Magic look to bounce back

Augustin confident they can tie series against Raptors

While the Orlando Magic lamented that they couldn’t deliver a playoff victory for their fans on Friday, they certainly appreciated the raucous Blue & White Ignite atmosphere created for the first postseason game at Amway Center in seven years.

The Magic fell short, losing 98-93 to the Toronto Raptors in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

Now the Magic turn their focus to a more pressing matter: avoiding a 3-1 series deficit to the Raptors.

Game 4 is Sunday at Amway, and the Magic certainly don’t want to return to Toronto for Game 5 needing a win to keep the series alive.

“We’ll definitely respond. We’re not going to back down or give up. We’re going to fight to the end,” Magic point guard D.J. Augustin said. “They’re a great team, but we feel like we’re right there with them. We feel like we should have won last night and we have another chance at home to win a game.”

The game tips off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Florida and TNT.

To achieve their goal, the Magic must solve a Raptors’ defense that hasn’t made things easy for them. The Raptors have forced the Magic into 44 turnovers and held them to 37.8 percent shooting in the three games of the series.

“They’re going to help, they’re long, they’re in the passing lanes and it’s the same thing,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said Saturday at practice. “That’s what they’re good at. You’ve got to know how they’re going to play and we’ve got to be ready to move the ball quicker.”

At times, the Magic have shown they can handle the Raptors’ constantly moving defense. Other times, not so much.

None of that was more apparent than the third quarter of Game 3 on Friday.

The Magic got a burst from Nikola Vucevic as he scored 12 straight points. His 3-pointer at the 6:37 mark gave the Magic a 59-57 lead — their first of the game. He later sank two free throws put the Magic up 61-60 — their last lead of the game.

“Those were the good possessions. The thing was we had too many turnovers,” Clifford said. “We did a good job playing inside-out and getting the ball in the paint, but particularly early in the game and then one stretch in the third quarter we just had too many stretches where they got two [defenders] to the ball. It’s got to be a quicker, simpler play.”

After Vucevic’s 3-pointer, the Magic missed their final 11 shots of the quarter as the Raptors — behind 10 points from Pascal Siakam — pulled out to a 76-65 advantage.

The Magic wound up 5-for-22 from the field (22.7 percent) for the quarter.

Getting Evan Fournier back on track will certainly help the Magic.

The 6-foot-7 swingman averaged 20.6 points over the last five games of the regular season. In the three playoff games against the Raptors, however, he’s averaging 11 points and shooting 28.6 percent from the field.

In Game 3, Fournier was 1-for-12 from the floor and scored seven points.

For his part, Fournier said he was “frustrated and disappointed” with the performance. At home after the game, Fournier said he watched film of the Magic’s games this season against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics to look for guidance from some of his bettershooting efforts.

“I had a rough night but I just need to let go kind of. Let the game come to me, and when stuff happens I’ve got to make it. [It’s] pretty simple, actually,” he said. “I’ve just got to do it.”

Augustin is confident Fournier will bounce back.

“He’s a professional. He’s going to do what he needs to do to have a good game Sunday,” Augustin said. “You miss shots. It happens to all of us. You miss shots and you’ve just got to bounce back.”

The Magic are hoping to do the same.