Tobias Harris delivers on promise, delivers for Magic

Tobias Harris said he got on the plane after the Magic’s loss to the Hawks on Friday and said his team was going to win Saturday night’s rematch. He repeated it — yelled it, really, as Nikola Vucevic would tell it — when he came to Amway Center.

There was that steely eyed determination that the Magic were not going to drop another close game. Or another game at all. They needed this one.

Harris nearly blew it, missing a free throw with 16 seconds left that would have given the Magic a safe three-point lead. Of course, the basketball gods had one more trick in store for this team and allowed Kyle Korver to drain a 3-pointer with 3.4 seconds left and Evan Fournier right in his grill.

Then he made up for it. Funny how quickly you can go from goat to hero. From guarantee-faker to maker.

Harris got the inbounds from Fournier over DeMarre Carroll who tripped on the play. Harris drove to his left for the elbow and took the jumper, draining it to send the the Amway Center into a celebration and the team into a frenzy it has not had in some time.

“I think the biggest hing is everyone on my teammates feel that is a shot I am capable of making,” Harris said. “Coach drew the play. He had great confidence in me. The guy son the team trusted me to take that shot and to make it. It’s a great win for us tonight the way we battled back tonight. We kept fighting and we wanted to get this win. We willed ourselves to this win.”

This was a battle throughout, with the teams never separated by more than six points.

Harris’ game-winner delivered the Magic a 100-99 victory and snapped the Hawks’ nine-game win streak in its tracks. The Magic finally had their late-game moment to savor again.

Score Off. Rtg. eFG% O.Reb.% TO% FTR
Atlanta 99 102.5 46.4 23.7 10.4 28.6
Orlando 100 109.6 56.8 17.9 15.3 28.4

It certainly did not feel that would come. It felt like the Hawks would be able to pull this one out, just finding those little plays and little moments to squeeze through and secure another win. The Magic trailed by six points with three minutes left after Kyle Korver sank all three free throws after he was fouled taking a 3-pointer for the second time in the half.

Victor Oladipo took the reigns and answered with a 3-pointer, then followed with a layup and then drove to the basket and threw it up for Nikola Vucevic to finish with a lay in. All the while, the Magic were fortunate to see DeMarre Carroll miss an open 3-pointer from the corner and Jeff Teague miss a pair of jumpers (one blocked by Vucevic). That gave the Magic the opportunity to take the lead.

Oladipo drove that train. He scored seven points and had two assists in the final three minutes. This was his game to finish. At least, until it was Harris’ turn. The Magic were making the little plays to win the game.

“It’s always a lot of little plays,” Vucevic said. “When you lose close games, there are a lot of those that you missed out on that you didn’t get or 50/50 balls or box out or something. Tonight, we were able to come up with some of those. We got a win. It’s always about the little plays. It’s not always about the big shot or the big dunk.”

That is often how games are ultimately decided. The little plays and the little moments that go your way. Grabbing those 50/50 balls and getting those little plays were important for the Magic. So too was gutting it out and grinding a win. Something young teams are not supposed to do well.

This one could not have started worse for Oladipo. He had five of Orlando’s 10 turnovers in the first quarter. He looked overwhelmed and was struggling to get past the Hawks’ pressure defense which gave the Magic so many problems. Some of it might have been a bit of being too unselfish. But the Magic stood no chance of winning if they were going to give up all those extra possessions.

The turnover spigot slowed to a halt by the fourth quarter. And Oladipo turned his game completely around.

“That’s the beauty of experience,” Oladipo said. “I had guys like Luke Ridnour, Ben Gordon, Willie Green and my teammates. The first half was rough. I was moving too fast, stumbling. It seemed like I was back to my rookie year. At the end of the day, the beauty of the game it is long. I just tried to stay poised and pick my spots and be ready.”

The Magic ended the game with just 15 turnovers after that horrible start and did not commit a turnover in the fourth quarter. Oladipo had just one more turnover the rest of the game on his way to 15 points and seven assists on the night. His calm led to everyone else’s calm.

So too did the return of Nikola Vucevic after a nearly two-week absence. Vucevic showed no signs of wear or tear with his strained back in scoring 18 points on 9-for-13 shooting and grabbing 11 rebounds. The team talked about what a relief it was to have his as a sure outlet to try to get some points. It was a way for the Magic to get out of some of the doldrums that sometimes plagues their offense.

Eventually though it all had to return to Harris, the hero.

He was reliable and constant all game long again as a scorer. His 20 points led the team and the Hawks had a tough time matching up with him.

And, at the end of the day, it was his shot that delivered on the determination he had that this one would be a win. Determination is what it took as the Magic had to fight off runs and make big shots at key moments to keep the lead from getting too far away. Orlando got its win.

Tobias Harris delivered.

About Philip Rossman-Reich

Philip Rossman-Reich is the managing editor for Crossover Chronicles and Orlando Magic Daily. You can follow him on twitter @OMagicDaily

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