One night time after an thrilling win at house in opposition to the Grizzlies, the Spurs discovered themselves proper again out on the street for an additional four-game street journey. They didn’t land in Orlando till 4 AM and are already shorthanded, so anybody who noticed this as a scheduled loss might be excused. Nonetheless, this Spurs group is simply totally different than earlier iterations. They’re younger, energetic and deep, and so they used all that to outlast a rising Magic group that was properly rested and had received 9 of their final 11.
The Spurs picked up the place they left off by counting on threes to get them going early, hitting 4 of their first 7. Nonetheless, additionally they discovered a great steadiness on offense before the night time earlier than. As predicted, the Magic’s greatest energy of scoring within the paint got here to fruition with a short stretch of too-easy layups that briefly gave them the lead, however the Spurs’ balanced assault nonetheless prevailed with them main 31-29 after 12 minutes.
The await the Spurs to tire out continued as they appeared anything-but within the second quarter, outscoring the Magic 27-20. After issues have been tied up at 35 apiece three minutes in, Spurs used an prolonged 18-7 run to get the lead out to 11 with simply over 3 minutes left. A slew of turnovers led to a 7-0 run from the Magic and appeared like they could steal the momentum heading into halftime, however the Spurs regrouped, and a troublesome layup from Keldon Johnson and three from Carter Bryant (they’re beginning to fall for him) helped get issues proper once more as they led 58-49 on the half.
There was no letdown to start out the second half both, with De’Aaron Fox and Devin Vassell scoring the primary six factors to get the lead out to 13, however Jalen Suggs got here alive on offense to get the Magic going once more, and so they obtained the lead again down to eight and compelled a timeout. Each groups continued to have responses to one another in a streaky, bodily quarter by which the Spurs led by as a lot as 15 earlier than the Magic obtained again inside 5, and the Spurs led 86-79 with 12 minutes left.
The fourth quarter is when the legs begin getting drained on a back-to-back, however Dylan Harper stored the Spurs forward, even because the Magic stored making pushes. Harper’s play allowed Fox to relaxation till there was 3:46 left, and it appeared like Fourth Quarter Fox would cause them to victory once more with just a few enormous photographs, however a few turnovers stored the Magic in it. Jeremy Sochan had an opportunity to place it away with the Spurs up three with 16 seconds left, however he missed each free throws. Harrison Barnes then fouled Franz Wagner on a 3 on the opposite finish, and he hit all three FT’s to tie issues up with 7.7 seconds left.
It appeared like they have been headed to OT, however Jonathan Isaac reached and fouled Fox on his final ditch effort. He hit each free throws with 1.4 left, and Luke Kornet blocked a Wagner lay-up try on the buzzer to seal the deal at 114-112. It was most likely a great factor they pulled it out in regulation, as a result of it lastly felt like they have been out of fuel and wouldn’t have had the stamina for an additional 5 minutes of play.
There have been a number of candidates down the stretch, however it needs to be the game-winning block by Kornet, and his celebration makes it even higher.
Up Subsequent: Friday at Cleveland Cavaliers
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