Team averages 139 points in two wins at Silver Spurs
Javonte Smart rises and fires one of the five fourth-quarter three-pointers he sank in Saturday's G League victory. (Photo/Taylor McFee)
The Osceola Magic opened their third NBA G League season in Osceola County with a pair of impressive wins.
Friday, the Magic led wire-to-wire in a 134-113 win over the Texas Legends. Colin Castleton dropped 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds on 12-of-20 shooting, fellow Orlando two-way player Jamal Cain added 18 and newcomer Lester Quinones added 25 points, including four triples.
Saturday, Orlando Magic two-way player Orlando Robinson was added to the mix, but it was Javonte Smart who was the spark. He came off the bench and set the new court at Silver Spurs Arena on fire with five three-pointers in the fourth quarter, including four in an 87-second stretch, to help put away a 144-112 win.
“We turned up our defense, and once we got on offense my confidence stayed high,” Smart said. “I’m just surrounded by amazing talent, and I think you’ve seen that (Friday and Saturday). It’s only the second game but we’re already having fun playing together.”
Osceola trailed at the half, 59-55, but used an 89-point second half to secure the weekend sweep. Thanks to Smart’s shooting and Robinson’s added energy (25 points, 13 rebounds), the Magic went on a 38-13 run on a 10-minute stretch across the third and fourth quarters to make up for a slow start.
The 89 points in the second half and 45 in the third quarter are new franchise records.
Texas edged out to a lead as big as 13, 46-33, as Osceola missed its first seven shots of the second quarter. While Castleton and Quinones hit some big shots the rest of the way in the quarter to narrow the gap to 59-55, Quinones picked up his fourth foul just before halftime, but still managed 21 points to go with his big night Friday; they along with Smart’s 23 and Castleton’s 25 gave Osceola four 20-point scorers Saturday.
Magic Coach Dylan Murphy talked about hard to win twice playing a team back-to-back after Saturday’s win, and it took his team fighting through “a bit of clunkiness” in the first half.
“When Javonte gets hot it’s a real heater,” Murphy said. “And he’s one of a bunch of guys who can do that. We’ve got unselfish guys who want to play the right way, and they’ve all done big things at all levels, college, NBA, G League. We’ve got depth and guys who care about winning. We did not play well in the first half, but the guys kept us in it to still have a chance to win.”
The Magic continue their season-opening home stand on Thursday at 11 a.m. with a School Days special matinee against the Mexico City Capitanes, then a Friday (7 p.m.) and Sunday (3 p.m.) two-fer against the Birmingham Squadron.
