Sports

Hornets rout Magic 120-88

ORLANDO October 19, 2018 – The Orlando Magic entered game 2 of the season confident and excited to face the Charlotte Hornets, however, after a 120-88 showing, the see that they have a long way to go.

“So obviously not what we were looking for, and it gets back to one thing and that’s offensive purpose of play,” Magic head coach Steve Clifford said. “That’s what we have to try to fix here before we get on the floor tomorrow night.

“This is a league where teams can look really good or really bad one night and come back the next night and look like a totally different team. … We’ve gotta get so that we become a ball-movement, inside-out team.”

This is a continuation of a disturbing trend against Charlotte. Charlotte Guard Kemba Walker and the Hornets have had Orlando’s number for a while. They have beat Orlando in 12 straight games and 14 of the last 15 matchups. Orlando has not had a strong point guard in years, and no one can stop Walker.

Walker managed 26 points, 5-10 3-point shots. Walker’s five 3-pointers against the Magic gave him 12 in the first two games of the season, tying an NBA record to start the season. The record was first set by Ray Allen in 2001.

For the Magic, Terrence Ross lead the Magic with 14 points, followed by Nicola Vucevic and Evan Fournier with 12 points each.

Fournier continues his struggles from the field, shooting 5 of 15 for the second straight game and was just 2 of 9 from distance. Fournier had 12 points, but his shooting woes have been troubling since the first preseason game. In the first two games of the regular season, he is 10 of 30 from the floor and has only hit 2 of 14 3-pointers.

“We gotta move on. I’m not even thinking about tonight. We have a game tomorrow in Philly and we have to focus on that,” Magic guard-forward Fournier said.

“There’s not much you can say when you lose by 40. … You can flush it down the toilet. That’s gotta be the mindset and we gotta bounce back tomorrow. It was a poor performance on every level and you can’t have nights like that. It’s gonna happen, but it’s just gotta be once or twice a year, max, that’s it. So we blew a joker already.”

The Magic really couldn’t find a rhythm in the game. They started out stone cold, with only 5 for 24 for 20% shooting. Three point shooting was frigid with only 3 of their 31 3-pointers going in.

In other words, if there was a barn on the court, they couldn’t hit the side of it.

But it is early, and yet again this is a new coach with a bunch of new players, so there will be an understandable growth period to be expected.

Hopefully we will see them turn it around soon. The Magic face the Sixers tonight in Philadelphia tonight.

 

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