A bunch of hot shots
Gordon scores 31 in 3rd consecutive win, while Knicks lose 5th straight
Orlando Magic coach Steve Clifford said before Sunday night’s game at Amway Center against the New York Knicks that his team could not possibly keep up the pace of shooting accuracy it has enjoyed during the past few games.
He was right. Sunday night they started off even better.
Led by the hot hand of Aaron Gordon, the Magic jumped on the Knicks by hitting their first 10 shots from the field and Gordon had 20 points in eight minutes of the first quarter. Despite a few lapses, the Magic never trailed and defeated the Knicks for the second straight Sunday, earning a 131-117 victory at Amway Center.
The 131 points is a season-high for the Magic, after setting the mark with 130 Saturday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.
It was the first time Orlando has ever scored at least 130 points during back-to-back games.
“I hope that’s who we can become,” Clifford said of the scoring surge, noting the scoring load and ball movement generated by captain Nikola Vucevic. “… We’re making a bunch of shots and Vooch is just inside, outside, passing; he’s just playing at an incredible level. A lot [of the shooting] was inside-outside, too. We had 60 points in the paint.”
And it was the third consecutive victory for the Magic as they pushed their record to 9-8 overall, building their longest win streak of the young season.
The Magic tied a franchise record for most points in a quarter with a 44-31 lead. The record was originally set in 2008 against the Lakers.
The Magic led by as many as 18 points in that first quarter, and
things were going so well at the start that even an offthe-mark Gordon 3-pointer from the top of the circle caromed in off the glass. Gordon, who ended with a team-high 31 points, made his first six field goal attempts.
Evan Fournier had eight points in the first quarter and ended up with 19 while Vucevic had another solid overall floor game with 28 points (including 17 in the second half), 10 rebounds and nine assists, just missing his third triple-double of his career.
Jonathan Isaac took over for the Magic in the fourth quarter. The Knicks were threatening to take their first lead of the game when Isaac started to get assertive again. New York got within three points of the Magic in the final stanza, but Isaac helped keep the Knicks at bay with an impressive lefthand runner. He then blocked a Tim Hardaway Jr. shot and rushed back down the floor to get a nice dish from D.J. Augustin for a dunk to push the Magic lead back to 12 points with 5:27 left.
Most of the early damage for the Magic was done in the first quarter. They ended the first period shooting 68 percent from the floor (17 of 25) with 11 assists on those 17 made shots.
They couldn’t keep up that pace, however.
The Magic cooled off a bit in the second quarter and the Knicks took advantage, outscoring Orlando 35-23 in the quarter to pull within one point at halftime. Enes Kanter took charge underneath and Hardaway was the offensive floor leader. Kanter had 11 rebounds in the quarter and 16 for the half while Hardaway ended the first half with 18 points. The Knicks warmed up, hitting 13 of 23 shots in the quarter.
The Knocks outrebounded the Magic 29-17 in the first half, 13 on the offensive end, which aided in New York’s ability to whittle away at the Magic lead.
Mitchell Robinson, the player who gave the Magic shooters fits with nine blocks last week during Orlando’s blowout win at Madison Square Garden, was not much of a factor, getting whistled for his fourth foul late in the second quarter.
The Magic did warm up again in the fourth and shot 57 percent for the game (48 of 84), the highest field-goal percent in a game this year for Orlando, which will host the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.
“For me that was a really good win, very good win. Not easy, which we didn’t think it would be. I thought they played with a ton of energy and they took the game to us in the first half,” Clifford said. “Guys hung in there. I thought we played a much better second half and in the fourth quarter our defense was better and [Isaac] was immense on both ends of the floor.”