Magic battle back
Orlando’s bid for 4th straight victory undone by miscues in closing minutes
in Milwaukee but still fall short against the Bucks, 113-110.
MILWAUKEE — The Orlando Magic can manage to lose a heartbreaker even when they’ve already been eliminated from the playoff race.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
Losing close games has been a central theme to their disappointing season.
On Friday night, they took a five-point lead over the Milwaukee Bucks with 2:39 remaining but lost 113-110.
They allowed the Bucks to collect a crucial offensive rebound, committed a key charging foul late and sputtered on offense — just to name a few of the things that went wrong during the frenetic final two-plus minutes.
“It’s kind of the same story happening again,” center Nikola Vucevic said. “We just have to find a way to close out these games: make smarter plays, make better plays at the end. We were right there. It was just really one or two plays here and there that we have to be smarter in and we could win these games.”
And that’s the rub: The Magic actually have performed worse in close games this season than last season.
In 2014-15, the year the franchise fired Jacque Vaughn and turned to James Borrego as their interim coach, the team
posted a 14-12 record in games that went to overtime or were decided by five points or less.
With their loss Friday, they fell to 9-15 this season in games that went to overtime or were decided by five points or less.
This was supposed to be the season in which the Magic improved in close games under a more experienced head coach, Scott Skiles, and a more experienced coaching staff.
But that hasn’t happened.
On one hand, Skiles said, the Magic at least have put themselves in position to win close games.
Yet, on the other hand, they just haven’t gotten over the hump.
“Plays have to be made, and you have to trust each other,” Skiles said.
“You have to come off of pick-and-rolls calmly, coolly [and] see the open man. If they go under, shoot it. Whatever it is, make good decisions and not make up your mind as you’re bringing the ball up the floor that, ‘I’m going to go get one this time.’ And we’ve been guilty of that too much.
“And then you’ve got to get stops.”
Orlando led 111-110 after Vucevic made one of two free throws, and then Orlando actually got a stop, a missed layup by Giannis Antetokounmpo.
But Milwaukee’s Greg Monroe gathered the rebound.
Although Evan Fournier forced a jump ball with 17.6 seconds remaining, the Bucks controlled the ensuing tipoff. In the seconds that followed, Jabari Parker received a pass and made a short hook shot while Skiles wanted a three-second violation on at least one of Parker’s teammates.
On Orlando’s ensuing possession, Fournier was whistled for a charge taken by Khris Middleton.
After the Bucks’ Tyler Ennis made two free throws, the Magic had one more chance.
But Fournier missed a 3-pointer off the back iron just before time expired.
“For us, it’s just a matter of wins and losses, not by how many [points],” Magic forward Aaron Gordon said. “And we didn’t win enough.”
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Magic wasted a 22-point night by Vucevic and an 18-point night by Victor Oladipo.
Antetokounmpo finished with 18 points, 11 re- bounds and 11 assists for the Bucks.
What frustrated the Magic most was that Friday’s game didn’t have to end like it did.
They went ahead 107-102 with 2:39 remaining on a turnaround jumper by Vucevic.
But Milwaukee scored six consecutive points, capped by a driving floater off the glass by Ennis with 1:17 to go, giving the Bucks a 108-107 lead.
The Magic responded. After Oladipo missed a long-range shot, Gordon collected the rebound and passed to Vucevic, who hurled the ball down low to Elfrid Payton.
Payton made the layup to propel Orlando back into the lead, 109-108. It was a nice play. But as the Magic (32-44) have seen so often this season, sometimes even two or three nice plays down the stretch of a game aren’t enough. The Bucks (32-44) made more big plays late in the game.
“The end of a game is very hectic,” Gordon said. “You’ve got to keep your head about yourself. You need to be in the right position to make the right plays.”