National Basketball Association
Orlando 114, Toronto 113
When: 6:00 PM ET, Sunday, January 29, 2017
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Officials:
#18 Matt Boland, #45 Brian Forte, #21 Dedric Taylor
Attendance:
19800
By The Sports Xchange
TORONTO -- The difference for the Orlando Magic was a 19-0 run in the second quarter.
It turned a 10-point disadvantage into a nine-point lead and, as it turned out, was the only quarter in which Orlando outscored the Toronto Raptors.
The 33-15 second-quarter surge was barely enough for the Magic to hang on for a 114-113 victory over the Raptors Sunday night and end a seven-game losing streak in games they have played at the Air Canada Centre.
"That's what we can do, when we play defense we have a chance," Magic coach Frank Vogel said. "That's what we were doing in that stretch, we were getting stops and that was making the offense easier because we were able to get out and run a little bit."
Nikola Vucevic scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and D.J. Augustin added 21 points off the bench for Orlando, which had lost its three previous games.
Augustin and Jeff Green each scored 11 points in a free-scoring fourth quarter.
"We have to find five men that are going to go out there and defend," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "You can go right down the roster and everybody had a defensive mistake. It's accountability, we're bringing guys off the bench and they're making mistakes. It's everybody and that's what I told the team."
The victory was a big turnaround after a 128-98 loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday and Vogel let his team know how he felt about it.
"We were very hurt by the way we played last game," Vogel said. "We didn't come right out of the gates playing great defense but I thought it picked up near the end of the first (quarter) and we had a great second quarter. We were very embarrassed by the way we played the other night, we all were."
Vucevic made two free throws to give the Magic a four-point lead with 3.6 seconds left. Toronto's Kyle Lowry ended the game with a 3-pointer.
Vucevic also had four blocked shots in the game, including a vital one on Lowry's layup attempt with 1:54 to play in the game.
"Vucevic has been a great defender this season," Augustin said. "People say he doesn't play defense but this season he's been doing a great job on the defensive end and, obviously, he can score."
"We really wanted to show a better effort out there," Vucevic said. "We weren't happy with the way we played in Boston. It was unacceptable, it was very disappointing. It's not ok to lose, but if you lose, you can't lose that way, it was so bad. At the start of the game, our defense was a bit sloppy but we picked up it pretty quickly and we had a great second quarter and we were able to hold them off."
The Raptors blew a 10-point second-quarter lead when the Magic scored 19 straight points to take a nine-point lead at the end of the first half.
The Magic led by five points after three quarters.
A pair of free throws by Augustin put the Magic into a 15-point lead with 6:44 to play.
Jonas Valanciunas made a hook shot and converted the free throw to trim the lead to six with 2:40 play. After Orlando was stopped, DeMar DeRozan hit a pull-up jumper to bring the Raptors to within four.
Green's layup and 3-pointer put Orlando into a nine-point lead with 1:46 left.
Terrence Ross made a running layup and a free throw to cut Orlando's lead to three points with 14.1 seconds to play.
C.J. Watson's two free throws gave Orlando a five-point lead with 11.2 seconds to play.
Lowry's 3-pointer made it a two-point difference with 5.2 seconds to play.
Green added 16 points for Orlando (19-30). Watson had 15, Serge Ibaka 12 and Elfred Payton contributed 11 points and 10 assists.
Lowry led Toronto with 33 points and eight assists, DeRozan added 22 points, Ross 17 and Valanciunas had 12 points and nine rebounds.
Toronto (29-19) has lost six of its past seven games.
"It's very challenging," Lowry said. "As a professional and as a leader, I'm going to keep my head up and keep going out there and working on it. This is a small, little thing that we can work through. We have to continue to get better."
Vucevic's 3-pointer with 1:22 left in the first half capped the 19-point surge and gave Orlando a 58-49 lead. DeRozan made two free throws with 34.2 seconds left to stop the Magic's run.
"It's as bad as we have played all year," Casey said of Orlando's second-quarter run.
The Magic led 60-51 at half time.
NOTES: Toronto G DeMar DeRozan (sprained right ankle) returned to the starting lineup Sunday after missing three games. He was injured Jan 22 in the loss to the Phoenix Suns. ... F Jared Sullinger, who has been limited to five games this season because of a foot injury, was not used Friday in the win over the Milwaukee Bucks. He was sent to the Raptors 905 D-League team for a conditioning game Saturday and scored 18 points with 15 rebounds in 28 minutes. He was recalled for the game Sunday. ... Magic G/F Evan Fournier (sore right foot) did not play for the eighth straight game Sunday after working with the team Saturday. ... The Raptors complete a three-game homestand Tuesday against the New Orleans Pelicans. ... The Magic play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday at the Target Center to end a three-game trip.
Top Game Performances
Orlando |
|
Toronto |
Nikola Vucevic 25 |
Scoring |
Kyle Lowry 33 |
Elfrid Payton 10 |
Assists |
Kyle Lowry 8 |
Nikola Vucevic 10 |
Rebounds |
Patrick Patterson 10 |
C.J. Watson 5 |
Free Throws Made |
DeMar DeRozan 10 |
Jeff Green 2 |
Steals |
Terrence Ross 3 |
Nikola Vucevic 4 |
Blocks |
Lucas Nogueira 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Orlando
|
114 |
53.2 |
10-23 |
20-26 |
25 |
36 |
6 |
6 |
12 |
Toronto
|
113 |
45.6 |
12-28 |
29-36 |
19 |
40 |
3 |
8 |
13 |
Upcoming Games
-
Toronto will play their next game at home against New Orleans. The Raptors have a W/L % of .621 after a win and .579 after a loss.
-
Orlando will play their next game on the road against Minnesota. The Magic have a W/L % of .316 after a win and .433 after a loss.