the bench with 14 points and Aaron Gordon had 10 rebounds, but he managed just five points. Vucevic had eight rebounds and four assists.
The Magic will have little time to regroup, with Orlando hitting the road to face the Philadelphia 76ers Saturday night.
Bamba minutes
Magic rookie Mohamed Bamba said before Friday’s game he wasn’t tired when he was taken out of Wednesday’s season-opening victory over Miami with a little more than three minutes to play.
“No, I don’t think so,” Bamba said. “The adrenaline kinda wore off and I was a little tired after the long run, but …”
He didn’t really expound on it, but it was obvious Bamba wanted to be in the game. Of course, every player wants to be in the game, especially at crunch time.
“He was exhausted,” Clifford said of Bamba prior to Friday’s home game against the Charlotte Hornets.
Bamba said as he watched the Heat rally back, he was champing at the bit to get back on the floor.
“I was very anxious,” he said.
Tough start
After opening the season with a pair of home games against Miami and Charlotte, the Magic will quickly hit the road Saturday to face the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center at 7:30 p.m. and then they are at Boston’s TD Garden to face the Celtics at 7:30 p.m. Monday.
“It’s a tough schedule, a good test, right away for this team,” Clifford said earlier this week. “We’re going to find out right away what this team is made of.”