A MAGICAL MOMENT
Vucevic, Fournier help lead Magic past the Cavaliers for season-opening victory
The Amway Center is lit up before the Orlando Magic’s 2019-20 NBA season home opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. The Magic won, 94-85. Center Nikola Vucevic led the Magic with 21 points and nine rebounds.
It didn’t take long for the Orlando Magic to put their depth and defense on display.
Nikola Vucevic finished with a game-high 21 points while Evan Fournier scored 16 points as the Orlando Magic did enough to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 94-85 in the regular-season opener for both teams Wednesday night at Amway Center.
“I thought there were a lot of things that are typical of an opening-night game,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said. “I thought we did some good things.” Count defense among them. The Magic expect to lean on their defense this season and that part of their game was solid against the Cavaliers, particularly after the first quarter. The Cavaliers
started 10 of 15 (66.7%) from the field before going 23 of 74 (31.1%) the rest of the way.
“We have a chance to be great on defense,” Clifford said. “It’s going to be a question of how we grow defensively. That’s going to be the question for our team.”
Point guard Markelle Fultz could play a role in that area.
Fultz finished with 12 points and six assists in his first regularseason NBA game since Nov. 19, 2018. He also had two steals.
“His ability to get in the paint and finish plays, it was the difference in the game,” Clifford said.
Fellow point guard D.J. Augustin delivered nine points and five assists and helped spark the Magic in the third quarter.
Terrence Ross added 10 points
as seven players scored at least seven points for the Magic, who led by as many 20 in the first half.
“We have a deeper team and more guys who can make an impact,” Vucevic said. “Everybody who stepped on the court tonight had an impact.”
First-year Magic forward Al-Farouq Aminu was among them. He managed just one field goal, but he contributed seven rebounds and provided valuable minutes with starters Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac in foul trouble. Only Vucevic (34:13) logged more minutes than Aminu (29:06) for the Magic.
Aminu’s defense also stood out and Clifford pointed out the value of having a veteran like Aminu in the rotation.
“Tonight’s a great example. We maybe don’t win that game if we don’t have a guy like him,” Clifford said. “He guarded Kevin Love. He can guard a guy like [Larry] Nance. He can guard a like [Cedi] Osman, so he’s so versatile. And he’s so smart offensively he’s easy to play with. He fits in very well with our group. He’s very tough. He’s very smart, and you can see his value tonight.”
Tristan Thompson and Collin Sexton each scored 16 points to lead the Cavaliers, who pulled within 91-85 on a 3 by Osman with 42.1 seconds left to play.
After a Vucevic free throw, Sexton missed a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession. Vucevic got the rebound, was fouled and made both free throws to extend the lead to nine and ice the victory.
“Overall I thought we played solid. It was the first game of the season, so there’s some things we need to clean up, but overall I thought we came out and handled business,” Gordon said.
Fultz received a big ovation from fans during pregame introductions and gave them more to cheer about once play started. He made his first four shots, including an acrobatic, scooping layup, and finished the first quarter with eight points.
Fultz also threw a short lob to Mo Bamba for a dunk that fired up the Amway crowd. Later, Fultz drove the ball at Bamba’s defender, then delivered a no-look behind-the-back pass when he committed to help, and Bamba scored easily.
“I love it,” Bamba said of playing with Fultz. “It’s just really fun.”
After his hot start, Fultz missed five straight shots — including three 3-point attempts — before delivering a thunderous one-handed dunk late in the fourth quarter.
“It was good,” Fultz said. “I’ve dreamed about those. I’ve done a lot of those in my time. I saw an opportunity to get up there and get one. My teammates have given me a hard time about not dunking, so I had to get that one in. It feels good.”
The Magic broke the game open with a 16-0 run in the second quarter that started on a 3-pointer by Aminu and ended on two free throws by Vucevic.
Augustin and Ross also hit 3s to help spark the run, which gave the Magic a 46-28 lead.
Entering the game, Clifford was worried about the Cavaliers’ offensive rebounding. It wasn’t much of an issue in the first half. The Cavaliers managed five offensive rebounds but got no second-chance points out of them.
In the second half, the Cavaliers turned five offensive rebounds into seven points, including Osman’s late 3-pointer.
Clifford pointed out his team’s struggles to rebound during the preseason and for at least the first regularseason game he saw them continue. Overall the Magic were outrebounded 54-46.
“The rebounding game is a problem,” he said.
Clifford also wants his team to clean up its turnovers. The Magic committed just 13 turnovers that only led to 11 points for the Cavaliers, but the timing of the mistakes was more crucial. Two turnovers in the final 2:39 of the third quarter helped the Cavaliers chew into an 11-point deficit.
The Magic opened up some breathing room early in the fourth after Ross sank a long jumper and a 3 before Bamba made a 3 off a pass from Fultz that made it 79-67.
The Magic are on the road for their next two games, with the first coming Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena. The Magic then travel to Toronto to face the defending NBA champion Raptors on Monday.