After winning only two of their first seventeen games in the year 2016, the Orlando Magic desperately needed a win. The Atlanta Hawks, in contrast, were looking for their fourth consecutive win.
Orlando received just the victory they needed in incredible fashion on Sunday afternoon at the Amway Center, as a deep fadeaway jumper by power forward Nikola Vucevic as time expired provided them with a buzzer-beating 96-94 win over the contending Hawks.
Tobias Harris, who notoriously hit a game-winner against Atlanta last season, sat out with an ankle injury, putting the Magic behind the eight ball before the game even began.
The first quarter seemed to be all Orlando as they lead, 30-19, after twelve minutes of action. Evan Fournier lead the way with nine points in the period.
After a hot start for Orlando, the Hawks clawed back in the second quarter. However, they finished the first half shooting only 34.1% from the field. The Magic also didn't shoot the lights out in the first half as only three of their twelve three point attempts found the bottom of the net.
The Magic led the Hawks at the break, 48-41.
Vucevic had a big third quarter, scoring ten of Orlando's 23 points. However, the real hero of the quarter was Thabo Sefolosha who made a half-court heave to give the Hawks some momentum heading into the final period of play.
In the fourth quarter, it appeared as though the Magic were going to unveil another one of their patented late-game collapses. The Hawks went on an 8-0 run to tie the game up with 48 ticks left on the clock. Lucky for Orlando, Elfrid Payton was able to find just the right hero with 2.2 seconds left in the game.
This game essentially came down to which team's starting-five was better. Neither team received much help from their bench as both benches were quite abysmal.
Atlanta's bench was only able to produce 12 points on 3-18 shooting with Sefolosha and Dennis Schroder scored six apiece.
While he couldn't finish with a tally in the scoring column, Mike Scott was able to rip down eight boards and redirect one shot. If bench scoring was a game of golf, Orlando would have beat Atlanta as the Magic reserved combined for a putrid eleven points. Like Atlanta's reserves, Orlando's bench took 18 shots, but they made one more for a grand total of four made field goals.
Jason Smith lead the Magic in bench scoring with six, while Channing Frye followed closely behind with five. Smith also rejected two shots. Mario Hezonja looked atrocious today with three turnovers and all five of his shot attempts clanking off the rim. Oddly enough, all of Orlando's bench players finished with negative plus-minuses and all of their starters finished with positive plus-minuses.
Both teams had all five starters finish in double-digit scoring. In fact, none of the ten collective starters had bad statistical games.
Payton had his best game in a long, long time as he notched a double-double (12 points, 12 assists) and showed perhaps his best jump-shooting game of the season, He made two three-pointers and three mid-range jumpers.
The game's hero, Vucevic, lead the Magic in scoring with 22 points on 11-19 shooting and coupled it with nine rebounds. Filling in for Harris, Fournier played one of his best games in a while as he put up 21 points on fourteen shots. The Frenchman was driving better and playing with confidence.
Aaron Gordon has seen an uptick in production since being inserted in the starting line-up and this game was no different and he was the only other player to notch a double-double in this game (11 points, 13 rebounds). Gordon also lead the game in blocks with four. Rounding out the starting five, Victor Oladipo proved to be Mr. Efficient for the Magic. He made nine of his thirteen shot attempts and showed a variety of offensive weapons. He scored well around the rim and shot well both off the dribble and in spot up situations.
Atlanta featured the two leading scorers in this game as Jeff Teague scored 24 points on 10-17 shooting and Kent Bazemore scored 23 on 8-17 shooting--including a clutch three pointer to knot the game up at 94-94.
Al Horford seemed to have a bit of an off night. Only five of his 15 shot attempts found nylon for eleven points, but he was able to dish out six assists and grab six boards to round out the stat sheet. With one rebound shy of a double-double, Paul Millsap finished with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Kyle Korver was the lowest scoring starter with 10 points.
While the Hawks almost stole this game, the explanation for their loss can be found quite simply by looking at the shot chart (via ESPN). That many misses in the paint is inexcusable.
