Magic snap 10-game slide to Spurs
SAN ANTONIO -- Serge Ibaka scored 18 points and Nikola Vucevic added 12 points and 10 rebounds off the bench as the Orlando Magic stunned the San Antonio Spurs 95-83 on Tuesday at the AT&T Center, snapping a four-game losing streak.
San Antonio missed seven straight shots from the field and went scoreless for a 4 minute, 10 second stretch in the fourth quarter to derail any chance at a comeback.
Evan Fournier added 13 points for the Magic (7-11), and Aaron Gordon and Efrid Payton scored 11 and 10 points, respectively for Orlando. The Magic snapped a 10-game losing streak to San Antonio that dated back to a 123-101 loss in Orlando on Dec, 23, 2010.
The Spurs' Kawhi Leonard led all scorers with 21 points while LaMarcus Aldridge hit for 16 points and Manu Ginobili added 13 for San Antonio (14-4), which lost for the first time in 10 games. All four of the Spurs' defeats this season have been at home.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich removed all five of his starters at the same time -- at the 8:31 mark of the first quarter -- and San Antonio's second unit provided a needed boost. A 9-2 run capped by a 3-pointer by Patty Mills pushed the Spurs to a 20-16 lead at the end of the period.
The second quarter featured a wild finish. Ginobili's 3-pointer with 1:22 to play in the half pushed the Spurs back to the lead at 38-37, but a 3-pointer by Ibaka and a layup by Jeff Green after a steal and feed by D.J. Augustin landed the Magic back on top, albeit for only a few seconds.
Aldridge canned a 3-pointer for San Antonio on the ensuing trip down the floor but Fournier answered with a basket from beyond the arc at the buzzer to hand Orlando a 45-43 lead at intermission.
Aldridge led all scorers with 10 points in the first half while Ibaka's nine points and five rebounds paced the Magic.
San Antonio was uncharacteristically ragged on the offensive end throughout the game, and that was exemplified by a stretch late in the third quarter when they turned over the ball on three consecutive trips down the floor as Orlando stretched its lead to 73-62. The Magic pushed that advantage to 75-64 heading into the final quarter.
San Antonio trailed 77-65 at the 9:56 mark before an alley-oop dunk by Aldridge off a steal and an assist by Mills and a three-point play from Leonard cut the Orlando lead to 77-70. But an Ibaka jumper ended the mini run, and basket by Jeff Green re-established an 11-point advantage for the Magic, forcing the Spurs into desperation mode in the end game.
Tuesday's game was the first of five straight road contests for the Magic on an eight-day trip in which Orlando also plays in Memphis, Philadelphia, Detroit and Washington.
NOTES: Magic G Evan Fournier and Spurs G Tony Parker are members of the France National Team. ... Orlando assistant coach Chad Forcier spent nine seasons with San Antonio (2007-16) as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich. ... With a 109-103 win on Nov. 25 at Boston, the Spurs collected their eighth straight victory by 10 points or fewer for only the second time in franchise history (also Jan. 29-Feb. 16, 2003). ... In San Antonio's 112-100 victory on Nov. 26 at Washington, Parker scored his 18,000th career point to become the only active player besides LeBron James to log at least 18,000 points and 6,000 assists in their NBA career. ... Orlando has players from six countries (United States, France, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Croatia and Montenegro) that speak a combined eight different languages.