Nikola Vucevic scores 43, lifting Magic to win over Bulls (original) (raw)

The Orlando Magic went to Nikola Vucevic early and often and the veteran center kept delivering, right up to the end.

Vucevic scored a career-high 43 points and hit two crucial free throws with 2.6 seconds to play to help the Orlando Magic hold off the Chicago Bulls for a 123-119 win Friday night at Amway Center.

The victory ended a four-game losing streak for the Magic, who won for just the third time in the past 15 games. The Bulls made it interesting late, but the Magic largely showed poise down the stretch and prevailed in a game they controlled most of the way.

“The response tonight was good. The focus to start the game was there; the awareness, too,” Magic shooting guard Evan Fournier said. “They made a run in the fourth quarter, but I thought overall we played a good game, balanced and the spirit was good.”

Fournier finished with 21 points while Cole Anthony had 17 points and a career-high nine assists, and James Ennis scored 14 points for Orlando (9-14).

“We needed a win. It was a must-win today but in 24 hours you’ve got to play again, so we’ve got to get back at it,” Ennis said. “We’ve got to come with the same mindset from the beginning.”

Point guard Frank Mason had four points and four assists in 16 minutes in his Magic debut.

Zach LaVine scored 26 points, rookie and FSU alum Patrick Williams finished with 20 points and Coby White had 16 points for the Bulls (8-13).

Lauri Markkanen, the team’s second-leading scorer, had 13 points before leaving in the third quarter with a sprained right shoulder.

Even with Markkanen, the Bulls had few answers for Vucevic, whose performance Friday could help push him to his second All-Star selection.

Vucevic finished 17-of-29 from the field, hitting 4-of-10 3-pointers, and pulled down a season-high 19 rebounds.

He became the fourth player in team history with 40 or more points and 15 or more rebounds in a game. The others are Shaquille O’Neal, Dwight Howard and Aaron Gordon.

For his part, Vucevic appreciated his performance but was more excited that it came during a victory.

“I’m most happy with the win,” he said. “I thought we had a great effort from the beginning, great spirit, great mindset and we we’re able to come out with a big win.”

Vucevic was a big reason why.

He made five of his first six shots and had 10 of the Magic’s first 12 points.

Bulls center Daniel Gafford failed to close out twice on pick-and-roll plays, and Vucevic took advantage of the spacing by flaring to the 3-point line and hitting shots. The second triple led to a timeout by Bulls coach Billy Donovan, who replaced Gafford with veteran Thaddeus Young about a minute later.

“I wanted to come out aggressive and set the tone a little bit,” Vucevic said.

Vucevic finished the quarter with 15 points in a sign of things to come.

He scored nine points in the second quarter, then came back with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the third.

By then, Vucevic already had a season-high with 35 points, surpassing his previous mark of 34 set Jan. 16 in Brooklyn.

The Magic also used a 28-18 scoring advantage from the free-throw line to offset 16 turnovers that led to 26 points for the Bulls.

And while the Magic posted 50 points in the paint, they gave up 60 on 61.2% shooting. The Bulls got 20 of those points in the paint as part of a 38-point fourth quarter.

Still, Magic coach Steve Clifford felt his team’s defensive play was solid for three quarters against a team that ranks seventh in the NBA in scoring.

“I liked our defense there until the fourth quarter,” Clifford said.

Behind Vucevic’s hot start, the Magic pulled out to an 18-4 lead. The Bulls closed within two by the end of the opening quarter, then went ahead 49-43 on a Denzel Valentine 3-pointer late in the second frame.

But Fournier sparked a 23-7 run over the final 5:09 of the half with 14 points as the Magic went up 66-56 at the break. The 66 first-half points were a season-high for Orlando.

“We’ve hit stretches, which every team does, where things haven’t gone our way and we have struggled to kind of collect ourselves and come back, and that’s what we did in that stretch and he was obviously instrumental in that,” Clifford said of Fournier.

It was a 14-point lead when LaVine started to heat up. He delivered 14 points over a six-minute stretch as the Bulls closed within 110-106 after his 3-pointer with 5:15 to play.

After Ennis hit a jumper, LaVine converted a three-point play to make it 112-109.

“Most of the big scorers in our league are terrific without the ball. That’s what people don’t give him credit for. There’s very few really good NBA scorers who aren’t good cutters and know how to play without the ball, and that’s what he did to get going,” Clifford said of LaVine, who had just two points after three quarters.

The Magic committed two turnovers on their next two possessions, and White tied it at 112-112 with a 3.

After Vucevic converted a jump hook, Fournier sank a fallaway jumper from the corner, Anthony hit a free throw and Fournier made two free throws to make it 119-114.

Garrett Temple then missed a layup, and the Magic were in position to close it out after Terrence Ross got the rebound. But Fournier’s cross-court pass was intercepted by Young. Fournier then fouled LaVine on a 3-point try, and LaVine made the three ensuing free throws to make it 119-117.

Young fouled Anthony on the ensuing possession, and Anthony made both free throws with 16.4 seconds left to give Orlando a 121-117 lead. LaVine converted a short hook over Vucevic to make it a one-possession game.

The Bulls then nearly forced a jump ball after the Magic inbounded before Orlando got a timeout.

Vucevic was then fouled and converted both free throws to ice the win.

Clifford acknowledged the importance of Vucevic’s late free throws but felt the jump hook that broke the 112-112 tie was more crucial.

“Besides the two big free throws [at the end], he had the huge kind of midrange iso [play] there where he got to his jump hook, which was probably the biggest shot of the game,” Clifford said.

The Magic and the Bulls close out their back-to-back set Saturday at Amway. The game tips off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Florida.

This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Roy Parry at rparry@orlandosentinel.com

Originally Published: February 5, 2021 at 11:59 PM EST