ORLANDO MAGIC 115 – 113 BROOKLYN NETS
What a win that was! Our biggest comeback win of the season & in such an important game.
Another Poor Start
A tale of two halves as we went in 13 down at the half on the back of a dismal 41 pts scored, including going only 3 of 18 on 3 point shot. It began to feel like we were watching another Magic performance that has frustrated us so much through the season. Early into the 3rd & it got worse as we went 19 pts down.
The Turning Point
But that was the turning point. With approximately 9 minutes left Nikola Vucevic got angry ranting at the team in the timeout; clearly sick of being the final & often isolated defender. The response was emphatic, going on a 15-4 run. Terence Ross & Vooch got the offence going, Michael Carter-Williams & Mo Bamba fought for everything. It was heart, hustle, fight & aggression from MCW as he showed what he brings to the team. Mo had 5 huge blocks & his efforts on D in the 2nd half helped us to the W. Evan Fournier also chipped in with an important 21 points & 4 assists on the night.
Was This 00AG’s Best NBA Performance?
And then there was Aaron Gordon! AG was pretty much involved on every possession on both ends of the court during the final 3 minutes. The pass to Vooch for the dunk, drilling two huge shots including a step-back 3 pointer with 1:12 left, putting us 4 pts up. Then with 14 seconds to go the most spectacular rejection at the rim on Brooklyn’s second-to-last possession on Caris LeVert as AG timed his jump perfectly. He then claimed a huge rebound after Taurean Prince missed a 3-pointer. AG was a masterclass of basketball in the final quarter…passing, decision making, shooting, positioning, rebounding & athletic ability he showed it all.
The win came on the back of strong defensive play & a huge offensive improvement for a 74 points scored in the 2nd half, where we went 10 of 16 on the 3 pointer. What a turn around! We are now 16 & 1 when we score at least 110 points in a game.
What The W Means
This fixture was the second of 4 meetings for the season against Brooklyn & we are now 2 & 0. More good new was that the Bucks beat the Wizards last night. We still sit as the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference. Our record moved to 25 & 32. We are now 5 wins ahead of the Washington Wizards in 9th, who have played 1 game less than ourselves with a 20 & 36 record. The Chicago Bulls with a record of 20 & 38 are sat in the 10th seed spot, 5 wins back from us but also having played a game more. The Nets remain 7th now with a 26 & 30 record. At this point we trail by a win & they have played a game less than us. We do hold the tiebreaker over all three teams, the Nets (2-0), the Bulls (1-0) & the Wizards (4 & 0).
We face the Nets & Bulls each twice more by the season end:
Home – Chicago March 12th
At – Brooklyn March 23rd
Home – Brooklyn March 27th – Orlando Magic UK’s Mikey & Geraint will be in the Amway!
At – Chicago April 13th
Our schedule is certainly favourable for us to reach the 7th seed spot again & likely set up a repeat of last season’s first round matchup against the Toronto Raptors.
LET’S GO MAGIC!
