VALUABLE LESSONS FROM END OF ROAD
Magic eager to build off experience from playoff loss to Raptors
TORONTO – Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic leaned into the microphone and answered one question after another.
They weren’t the questions he was hoping to be answering.
He and his teammates would have liked a different ending, but Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors had other ideas.
Leonard scored 27 points to fuel the Raptors’ 115-96 victory Tuesday night in Game 5 that closed out the first-round playoff series between the teams and ended the Magic’s season.
After the Magic took the opener, the Raptors asserted themselves as the better team and won the next four to post a 4-1 series victory. The Magic were left to wonder what might have been and what might be.
In a brief moment of reflection during the postgame press conference, Vucevic said he was proud of how the Magic never quit this season.
“All of the work that we put in. All the fight, all the grind that we had all season long,” he said. “Nobody thought we were even going to be close to making the playoffs and we did. I’m proud of my teammates for that. Obviously we’re all disappointed but after a little while I think we can look at this season and be glad of what we achieved.”
For the Magic, the loss marked the end of a bounce-back cam
paign that saw them improve their regular- season win total by 17 from the previous year and earn the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2012.
It didn’t make the ending any easier.
“A lot of emotions,” Magic swingman Evan Fournier said. “Obviously right now it’s disappointing and a little bit sad because the season is over now. I really like this group of guys, so to finish like that is tough but they played better than us. There’s not much else to say.”
Still, the Magic don’t plan to waste the experience. They vow to build on their success this season and chase a higher expectation level.
“I think it’s going to motivate guys to work harder during this summer and get us back to this point next year and make it to the second round, [and] the third round. You know, further and further,” Magic point guard D.J. Augustin said.
Second-year forward Jonathan Isaac echoed that sentiment.
“We’ll continue to look ahead and move forward and make another leap by getting ready through the summer for next year,” he said.
Vucevic said the Raptors’ dominance over the final four games of the series gave the Magic a target to shoot for.
“I think the main thing for us is you have to be able to step your game up to a whole other level once you get to the playoffs, and I just feel like we weren’t able to do that,” Vucevic said. “They did it, and they deserve a lot of credit for the way that they played this series.”
The Magic’s playoff run may have ended after one round, but it reignited a fan base that has been thirsting for success. Fans showed up in full force for Games 3 and 4 at Amway Center, creating a raucous atmosphere reminiscent of the team’s playoff runs of the past.
Vucevic said Magic fans are probably as disappointed as the players over the playoff series loss, but believes the fans will appreciate the franchise’s progress.
“I think that the Magic fans will be proud of what we achieved,” he said.
Vucevic wound up with just six points — all in the second half — on 3-for-10 shooting in Game 5, closing out a series where he struggled to get on track.
The Raptors attacked Vucevic with regular double teams and leaned on veteran center Marc Gasol to defend him one-on-one.
“He gave me trouble all series long,” Vucevic said of Gasol. “I wasn’t really able to get in a rhythm and get going. Even the times when I had good looks I wasn’t able to knock [shots] down and I think at times I was overthinking stuff a little bit. I was rushing stuff. I just wasn’t playing the way I was playing all season long and it’s disappointing for me.”
Vucevic led the Magic in scoring during the regular season at 20.8 points per game but wound up averaging 11.2 in the series.
He missed his first four shots before picking up his third foul at the 6:36 mark of the first quarter and he didn’t play the rest of the first half.
Magic forward Aaron Gordon, who was coming off a 25-point effort in Game 4, also got into early foul trouble.
It was part of a worstcase-scenario start for the Magic.
Kyle Lowry scored the first nine points for Toronto as the hosts raced out to a 22-3 lead and put the Magic in catch-up mode the rest of the game.
It was an all-too familiar start for the Magic, who also dug themselves early holes in Games 2 and 3.
The Magic responded in spurts, but it wasn’t enough.
The Magic now will go through exit interviews Thursday morning at Amway Center as players clean out their lockers and head into the offseason.
The Magic face some personnel decisions — first and foremost whether to resign unrestricted free agents Vucevic and super sixth man Terrence Ross. Michael Carter-Williams, brought in near the end of the season to back up Augustin after a knee injury to Isaiah Briscoe, also is a free agent.
Vucevic, arguably the face of the franchise, declined to talk about his future during Tuesday’s postgame in Toronto.
“Even now I think it’s still early to talk about it,” he said. “We just finished the series and there’s a lot of disappointment for all of us. I’ll address that later on in the offseason.”
The Magic’s other four starters — Gordon, Isaac, Augustin and Fournier — are signed for next season. Whether Vucevic joins them remains to be seen.