|
 He wound up getting a gutsy defensive performance, a balanced
offense, and ultimately a 92-83 win over the Charlotte Bobcats.
Guard Jameer Nelson and forward Glen Davis led the way with 17
points each, center Nikola Vucevic returned to provide a
double-double and an emotional spark, and the Magic held the Bobcats
to just 36.9 percent shooting from the field.
To Vaughn, it was a performance with a lot of heart.
"I think there was some individual pride out there tonight," Vaughn
said. "It's a game I've seen before in my career where a team at the
end of a road trip might not fight. But our guys, there was no
consideration of that. They came and they wanted to get a win
tonight."
The victory moved the Magic to 7-15 and was just their second road
win of the season.
"We talk about not skipping steps and that's what this thing is all
about," Vaughn said. "When you come with an approach and a fight of
a competitive nature and you give what you have that day — that's
all we ask, give what you've got — then you put yourself in a
position to win. It was good to see our guys rally around each other
tonight."
"It was a good win for us, especially at the end of a road trip,"
said Vucevic, who had missed the previous four games with an ankle
injury. "It would have been easy for us to give in and think about
going home, but we really stuck together. When you're on a six-game
losing streak it's not easy to stick together, but we did that and
we played very good basketball. It wasn't pretty. It was kind of a
grind. But we played well on the defensive end and that's what
you've got to do."
Nelson came up huge down the stretch, after the Magic watched a
nine-point fourth-quarter lead dwindle to four in the final two
minutes.
Nelson's 3-pointer with 1:06 remaining pushed the lead to 86-79. He
then hit a driving layup with 42 seconds left to push the lead back
to seven, and then he hit added two free throws with 31.2 seconds
left to put the game out of reach.
"Overall, we wanted to attack early and get them in pick and rolls,"
Vaughn said. "Jameer at the end of the game had some great
decisions."
Nelson also finished with seven rebounds and six assists. Davis also
had 12 rebounds in addition to his 17 points. Vucevic finished with
12 points and 14 rebounds after having a double-double in the first
half. The Magic also got 16 points from forward Arron Affalo, and 10
points each from guards Victor Olapido and E'Twaun Moore and forward
Andrew Nicholson.
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"We needed this big-time," Davis said. "We're a good team. We
just need to get healthy. You look at what Nick did out there
tonight, we've been missing that. He loosens everything up in
the paint and that helps me. And then Jameer, you look at the
way he played — that's our team. We're a good team, we've just
got to give ourselves a chance and stay healthy. I think we're
going to be OK. It's a good confidence builder for us going
home."
The Bobcats were out of sync most of the night, particularly the
guard duo of Kemba Walker and Gerald Henderson. Henderson
finished 3 of 14 from the field for 12 points, and Walker was 4
of 18 for 10 points. Walker had scored 31 in Charlotte's win
over Golden State on Monday.
"The offense just wasn't there tonight," Henderson said. "I
don't think particularly we got bad shots, it's just that they
didn't fall. When you start the game kinda slow you always feel
like you can pick it up at some point, especially with guys who
know how to score. You've just got to work through it. But it
just never turned into that kind of game."
The Bobcats had a two-game winning streak snapped and fell to
10-12.
NOTES: The Bobcats made a roster move on Wednesday, signing G
Chris Douglas-Roberts and waiving F James Southerland.
Douglas-Roberts has been in the D-League with Texas this season,
but the four-year veteran has had stints previously with the
Nets, Bucks and Mavericks. Southerland, an undrafted rookie, had
appeared in just one game for the Bobcats. ... Bobcats coach
Steve Clifford was a Magic assistant from 2007-12. ... The
Bobcats were without C Bismack Biyombo (ankle), F Michael
Kidd-Gilchrist (hand) and C Brendan Haywood (foot). ... The
Bobcats will unveil the new Hornets logo at halftime of their
Dec. 21 home game against Utah. Owner Michael Jordan will do the
honors. The club has already announced that the colors will be
teal, purple and light blue. ... The Bobcats were winding up a
three-game homestand and will hit the road for a game at Indiana
on Friday. Then they're back home to face the Lakers on
Saturday. ... The Magic will return home to face Cleveland on
Friday.
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