Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors.
By John DentonNov. 6, 2014
ORLANDO – The nearly simultaneous occurrence of Tobias Harris’ jumper ripping through the nets and the blaring of the final horn signified the Orlando Magic’s pulsating first victory on Wednesday night.
Harris, who was as clutch and confident as ever in drilling the fade-away shot from the wing, will officially get credit for the game-winner, but actually that designation could have been a shared one because of all the Magic’s selfless plays down the stretch.
Orlando’s 91-89 defeat of the Philadelphia 76ers – its first win in five tries this season – came about because of a variety of decisive factors. To wit:
Point guard Elfrid Payton saw his NBA record-tying streak of four games with seven-plus assists to start a career come to an end, but it mattered very little to the gritty rookie. Quite frankly, Harris’ shot never happens without the FIVE huge plays made by Payton down the stretch. He had a difficult put-back layup with 1:16 to play to tie the game at 87-all; his drive-and-dish play set up Harris for a go-ahead layup with 51 seconds left; his ball pressure caused Philadelphia’s Tony Wroten to accidentally step backcourt for a turnover and seconds later Payton dived on the floor for a steal away from Henry Sims; and Payton initiated the final, game-winning sequence by patiently waiting for Evan Fournier to come off a screen and in-bounding the ball to the guard so that he could hit a curling Harris.
``The offense is not going to be there every night, so you’ve just got to find another way to impact the game,’’ said Payton, who had eight points, six rebounds, five assists, four steals and a blocked shot. ``This one was about hustle plays. You’ve just got to find a way to help.’’
Magic center Nikola Vucevic and power forward Channing Frye set two important screens on the final play – Vucevic’s designed to free up Fournier and Frye’s used to give Harris room to heave the game-winner from the right wing. Vucevic’s screen was so good that Fournier was wide open and he briefly thought about driving down and open lane, but he stuck with the play drawn up by head coach Jacque Vaughn. And with Frye’s screen, it was a matter of the much older cousin delivering a selfless act to free up the kid cousin for the game-winner.
Said Frye of Harris, whose mother is sisters with Channing’s mom: ``You’ve got to feel like you’ve earned it and not be afraid to miss it. He’s made big shots at the end of games. It might run in the family – just kidding, but Tobias deserves this because he’s busted his butt all summer doing the right things. It’s huge for us as a family and it shows that we’re trying to play the game the right way. I’m glad (Harris’) dad – my uncle – was here to watch him do that, and that made it really special.’’
Harris had been through a wide array of emotions of late what with him not agreeing to a contract extension with the Magic before the Oct. 31 deadline, struggling through two games and four losses and winning Wednesday’s game with the second buzzer-beater of his career. Vaughn said it was never a consideration to go elsewhere with the final shot because Harris has the kind of swagger that it takes to pull off a game-winning shot. Harris had to slightly fade away on the final try and he said he knew it was good from the time that the ball left his finger tips.
``I dream about those moments, making those big shots for my team,’’ Harris said candidly after pumping in 18 points and grabbing eight rebounds. ``I know for us it’s been a little hard losing these games and I’ve been just praying and trying to find ways to lead our team. It’s just good to get the victory. And I think it’s important for our fans to feel this victory with us.’’
The hope now for the Magic (1-4) is that they can ride the emotional momentum from Wednesday’s thrilling victory and put together a streak that centers around winning instead of losing. Orlando hosts the Minnesota Timberwolves (2-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Amway Center. The T—Wolves also won in dramatic fashion on Wednesday, scoring the final nine points of the game to defeat Brooklyn 98-91.
Several of the Magic players are eager to see how finally winning a game and playing without the added pressure of a 0-4 start will affect the squad.
``With the first win of the season, that’s special and now I feel like now we might be more relaxed,’’ said Fournier, who had 10 points and three assists on Wednesday. ``Now maybe we won’t have the pressure. We’re just happy and hopefully we can get a winning streak. Who knows what we can do now?’’
Vaughn, too, is a believer in what one victory could possibly mean to the Magic. Orlando squandered an early lead on Wednesday because of a turnover total that eventually climbed all the way up to 24. And Orlando also lost a four-point lead late in the fourth period when it inexplicably didn’t score a point for more than five minutes.
The pressure to shed its winless label now gone, Vaughn hopes his Magic can play freer and with more precision starting on Friday night.
``This hopefully gives our guys a chance to relax,’’ Vaughn said. ``You can sense (the added pressure) at different points in the game where they wanted to win and they wanted it to happen right now. But hopefully we can relax after getting that one win now.’’
The 20-year-old Payton, who seems well beyond his years with his even-keeled demeanor and grown-up game, said he didn’t want to leave Philadelphia on Wednesday without a win. That’s why he refused to quit in the fourth quarter and continuing pressuring the ball, diving on the floor and rebounding among the giants. He truly thinks the Magic could be on the verge of taking flight now that they have a victory under their belts.
``This is a big, big load off our backs, but we can’t be satisfied,’’ Payton said firmly. ``We have to just keep pushing and keep going from this big victory.’’