Earlier than Friday evening, the Orlando Magic had blown 11 fourth-quarter leads and 11 double-digit leads this season. In opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves, they did each.
Minnesota scored 40 factors within the fourth quarter, all after Orlando had taken an 11-point lead early within the quarter. The comeback was spurred by reserve guard Donte DiVincenzo, who keyed a 17-1 Timberwolves run with eight factors, an help and an enormous block in a four-and-a-half-minute stretch.
Paolo Banchero scored 17 factors within the quarter, whereas the remainder of the Magic put up simply seven factors. Banchero did not flip the ball over, capturing 7-for-12, taking half of Orlando’s pictures. His teammates went 3-for-12, lacking all 5 of their three-pointers, because the Magic finally misplaced to the Timberwolves, 118-111.
Orlando fell to 2-7 in its final 9 video games, blowing massive leads, late leads or each in 4 of these video games. In a type of wins, a 111-109 victory over the Bucks on March 8, it nearly blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead, letting its benefit dwindle to 2 factors. It wanted Damian Lillard to overlook a game-winning three-pointer on the buzzer to flee.
It isn’t clear what’s mistaken with the Magic. Maybe it is their over-reliance on Banchero and scoring in isolation — the Magic are final within the NBA in assists per game.
Clearly, their crunch-time protection is missing. It is an issue they should deal with earlier than the playoffs or, seeing as they’ve dropped to six.5 video games out of sixth place, earlier than the play-in.
