The Orlando Magic built off their home win Friday night, taking a big lead against the Philadelphia 76ers and holding them off for a second straight win.
The Orlando Magic have their first win streak of the year after defeating the Philadelphia 76ers 102-95 at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday. But it sure was not easy.
The Magic defense at times looked suffocating, taking the 76ers completely out of their game forcing them into extremely difficult shots. It helped Orlando build as much as a 15-point lead.
The Magic seemed poised to get their first comfortable win of the season — the Magic have won by nine and five points and have played all their games within 10 points so far this season — but the play stagnated again in the third and fourth quarter.
Whether it was fatigue or just poor execution, the Magic allowed the 76ers to get back into the game slowly. Philadelphia never threatened the lead seriously, but Orlando let Philadelphia hang around and had to come up with big shots at the end to hold on for the win.
Elfrid Payton played a big role in that. Payton scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, making a couple of big free throws and getting into the lane and finishing at the rim against Philadelphia’s defense, to lead the Magic down the stretch.
It was a huge bounce back game for Payton, who failed to score Friday against Toronto and was left on the bench for much of the second half. It was a game where he began to figure some things out within the new offense and executed when the game started to matter most.
In addition to the free throw she made to help ice the game, he made a big pull-up jumper from the elbow to keep Philadelphia at bay.
The 76ers relied heavily on the streaky shooting of Isaiah Canaan to keep the game close and a healthy diet of Jahlil Okafor. The 76ers just did not have enough consistent firepower to complete the comeback.
The Magic certainly did not play their best game yet. Scott Skiles is clearly still looking for consistency from his team. It has been a struggle to get there so far as the team has looked strong for long stretches and looked poor for long stretches.
Unlike the beginning of the season, the Magic are winning while learning some of these lessons. They have won three of their past four games — all in a four-games-in-five-nights stretch.
