Photos by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images In a game that was close throughout, Orlando’s defense took control late as the Spurs offense faded The Spurs played an entertaining game tonight in their last game of their three game homestand, it was close throughout, but the Magic’s defensive pressure sealed the deal for Orlando, along with some clutch three-point shots from Caldwell-Pope and Caleb Houstan. The Magic is not a good three-point shooting team, but those are probably the two guys you don’t want to leave open when the game is on the line. The Spurs got a great game from Harrison Barnes, and Julian Champagnie had a nice game shooting the basketball. Stephon Castle continued his Rookie of the Year campaign with a solid 16 point effort, but he also had trouble with Orlando’s defense and made some rookie mistakes which were costly to the Silver and Black. I really expect that he will learn from this and work on his ball handling and finishing over defenders, which are good now but not at the elite level that you need to crack Orlando’s league-best defense. This was a much better effort than the Warriors debacle, and it show that the home team should be really competitive next year when their two best players return. It was a solid effort against a playoff team, but not quite good enough for the win. There are seven games left in the season, starting with tomorrow’s contest in Denver. Tonight’s loss was the fifth consecutive loss for San Antonio, their longest this season. Coming into the Mile High City with the Joker with no rest, it seems like we might be looking at six or more by the end of the week. Despite all of the losses, tonight was an encouraging effort for the good guys, as they competed and made the game interesting, until is wasn’t. Magic Musick These synthesizer riffs are MAGIC! Observations The Spurs had a big rest advantage tonight, because the Magic played the Clippers last night and the Spurs hadn’t played basketball since they played the Celtics last Saturday. What’s that you say? There was a game on Sunday ... yes, but the Spurs didn’t play, so my point stands. The Magic doesn’t have great three point shooters, so this might finally be the game where the Spurs strategy of collapsing to the paint and leaving wide open three point shooters might work, but I had my doubts when the Magic hit their first three three point attempts to open the game. They ended up shooting 18-47 for the game, with late triples from Houstan and Caldwell-Pope sealing the deal for them as they took over the game as the clock ran out. The Magic got ahead early with their hot shooting streak but the Spurs fought back and retook the lead with their own hot streak to take a six point lead midway through the first quarter, and led 34-29 at the end of the first quarter despite turning the ball over 8 times to Orlando’s defensive pressure. Mitch Johnson has been doing a much better job with challenges lately, and that’s partly due to the assistants getting good looks at the video and reacting quickly. A critical reversal of a Banchero and-one at the basket to an offensive foul was key in staunching a Magic run and keeping Biyombo out of foul trouble, which is important with Sochan out with a back issue. Sean Elliot’s idea of dunks counting for more than two is interesting. Just need some impartial judges to award extra ‘style’ points. Castle’s scoring average would soar. Keldon had at least a five-pointer in the first quarter. One thing about all of the injuries is that it’s giving time for guys like Blake Wesley to get playing time and make a case for bigger role going forward. Cory Joseph has had a really good career in the NBA, and I was shocked to see that he’s only 33 years old. It feels like he’s been the league forever. He might be a problem for at least a few more years. The game was tied at 61 at the half with Harrison Barnes’ last-second dunk evening the score. It almost seemed like time was going to run out, but he made his dunk with 0.2 seconds to spare. Harrison Barnes still has a lot in the tank. He has been one of the stabilizing influences on this team, when everything seemed to be falling apart when the two best players were out, he’s been the guy who always steps up to keep the team competitive. That three from the corner is money for him. The Spurs picked up their intensity in the third quarter on both ends and took their first double digit lead late in the third. Caleb Houstan hit a couple of triples late as the Magic closed the gap, trailing the Spurs 84-79 at the end of three quarters. Orlando turned up the defense in the final quarter, disrupting the Spurs offense with active hands and a full court press. Franz Wagner, smarting from an uncalled smack to the face at the end of the third tied it up with an and-one early in the fourth. Orlando took a 10 point lead with 4 minutes left as their defense flustered the Spurs, leading to turnovers. I love Steph Castle as a player, but one thing he’s going to need to improve on is being creative at the rim. Too often, he drives into a crowd and ends putting up a prayer at the hoop that is blocked. He needs to turn more of those into buckets, foul calls, or assists. The Magic had some timely three point shots from KCP and Houstan as they took a 12 point lead with a little over two minutes left. It looked hopeless for the the good guys but they put up a fight, but could not get enough stops as the Magic closed it out and won 116-105. The Spurs get on the plane right after the game and head to Denver to play the Nuggets on tomorrow night at 8:00 PM. Should be another rough night. ...read more read less