76ers 126, Magic 125 (2OT): Orlando falls despite great outings from key players

The Orlando Magic got career-best performances from Arron Afflalo, Glen Davis, and Victor Oladipo on Tuesday, but simply could not get enough stops as they fell to the Philadelphia 76ers by a 126-125 final in double overtime. The trio set career-highs in scoring with 43, 33, and 26 points, respectively. Oladipo also had 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple-double, but his opposite number matched him: Michael Carter-Williams finished with a 27-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist triple-double of his own to lead Philadelphia, which ended a four-game losing streak.

The Sixers also got 24 from Evan Turner's before he fouled out early in the second overtime. Thaddeus Young scored 25 with 12 rebounds.

On the second night of a back-to-back set, five Magic players logged 38-plus minutes, and they did so in a losing effort. The Sixers outrebounded Orlando, which played without leading rebounder Nik Vučević, by a 56-34 margin.

The Magic jumped out to a 34-29 lead after the first quarter thanks in large part to Afflalo's brilliance: the seven-year veteran had no trouble at all working against the Sixers' defense, shooting 4-of-6 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the line for 14 points. Even without Vučević, the Magic held an 11-10 edge on the glass, with Victor Oladipo chipping in five of those boards.

As they did last Wednesday when Vučević ran roughshod over them, the Sixers were overmatched inside, even with Spencer Hawes in the lineup. Backup big man Brandon Davies wears uniform no. 20, but it might as well be a bullseye, given the aggressiveness with which Davis and Jason Maxiell, neither known for their efficiency, attacked him offensively. Reserve center Lavoy Allen committed three fouls in four first-half minutes, compounding the issue for Philadelphia.

A driving layup in traffic by Oladipo gave Orlando a nine-point edge with 7:07 to play in the first half, tying its largest lead of the night, but Philadelphia responded over the rest of the quarter by closing it with a 20-10 run. The 76ers' defense keyed that stretch, limiting Afflalo to two shot attempts, forcing four Magic turnovers, and keeping Orlando off the foul line. Carter-Williams scored nine points with three boards and two steals in that run as the Sixers took a 58-57 halftime lead.

Another factor in the Sixers' narrow halftime lead: rebounding. Philly rebounded one-third of its own misses leading to 12 second-chance points.

Philadelphia started to pull away in the second half as it again bullied Orlando with second-chance baskets, scoring eight points on preserved possessions in the first four-plus minutes of the quarter alone. Young converted a pair of free throws at the 3:58 mark to boost the host's lead to 11, their largest of the night, after the Magic inexplicably lost track of him under the rim.

Oladipo scored the next four points of the game, all on drives to the rim, to bring Orlando to within seven. On the final play of the quarter, Oladipo took the ball from the Magic's foul line into the teeth of Philly's defense in 3.2 seconds, absorbed some uncalled contact from Davies, and floated in a layup at the buzzer to cut Philly's lead to five. The bucket capped a 10-point quarter for the rookie and kept the visitors within striking distance as the final period ensued.

Both teams tightened their defenses in the fourth, and obviously the long scoreless periods benefitted Philly, which led to start the frame. Oladipo kickstarted the Magic with four straight points to get Orlando within four, and then he stripped Carter-Williams to start a Magic break. Orlando didn't score on that trip, but back-to-back jumpers by Davis tied the score at 96 with 3:11 to go. The Magic big man then poked the ball away from Carter-Williams. Andrew Nicholson recovered it and outletted it to Oladipo, who found Afflalo in the left corner for the tie-breaking two-pointer in transition.

The Magic committed turnovers on each of their next two possessions, with Young rejecting Davis for a shot-clock violation on the first and Davis stumbling and losing the handle on the second. The Sixers improved their lead to two points as a result of those miscues and extended it to four with a Carter-Williams tip at the 1:02 mark. Orlando once again failed to put a body on a 76er crashing the glass, and as a result, it found itself down four.

A triple from Davis--just the seventh of his career--tied the score at 104 with 18 seconds to go. Turner driving layup at the buzzer bounced out as he got past Afflalo and had to contend with a hard-closing Ronnie Price.

Orlando took its second lead of overtime, a one-point advantage, with a Davis 18-footer at the 2:27 mark. The Sixers regained control by getting three points on each of their next two trips--a wide-open triple from the top of the arc by Young, another three the hard way by James Anderson--to take a five-point lead.

Afflalo answered, as he has all year, with a crucial basket of his own, taking Turner off the dribble all the way to the rim for a layup and-one.

The Magic swingman bailed his team out again by drawing a three-shot foul on Turner with 12.1 seconds to go in OT and Orlando down three. He drilled the freebies to even the score at 118, giving him an even 40 points.

Orlando forced a turnover on Philadelphia's ensuing possessions, which turned out to be its last of the first overtime. Turner slipped on the floor and Nicholson tied him up. The Magic big man won the jump ball and, after a timeout, essentially let time expire as Price's one-handed heave from the Magic's foul line badly overshot Philly's backboard.

After an Anderson layup put the Magic down three early in the second overtime, Davis answered with a driving layup around Hawes and-one... but missed the free throw to keep Orlando down one.

Carter-Williams scored a driving layup and, after misses from Davis and Afflalo, found a cutting Young for a floater to put Philly up five with 1:01 to go. The game effectively ended when Afflalo missed a wide-open triple from the right side with 26 seconds to go. He drained a meaningless three as time expired to provide the final margin.