The Orlando Magic tried their best to hold off Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder, but OKC is busy trying to catch the San Antonio Spurs for the top seed in the West, and etched their way closer to doing that by beating the Magic 97-89 in Orlando Friday night.
Durant led his crew to their 51st win of the season by scoring 11 fourth quarter points as the “scrappy” Orlando Magic gave the Thunder a pretty good punch to the gut.
After losing their last two games, one at home to the Nuggets and the other to the Grizzlies, the Thunder needed to beat Orlando for a shot at the West’s top playoff spot.
But it wasn’t as easy as some thought as the Magic stuck around until the last few minutes of the game. Orlando was led by 19-year old Moe Harkless, scoring a career high of 25 points and snagging nine rebounds. Magic guard Jameer Nelson chipped in 16 and rising star forward Tobias Harris put in 10 points.
Orlando hung around as long as they could, even giving the crowd reason to believe they may beat the Thunder with just about six minutes left in the fourth quarter.
The Amway Center was as loud as its been all season when the crowd thought the Magic may beat the Thunder. Even the injured Glen Davis got into it by yelling for the crowd to get louder from the end of the Magic bench.
Harkless, Nelson and Harris were all playing well when the ball was in their hands, but there wasn’t much the team could do defensively with Durant and Thunder guard Russell Westbrook.
OKC simply overpowered and outplayed this young Magic team. They wore them down in the game’s final minutes and Durant’s talent and experience took over. The Thunder showed why they made it to the NBA Finals last season with their play, and why Durant is one of the league’s top players.
With the loss, Orlando dropped their 52nd game of the season, which is still 12 games away from tying the franchise record of 64 losses.
The Magic still have games remaining against the Bulls, Celtics and Spurs, all teams that will play beyond the regular season. So there is still a chance that this season’s Magic squad may break the franchise record for losses in one year.
What Orlando does have to look forward to is their Monday night match-up against the Heat at home. Miami is riding a 25 game winning streak and if the Magic can break it, a win of that magnitude may turn out to be their best moment of the season.
-JH
