Magic Keep it Competitive, Lose Steam Late in 116-104 Loss to Cavs

Orlando, Fla. — The Orlando Magic dropped their second-straight of a back-to-back set on Saturday, losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers 116-104 at home.

The Magic played with much more energy than on Friday, an 81-121 loss to the Hornets in Charlotte where they never really got going, but it still wasn’t enough to top the defending NBA champions.

“We had a much better competitive spirit about us than we did last night,” said Magic coach Frank Vogel, I am dissappointed that we fell short cause I felt like our guys deserved a victory for competing the way they did.”

The big story was the three-point shooting. Orlando, the league’s 26th-ranked team from three, managed to hit only four triples, whereas Cleveland hit 14. The Cavs also had their way with Orlando’s defense, especially late, hitting 50 percent of their shots overall.

“I think we played Cavalier basketball tonight,” said LeBron James, “what has been our Achilles for us has been our defensive three-point percentage, and we did a great job of getting out to their shooters and contesting a lot of their threes”

The Magic were held to 19 percent from deep on Saturday.

Reigning Finals MVP LeBron James notched his second-straight triple-double in the Cavs win, racking up 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 13 assists. Despite the continued abscence of All-Star forward Kevin Love, the Cavs relied on the firepower of James and fellow All-Star Kyrie Irving, who chipped in 22 points, seven assists, and eight rebounds.

Orlando would keep the game competitive throughout, narrowing Cleveland’s lead to just three with seven minutes left to play. The Cavs would rely on James, as well as their depth with the newly-aquired Deron Williams, and the newly-healthy J.R. Smith to seal the deal.

Magic center Nikola Vucevic, who returned from a four game abscence due to a tweaked Achilles, had a big night, posting 20 points and 16 rebounds in the loss.

Forward Evan Fournier also had a strong night, scoring 15 points with two steals and two made threes.

Third-year man Aaron Gordon continued his strong play, notching 15 points, five rebounds, three assists, and a cool 50 percent from the floor.

The Orlando Magic (24-43) will go from playing last year’s NBA champions on Saturday to the runners up on Wednesday, as the Magic kickoff a Western Conference roadtrip in Sacramento (25-40)   on Monday and Golden State (52-14) on Wednesday.

Magic

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
A. GordonPF	31	6-12	0-1	4-4	2	3	5	3	0	0	0	1	-8	16
T. RossSF	32	4-11	0-4	3-4	0	4	4	1	1	0	1	3	-12	11
N. VucevicC	28	9-20	0-1	2-4	7	9	16	0	0	1	2	5	-3	20
E. PaytonPG	34	4-16	0-0	0-0	3	7	10	6	3	0	2	2	-5	8
E. FournierSG	32	4-10	2-5	5-6	0	1	1	2	2	0	0	2	+0	15
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	+/-	PTS
D. RudezSF	2	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	+2	0
A. BrownSF	—	—–	—–	—–	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
J. GreenSF	18	3-7	0-1	1-1	0	3	3	2	0	0	1	1	-12	7
S. ZimmermanC	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	+2	0
B. BiyomboC	16	2-4	0-0	2-2	2	6	8	0	0	0	0	2	-5	6
C.J. WatsonPG	18	2-4	1-2	4-4	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	-6	9
D.J. AugustinPG	12	2-6	0-3	1-1	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	1	-9	5
M. HezonjaSG	15	2-5	1-3	2-2	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	-6	7
C. WilcoxSG	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	+2	0
TEAM		38-96	4-21	24-28	15	38	53	17	6	1	6	21		104
		39.6%	19.0%	85.7%