Tipping it up for their lone game of the week, the Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors got in a matinee in North America, traveling over to London for a game in front of the international fans. The Magic forced it into overtime late, but were unable to overcome a better Raptors team, falling 106-103.
The Magic started off strong, knocking down seven of their first 14 shots, helping them jump out to an early six point lead. However, things quickly unraveled for the Magic as the quarter wore on. Orlando's offense began to stagnate as has been a problem of late, with players standing around, forcing players to try and finish one-on-one. Defensively the Magic were not able to stop Raptors penetration, giving up easy looks, while also fouling too much. In the quarter, the Raptors shot 13 free throws, helping aid them in taking a 13 point lead, 31-18, after 12 minutes.
Coming off a 16-0 Raptors run to end the first, things didn't get much better for the Magic early in the second. Toronto continued to get seemingly whatever they wanted, pushing their lead up to as many as 14. The Magic slowly began to cut into the lead, albeit only slightly, thanks in large part to Jason Smith's red hot shooting. The reserve big man scored 16 second quarter points, knocking down eight of nine shots, helping lead the Magic to 80 percent shooting for the quarter. Despite their high level of play offensively, their defensive struggles held them back, with Toronto leading by seven, 61-54 at the half.
Out of halftime, Toronto quickly pushed their lead back out to 12, before the Magic began settling in, slowly whittling away at the Raptors lead. A Tobias Harris layup cut the lead down to three, before a quick Raptors 5-0 run pushed their lead back out to eight before one could blink. Despite not being able to get over the hump and tie, or take the lead, the Magic buckled down, scoring the final few buckets of the quarter to cut the lead back down to four heading into the fourth quarter.
Down four, the Magic were beginning to build some momentum in an attempt to take home just their fourth win of the season against teams over .500. However, the Magic started the quarter slowly, falling behind by 11 in the early portion of the quarter. Then, behind continued strong play from Evan Fournier, the Magic began mounting their charge, cutting the Raptors lead down to as few as one.
After Kyle Lowry pushed the Raptors lead to five, the Magic found a way to tie it up, thanks to a three-point play from Nikola Vucevic, and a jumper from Victor Oladipo. Following a miss from Lowry, Oladipo missed a game-winning three-pointer, with the Raptors knocking the ball out of bounds to give the Magic one final shot to win with seven tenths of a second on the clock. A rushed inbounds pass to Jason Smith resulted in a poor look, with the two conference foes going to overtime.
Toronto got the overtime period going with a couple of early buckets, grabbing a quick five point lead. The Magic struggled to deal with the Raptors physicality, not scoring until an Oladipo drive with just over a minute to go. The Magic's struggles boxing people out continued to be an issue, with the Raptors getting second chance opportunities throughout the period. Despite having a chance to tie it up late, the Magic were unable to overcome the Raptors in London.
The Raptors brought forth a balanced scoring effort, with six players finished in double figures led by Kyle Lowry's 24. Cory Joseph added 19 off the Raptors bench, with DeMar DeRozan scoring 13 on the night. Jonas Valanciunas added 13 of his own, with Luis Scola, Patrick Patterson and Bismack Biyombo finishing with 11 apiece.
Oladipo led the way for the Magic, finishing with a season-high 27. Fournier added 21, with Vucevic finishing the night with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Tobias Harris finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Jason Smith scored 16.
